Taliban waiting for winter

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

NEW YORK, OCT. 24. The Taliban is dispersing its troops and heavy equipment in the hope of outlasting the U.S. operation. Military analysts say the strategy is to shift just enough troops to the frontlines and hold on until the middle of November when winter sets in making it difficult for ground operations.

Even as analysts and military experts are pondering over the Taliban strategy, there is an element of disbelief that the Northern Alliance has not risen to the occasion by starting its offensives against the Taliban. This despite the considerable softening of the ground by the U.S. jets in the last three weeks.

Senior Defence Department officials - civilian and military - have made no bones about the fact that the U.S. wants the Northern Alliance to capture as much ``ground'' as possible. All this before the onset of winter.

But commanders of the opposition forces have not been exactly too pleased with the way the U.S. allies have come to their help. The bottom line argument has been that the attacks on the Taliban positions would have to be even more aggressive and the Northern Alliance be armed to the extent possible. If there is one major reason why the U.S. and its allies have not exactly ``rushed'' to throw open their military hardware stores to the Northern Alliance, it is because they are sufficiently worried about the security environment in Kabul if the Taliban is suddenly ousted in the absence of a political framework in place. The worry has to do with the track record of the Northern Alliance during its time of governance in the 1990s.

U.S. downplays visit

UNI reports from Washington:

The U.S. has downplayed the significance of a Taliban military commander's visit to Pakistan, saying the U.S. and Pakistan have the same agenda in the current fight against terrorism.

``I think we found that in our discussions in Pakistan, we have quite the same agenda,'' said the State Department spokesman, Mr. Richard Boucher, on Tuesday, shrugging off a question whether the U.S. was concerned that Pakistan had entertained the Taliban military commander. ``I Wouldn't put any kind of interpretation on this reported visit. I'm not even sure I have seen the visit0 confirmed''.

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Section  : International
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