MOSCOW, Oct 11: The Taliban will fight “a long and drawn-out guerrilla war” if US forces begin a ground offensive, the president of Russia’s Ingushetia republic, and a veteran of the ill-fated 1979-89 Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, warned Thursday.

The Taliban cannot defend their air space, but on the ground they will have the advantage, General Ruslan Aushev said.

“The Taliban will fight in small groups and mount an exhausting guerrilla campaign which will go on for a long time,” said the former general, who won the prestigious title “Hero of the Soviet Union” for his conduct in the occupation of Afghanistan, where he spent three years.

The Ingush president added that US commandos “would be extremely visible to the Taliban in Afghanistan’s mountainous landscape.”

“They will be sitting targets,” he said.

Aushev predicted that with the onset of winter, military operations would become less intense, enabling the Taliban to catch their breath, while the opposition Northern Alliance “would retreat to their former positions.”

He suggested that, even newly rearmed by Russia and the West, the Northern Alliance will not be able to take control of the whole of Afghanistan.

“Looking for Osama bin Laden (prime suspect in the September 11 attacks in the United States, according to Washington) will be like looking for a needle in a haystack,” Aushev said.

The Ingush president also expressed concern that the former Soviet republics of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan could be destabilised by Islamist support for Afghanistan.

“The Americans have simply decided to use the situation to bolster their influence in Central Asia” at Russia’s expense, the president added. —AFP