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NATO: Taliban 'spring offensive' mere propaganda
(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 2008-04-16 |
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