Taliban vow guerrilla warfare against NATO troops

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

KABUL (AFP) – The Taliban vowed on Thursday to fight back with a "hit and run" guerrilla campaign against Western and Afghan forces preparing to storm one of their key strongholds in southern Afghanistan.

Thousands of US Marines and NATO and Afghan soldiers have massed around the town of Marjah, a Taliban bastion in Helmand province, poised to launch one of the biggest operations against the insurgents since the 2001 US-led invasion.

The assault, dubbed Operation Mushtarak ("Together" in Dari) and expected to begin within days, aims to drive out the Taliban and replace their harsh rule with Western-backed Afghan government institutions.

In a defiant statement on their website, the Taliban vowed to defend the town in the poppy-growing region of the central Helmand River valley, which they have controlled for years in tandem with drug traffickers.

"From what we see on the ground this operation is no different to the invading forces' day-to-day activities," Yousuf Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman, was quoted as saying.

"The enemy is making a big deal of it. They try to sell it to the media as a big offensive in spite of the fact that Marjah is a small place," he said, adding: "The operation is not as big as they claim." Marjah: heartland of the Taliban

Nevertheless he vowed that Taliban gunmen would stand against the offensive, using "hit-and-run" tactics and the improvised explosive devises, or IEDs, that have become a staple of their arsenal.

"I can say at this point that we'll be using tactics we deployed in the Nawa and Khanishin operations," he said, referring to two offensives in Helmand last year, the British-led Panther's Claw, and the Marines' Dagger.

"It will be mostly hit-and-run and roadside bomb attacks," he said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100211/wl_af..._20100211134415

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

We'll be waiting.

[alienlovechild 75]

Nevertheless he vowed that Taliban gunmen would stand against the offensive, using "hit-and-run" tactics and the improvised explosive devises, or IEDs, that have become a staple of their arsenal.

They'd better emphasize the running part because standing in place will mass suicide for the Taliban. The Marines have a a lot of firepower for the would-be martyrs.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

They'd better emphasize the running part because standing in place will mass suicide for the Taliban. The Marines have a a lot of firepower for the would-be martyrs.

After all, the Taliban are not Al Qaeda ...