It seems someone forgot to tell them they’re not going to win.

KABUL, Afghanistan – Two battles killed more than 165 Taliban fighters and a U.S.-led coalition soldier in southern Afghanistan as President Hamid Karzai discussed the escalating violence with President Bush in New York on Wednesday

One of the clashes began Tuesday when several dozen insurgents attacked a joint coalition-Afghan patrol with machine guns, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades near the Taliban-controlled town of Musa Qala in Helmand province, with Taliban reinforcements flowing in all day, a coalition statement said.

The coalition said it returned artillery fire and called in fighter aircraft, killing more than 100 of the Taliban fighters. One coalition soldier was killed and four wounded.