| Submit your comments on this article |
| Afghanistan |
| The approaching offensive |
| 2015-12-30 |
| [DAWN] ACROSS the world, spring is associated with rejuvenation and rebirth after a burdensome winter. Yet this logic skips Afghanistan. Here spring has been associated with death since 2003. One of the unintended consequences of the long military operation in Afghanistan has been its emulative nature; the adversary, in this instance the Taliban, has learnt the techniques normally used by states. Its clearest proof was provided last year, when on April 22, the Taliban announced in a tone normally associated with government blurbs that, "The Islamic Emirate is going to launch the spring operations under the inspirational name of 'Azm' [determination] at 5am on the 24th of April". They added that the target of their operations would be the foreign occupiers and their Afghan supporters. Such an announcement would have appeared farcical at best was it not for its deadly earnestness -- on the said date, 108 deadly attacks were launched throughout Afghanistan, involving attacks on many provincial headquarters. |
| Posted by:Fred |