Pakistan sanctions Taliban to avoid global finance blacklist

August 22, 2020

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan issued sweeping financial sanctions against Afghanistan’s Taliban, just as the militant group is in the midst of U.S.-led peace process in the neighboring country. The orders, which were made public late on Friday, identified dozens of individuals, including the Taliban’s chief peace negotiator Abdul Ghani Baradar and several members of the Haqqani family, including Sirajuddin, the current head of the Haqqani network and deputy head of the Taliban.

The list of sanctioned groups included others besides the Taliban and were in keeping with a five-year-old United Nations resolution sanctioning the Afghan group and freezing their assets. The orders were issued as part of Pakistan's efforts to avoid being blacklisted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which monitors money laundering and tracks terrorist groups' activities, according to security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Last year the Paris-based group put Islamabad on a grey list. Until now only Iran and North Korea are blacklisted, which severely restricts a country's international borrowing capabilities. Pakistan is trying to get off the grey list, said the officials.

There was no immediate response from the Taliban, but many of the group's leaders are known to own businesses and property in Pakistan. Many of Taliban leaders, including those heading the much-feared Haqqani network, have lived in Pakistan since the 1980s, when they were part of the Afghan mujahedeen and allies of the United States to end the 10-year invasion of Afghanistan by the former Soviet Union. It ended in February, 1989.

Pakistan has denied giving sanctuary to the Taliban following their ouster in 2001 by the U.S.-led coalition but both Washington and Kabul routinely accused Islamabad of giving them a safe haven. Still it was Pakistan's relationship with the Taliban that Washington eventually sought to exploit to move its peace negotiations with the insurgent movement forward. America signed a peace deal with the Taliban on Feb. 29. The deal is intended to end Washington's nearly 20 years of military engagement in Afghanistan, and has been touted as Afghanistan's best hope for a peace after more than four decades of war.

But even as Washington has already begun withdrawing its soldiers, efforts to get talks started between Kabul's political leadership and the Taliban have been stymied by delays in a prisoner release program.

The two sides are to release prisoners - 5,000 by the government and 1,000 by the Taliban - as a good will gesture ahead of talks. Both sides blame the other for the delays. The timing of Pakistan's decision to issue the orders implementing the restrictive sanctions could also be seen as a move to pressure the Taliban into a quick start to the intra-Afghan negotiations.

Kabul has defied a traditional jirga or council's order to release the last Taliban it is holding, saying it wants 22 Afghan commandos being held by the Taliban freed first. As well as the Taliban, the orders also target al-Qaida and the Islamic State affiliate which has carried out deadly attacks in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

They also take aim at outlawed Pakistani groups like Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), thousands of whom are believed by the U.N. to be hiding in remote regions of Afghanistan. The TTP has declared war on Pakistan, carrying out one of the worst terrorist attacks in the country in 2014 killing 145 children and their teachers at an army public school in northwest Pakistan.

The orders also take aim at outlawed anti-Indian groups considered allied with the country's security services.

Associated Press Writer Asim Tanvir from Multan, Pakistan, contributed to this report.

120 Afghan forces, civilians killed in battle with Taliban

August 13, 2018

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Four days of ferocious fighting between Afghan forces and the Taliban over a key provincial capital has claimed the lives of about 100 Afghan policemen and soldiers and at least 20 civilians, the defense minister said Monday.

The staggering numbers provided by Gen. Tareq Shah Bahrami were the first official casualty toll since the Taliban launched a massive assault on Ghazni, the capital of Ghazni province, last Friday. The multi-pronged assault overwhelmed the city's defenses and allowed insurgents to capture several parts of it. It was a major show of force by the Taliban, who infiltrated deep into this strategic city barely 120 kilometers (75 miles) from the capital, Kabul.

The United States has sent military advisers to aid Afghan forces. The fall of Ghazni, a city of 270,000 people, would mark an important victory for the Taliban. It would also cut off a key highway linking Kabul to the southern provinces, the Taliban's traditional heartland.

Bahrami, the defense minister, spoke to reporters at a press conference in Kabul on Monday. He said the casualty figures are not yet definite and that the numbers might change. He didn't offer a breakdown of the casualties but Interior Minister Wais Ahmad Barmak said nearly 70 policemen were among those killed.

Bahrami said about 1,000 additional troops have been sent to Ghazni and helped prevent the city from falling into Taliban hands. He also said 194 insurgents, including 12 leaders, were killed — with Pakistani, Chechen and Arabs foreign fighters among the dead.

The attack on Ghazni began on Friday, with insurgents infiltrating people's homes and slipping out into the night to attack Afghan forces. The Taliban also destroyed a telecommunications tower on the city's outskirts, cutting off all landline and cell phone links to the city and making it difficult to confirm details of the fighting.

Afghan authorities have insisted that the city would not fall to the Taliban and that Afghan forces remained in control of key government positions and other institutions there. Najib Danish, the Interior Ministry's spokesman, said earlier on Monday that reinforcements have been sent to Ghazni to clear the remaining Taliban.

Col. Fared Mashal, the province's police chief, said the majority of the insurgents fighting in Ghazni are foreigners, including Pakistanis and Chechens. "The Taliban have failed in reaching their goal," Mashal added.

Over the past months, the insurgents have seized several districts across Afghanistan, staging near-daily attacks on Afghan security forces, but have been unable to capture and hold urban areas. The United States and NATO formally concluded their combat mission in Afghanistan at the end of 2014, but have since then repeatedly come to the aid of Afghan forces as they struggle to combat the resurgent Taliban.

The United Nations has expressed its concerns for the civilians caught up in the fighting in Ghazni. Ghazni's residents "have seen their city turn into a battlefield since Friday morning, with fighting and clashes reportedly still ongoing. We have received initial reports of a number of civilian casualties and of people trying to reach safe areas outside of the city," said Rik Peeperkorn, acting U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Afghanistan.

Ghazni's hospitals are running out of medicines and people are unable to safely bring casualties, Peeperkorn's statement added. Electricity, water supply and food are also running low, the statement said.

