Wire: Taliban Warns Obama Afghan Plan Will Lead to More Bloodshed

News in Balance:

WASHINGTON, Jan. 31, 2009 -- Newswire services, citing Al Jazeera, reported that the Taliban warned President Obama Saturday that his plans to increase troops in Afghanistan will lead to more violence and bloodshed.

Mullah Mohamad Rasul, a Taliban leader, said that fighters of the group were ready to take on the U.S. troops.

"Just as they are bringing more troops, so too the Taliban will have more troops," Rasul, a former governor of Nimruz province, told Al Jazeera.

Rasul said bands of bombers were organizing and ready to fight the U.S. military, according to the station.

"During the Bush administration the suicide bombers were registering individually, but now they are coming in groups. The whole nation is ready for the fight," the Taliban leader said on Al Jazeera.

"Every year our military power gets stronger and stronger and our forces are getting bigger and bigger and we are heading towards success," Rasul said.

Obama campaigned for the U.S. presidency on a promise to redeploy U.S. troops and resources to Afghanistan from Iraq.

The U.S. currnely has 36,000 troops deployed in Afghanistan. The White House is expected to announce up to three new brigade-size deployments as early as next week to help meet a long-standing request for additional forces from field commanders.

The plan would mean sending as many as 30,000 extra troops in the next 12 to 18 months.

(Report from commercial media sources.)

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