Oz defence analysts call surge in Taliban violence mere propaganda

Melbourne, Apr 16(ANI): Australian defence analysts have described a surge in Taliban violence as a mere propaganda, while the country's Foreign Minister Bob Carr said it will not speed up plans for the withdrawal of Australian forces.

Former military commander in the Middle East, retired Major General John Cantwell has questioned whether the Afghanistan mission has been worth the price of lost lives.

Former coalition chief of operations in Iraq Jim Molan said the attacks were unlikely to continue beyond 24 hours.

"If you look at it for what it is, it's not much. Maybe 20-30 people in Kabul have done what they did late last year and attacked some propaganda targets," The Age quoted Molan, as saying.

General Molan said the objective of the Taliban was to affect the US state of mind.

"From a military point of view, the more of these silly attacks that they do in the capital city, the more of the Taliban we can kill. I don't think the situation is good in Afghanistan but I don't think what happened in Kabul yesterday and today is the real indication of this," he added.

Defence analyst Raspal Khosa pointed out that militants had launched similar attacks in the same diplomatic area of Kabul in September 2011.

"It's been a Taliban tactic to actually focus on municipal centres because they have been challenged quite effectively in the countryside. The focus of the Taliban is creating these spectacular attacks and trying to target political figures," he added.

The comments came after Taliban militants targeted government buildings, embassies and coalition bases in Kabul and three other cites and declared as a beginning of their summer offensive. (ANI)