One-eyed Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Omar issued a message Monday to coincide with Eid al-Fitr, the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, claiming that his fighters will escalate hostilities to "surprising" levels in what has already been the bloodiest year since the hard-line regime was ousted five years ago for sheltering al-Qaida operatives.

"With the grace of Allah, the fighting will be increased ... and it will be organized in the next few months," the fugitive leader, believed to be hiding out in lawless tribal areas inside Pakistan, said in a message to the media posted on the Internet. "I am confident the fighting will be a surprise for many."

NATO forces have engaged in pitched battles with an emboldened Taliban in the southern and eastern provinces since taking over security duties from the United States over the summer. U.S. military officials say hundreds of fighters were killed in a two-week campaign last month dubbed Operation Medusa, prompting insurgents to rely more on suicide terrorism and remote-detonated technologies to undermine popular faith in a weak central government.

Taliban leaders now indicate they aim to expand their scope of attack to target people in Britain and across Europe.

"It's acceptable to kill ordinary people in Europe because these are the people who have voted in the government," Mullah Mohammed Amin, a former Taliban official, told Sky News in a weekend interview. "The ordinary people of these countries are behind this -- so we will not spare them ... We will kill them and laugh over them like they are killing us and laughing at us."

Amin said the Taliban boasts increasing numbers and large weapons stockpiles to battle "foreign invaders" for as long as necessary, confirming that foot-soldiers are taking refuge over the border in Pakistan. He added that fighters are also learning from the Iraq insurgency how to use remote-controlled and suicide bombs to more devastating effect.

"They are our best tactic," he said, referring to suicide bombings which have more than doubled since last year, killing scores of civilians and a number of government officials.

Experts say the Taliban recruitment of foreign jihadists and embrace of Iraq-style tactics signals a shift within the movement towards a pan-Islamist ideology that extends beyond Afghan borders.

The Taliban has evolved to view itself as "part of the global jihad," according to Hekmat Karzai, head of the Kabul-based Center for Conflict and Peace Studies. "The Taliban that we knew before was not the same Taliban tactically, ideologically and strategically."

CAPS figures indicate suicide attacks have doubled since last year. The same Taliban that once banned television now relies on the internet, radio and leaflet campaigns to manipulate poor, illiterate Afghans frustrated by a lack of security and basic services. Video footage of Iraqi kidnapping victims being beheaded are reportedly in circulation, along with a tape of Mullah Omar himself inspecting fighters on the front-line of a battle.

As in Iraq, Taliban militants have also set up bogus checkpoints on main roadways, killing Afghans they accuse of collaborating with the state or international forces. CAPS documented one instance in which clean-shaven Taliban disguised as police pulled over a bus in Kandahar province and asked passengers if they worked for the government; those that stepped forward were never heard from again.

Mullah Omar blamed the government of President Hamid Karzai in his statement for cooperating with the West while failing to establish security and combat the narcotics trade, which posted a record opium harvest this year, alleging that members of the government are involved in drug trafficking.

Afghan officials, however, say the Taliban has discarded its formerly strict anti-drug policies and struck deals with farmers and criminal networks, allowing them to cultivate opium in exchange for kickbacks to fuel their insurgency.

President Karzai declined to comment on Mullah Omar's comments Monday, but called on Afghans to "free themselves from the grip of menace ... that has been destroying Afghanistan for years."

Related Links
News From Across The Stans