Taliban planning 'offensive' against US: Report

[DuctapeFatwa]

Gearing up for the 'final' battle against US-led forces in Afghanistan, Taliban is regrouping in the Khyber Agency region of Pakistan for the crucial offensive to be mounted in spring under a new commander Mullah Sabir Momin of Orugzan province to recapture major cities, media reports said. "The resistance under a new commander is regrouping in the remote Khyber Agency region of Pakistan, using the infrastructure of people and fortifications laid by Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda several years ago," Hong Kong-based Asia Times online said in a report.

Pakistan has aided some commanders belonging to the Hizb-i-Islami Afghanistan (HIA) of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar to counter the growing influence of pro-India elements along the border areas, the report said. "American intelligence agencies tracked HIA recruiting offices in Pakistani cities such as Karachi and Peshawar and pointed various locations in Pakistan where HIA volunteers were being given training, money and arms," the report said. The report also said 'legendary' Afghan commander Jalaluddin Haqqani -- who joined Taliban, and became a minister in the erstwhile Afghan regime -- is now the 'main force' behind the resistance in Khost and Paktia province of Afghanistan. He visited Miran Shah in Pakistan several times, but authorities had turned a 'blind eye', the report said.

"The Taliban would now step up their struggle to include more suicide attacks which would be the prelude to a broader struggle that will start in spring in which the Taliban will attempt to retake the major cities in Afghanistan that they held before they were ousted by the US in late 2001," the report said. The US-led forces have been focussing on South Waziristan Agency in Pakistan as a 'hotbed' for the resistance where guerillas hide and receive support from the local population between raids in Afghanistan.

http://www.nni-news.com/current/world/news-07.htm

[SpiralHawk]

1. Hey, BushCo is planning a big spring offensive, too

There were news reports about this a few weeks ago, and threads on DU.

Here's a link:

Spring offensive is planned:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0401280334jan28,1,1...

The Bush administration, deeply concerned about recent assassination attempts against Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and a resurgence of Taliban forces in neighboring Afghanistan, is preparing a U.S. military offensive that would reach inside Pakistan with the goal of destroying Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network, military sources said.

U.S. Central Command is assembling a team of military intelligence officers that would be posted in Pakistan ahead of the operation, according to sources familiar with details of the plan and internal military communications. The sources spoke on the condition they not be identified.

-------------------------
Small planet. Everyone who is a True Believer is planning spring offensives.

How truly offensive to the sane human beings.

But this, too, shall pass.

[SpiralHawk]

2. The "Final Battle"

Sheesh. Don't like the rhetoric on either side.

Listen, BushCo and Taliban have been doing business for years. Can't they just let bygones be bygones, sit down at a table somewhere, express their individual and peculiar Faith in The Ultimate Truth, and then carve up the Caspian Sea oil reserves -- and such other planetary booty as may be available -- politely?

I mean, this "Final Battle" shit could get old real quick.

[SpiralHawk]

3. Previews of Coming Attractions

Excuse my Trifecta Kick to this thread, but Rudyard Kipling insisted I -- as Dylan Thomas would have put it -- not let the thread go gentle into that good night just yet

Kipling:

Now all you recruities what's drafted to-day,
You shut up your rag-box an' 'ark to my lay,
An' I'll sing you a soldier as far as I may:
A soldier what's fit for a soldier.
Fit, fit, fit for a soldier . . .

When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
An' go to your Gawd like a soldier.
Go, go, go like a soldier,
Go, go, go like a soldier,
Go, go, go like a soldier,