Hundreds of Taliban fighters invaded villages just outside Afghanistan's second-largest city of Kandahar on June 16, forcing NATO and Afghan troops to rush in and frightened residents to flee.

The push into the Arghandab district came three days after a Taliban attack on Kandahar's prison that freed 400 insurgent fighters.

Those fighters, NATO conceded June 16, appear to now be massing on the doorstep of the Taliban's former power base. Kandahar city lies just 16 km to the southeast.

The sophisticated and successful jailbreak, followed by the movement into Arghandab, is the latest evidence of the growing strength of the Taliban militants, whose hard-line Islamist regime was ousted from power in the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.