“Operations will focus on attacks against military centers, places of gatherings, airbases, ammunition and logistical military convoys of the foreign invaders in all parts of the country,” the Taliban said in the statement, Reuters reported Friday.
The statement added that the new operation called Badar will include targeting top officials of President Hamid Karzai’s government, ministers and lawmakers as well as heads of foreign and local companies working for NATO.
Taliban have warned Afghan people to stay away from gatherings, convoys and “centers of enemy” to avoid sustaining casualties.
NATO top commanders have said the anticipated hike in violence will last over a week but will not be successful.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned on April 15 of a “violent spring fighting season” in Afghanistan as, analysts say, a pretext to justify postponing the announced withdrawal of troops scheduled for July.
Despite the presence of nearly 150,000 foreign troops with the claimed goal of restoring security to the war-torn country, violence across Afghanistan hit record levels in 2010, with civilian and military casualties the worst since the outset of the US-led war in 2001.
The Pentagon has said in a recent report that the injection of 30,000 US troops to Afghanistan has made “tangible progress” but warned the security gains remain fragile and reversible.
Washington has tripled the number of US troops in Afghanistan, compared to 2009, to 100,000. The Obama Administration had promised to begin a drawdown of troop levels in July but later announced US forces would leave in 2014.
Source: Press TV