The Taliban on Saturday announced the start of their spring offensive signalling plans to step up attacks as the weather warms across Afghanistan, making both travel and fighting easier.
The militant group’s leadership vowed that every possible tactic would be utilised in order to detain or inflict heavy casualties on the foreign transgressors.
It said that will include more so-called insider attacks by members of the Afghan security forces against their colleagues or foreign troops.
Such attacks threaten the strength of the Afghan forces as they work to take over responsibility from international forces. The latest one occurred in March, when a member of Afghanistan’s government-backed militia program shot and killed five of his colleagues in Badghis province in northwest Afghanistan.
In a sign of Taliban’s determination to replace Afghanistan’s government with one promoting a stricter interpretation of Islamic law, they named their new offensive after a legendary Muslim military commander, Khalid ibn al-Walid.
US-backed efforts to try to reconcile the Islamic militant movement with the Afghan government have so far failed.
Insurgents have intensified their attacks this spring as they try to position themselves for power ahead of national elections and the planned withdrawal of most US and other foreign combat troops by the end of 2014.
April has already been the worst month for combat deaths so far this year as 257 people, including civilians, Afghan security forces and foreign troops have been killed in violence around the country.