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| Afghanistan |
| NATO: Taliban 'spring offensive' mere propaganda |
| 2008-04-16 |
| (Xinhua) -- The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) on Sunday termed the Taliban announcement to launch "spring offensive" as propaganda and downplayed it. "The so-called Taliban spring offensive is mere propaganda," Carlos Branco, spokesman of the alliance, told a press conference here in the Afghan defense ministry. "There is no insurgent's spring offensive. The initiative is at the hands of Afghan National army and ISAF," Branco stressed. Playing down the threat Branco added that the Taliban had lost capability to face NATO and Afghan troops, instead they began attacking soft targets and killing civilians. Suicide attacks and roadside bombings have claimed the lives of more than 300 people mostly civilians since January this year. Afghan defense ministry spokesman Zahir Azimi also said that militants lost the capability to face troops and that is why they had resorted to suicide attacks and roadside bombings which often claim civilian lives. Taliban key military commander Mullah Brother in an audio cassette released to media outlet in south Afghanistan early last month claimed the militants would launch spring offensive dubbed Abrat or lesson when the weather gets warm. Militants in their latest waves of violence targeted road construction companies twice over the past week leaving more than 35 persons dead and injured civilians including two Indian engineers. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #9 ASIA TIMES > IRAN HOMES IN ON THE CASPIAN. Many in Iran argue that their nation is duly entitled by prior agreements/treatises wid RUSSIA to a full 50% of the Caspian - Iran's officos, however, are for now distancing themselves from said claims in favor various energy and trade deals. IRNA > Iran is also getting ready to invest in SRI LANKAN ENERGY PROJECTS. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-04-16 19:20 |
| #8 NATO: Fixed it for you. Just enough Workfare to keep the American Military Welfare flowing. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-04-16 15:20 |
| #7 Ah, Spring. A time when a young man's fancy turns to thoughts of love; when the swallows return to Capistrano and the Taliban die in large numbers. It's a lovely time of the year |
| Posted by: SteveS 2008-04-16 11:49 |
| #6 "Taliban key military commander Mullah Brother ... claimed the militants would launch spring offensive dubbed Abrat or lesson when the weather gets warm. " You mean the Taliban can't handle the Dreaded Afghan |
| Posted by: CHARGER 2008-04-16 10:53 |
| #5 Someone must have seen his shadow when he emerged from his cave. |
| Posted by: Sonny Elmeamp2499 2008-04-16 10:44 |
| #4 "Taliban key military commander Mullah Brother ... claimed the militants would launch spring offensive dubbed Abrat or lesson when the weather gets warm. " Maybe it's not warm enough yet. We are just expecting it earlier because we know about Global Warming. |
| Posted by: Penguin 2008-04-16 10:27 |
| #3 I believe the plan is for speaker equipped Humvees to patrol the Afghan-Pak border and make fun of taliban pee pees. |
| Posted by: ed 2008-04-16 08:30 |
| #2 Trying to draw them out by playing on their mooselimb sense of pride, are we? |
| Posted by: Mullah Richard 2008-04-16 08:15 |
| #1 IRNA > JEMAAT El-ISLAMI CONDEMNS PLAN GRANTING US DIRECT ACCESS TO PAKISTANI NUCLEAR SYSTEM; + AZERBAIJAM SUPPORTS IRAN'S NUCLEAR ACTIVITIES; + IRAN STRESSES VALIDITY OF AGREEMENST SIGNED BY IRAN, FORMER SOVIET UNION. * TOPIX > CENTRAL ASIAN ISLAMIC REPUBLICS EXPRESS SUPPORT FOR IRANIAN NUCLEAR DEVELOPMENT, ENERGY PLANS. Sorry, BLANCO, but methinks OSAMA + Radical Islam have BIGGER THINGS IN MIND than just Pakistan. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-04-16 03:29 |