Afghan Offensive

No, it's not the widely expected and anticipated Taliban spring offensive, but rather a US special forces offensive on a high-value target:

According to eye witnesses and local reporters in Kunar province, Coalition forces launched a fierce attack on a small enclave in the village of Mandaghel on Friday afternoon. Warplanes pounded the positions and ground troops, including US special forces and Afghan National Army soldiers, moved in shortly afterwards. The assault appeared to encounter stiff resistance from militants inside the compound. Heavy artillery and gunfire could be heard for hours, according to local witnesses. A handful of civilians were wounded in the strike. The area now appears to be under coalition control but is still sealed off.

US officials declined to name the target of declined to identify who the operation was aimed against, but did indicate that it was a “High Value Target” (HVT) Sources would not rule out that the al Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden himself was the target. Afghan officials said the target could be another senior ranking al Qaeda leader.

The problem is that this is an isolated report and no one else appears to have picked up the story. The two Taliban thugs who were picked up in Pakistan may have provided intel vital to the current operation, but details are still developing on that front - the two were not picked up together but it appears that one gave up the whereabouts of the other. There is no honor among thugs.

The Taliban admit that Mulla Obaidullah Akhund is now in custody and Mulla Akhtar Mohammad Usmani was killed in a coalition air raid. Here's an interesting tidbit on how the Taliban and al Qaeda operate:

The Taliban members said switching off of phones by their senior military commanders and spokesmen always brought bad news. They said this is a sign that something has gone wrong for the Taliban and before long their apprehensions turn out to be true.

One other reason for switching off phones is to evade arrest. After such high-profile arrests, important Taliban figures also try to change their satellite and other phones and change their place of hiding.

Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousaf Ahmadi, earlier, denied that Mulla Obaidullah had been arrested. He insisted their former Defence Minister was in Afghanistan and leading Taliban fighters. It was also suggested by certain Taliban quarters that another man named Obaidullah rather than Mulla Obaidullah was arrested in Quetta. A few reporters were also told that a videotape of Mulla Obaidullah would be made available to prove that he was still a free man. But it wasn`t said when the tape would become available.

Meanwhile, the media appears focused on an incident involving US forces and civilian casualties. The facts and circumstances are far from clear though AP is pushing the claim that the US forces acted inappropriately and killed civilians while taking photo and video evidence from journalists at the scene.