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US prepared for rise in Taliban attacks in Afghanistan
 As the harsh Afghan winter nears an end, attacks by Taliban guerrillas are expected to rise, a U.S. military official said on Saturday, two days after more than 22 rebels and Afghan troops died in a fresh surge of violence. But the military said it had no plan to increase the number of the 18,000 U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan. "We can look at history and see that historically, attacks have increased as winter subsides," Major Steve Wollman, a spokesman for the U.S. military, told a press briefing. "I think we can expect more attacks... coalition forces remain vigilant and prepared to deal with these threats."But rebel activity has eased over the winter, and U.S.-led forces operating in the south and southeast have kept up the pressure on Afghanistan's vanquished rulers following their failure to disrupt an historic presidential election in October. Taliban officials early this week said winter had limited their activity and said once the cold weather ended and snow in their mountains hideouts melted, they would step up their attacks. Taliban guerrillas on Thursday staged a series of attacks on government forces in several areas near the border with Pakistan, killing 10 Afghan troops, wounding eight others and also one U.S. soldier. Afghan and U.S. forces say they killed 13 Taliban members in those attacks, the bloodiest in months. Posted by: Dan Darling 2005-02-27 |
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