Taliban vow attacks on British reinforcements

SPIN BOLDAK, Afghanistan (Reuters) – Afghanistan’s Taliban
said on Tuesday they would greet British reinforcements heading
to the southern province of Helmand with ferocious attacks.

Britain announced on Monday it would send 900 more troops
and additional helicopters to southern Afghanistan, where a
force meant as the spearhead of a NATO peace mission has faced
fierce Taliban resistance.

“We will greet more British troops in Helmand with fresh
attacks,” Taliban commander Mullah Hayat Khan told Reuters by
telephone.

“We’ll attack the British troops with such ferocity they
will flee,” he said.

British troops are spearheading a major expansion of NATO
peacekeepers into volatile southern areas which have seen some
of the worst fighting since U.S. and Afghan opposition forces
toppled the Taliban in 2001.

The reinforcements will arrive over coming months, bringing
the total of British troops in the south to 4,500. One thousand
more are based at NATO headquarters in Kabul.

“We are already causing British troops losses in lives and
equipment every day in Helmand,” Khan said. “The increase in
British troops means we will have more British targets.”

“Foreign troops in Afghanistan are already suffering huge
losses. Our suicide bombers are searching for targets every
day,” he said.

The Taliban were ousted in late 2001 after refusing to hand
over Osama bin Laden, architect of the September 11 attacks.
They are now fighting to expel foreign troops and defeat the
Western-backed government.