KABUL, Dec 8: The Taliban’s fugitive leader said the planned increase in US troops in Afghanistan would give his fighters incentive to kill and maim more Americans than ever.

Mullah Omar, who is believed to be sheltered by fiercely conservative tribesman on the Afghan-Pakistan border, said battles would “flare up” everywhere.

“The current armed clashes, which now number into tens, will spiral up to hundred of armed clashes. Your current casualties of hundreds will jack up to thousand casualties of dead and injured,” said the statement, which was written in broken English and posted on a website on Sunday that has previously carried militant messages.

Violence in Afghanistan has spiked in the last two years, and 2008 has been the deadliest year for US troops since the 2001 invasion to oust the Taliban for hosting Al Qaida chief Osama bin Laden.

There are more than 60,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, including 32,000 US forces. Though US troop levels are already at their highest since the start of the conflict in 2001, American commanders have requested 20,000 more troops to stem the increase in violence that has engulfed parts of the country.

Former Republican presidential candidate John McCain warned on Sunday during a visit to Afghanistan that the situation “is going to get harder before it gets easier”.

Omar’s message rejected any talks with the government of President Hamid Karzai while foreign troops remain in the country.

Karzai on Monday, during an Eid address, again asked armed militants who are fighting Afghan and Nato forces to lay down their weapons and join the government.—AP