Taliban vow fresh attacks after winter

NEW DELHI—The Taliban are plotting a fresh offensive against foreign troops in Afghanistan when the bitter winter ends early next year, a top Taliban commander said, Hindustan Time reported on Thursday.
The Taliban have this year unleashed the worst violence against the Afghan government and foreign troops since the hardline Islamists were ousted from power in late 2001.
But the violence has tailed off sharply in recent weeks. Afghanistan’s NATO force says that’s because the Taliban suffered heavy losses, particularly in fighting in the south in September. But Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah said their attacks had eased off because the harsh Afghan winter had started earlier than usual.
“The Taliban are drawing up our strategy for attacks on American and NATO occupation forces next summer ... The suicide and other attacks will intensify as the weather gets warmer,” Dadullah said from an undisclosed location.
Afghan fighting has ebbed and flowed with the seasons for decades, tailing off during the late November to March winter when mountain passes get snowed in. The melting snow in the spring traditionally heralds a new round of violence. “It’s difficult to stay longer in the mountains in winter ... that’s why, like previous years, Taliban attacks have lessened,” Dadullah said.
Winter set in early this year with icy rain falling in valleys and snow on higher ground across much of the country in recent days. The one-legged Dadullah said fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar was in Afghanistan, personally leading the insurgency with other commanders.
Afghanistan says Omar and other top Taliban members are directing the insurgency from sanctuaries across the border in Pakistan. Pakistan says no Taliban leaders are there. More than 3,700 people have been killed in Afghanistan this year, according to a recent report drawn up by Afghan and foreign officials.
Most of the casualties have been militants but more than a quarter of them were civilians. More than 150 foreign troops have also been killed, most of them American, British and Canadian. Fighting was particularly heavy in the southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar. NATO said hundreds of Taliban were killed in a two-week offensive in Kandahar in September. More than 40,000 foreign troops are in Afghanistan, the most since US-led troops routed the Taliban in the weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.
The Afghan Defence Minister, General Abdul Rahim Wardak has said that his country’s military will double in size in the coming two years to curb the spiraling insurgency. Wardak said this while speaking to reporters at Pentagon, United States, following talks with Lt Gen Karl Eikenberry, commander of Combined Forces Command Afghanistan, here.
The minister said his country’s security forces were making steady progress towards the goal of being able to defend the Afghan people, and the government of Afghanistan, with the support of the US and coalition forces, wanted to accelerate the process.
He said under an accelerated programme, about 2,000 soldiers would be trained every month. “The formula for success in Afghanistan is to enable the Afghan national security forces to defend the Afghan people. We have made progress along these lines. We have a plan to accelerate this process,’’ said an official statement quoting the minister.
The Defence Minister said his country wanted to move ahead of the timetable established through the Afghanistan Compact. According to the goals jointly set by the Afghan government, the United Nations and the international community during the London Conference early this year, the strength of Afghan National Army or ANA will be enhanced to 70,000 by late 2010 or early 2011. Wardak said he would like to move that goal up to about October 2008. He pointed to concrete examples of success and said the goal was within reach with the support of the international community.—Agencies