"Parties to the conflict need to ensure that access to medical services is not denied and respect for medical facilities and staff is upheld," Peeperkom said. Meanwhile, the International Federation of Journalists and the Afghan Independent Journalists Association jointly put out a statement condemning the violence in Ghazni and attacks on journalists there.

Media technician Mohammad Dawood was among those killed in Ghazni, the statement said, and also condemned the torching of Ghazni's radio and television station.

Associated Press reporter Mohammad Anwar Danishyar in Kabul, Afghanistan, contributed to this report.

Russia says Taliban plan to attend Afghan talks in Moscow

August 21, 2018

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia said Tuesday that the Taliban have accepted an invitation for talks next month, in what promises to be one of the insurgent group's biggest diplomatic forays since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.

The announcement of the planned talks comes as the Taliban have expanded their footprint across Afghanistan and launched an unrelenting wave of attacks, including a prolonged assault on Ghazni, a strategic city near Kabul, earlier this month.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow invited the Taliban to the Sept. 4 talks and was hoping for "productive" negotiations. "The first reaction was positive, they are planning to take part in the meeting," he said.

Lavrov reaffirmed that Russia's contacts with the Taliban aim to ensure the safety of Russian citizens in Afghanistan and encourage the insurgents to abandon hostilities and engage in a dialogue with the government.

A senior Taliban official confirmed they would send a delegation to Russia "for the sake of finding peace in Afghanistan." The official said the group plans to send representatives to other countries in the region, including Pakistan and China, "to take them into confidence and address their concerns."

"We are in contact with all neighbors," the official said, adding that the Taliban routinely hold meetings with European officials at the group's political office in the Gulf state of Qatar. The Taliban official spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

Lavrov rejected claims by the Afghan government that Russia is hoping to use the Taliban to combat the Islamic State group. An IS affiliate in Afghanistan has staged several devastating attacks in recent years and has repeatedly clashed with the Taliban. The IS branch is seen as particularly threatening to Russia because it includes a large number of battle-hardened Uzbek militants.

"I can't even hypothetically imagine how Russia could use the Taliban for fighting the IS," Lavrov said at a news conference. "We fight the IS with all means available, we support Syria in that struggle, we help equip the Iraqi army for the same goal and we naturally would like to see the people of Afghanistan getting rid of the IS."

In a separate statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry strongly criticized the claim, made by Afghan Ambassador Abdul Qayyum Kochai, saying it's based on "insinuations" and "completely distorts the meaning of Russia's policy on Afghanistan."

"It's deplorable that instead of helping maintain partnership and mutual trust between Russia and Afghanistan, the Afghan ambassador has taken steps leading in the opposite direction," the ministry said.

It hailed the Afghan government's offer of a holiday cease-fire, adding that the Taliban's apparent rejection of it is regrettable. The ministry said the Sept. 4 talks in Moscow would include representatives of Russia, Afghanistan, China, Pakistan, Iran and India, and are intended to "help advance the process of national reconciliation in Afghanistan and establish peace in the country as soon as possible." It said other countries, including the U.S., also have been invited to attend.

The Taliban have raised their diplomatic profile in recent weeks by sending official delegations to Uzbekistan and Indonesia, and say they held talks with a senior U.S. diplomat in Qatar last month. The group has refused direct talks with the Afghan government, which it views as a U.S. puppet, saying it will only negotiate the end of the 17-year war directly with Washington.

Russian President Vladimir Putin supported the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks and the deployment of U.S. forces to former Soviet states in Central Asia. But Moscow has grown increasingly critical of U.S. actions as relations with Washington have soured in recent years, and is stepping up its own diplomatic outreach across the region.

Gannon reported from Islamabad.

Taliban's political stature rises with talks in Uzbekistan

August 12, 2018

ISLAMABAD (AP) — In a rare diplomatic foray and the strongest sign yet of increasing Taliban political clout in the region, the head of the insurgents' political office led a delegation to Uzbekistan to meet senior Foreign Ministry officials there, Uzbek and Taliban officials said.

Taliban political chief Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai represented the insurgents in the four-day talks that ended on Friday and included meetings with Uzbekistan's Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov as well as the country's special representative to Afghanistan Ismatilla Irgashev.

The meetings follow an offer made by Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev in March to broker peace in Afghanistan. Suhail Shaheen, spokesman for the Taliban's political office in Qatar, said in a statement to The Associated Press on Saturday that discussions covered everything from withdrawal of international troops from Afghanistan to peace prospects and possible Uzbek-funded development projects that could include railway lines and electricity.

Shaheen said Uzbek officials discussed their security concerns surrounding the development projects. "The Taliban also exchanged views with the Uzbek officials about the withdrawal of the foreign troops and reconciliation in Afghanistan," he said in the statement.

Uzbek's Foreign Affairs Ministry website offered a terse announcement on the visit, saying "the sides exchanged views on prospects of the peace process in Afghanistan. " Still, the meetings are significant, coming as the Taliban are ramping up pressure on Afghan security forces with relentless and deadly attacks. Washington has held preliminary talks with the insurgents in an attempt to find a negotiated end to Afghanistan's protracted war.

The Taliban have gained increasing attention from Russia as well as Uzbekistan, which view the insurgency as a bulwark against the spread of the Islamic State group in Afghanistan. The United States has accused Moscow of giving weapons to the Taliban.

Still, Andrew Wilder, vice president of Asia programs at the U.S. Institute of Peace said Washington would welcome a "constructive" Russian role in finding a way toward a peace pact in Afghanistan. "What wouldn't be helpful would be if the Uzbek efforts to facilitate lines of communication with the Taliban are not closely coordinated with the Afghan government," he said.

"High profile talks by foreign governments with the Taliban that exclude the Afghan government risk providing too much legitimacy to the Taliban without getting much in return," Wilder said. On Sunday, Ehsanullah Taheri, the spokesman of Afghanistan's High Peace Council, a wide-encompassing body tasked with finding a path to peace with the government's armed opponents, said Uzbek officials had the Afghan government's approval for the meeting.

