The “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,” the official name of the Taliban, announced the commencement of the 2016 spring offensive, and named it after Mullah Omar, its founder and first leader whose death was disclosed in the summer of 2015. A main goal of “Operation Omari” will be “clearing the remaining areas from enemy control and presence,” according to the Taliban.

The Taliban announced the beginning of “Operation Omari” in a statement released today on its official propaganda website, Voice of Jihad.

“[T]he Islamic Emirate’s leadership eagerly announces this year’s Jihadi Operation in honor of the movement’s founder and first leader, the late Amir ul Mu’mineen Mullah Muhammad Omar Mujahid (May Allah have mercy upon him),” the group said.

The Taliban lauded Omar, claiming he “pacified 95 percent of our nation’s territory from wickedness, corruption and oppression, and vanquished the maligned and wicked” during his rule, only to be deposed by the US after al Qaeda attacked America on Sept. 11, 2001. Under Omar’s leadership, “through holy Jihad, they [the Taliban/muhajideen] defeated the vast multinational coalition arrayed against them,” the statement continued.

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