Taliban may take Ramazan break: US military
We'll see whether they do that or not, says Mullen.
KABUL:
The US military is waiting to see whether some Taliban leaders take a break during August for Ramazan, crossing over the border into Pakistan after several weeks of high profile attacks.
"There's an awful lot of discussion about the Taliban leadership leaving their fighters here, and particularly to go back across the border for Ramazan," Admiral Mike Mullen, the top US military officer, referring to talks he had with US commanders in Kandahar and Helmand provinces.
"We'll see whether they do that or not," he told reporters travelling with him in Afghanistan. The Muslim fasting month of Ramazan will start on Monday in Afghanistan. It is a lunar month, but this year coincides almost exactly with the month of August on the Gregorian calendar used in most of the West.
The military assessment about Taliban movements follows a string of high-profile attacks and assassinations that have shaken southern Afghanistan.
The strikes have been particularly acute in Kandahar province, the Taliban's birthplace. A suicide bomber killed the mayor of Kandahar on Wednesday, compounding fears of a dangerous power vacuum in Afghanistan's south in the wake of the assassination of President Hamid Karzai's half-brother, Ahmad Wali Karzai.
Mullen acknowledged a degree of political instability because of the assassinations but added US commanders had not reported a deterioration in day-to-day security in Kandahar.
"At least from the commander's standpoint, they haven't seen that," said Mullen, who flew into Kandahar on Friday.
The US military is waiting to see whether some Taliban leaders take a break during August for Ramazan, crossing over the border into Pakistan after several weeks of high profile attacks.
"There's an awful lot of discussion about the Taliban leadership leaving their fighters here, and particularly to go back across the border for Ramazan," Admiral Mike Mullen, the top US military officer, referring to talks he had with US commanders in Kandahar and Helmand provinces.
"We'll see whether they do that or not," he told reporters travelling with him in Afghanistan. The Muslim fasting month of Ramazan will start on Monday in Afghanistan. It is a lunar month, but this year coincides almost exactly with the month of August on the Gregorian calendar used in most of the West.
The military assessment about Taliban movements follows a string of high-profile attacks and assassinations that have shaken southern Afghanistan.
The strikes have been particularly acute in Kandahar province, the Taliban's birthplace. A suicide bomber killed the mayor of Kandahar on Wednesday, compounding fears of a dangerous power vacuum in Afghanistan's south in the wake of the assassination of President Hamid Karzai's half-brother, Ahmad Wali Karzai.
Mullen acknowledged a degree of political instability because of the assassinations but added US commanders had not reported a deterioration in day-to-day security in Kandahar.
"At least from the commander's standpoint, they haven't seen that," said Mullen, who flew into Kandahar on Friday.