"Afghan government welcomes any effort regarding the Afghan peace process, especially those attempts which can lead us to an Afghan-owned and Afghan-led peace process," said Taheri. Still, there was no indication from either side that progress toward substantive talks between the Taliban and the government was made.

For Uzbekistan, the IS presence is particularly worrisome as hundreds of its fighters are former members of the radical Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, a declared terrorist group considered the architect of some of the more horrific attacks carried out by IS in Afghanistan.

Last year, there were reports that the son of Tahir Yuldashev, the powerful Uzbek leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, who was killed in a U.S. missile strike in Pakistan in 2009, was leading efforts to help expand IS influence in Afghanistan.

Last week, Afghan security forces reportedly rescued scores of Afghan Uzbeks who had declared their allegiance to IS when they came under attack by Taliban fighters in northern Afghanistan, not far from the border with Uzbekistan. The rescued Uzbek warriors subsequently declared they would join the peace process.

Most of those rescued were Afghan Uzbeks loyal to Afghanistan's Vice President Rashid Dostum who wet over and joined IS after Dostum fell out with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and fled to Turkey in May last year to live in self-imposed exile there.

Coincidentally, the rescue of Afghan Uzbeks from the battle with the Taliban came just days after Dostum returned to Afghanistan and reconciled with Ghani's government.

Associated Press Writer Rahim Faiez in Kabul, Afghanistan contributed to this report.

Taliban announce cease-fire over Eid holiday for 1st time

June 09, 2018

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Afghan Taliban announced a three-day cease-fire over the Eid al-Fitr holiday at the end of the holy month of Ramadan, a first for the group, following an earlier cease-fire announcement by the government.

A statement released Saturday by the Taliban said that they would defend themselves in case of any attack. They say foreign forces are excluded from the cease-fire and Taliban operations would continue against them.

The statement added that the leadership of the Taliban may also consider releasing prisoners of war, if they promise not to return to the battlefield. Mohammad Haroon Chakhansuri, spokesman for the Afghan president, welcomed the cease-fire announcement during a news conference in Kabul.

"We hope that (the Taliban) will be committed to implementing their announcement of the cease-fire," he said. "The Afghan government will take all steps needed to make sure that there is no bloodshed in Afghanistan."

"The government of Afghanistan is hopeful that this process will become a long term process and will result in a sustainable peace," Chakhansuri added. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Thursday announced a weeklong cease-fire with the Taliban to coincide with the holiday.

A statement sent from the president's office on Thursday said the government's cease-fire will begin on 27 Ramadan, or June 12 on the Western calendar, and last through the Eid al-Fitr holiday, until around June 19, adding the cease-fire does not include al-Qaida or the Islamic State group.

The palace statement referred to a gathering of Afghanistan's top clerics last week in which they issued a decree against suicide attacks and called for peace talks. A suicide bomber struck just outside the gathering as it was dispersing, killing at least seven people and wounding 20 in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group.

The Taliban had denounced the gathering, insisting that its jihad, or holy war, against foreign invaders was justified. It instead urged the clerics to side with it against the "occupation." NATO has led international security efforts in Afghanistan since 2003. It wound down its combat mission in 2014 but its Resolute Support mission comprises almost 16,000 troops from around 40 countries.

The conflict has been at a stalemate for several years, and NATO's best chances of leaving lie in the Taliban agreeing to peace talks and eventually joining the government. The Trump administration has sent additional troops to try to change the course of America's longest war.

On Friday, senior U.S. officials said they will intensify combat against the Islamic State affiliate in the country during the Kabul government's temporary halt to attacks on the Taliban. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said this could, for example, allow the U.S. to partially shift the focus of aerial surveillance from the Taliban to IS fighters as well as al-Qaida extremists, who remain a threat 17 years after the U.S. invaded. Mattis spoke to reporters during a break in a NATO defense ministers meeting.

In the meantime, Taliban insurgents have continued to carry out attacks. Just hours before the Taliban's announcement, at least 17 soldiers were killed when their checkpoint came under attack by Taliban fighters in western Herat province, said Gelani Farhad, spokesman for the provincial governor.

Farhad said one soldier was wounded. He added that eight insurgents were killed and more than a dozen others were wounded in the gun battle in Zewal district. In northern Kunduz province, at least 13 local policemen were killed early Saturday when their checkpoint came under an attack by Taliban fighters, said Nematullah Temori, spokesman for the provincial governor.

Temori said seven others were wounded in Qala-e Zal district. Around 10 insurgents were also killed and nine others wounded during the battle, he said. In eastern Nangarhar province, a possible candidate for a district council seat was killed when his vehicle was destroyed by a sticky bomb Saturday, said Mohammad Nasim, Rodat district governor.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on its news agency Aamaq website. Nasim said that Ghulam Mohiadin was a district level official for the education department and planned to run for the district council later this year.

Both the Taliban and Islamic state group are active in eastern Afghanistan, especially in Nangarhar. In northern Sari Pul, at least six public protection forces were killed after a checkpoint came under an attack by Taliban fighters, said Zabi Amani, spokesman for the provincial governor.

Amani said that seven other forces were wounded in the attack late Frday night near Sari Pul city. "Insurgents have set fire to two military Humvees as well as the checkpoint," he said. He said there was a report of a single Taliban casualty but the group has not commented.

Taliban leader: Afghan war will end only when NATO leaves

June 23, 2017

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The leader of the Afghan Taliban said on Friday that a planned U.S. troop surge will not end the protracted war in the country and vowed to fight on until a full withdrawal of NATO troops from Afghanistan.

The remarks by Maulvi Haibatullah Akhunzadah came in a message ahead of the Muslim holiday of Eid al Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan — something the Taliban do every year to rally followers.

It also followed a horrific suicide car bombing claimed by the Taliban in Afghanistan's Helmand province that targeted Afghan troops and government workers waiting to collect their pay ahead of the holiday.

By Friday, the death toll from that attack rose to 34 people, most of them civilians, provincial government spokesman Omar Zwak told The Associated Press. In the Taliban message this year, the militant leader seemed to harden his stance, saying the Afghan government is too corrupt to stay on and warning of another civil war in Kabul — along the lines of the 1992 fighting when mujahedeen groups threw out the Communist government in Afghanistan and turned their guns on each other. That conflict killed more than 50,000 civilians and gave rise to the Taliban.

