Spring Offensive to Begin, Taliban Say

[alp227]

Source: The New York Times

KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban announced that the insurgent group’s spring fighting season would begin officially across Afghanistan on Sunday, and NATO warned the public to expect small-arms fire and possible insurgent efforts to launch a major attack.

Some international organizations ordered their staff members to stay inside secure compounds for the next several days, and the spokesman for the Afghan National Directorate of Intelligence said at a news conference that the insurgency’s effort was aimed at undermining Afghans’ faith in the government as it prepared to take full responsibility for security from NATO troops in some provinces.

Lutfullah Mashal, the spokesman for the intelligence directorate, said that the Taliban’s announcement was another attempt to diminish people’s confidence in the government, following a series of bold attacks in recent weeks. The group not only engineered a successful prison break that freed nearly 500 of its members, it also sent a suicide bomber into the Defense Ministry and assassinated two police chiefs.

“Terrorists and radical parties and Al Qaeda, who support these small terrorist groups, undertook these to undermine the transition to Afghan control of the security forces and the peace process,” Mr. Mashal said.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/world/asia/01afghan.html

[SpiralHawk]

1. "But, but, but..." - xCommander AWOL (R)

[SpiralHawk]

2. "Sneer." - Dickie 'Five-Military-Deferments' Cheney (R)

[EmmettKelly]

3. And I wish to thank the committee for this wonderful honor

[Webster Green]

4. Let's not forget...

Nobel Peace Prize Winner:

[TheLastMohican]

8. More like Nobel Piss Prize

That fella launched more cruise missiles than all previous Nobel Peace Prize winners combined.

[woo me with science]

5. "The spring fighting season"

It sounds so festive. Like you should go out and buy yourself a new bonnet.

[babydollhead]

9. funny!

[freshwest]

11. Oh, yeah, that's a good one! It's all a game!

[cactusfractal]

6. "We're rested, we've trained hard in the off-season, and I think...

...we're going to have the best season ever. Sure, our opponents have a powerful offense, but we have huge depth in defense and our guys are faster and do, after all, have the home field advantage EVERY DAMN DAY! All the way, baby!!! TAL-I-BAN! TAL-I-BAN!

What? Football is just war with less lethal commercial opportunities.

[freshwest]

12. '...less lethal commercial opportunities...' Agreed. Welcome to DU.

[Turbineguy]

7. They'll do anything

to keep us there.

[coalition_unwilling]

10. Ironic comment perhaps. Or perhaps a meta comment? The DU

advertisement at the bottom of the thread was an ad for JC Penney . . . in Vietnamese.

Talk about your deja vu all over again feeling.