As fresh Canadian troops rotate into Afghanistan's Kandahar province, it's appearing likely they might be doing some fighting in neighbouring Helmand province.
A town of 10,000 called Musa Qala in Helmand has been recently overrun by Taliban militants.
Pushing them out could require tanks and armoured vehicles that Canada has and the British lack, said CTV's Paul Workman from Afghanistan.
Helmand is an area of British responsibility, although Canadian soldiers were involved in combat operations in the province's Sangin district in early 2006.
Four months ago, the British arranged a deal with Afghan elders in Musa Qala to pull out in exchange for the locals taking care of their own security -- and keeping the Taliban out.
However, the Taliban came storming back last week.
Hundreds of panicky villagers fled, fearing air strikes from NATO jets.
The Taliban are speaking bravely.
"The foreigners have done nothing for us except to kill civilians with their bombs," commander Haji Nika said.
The Afghan government is also talking bravely, saying there is a plan to take back the town.
"It will be a serious attack and it will be in the very near future," said Zemarai Bashary, a spokesman for the Afghan interior ministry, on the weekend.
Gen. David Richards, the British officer who had commanded the 35,000 International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) for the past nine months, also pledged to retake the town.
"We will put the tribal elders back in control of Musa Qala and we will kick the Taliban out."
Richards was a strong backer of the original deal. U.S. Gen. Dan McNeill replaced Richards as ISAF commander on Sunday.
U.S. commanders had criticized the deal, saying it was not with village elders but with the Taliban themselves.
In any event, there are some signs the operation to retake Musa Qala has begun.
British commandos are moving on a dam site at Lake Kajaki, which sits at the northern end of a line that marks where Taliban fighters are concentrated (Musa Qala is located about 25 kilometres northwest of Kajaki). That line starts at the town of Gereshk and goes up through Sangin.
In addition, a NATO air strike killed a Taliban commander near Musa Qala on Sunday.
Mullah Abdul Gafoor was not supposed to come within 4.83 kilometres of Musa Qala. NATO said he was inside that zone when he was killed.
On late Sunday, NATO dropped leaflets over the town, urging Taliban fighters to leave.
Col. Mike Kampman of NATO sounded confident, saying, "We are in a much stronger position than we were a year ago, and because of that, we can actually take the initiative."
Haji Nika stuck with a message of defiance.
"We will fight a holy war until we die or until we topple them."
With a report from CTV's Paul Workman