The Taliban say they are waging war against the Kabul government and not targeting civilians. In their claim of the Helmand attack, they insisted no civilians died. Zwak, however said, most of the dead in the attack in the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah, were civilians, although there were soldiers inside the bank at the time of the explosion. Witnesses said children were among the dozens wounded.

Earlier, the Defense Ministry had urged soldiers to collect their salaries from banks located inside army bases. If they do go to banks elsewhere, they should refrain from wearing their uniforms, the ministry's deputy spokesman Mohammad Radmanish told the AP.

Outside a hospital in Lashkar Gah, Esmatullah Khan, 34, said Friday he had donated blood to help some of the nearly 70 wounded in the attack. Akhunzadah, the Taliban leader, also boasted of allegedly growing international support, saying "mainstream entities of the world admit (the Taliban) effectiveness, legitimacy and success," an apparent reference to reports of overtures by Russia and China to the Taliban amid concerns of an emerging Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan.

While the IS affiliate's stronghold is in eastern Afghanistan's Nangarhar province, the branch has managed also to stage high-profile attacks in Kabul and other cities. The presence of battle-hardened Uzbek militants in the ranks also further worries Moscow.

After urging Afghans to embrace holy war, or jihad, to oust foreign troops, Akhunzadah's rambling message went on to touch upon the conflict between Gulf Arab states and Qatar, saying he was "saddened" by the feud.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt have accused Qatar of supporting extremists, a charge that Doha denies.

Associated Press Writers Kathy Gannon in Islamabad and Abdul Khaliq in Lashkar Gah, Afghanistan, contributed to this report.

US troops killed near Bagram, Taliban insurgency intensifies

December 22, 2015

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A suicide attacker rammed an explosives-laden motorcycle into a joint NATO-Afghan patrol Monday, killing six American troops in the deadliest attack on international forces since August. Two U.S. troops and an Afghan were wounded.

The soldiers were targeted as they moved through a village near Bagram Airfield, the largest U.S. military facility in Afghanistan, NATO and Afghan officials said. The Taliban claimed responsibility. A U.S. official confirmed that six American troops were killed and two wounded. An Afghan was also wounded. The official was not authorized to discuss the incident publicly so spoke on condition of anonymity.

"Our heartfelt sympathies go out to the families and friends of those affected in this tragic incident, especially during this holiday season," U.S. Army Brig. Gen. William Shoffner, head of public affairs at NATO's Resolute Support base in the Afghan capital Kabul, said in a statement.

In New York, Police Commissioner William Bratton said Monday that a New York City police detective, Joseph Lemm, was one of the six American killed in the attack. Lemm was a 15-year-old veteran of the New York Police Department and worked in the Bronx Warrant Squad. Bratton says Lemm served in the U.S. National Guard and, while a member of the police force, he had been deployed twice to Afghanistan and once to Iraq. He leaves behind a wife and three children.

In Washington, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the nation's thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families and their loved ones, and that the U.S. will continue to work jointly with Afghans to promote peace and stability in their country.

Secretary of Defense Ash Carter in statement called the attack "a painful reminder of the dangers our troops face every day in Afghanistan." It was the deadliest attack on foreign troops in four months. On Aug. 22, three American contractors with the RS base were killed in a suicide attack in Kabul. On Aug. 7 and 8, Kabul was the scene of three insurgent attacks within 24 hours that left at least 35 people dead. One of the attacks, on a U.S. special operations forces base outside Kabul, killed one U.S soldier and eight Afghan civilian contractors.

In the year since the international drawdown, the Taliban insurgency has intensified. Although the combat mission ended last year, around 9,800 U.S. troops and almost 4,000 NATO forces remain in Afghanistan. They have a mandate to "train, assist and advise" their Afghan counterparts, who are now effectively fighting a battle-hardened Taliban alone.

Monday's attack came as Taliban fighters and government forces battled for control of a strategic district in the southern province of Helmand after it was overrun by insurgents, delivering a serious blow to the government's thinly spread and exhausted forces.

Mohammad Jan Rasulyar, Helmand's deputy governor, said insurgents took control of Sangin district late Sunday. Rasulyar had taken the unusual step of alerting Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to the dire security situation and requesting urgent reinforcements through an open letter posted on Facebook on Sunday, saying that he had not been able to make contact through other means.

"We had to take to social media to reach you as Helmand is falling into the hands of the enemy and it requires your immediate attention," Rasulyar wrote in his Facebook post to Ghani. On Monday, Defense Ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri said Afghan Army commandoes and special forces had arrived in Sangin to push a counter-offensive. He told reporters the Afghan air force had conducted 160 combat and transport flights over Sangin in the past 48 hours.

Helmand is an important Taliban base as it produces most of the world's opium, a crop that helps fund the insurgency. Sangin district has bounced in and out of Taliban control for some years, and fighting there has produced some of the highest casualty counts among Afghan and international forces in 14 years of war.

British forces saw intensive fighting there at the height of the war in 2006 and 2007. Among the 450 British troops killed during the country's combat mission in Afghanistan, more than 100 died in Sangin. In 2008, a battalion of U.S. Marines arrived in Helmand, followed a year later by the first wave of President Barack Obama's "surge" effort against the Taliban, comprising 11,000 Marines who conducted operations across the province.

The head of Helmand's provincial council, Muhammad Kareem Atal, said about 65 percent of Helmand is now under Taliban control. "In every district either we are stepping back or we are handing territory over to Taliban, but still, until now, no serious action has been taken," he said, referring to a perceived lack of support from the capital.

Districts across Helmand, including Nad Ali, Kajaki, Musa Qala, Naw Zad, Gereshk and Garmser, have all been threatened by Taliban takeover in recent months. Insurgents are also believed to be dug in on the outskirts of the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah.

Taliban fighters, sometimes working with other insurgent groups like the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, have managed to overrun many districts across the country this year, and also staged a three-day takeover of the major northern city of Kunduz. They rarely hold territory for more than a few hours or days, but the impact on the morale of Afghan forces, and people, is substantial.

