Taliban forces undertook an offensive in the summer against the "northern alliance" forces under the command of Gen. Ahmed Shah Masoud, whose army defends a swath of mountainous enclaves in parts of northern Afghanistan not under Taliban control.
In 1710, the Russian army undertook an offensive in two directions: on the Baltic coast (where, in the fall in 1710, Riga was besieged) and in Finland, with attacks on Viborg and Kexholm.
Those fears have begun to be allayed as a force of about 2,000 Iraqi soldiers and police officers has undertaken an offensive in a southern province, Maysan, in one of the largest mobilizations by the government since it took over security responsibilities from the Americans.
The French were anxious to relieve the German pressure against themselves, however, and so they persuaded the Russians to undertake an offensive involving two armies against the Germans in East Prussia simultaneously with one involving four armies against the Austrians in Galicia.
The Russian army, whose proverbial slowness and unwieldy organization dictated a cautious strategy, thus undertook an extra offensive against East Prussia that only an army of high mobility and tight organization could have hoped to execute successfully.
With his remaining forces he undertook a victorious offensive against the Italians in East Africa in January May 1941.
The United States undertook a diplomatic offensive, hoping to avoid a war that could endanger its troops in Afghanistan and seriously disrupt the search for Al Qaeda forces there.
With his fellow Ayyubid opponents subdued, except for Aleppo under an-Nasir Yusuf, as-Salih Ayyub undertook a limited offensive against the Crusaders, sending Fakhr ad-Din to move against their holdings in the Galilee.
And Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York said that, in addition to undertaking a diplomatic offensive, the United States must develop nuclear-detection devices as soon as possible.
Hannibal, whose recent accessions of strength were largely discounted by the necessity of assigning troops to protect his new allies or secure their wavering loyalty, was still too weak to undertake a vigorous offensive.
MOGADISHU, Somalia — The struggling transitional government and its allies have undertaken a limited offensive against radical Islamist insurgents, attacking their positions in several places over the past few days, Somali officials and witnesses said Monday.
