Taliban Leader In Afghanistan Warns Of New Offensive

Apparently the upcoming "surge" of fresh American troops into the War in Afghanistan has the Taliban a bit edgy so one of their leaders has come out with a warning for both the U.S./NATO forces as well as the Afghan government...and has even suggested to the Afghan army that they drop their weapons and desert. Now, one thing to keep in mind here...the Taliban typically back up their threats much more often than say an al Qaeda group or Iranians, but at the same time, this threatened offensive is a bit vague. Here's some of the details from The Washington Post:

A senior leader of Afghanistan's Taliban warned Wednesday the movement will launch a new large-scale operation against the Afghan government, diplomatic missions, foreign troops and anyone supporting them.

Posted on a Taliban website, (www.alemarah1.org) a message quoting the deputy leader of the movement, Mullah Brother Akhund, said the "Nasrat" (victory), will begin Thursday and include ambushes, bombs and suicide bomb attacks.
"The targets of these operations will be the military units of the invading forces, diplomatic centers, mobile convoys, high-ranking officials of the puppet administration, members of parliament and personnel of the so-called defense, interior and national security ministries," the message said.

So, I would say that we will see at least a couple of fairly major attacks today - my guess is that there will be some sort of an attack on a government building in either Kabul or Kandahar and we may seem some sort of an ambush on a NATO convoy or a mini-offensive on a NATO outpost.

Afghan Taliban leader warns of new offensive

Through the offensive, the Taliban will seek to further tighten the encirclement of the enemy in the provinces and attack their supply routes, it added.
The message urged Afghan security forces to desert and join the militants and ordered private firms as well as individuals to stop working for the foreign troops.
U.S.-led troops overthrew the Taliban government after it refused to hand over al Qaeda leaders wanted by Washington for the September 11 2001 attacks on the United States.
The Taliban have made advances in recent years not only in Afghanistan, but also in neighboring Pakistan where they have some bases in the lawless tribal border region.
To fight the growing insurgency, the new administration in Washington has pledged to send an extra 21,000 troops this year to Afghanistan, where the level of foreign forces stand at more than 70,000.
The additional U.S. troops will be deployed mainly to the south east of the country.
The Taliban and al Qaeda leaders are still at large and thought to be in hiding in the tribal region on the Afghan-Pakistan border near to Pakistan's lawless northern tribal areas.