Atal said more than 2,000 security forces personnel had been killed fighting in Helmand in 2015. He said a major reason Afghan forces were "losing" was the large number of soldiers and police deserting their posts in the face of the Taliban onslaught.

Fighting in Afghanistan has intensified since the announcement in late July that the founder and leader of the Taliban, Mullah Mohammad Omar, had been dead for more than two years. His deputy, Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, succeeded him, causing internal ructions and delaying the likelihood that a peace dialogue with the Afghan government, halted after the announcement of Mullah Omar's death, will restart in the foreseeable future.

The expected winter lull in fighting has not yet taken place in the warmer southern provinces. U.S. and Afghan military leaders say they are expecting a hot winter, followed by a tough fight throughout 2016.

The Pentagon released a report last week warning that the security situation in Afghanistan would deteriorate as a "resilient Taliban-led insurgency remains an enduring threat to U.S., coalition, and Afghan forces, as well as to the Afghan people."

Associated Press writers Mirwais Khan in Kandahar, Afghanistan, and Humayoon Babur and Amir Shah in Kabul and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed to this story.

Taliban leader denies being wounded in internal dispute

December 06, 2015

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansoor has released a rare audio recording in which he denies claims by an Afghan official that he was wounded in a shootout during a meeting with other commanders in Pakistan last week.

In a 17-minute audio recording sent to media by the Taliban late Saturday, Mansoor dismissed what he called "baseless claims" that were "part of the agenda of the enemy." The Taliban had earlier sent The Associated Press a two-minute version of the recording.

The voice resembled that in previous recordings issued by Mansoor, who succeeded longtime Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar after his death was announced last summer. Mansoor has since faced internal challenges to his leadership, including by a breakaway faction that has battled fighters loyal to him.

"I haven't seen Kuchlak in years," he said, referring to an area near the Pakistani city of Quetta where the dispute was said to have taken place. He ordered his fighters to pay no heed to "baseless rumors" and to continue waging jihad, or holy war, against the Afghan government.

The audio message was released two days after Sultan Faizy, the spokesman for Afghanistan's First Vice President Abdul Rasheed Dostum, claimed that Mansoor was wounded in a firefight that broke out at a gathering of Taliban figures in Pakistan. He said the incident took place in the home of Mullah Abdullah Sarhadi, a former Taliban official, and that six Taliban figures, including Sarhadi, were killed.

"I am safe and my colleagues are safe. I am among my colleagues," Mansoor said, adding that he had not wanted to release the audio recording but was convinced to do so by his aides. The Afghan government's announcement last summer that Mullah Omar had died nearly two years earlier in Pakistan derailed nascent peace talks between Kabul and the Taliban that had been brokered by Islamabad.

In the recording, Mansoor insisted the Taliban would continue fighting until they established "Islamic government" in Afghanistan and would resist outside pressure to reach a political settlement. The Taliban ruled Afghanistan according to a harsh interpretation of Islamic law until the group was toppled by a U.S.-led invasion following the Sept. 11 attacks.

Mansoor established the timing of the recording by referring to a battle between Afghan forces and the Taliban in Wardak province on Friday which killed a number of civilians. He expressed condolences to those killed and wished a swift recovery for civilians who were wounded.

Afghan Taliban vow attacks over Ramadan after being hacked

KABUL | Fri Jul 5, 2013

(Reuters) - The Afghan Taliban promised on Friday to continue attacks over Ramadan, rejecting as a fake an insurgent email promising a halt in violence over the coming Muslim holy month and saying it was the work of government intelligence.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the message sent in his name promising a temporary cessation of violence with next week's start of Ramadan was the latest incident in a simmering cyber war between intelligence agencies and the insurgents.

"In that mail the enemy losers have tried to influence attacks by mujahideen fighters," Mujahid said. "We strongly reject sending any such email on a stoppage of operations."

Afghan spy agency the National Directorate of Security has increasingly targeted the Taliban's sophisticated messaging network, which includes websites and email accounts, social media and spokesmen using noms de guerre.

The Taliban use Afghanistan's improving phone network to distribute anti-government messages and use Twitter to claim largely improbable successes as most foreign combat troops look to leave the country by 2014.

The Taliban, who ruled Afghanistan with an iron fist from 1996 to 2001, are seeking to overthrow the U.S.-backed government and end foreign occupation.

While Ramadan is usually a relatively quiet month for insurgent attacks marked mainly by the use of roadside bombs rather than direct assaults by armed fighters, Zabihullah said the month also carried extra religious significance for insurgents.

"During the holy month of Ramadan, jihad has major rewards. And mujahideen will continue to employ all their fighting techniques to mount attacks on the enemy," he said.

Taliban fighters in 2011 used car bombs to attack a British government cultural center in the Afghan capital over the Ramadan period, killing almost a dozen people.

This year the militants have stepped up attacks ahead of the Afghan summer months. Insurgents including a suicide bomber attacked a foreign logistics and supply company last week in Kabul, the latest in a string of daring assaults in the capital.

Kabul's police chief General Mohammad Ayoub Salangi said on Friday that security forces had arrested three people in a night raid and seized five suicide bomb vests.

(Reporting by Rob Taylor and Mirwais Harooni; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Source: Reuters.
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/05/us-afghanistan-taliban-idUSBRE9640DT20130705.

Taliban to attend Paris meeting on Afghanistan

December 10, 2012

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban will attend a meeting in France to talk about Afghanistan's future but will not discuss peace and reconciliation, the militant group's spokesman said Monday.

The meeting, organized by a French think tank on the outskirts of Paris, is not expected to produce results, but it will produce a rare face-to-face gathering of Afghanistan's major players. Only one such meeting, far less inclusive, has been held this year with Taliban participation. It was organized by a Japanese university in Kyoto six months ago.

Zabiullah Mujahid said two of the Taliban's representatives will attend next week's meeting to outline their policies. Representatives from Afghanistan's High Peace Council, political parties opposed to the Taliban, and the militant Islamist group Hezb-e-Islami also are expected to attend.

