US to launch major operation in Afghanistan in 18 months

The US and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation forces are all set to roll out an "intensive 18-month" ground campaign in Afghanistan to stamp out Taliban and Al Qaeda militants, top US generals have said warning the insurgents that Marjah offensive was just the start. "Marjah campaign where the Taliban resistance has only been disjointed is just an initial operation of what will be a 12 to 18 month campaign to overun the Taliban," General David Petraeus, the head of US Central Command told NBC television's 'Meet The Press' programme.

He said President Barack Obama and General Stanley McChrystal who leads a 1.21 lakh US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, had laid out a comprehensive strategy that was only beginning to unfold. Petraeus comments come as a strong US, NATO and Afghan army detachments are close to over-running Taliban stronghold of Marjah, whose capture would choke insurgents finances derived from poppy cultivation.

The general, who oversaw a similar US forces' surge in Iraq, described Taliban resistance as "weak and disjointed" and warned that the campaign so far was only in its initial stage. His top commander in Afghanistan, McChrystal was quoted by the British newspaper Times as saying that Kandahar would be the coalition forces' next target.

McChrystal said that the Marjah offensive was a model for future campaigns in Afghanistan.

He said the military offensive would also be expanded to three other Taliban-dominated provinces.

Times said that though the US General did not specify locations of upcoming intensified campaigns, military sources said that US and NATO forces wanted to hit the elusive, but powerful Taliban warlord Jalaluddin Haqqani and his network in eastern Afghanistan.

US intelligence forces have so far been pounding the Haqqani networks hideouts in the Pakistani tribal belt targetting them with drone-fired hellfire missiles and apparently were now poised to confront him head-on in his strongholds of Khost, Pakyta, Pakhtiar and Gardez provinces. "We are going to go where significant part of population are at risk and Kandahar is clearly very very important not just to the south, but to the nation," McChrystal said adding "It is not the only area though." On the Marjah offensive, the US Commander said, "In many ways it is a model for the future: an Afghan led operation supported by the coalition, deeply engaged with the people."