The first ever countrywide NATO, Afghan joint military
operation, dubbed as Operation Oqab (Eagle), would effectively
fight and press rebels throughout the autumn and winter months, an
officer of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force
(ISAF) said Wednesday.
ISAF and Afghan troops have killed about 150 insurgents in the
southern Uruzgan, Zabul and Kandahar provinces since the operation
was launched on Oct. 28, Brig. Gen. Nick Pope, chief of ISAF
communication and information systems, told a press conference.
"It will draw together a number of regional operations into one
coherent national campaign," he said, adding "The underlying
purpose is to produce an integrated security campaign" to fight
militants.
On the opposite, several Taliban commanders recently have
threatened that Taliban fighters will launch more attacks in the
coming winter and deal a huge blow to foreign troops in this
country.
"The Taliban are planning a major offensive combining their
diverse factions in a push on the Afghan capital, Kabul,
intelligence analysts and sources among the militia have revealed,"
said a story from the UK magazine The Observer issued on
Sunday.
The thrust will involve a concerted attempt to take control of
provinces surrounding Kabul, a bid cut the key commercial highway
linking the capital with the eastern city of Jalalabad, and
operations designed to tie down ISAF troops in the south, according
to the magazine.
The allegation can not be proved yet, while in the previous
winters Afghanistan was relatively calm as militants quieted down
due to coldness.
However, the situation may be different this winter as the
Taliban have showed a surprising resurgence and comeback this
year.
Afghanistan has plunged into the worst spate of bloodshed in the
past 10 months since the Taliban regime was toppled down nearly
five years ago.
Over 2,600 people, mostly Taliban militants, have been killed in
violence this year. Among the dead are over 110 foreign soldiers, a
number much higher than the 80 fatalities in the whole 2005
year.
Apparently, now ISAF is also intending to press harder on
insurgents.
The ISAF officer Pope said the nationwide Operation Oqab becomes
possible as ISAF, which has 31,000 troops, assumed command across
Afghanistan early in October, and various operations against
militants would be more effective if coordinated through the
country.
However, obviously Operation Oqab won't be an easy task at
all.
Five ISAF soldiers have been killed and 13 injured in the
operation until Tuesday. And on Wednesday, a suicide car bomber
rammed into an ISAF convoy in Kandahar province, injuring another
two ISAF soldiers.
(Xinhua News Agency November 2, 2006)