French Foreign Ministry deputy spokesman Vincent Floreani said the intra-Afghan conference would take place this month under the auspices of the Foundation for Strategic Research. It will be closed to the media and will involve "all components of Afghan society," he said. He declined to specify the date or indicate the location, citing security concerns.

Peace talks with the Taliban remained stalled, but there are signs of increasing efforts to get them back on track. U.S.-backed talks broke down last March in a dispute over the release of five Taliban detainees held in U.S. custody in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai wants the peace talks to be led by his government and the peace council, a body he set up to negotiate with the insurgency. It was unclear who would represent the Afghan government, but an official who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to reporters said that Education Minister Farooq Wardak may attend along with one other official.

Pakistan is also a key player in the peace process, and its release of a number of Taliban prisoners earlier in the month was seen as a key step in its participation. The cooperation of Pakistan, which has long-standing ties to the Taliban, is seen as pivotal in restarting the talks. The United States and its allies are trying to get movement ahead of the Afghan presidential election in 2014, the year that most foreign combat troops are set to leave the country.

"Two people are going from the Taliban side. We are not giving the names now," Mujahid said. "We are not going to talk about the peace process. We will express our ideas and policy. We are not going to discuss peace. This gathering is not about peace."

Ghairat Baheer, who will attend and represent his father-in-law Hekmatyar, said Hezb-e-Islami was supporting the initiative by the French because it focused on a discussion among Afghans. "It is a good forum for exchanging views and expressing oneself and understanding each other's point of view," Baheer said. "The intra-Afghan dialogue is the only solution. The Taliban have shown a willingness to participate."

Muhammad Mohaqeq, a member of the peace council and top leader of Afghan Shiites and the Hazara minority ethnic faction, said the peace process would be a topic for discussion at the meeting. "There will be people from the government side, from Hezb-e-Islami and the Taliban," he said. "We are going to talk about the peace process and all sides will be there. We will also talk about the elections and the situation in Afghanistan."

Mohaqeq, a member of the National Front, which represents members of the former Northern Alliance that fought the Taliban before the U.S. invasion 11 years ago, said he and another two people from the group will attend. One of the two is Ahmad Zia Masood, the brother of the late Northern Alliance chief Ahmad Shah Masood, considered a national hero by anti-Taliban forces.

Associated Press writers Jamey Keaten in Paris and Kathy Gannon in Islamabad contributed.

476 inmates escape from Afghan prison, Taliban claims responsibility

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Over 470 inmates escaped from a prison in Kandahar, south of Afghanistan early Monday, an official said.

"Some 476 inmates made their good escape from the Kandahar jail early today," chief of the Kandahar jail Ghulam Dastgir Mayar told Xinhua.

He also admitted that the prisoners made their escape after digging a hole.

Meantime, deputy to Kandahar provincial police chief Shir Shah Yusufzai told Xinhua that so far eight escaped prisoners had been re-arrested.

Some 1,000 inmates, according to an official who declined to give his name, had been held in the Kandahar jail. This is the third time that the Kandahar jail has been attacked over the past few years and the detainees have been able to escape.

On the other hand, Qari Yusuf Ahmadi who claims to speak for the Taliban outfit stressed that over 500 Taliban detainees have escaped from the jail.

In talks with media via telephone from an undisclosed location, the Taliban purported spokesman emphasized that militants, after digging a 360-meter long tunnel, enabled 541 militants including 106 commanders to escape.

Kandahar, the former stronghold of Taliban, is the second major base of the NATO and U.S. troops after Bagram, in Afghanistan.

Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-04/25/c_13844690.htm.

Taliban supports Afghan protest over Quran burning in U.S.

KABUL, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Taliban outfit fighting Afghan and NATO-led troops in Afghanistan supported demonstrations over Quran burning in the United States, a statement of the outfit sent to media on Wednesday said.

"It was a clear violation of the belief of 1.5 billion inhabitants (Muslims) of the world and should have called for a harsh punishment for the perpetrators," the statement said.

The statement added that "the Afghan people in the last few days showed that they would never remain indifferent as regards their sacrosanct but are ready to offer every sacrifice in their defense."

Issued by Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the name of the ousted Taliban regime, the statement stated, "The Islamic enthusiasm, ideological conscience and resurgence shown by the Afghan people, as a matter of pride and satisfaction and commends the efforts made and the sacrifices offered in the cause of the Holy Quran."

In the demonstrations staged in several Afghan cities including the capital city Kabul since April 1, according to officials, 22 people including seven staff of United Nations have been killed and 143 others including a UN employee sustained injuries.

Some officials including the government of northern Balkh province Atta Mohammad Noor and head of Kandahar's Provincial Council Ahmad Wali Karzai have not ruled out the involvement of Taliban militants, saying the insurgents have exploited the situation to destabilize security.

Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-04/06/c_13815356.htm.

Afghan Taliban calls on Libya to defend itself from intervention

Sun, 20 Mar 2011

Kabul - The Taliban in Afghanistan on Sunday condemned the United Nations-backed military intervention in Libya and urged the North African country to defend itself.

The Taliban said in a statement "strongly condemn" the air strikes by the United States, Britain and French forces as an "adventure of the Western countries in the internal conflict of the people of Libya".

"We believe, the Western colonialists do not want a solution in Libya on the basis of aspirations of the people but rather have plans to weaken the Islamic country in a war of attrition and then occupy its oil reserves through a direct invasion," the Taliban said.

Taliban insurgents have been fighting in Afghanistan since 2001, when the Taliban government was ousted in a US-led military operation.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/372572,calls-libya-defend-intervention.html.

Afghan government next to fall after Egypt: Taliban

WASHINGTON — The Taliban warned Sunday that the US-backed Afghan government is next in line to get toppled by its people after the collapse of Hosni Mubarak's regime in Egypt, US-based monitors said.

Mubarak's ouster on Friday after three decades in power demonstrates that "many weapons and soldiers and much foreign assistance cannot keep a regime in power and that they cannot always hinder the caravan of 'hope and demands' of a nation," the Taliban said on its website, according to SITE Intelligence Group.

