Taliban can't launch winter campaign: US general

KABUL (Agencies) - A top US general said he expects militant violence in Afghanistan to rise some 30 per cent this winter compared with last year, but that he does not think insurgents have the ability to mount a massive campaign during the country’s harsh weather.

Maj Gen Jeffrey J Schloesser said the US will attack militant cells in areas of Afghanistan where US forces in some cases haven’t operated before, but where officials now realise “the enemy is seeking to remain as a rest and facilitation area in the winter.”

Winter has traditionally been seen as a down time for fighting in Afghanistan, but Schloesser said offensive operations by US troops this year could dispel that notion.