Word: onset
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...coordinated move against the Taliban on both fronts reflects a U.S. concern to score a morale-boosting victory before the onset of winter bedevils prospects for progress on the ground. The Pentagon has faced mounting domestic political criticism over a four-week bombing campaign that has thus far produced no tangible shift in the balance of power in Afghanistan. The Northern Alliance, too, has criticized the U.S. for failing to subject the Taliban frontlines to sustained aerial bombardment, with frontline commanders questioning whether the Americans were serious about helping tilt the balance in favor of the Alliance. The sustained bombing...
...Northern Alliance forces at Mazari al-Sharif and north of Kabul despite the three-week air campaign. This looks like long war, then, in which the U.S. and Britain may be forced to take greater risks on the ground, even as some alliance partners grow skittish about the onset of winter snows and the Muslim holy month of Ramadan...
...thousands of wretchedly poor Afghans fleeing their homes to avoid the fighting may speak more forcefully to the citizenry of America's alliance partners than the promises of President Bush and Prime Minister Blair that this war is for the benefit of the Afghan people. And as the onset of winter leaves millions potentially facing starvation in a country that was largely dependent on food aid long before the current war began, the humanitarian crisis may soon begin to compete with the priority of overthrowing the Taliban regime in the minds of many alliance partners...
...planned to provoke a ground war in Afghanistan, Osama Bin Laden's September 11 terror strikes were perfectly timed. It is clear that the onset of the harsh Afghan winter and the Muslim holy month of Ramadan create formidable political-military obstacles to the pursuit of American goals, particularly against the backdrop of the complex and even contradictory political objectives guiding the military action. Secretary of State Colin Powell on Sunday called on the Northern Alliance to begin advancing on Kabul, with the objective not of capturing the city but of "investing" it - a military term for laying siege that...
...decisive Northern Alliance offensive before next spring. Ramadan, too, will make it more difficult for the U.S. to maintain its air campaign for fear of jeopardizing both its coalition and its political objectives inside Afghanistan. And the humanitarian crisis that sees millions facing starvation will intensify with the onset of winter, adding to the political pressure on the U.S. to show restraint...