The Pashto-language statement said the Afghan people would rise up and overthrow the Kabul government due to its corruption and the "atrocities" committed by the United States in the country during a nearly decade-old military campaign.

The United States will eventually turn against Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government just as it did against Mubarak in Egypt, it continued.

The group also also urged Egyptians to form an Islamic government and to "foil the plots of the foreign enemies," according to SITE.

Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved.

Taliban not allied to Al-Qaeda: paper

WARNING: Article contains propaganda!

* * * * *

Agence France-Presse
Washington, February 07, 2011

US scholars believe Afghanistan's Taliban has been wrongly perceived as ideological allies of Al-Qaeda, The New York Times reported late Sunday.

Citing a report to be published Monday by New York University, the newspaper said authors of the study think the guerrilla group
could be persuaded to renounce Al-Qaeda.

NATO plans to begin this year handing Afghan forces the security lead in the battle against Taliban rebels, province by province, with the aim of giving them full responsibility across the nation by 2014.

The alliance hopes to build up Afghan security forces to 306,000 soldiers and police by the end of the year to begin taking over from around 140,000 foreign troops fighting across the nation.

According to The Times, the university report says there was substantial friction between the groups' leaders before the September 11, 2001, attacks and that hostility has only intensified.

The authors, Alex Strick van Linschoten and Felix Kuehn, have worked in Afghanistan for years and argue that intensified military operations against the Taliban may make it harder to reach a settlement.

The report, "Separating the Taliban from Al Qaeda: The Core of Success in Afghanistan," says attacks on Taliban field commanders and provincial leaders will leave the movement open to younger, more radical fighters and will give Al-Qaeda greater influence, the paper pointed out.

The authors suggest that the United States should engage older Taliban leaders before they lose control of the movement.

The authors do not oppose NATO's war, but suggest that negotiations should accompany the fighting, The Times said.

A political settlement is necessary to address the underlying reasons for the insurgency, they write. Otherwise, they warn, the conflict will escalate.

Source: Hindustan Times.
Link: http://www.hindustantimes.com/Taliban-not-allied-to-Al-Qaeda-paper/Article1-659485.aspx.

Remarks of the Spokesman of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Regarding the Usage of Poisonous Chemical Weapons in Afghanistan by the Invading Americans

Thursday, December 02, 2010

In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

On the basis of evidence, the American invaders have used banned weapons like thermobaric and bunker buster bombs against defenseless civilian Afghans in various parts of the country in the past few years under the pretext of eradicating Mujahideen. Many congenital deformities have occurred in infants in every part of the country as a result of the usage of the chemical weapons. Furthermore, the residents have been suffering from various diseases.

As a proof, we would like to refer to the following documents:

1. An Afghan investigative research scholar, Dr. Mohammad Daud Miraki conducted field research in the southern provinces of the country. He accumulated enough empirical evidence regarding the use of poisonous weapons in the area.

2. In 2002, a research team of Canadian Medical Research Center visited southern provinces of Afghanistan and found that the magnitude of uranium isotopes in the inhabitants was soaring between 300 and 2000 nanograms while the accepted limit is 10 nanograms.

3. The Al-alam TV website has posted a video report about newly-born infants suffering from deformities and abnormal body parts caused by the usage of biological weapons. See http://www.alalam.ir/node/307570.

4. A Senior official of the Kabul Regime’s Ministry of Health told media some times ago that they had obtained evidences, indicating that the Americans had used depleted uranium munitions and phosphorus bombs in Tora bora in east Afghanistan in 2001. Deformed infants have been born in the area or some have deformed body parts or suffering from weightlessness or mental retardation. Diseases like leukemia (blood white cells disease) is widespread in the area. Sperms "infertility" malfunction in males have been noticed. Many persons have died without an open wound.

All Americans military and civilian rulers are held responsible for these anti-human crimes. Ironically, still, the crimes have been continuing in Afghanistan at the hands of the invading Americans and their coalition forces, in a time that many human rights organizations including those of the United Nations and the Human Rights Watch have presence in the country.

To fulfill its responsibility, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan calls on all human rights organizations and other relevant entities, organizations and independent personalities to take steps, as a part of their responsibility, to impede those who are involved in human rights violations and bring them to human rights crimes tribunals. Moreover, speed up efforts aimed at disseminating awareness and unearthing more cases of crimes against humanity.

Qari Muhammad Yousuf Ahmadi

Spokesman of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

2010-12-02

Source: Theunjustmedia.
Link: http://theunjustmedia.com/Afghanistan/Statements/Dec10/Remarks%20of%20the%20Spokesman%20of%20the%20Islamic%20Emirate%20of%20Afghanistan%20Regarding%20the%20Usage%20of%20Poisonous%20Chemical%20Weapons%20in%20Afghanistan%20by%20the%20Invading%20Americans.htm.

Statement of the Leadership Council of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan on the occasion of the commencement of Al-Faath Operations

Statement of the Leadership Council of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan on the occasion of the commencement of Al-Faath Operations

Saturday, May 08, 2010

In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

Help from Allah and a speedy victory. So give the good news to the Believers.

After the inception of the legitimate Jihad of the people of Afghanistan against the invading coalition under the leader of America and the vast resistance sprawling on a period of nine years, the invading Americans and their blind coalition followers willy-nilly reached a point that the NATO foreign ministers in a recent gathering had to take a decision that they should withdraw their morale-sagging troops from Afghanistan.

The invaders may paint the disgraceful defeat of their forces at the hands of the Afghan Mujahideen as they like; it is up to their defeatist logic. But the ground realities in Afghanistan show that the retreat is a clear-cut defeat of the non-believing forces versus the forces of belief and Islamic faith.

While believing that with the help of Allah (SWT) and selfless support of the people of Afghanistan, all foreign invading forces will ultimately face defeat, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan meanwhile once again emphasizes on the unconditional and immediate withdrawal of all foreign invading forces from Afghanistan. To achieve this end, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan considers the armed Jihad the only mean to reach that destination. In order to expedite the momentum of the Jihadic activities, the Islamic Emirate announces this spring operation by the name of Al-Faath (victory) to be launched against Americans, NATO members and their surrogates.

