Although suffering a brutal battlefield defeat, the Taliban retained their presence in Kandahar province and did not lose their will to fight. On October 6, 2006 anonymous commanders from five NATO countries, were demanding their governments "get tough" with Pakistan over the alleged support and sanctuary the Pakistani Interservices Intelligence (ISI) provided to the Taliban during operation Medusa. Despite the end of combat operations, heavy fighting continued in the area. In the last week of October 2006, dozens of civilians were reported killed in ISAF operations. A local council member was quoted as stating, "The government and the coalition told the families that there are no Taliban in the area any more. If there are no Taliban, then why are they bombing the area?"