Taliban Commander Warns US They Are Ramping Up Their Fight

The Taliban say they will step up their fight in Afghanistan, after pledges by the US and its allies to send large reinforcements to the country. A Taliban commander told international journalists that if more US troops came, more would die.
President Obama, announcing a long-awaited strategy on Tuesday, said another 30,000 American troops would be deployed quickly in Afghanistan. Defence Secretary Robert Gates told the US Congress that curbing the Taliban was essential for regional security. Speaking to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Mr Gates stressed that the US goal in Afghanistan and Pakistan was to defeat the al-Qaeda network - and to do that, the Taliban must be pushed back.

"Failure in Afghanistan would mean a Taliban takeover of much, if not most, of the country and likely a renewed civil war," he said.
"Taliban-ruled areas could in short order become, once again, a sanctuary for al-Qaeda as well as a staging area for resurgent militant groups on the offensive in Pakistan."
He said the first of the new US troops could hit the ground in Afghanistan in two to three weeks.
"Beginning to transfer security responsibility to the Afghans in summer 2011 is critical - and, in my view achievable," he said.
Senator John McCain, the senior Republican on the committee, announced he backed Mr Obama's decision to deploy more troops but not the announcement that their withdrawal would begin in July 2011.
"We need to make it clear to the enemy that we're going to succeed and we are going to stay as long as necessary to succeed," he said.
He also warned that the US and UK should expect more casualties in the short term as the surge gets under way.

The Taliban expressed defiance in the face of Mr Obama's commitment to send additional forces. A Taliban commander, who did not give his name but is part of the ruling council in Wardak province, told the BBC there could be no peace talks until all foreign troops had left Afghanistan.
He said: "Obama is sending more troops to Afghanistan and that means more Americans will die. With just a handful of resources we can cause them even more casualties and deaths."