By Xinhua,
Kabul : Taliban insurgents fighting Afghan government and international troops have increased their activities over the past month, Carlos Branco, the spokesman of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), said on Sunday.
“I would like to make one thing clear that the insurgents have more activities now,” he told reporters at a joint press conference flanked by Afghan defense ministry spokesman Zahir Azimi.
However, he added that Spring, when the weather gets warm, is fighting season in Afghanistan.
The spokesman added that both ISAF and Afghanistan National Security Force (ANSF) would continue to hunt down militants.
“ISAF and ANSF have also much more activities and we continue to engage the enemies,” the spokesman of the multinational force added.
He also admitted that the insurgents have began to resort to suicide attacks and attacking soft targets.
“The insurgents are not able to face us toe-to-toe. They have to resort to the soft target. Systematic use of IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) and suicide attacks and last but not least to resort to spectacular attacks in order to get media direction all around the world,” he stressed.
In his last press conference as the spokesman of NATO-led ISAF forces in Afghanistan, Branco said that the insurgents were not capable of launching major offensive.
He made these remarks while Afghan and ISAF forces, according to defense ministry spokesman Zahir Azimi, eliminated more than 100 militants in Arghandab district in south Afghanistan mid this month, with the cost of only two deaths.
In the press conference, Azimi stressed that Afghan forces would continue to hunt down militants in the troubled areas of Helmand, Kandahar, Ghazni and Logar provinces.
Escalating insurgency and violent incidents have left around 2,000 people dead since January this year in the war-torn Afghanistan.