U.S. Plans Winter Offensive Against Taliban In Afghanistan

This is great news. What the American commanders in Afghanistan have determined is that part of the reason the Taliban have seen a resurgence this year in Afghanistan is because U.S. and NATO troops didn't disrupt the Taliban enough last winter so more and more of the Taliban jihadists stayed in Afghanistan instead of heading south into Pakistan. And that meant that the Taliban forces were able to start their attacks much earlier this year and were in a position to attack NATO weaknesses while not having to make the hard trek from Pakistan. Here's some of the details from the article at the Philly Inquirer:

American troops in Afghanistan will step up offensive operations this winter because insurgents are increasingly staying in the country to prepare for spring attacks, a U.S. commander told the Associated Press.
Maj. Gen. Jeffery J. Schloesser said a 40 percent surge in violence in April and May was fueled in part by extremists preparing stores of weapons during the winter, which generally is a slow period for fighting, particularly in snowy Afghan mountainous areas.
"If we don't do anything over the winter, the enemy will more and more try to seek safe haven in Afghanistan rather than going back to Pakistan," Schloesser said.

The one disturbing fact that comes out of this article is this:

Schloesser estimated 7,000 to 11,000 insurgents operate in the eastern part of Afghanistan that he oversees - a far higher estimate than given by previous U.S. commanders.

Now, another piece of this puzzle is the fact that if the U.S. and NATO can continue some of the attacks into Pakistan, then while the winter offfensive by the coalition goes on, they just may be able to follow the Taliban INTO Pakistan and finish them off as they flee. In a perfect scenario, the Pakistan military will be back on their own offensive horse and then we could literally end up with a sweet Taliban sandwich for lunch - fleeing Taliban running from U.S. and NATO forces and running right into the Pakistani forces.

It makes me drool.

U.S. troops in Afghanistan preparing winter offensive

FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALAGUSH, Afghanistan - American troops in Afghanistan will step up offensive operations this winter because insurgents are increasingly staying in the country to prepare for spring attacks, a U.S. commander told the Associated Press.
Maj. Gen. Jeffery J. Schloesser said a 40 percent surge in violence in April and May was fueled in part by extremists preparing stores of weapons during the winter, which generally is a slow period for fighting, particularly in snowy Afghan mountainous areas.
"If we don't do anything over the winter, the enemy will more and more try to seek safe haven in Afghanistan rather than going back to Pakistan," Schloesser said.
U.S. and NATO officials say extremists cross into Afghanistan from Pakistan, where they rest, train and resupply in tribal areas along the frontier where the Pakistani government has little sway.
Schloesser estimated 7,000 to 11,000 insurgents operate in the eastern part of Afghanistan that he oversees - a far higher estimate than given by previous U.S. commanders.
He said the U.S. military realized more extremists spent last winter in Afghanistan after speaking with elders and villagers who had been pushed out of their homes. The spike in violence in the spring occurred because insurgents were already in position to unleash attacks, though U.S. officials did not know it at the time, he said.
"They didn't have to come over the passes - they were already here," Schloesser said during an interview while flying in a Black Hawk helicopter Monday to a small U.S. outpost in Nuristan, a province that borders Pakistan.
A NATO spokeswoman said she did not believe increased operations would take place over the winter in other areas of Afghanistan where the United States was not the primary military force.
Attacks in the eastern part of Afghanistan where U.S. troops primarily operate were 20 percent to 30 percent higher in June and July than a year earlier, Schloesser said.
He said an attack Aug. 18 by six or so suicide bombers on a large U.S. base near the Pakistan border was carried out by Arabs and Chechens, foreign extremists who are increasingly flowing into the Afghan theater. He said extremist Web sites have been encouraging fighters to go to Afghanistan instead of Iraq.
"I can't prove they are coming from Iraq to Afghanistan," Schloesser said, "but I've seen it on Web sites that that's what they're being told to do."