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Some 4,000 US Marines, backed by 50 US jets, are taking part in the biggest US offensive in Afghanistan since 2001. (Reuters) |
CHAMAN – Insisting that the massive American Dagger offensive is toothless, the Taliban have launched their own "iron net" counter operation.
"We have chalked out our strategy to counter the fresh offensive of US marines in Helmand, Uruzgan and Kandahar provinces and Inshaullah the foreign forces will concede another defeat," Yousaf Ahmedi, a senior Taliban commander, told IslamOnline.net by satellite phone from an unknown location in southern Afghanistan.
"We have codenamed our counter operation the iron net. And it will actually turn out to be an iron net for the marines and their allies."
Some 4,000 US Marines and 650 Afghan soldiers, backed by 50 US jets, are taking part in the biggest American military offensive in Afghanistan since the ouster of the Taliban from power in 2001.
The operation, code-named Khanjar, which means dagger in Dari and Pashtu, aims at clearing the southern provinces, considered strongholds of Taliban, and pave the way for forthcoming presidential elections in the war-stricken country.
The main focus of the offensive is Uruzgan, the home province of Taliban Supreme Leader Mullah Omer, and Helmand, the home province of President Hamid Karzai and is the source of most of Afghanistan's opium crop, the world's largest.
Most parts of these provinces, especially suburban areas, are virtually controlled by Taliban, who have their de-facto administration and judicial system.
Ahmedi said they would not go for face to face encounters with the American troops.
"We will continue to hit the invading forces through landmines, remote control bombings and guerilla attacks, which are always successful in war against a bigger enemy," he contended.
"We can besiege the invading forces, but it will not work because of the air strikes. That’s why we will prefer the strategy of hit and run."
A British soldier was killed in an explosion during an operation in southern Helmand province on Tuesday, becoming the seventh to die in a week.
Two US troops were killed in a blast in southern Afghanistan on Monday.
Ahmedi claims Taliban shot down a NATO helicopter in the southern Zabul Province on Monday, killing several foreign troops.
ISFA insisted the helicopter crashed due to some technical problems killing two Canadians and a Briton.
Massive Net
The Taliban commander contended that their iron net is not restricted to the southern provinces.
"We have extended our activities to northeastern, western and northern parts of Afghanistan in order to engage the foreign troops and avert any reinforcement to their colleagues here (in the south) in case of a longer encounter."
Violence has flared across Afghanistan since the Marines launched their major new offensive.
Eight policemen were killed in pitched gunbattles with militants who attacked government buildings in the eastern province of Nuristan late on Tuesday.
Another eight were kidnapped during the battles which lasted several hours.
Four US soldiers were killed in a remote control bomb attack in the northern Kunduz province on Monday, July 06.
The Taliban commander said the Hizb-e-Islami of former premier Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is helping them in the northeastern provinces, which are considered his strongholds.
Tough
Security experts believe the American Marines would have a tough ride in southern Afghanistan.
"The fresh offensive is not less than a gamble, especially in Helmand, which has been a stronghold of Taliban and appeared to be one of the toughest war zone for allied forces," Noor Zaman Achakzai, a Kandahar-based journalist, told IOL.
"This will not be an easy task."
He noted that Helmand remained a Taliban stronghold despite the deployment of 8000 British troops since the 2001 invasion.
"Keeping a strong resistance to British troops during the last eight years, it seems to me irrational that 4000 troops will be able to get rid of Taliban within a month."
At least 176 British troops have been killed in the fighting against Taliban in Helmand over the last years.
They include Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Thorneloe, the commanding officer of the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, who became the most senior British Army officer to be killed in combat since the Falklands War.
Achazai insists that historically Helmand has never been conquered.
He noted that there is a graveyard of British soldiers, who came to conquer Helmand a century ago, in Spin Bouldak, the border town between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
"Months are not enough to clear this area of Taliban because of its location. The foreign troops have to destroy thousands of caves in the mountains of Helmand, which needs years not months," he contends.
"These caves are natural protection to guerillas who can stay there for years."
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