Fugitive Taleban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar has lost control of the insurgency in Afghanistan and the number of attacks has fallen dramatically, a senior US general said on Monday. Taliban spokesmen have said attacks will resume once the harsh Afghan winter is over. But Major General Eric T. Olson told a news conference in Kabul that the Taliban lacked cohesion and were a fading force in the southern and south-east provinces that had been their strongholds.
"We believe that this spring there will be a number of factors combined to make this so-called spring offensive much less effective and much lesser scale than we've seen in the past in Afghanistan," said Olson.
Remnants of Mullah Omar's hard-line Islamist militia have kept up an insurgency since being driven from power in late 2001 for giving shelter to al Qaeda and its leader, Osama bin Laden, following the September 11 suicide airliner attacks in the United States.
Olson, who last month warned US policymakers against cutting troop levels in Afghanistan because the Taleban and al Qaeda posed a grave threat, now sees a "dramatic decrease" in the number of attacks.
Omar's whereabouts remains a mystery, said Olson, but the US general was convinced that wherever he is, Omar no longer exerts control over the Taleban. "It seems very clear to us, given the disjointed and uncoordinated effort that the Taleban has been able to launch, that those types of leaders, Mullah Omar specifically, are not exercising an effective command and control over Taleban operations in Afghanistan."
He put this down to the success of US-led forces in both combat operations and in winning over support from local communities, leaving the insurgents isolated.