Topic: Taliban Commander Unfazed By NATO

USA Today
December 1, 2006
Pg. 18


NATO's plans to send more troops to Afghanistan to quell the Taliban will only serve to give the rebels more targets, a Taliban commander said. Mullah Obaidullah, who warned of an increase in suicide attacks, said the hard-line Islamists “have become a strong military power” and could fight for 20 years. NATO commanders on the ground have requested an increase in their current force of 32,800 troops. NATO leaders have pledged to crush the Taliban violence.
“It is winnable, it is being won, but not yet won,” said NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.