Al-Faath is a prideful word in the history of the Muslims. It has been used in the Holy Quran to mean success, upper handiness and victory. A chapter out of 114 chapters of the Holy Quran is named Al–Faath. Muslims were favored with Al-Faath, victory on the ground of Al-Badar battle in the second lunar year of Hijara. In this battle, Muslims killed Abu Jahal, the leader of the non-believers.

The second Al-Faath came on the eighth years of Hijra. It was the victory of Mecca. This is considered the beginning of establishment of Islamic rule in the world. So, the Leadership Council of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan chose this name to be the name of this spring operations against the Americans and NATO forces. Like the Badar, the Conferarates battles and the Victory battle of Mecca, we hope these operations will be successful operations against the global invading forces, if Allah willing.

The Al-Faath operations will target the invading Americans, the NATO military personnel, foreign advisers, spies who pose as foreign diplomats, members of the Karzai stooge administrations and members of the cabinet, members of the parliament, personnel of the so-called ministry of defense, intelligence department, ministry of justice, ministry of internal affairs, contractors of foreign and domestic private security companies, contractors and personnel of military logistics and military constructions companies and all supporters of foreign invaders who are working for the strengthening of foreign domination.

The Al-Faath Jihadic operations will start in 10th May 2010 this year to include operations against the defeated foreigners and their surrogates all over the country. It will comprise of tactics of successful tips and runs operations, inter-cities operations, and laying siege to cities, blockade of roads of military centers, use of IED, assassination of government officials, detainment of foreign invaders and martyrdom-seeking operations as needs be.

1. Prior to the commencement of Al-Faath operation, we urge all military intelligence, judicial and administrative officials to part ways with the surrogate and moribund administration and instead, side with their own people against the invaders in order to force them pull out of the country. If police men or army soldiers surrender to Mujahideen, their work will be appreciated by Mujahideen via bestowing on them material incentives. Those who support the non-believers will be considered as one of them and will be punished for their betrayal.

2. Owners and workers of transportations and construction companies, who transport logistical goods for the foreigners or build their construction facilities, should put an end to these illegitimate activities. Otherwise, Mujahideen will deal with their personnel and technical equipments in the same manner as they deal with the foreign invading troops and their equipments. They will kill their personnel and destroy their equipments. This is because their activities help extend the occupation of the beloved country Afghanistan.

3. Those foreign investors, who make investment in Afghanistan to ensure American interests in Afghanistan and their benefits invariably end up in the pockets of the foreigners instead of the people, should avoid making such investment. Instead, they should make investments in sectors which benefit them and the people rather than the invaders. Nor they should bolster the foreigners. Mujahideen will destroy and wipe out every thing that is considered supporting the foreign invaders. Then none should have reason to complain.

4. The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan assures the Muslim Mujahid people that the days of the liberation of the country from the brutal claws of the invaders are around the corner thanks to the help of Allah (SWT) and your unforgettable sacrifices. You are urged to join the ranks of Mujahideen in this historical and critical phase in order to pound, kill and obliterate the invading forces. You are urged to strengthen the lines of resistance with your persons.

5. The leadership of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan earnestly requests the honorable and brave Mujahideen to pay attention to the safety of life and property of people and make every effort to protect them during all operations including the operation Al-Faath. Pleasure of Allah (SWT) and prosperity of people should make your sole goal of Jihad. This is in order to ensure the sanctity of the sacred goals of Jihad.

6. Take people advice and views in all your activities; show strong determination, sagacious approach, comprehensive planning and utilize all successful experiences of the past. Concentrate your thought and efforts on Jihad and oversee that the Mujahideen are not involved in unnecessary activities. Bring momentum to the strongholds of Jihad with the none-believers so that an Islamic government can be established and seek help and strength from Allah (SWT) in your Jihadic and charity works.

Source: Theunjustmedia.
Link: http://theunjustmedia.com/Afghanistan/Statements/May10/Statement%20of%20the%20Leadership%20Council%20of%20the%20Islamic%20Emirate%20of%20Afghanistan%20on%20the%20occasion%20of%20the%20commencement%20of%20Al-Faath%20Operations.htm.

The 31st Anniversary of Condemnation of the Saur Evil Coup De'tat

Statement of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Regarding the 31st Anniversary of Condemnation of the Saur Evil Coup De’tat

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

On April 28 falls the 31st anniversary of the communist coup de’tat in Afghanistan. It is the beginning of the ongoing tragedies of the three decades and the consequence of insouciance and anti-Islamic attitude of the past regimes. In fact, this coup de’tat was launched as part and parcel of rivalries between the two main blocs of the world—capitalism and communism. Each wanted to extend its tentacle over the Warm Waters of the India Ocean and the Gulf oil resources. To achieve this goal, they intended to occupy Afghanistan and efface its Islamic identity and sovereignty. Their domestic henchmen, the Khalqis and Parchimites, were assisting them in this faithfully, by raising attractive and deceiving slogans of shelter, cloth and bread.

The Khalqis and Parchimites like the present secular elements, wanted to foist a communist system on the Muslim people of Afghanistan without taking into account the objective realities. They were implementing the internal and external policy of Afghanistan as per the advice of the Russian advisers who were completely ignorant of the Afghan culture. The Khalqis and Parchmites elected to take some implausible measures and decisions against the religion, people and the noble Afghan culture.

They buried alive thousands of true sons of this land underground and tortured hundreds of thousands of them. They called all the steadfast and honor-loving Afghans who opposed their atheist regimes, as agents of the foreigners. The Afghan Mujahid people, on the basis of their faith, rose against the communist regime of Khalq and Parcham and later against the invading Red Army, giving them an unforgettable lesson, by launching a sacred Jihad against them. Then, the Red Army was considered as invincible and irreversible. By then, the Western rulers had come round that recapturing land from the Red Army was impossible; whereas the communist rulers in Kremlin had contemplated that a communist revolution in the whole region was a compulsion of the history i.e. it shall occur whether some one wants it or not.

Before the coup de’tat, they believed the change should come after a cultural revolution. But now they contended that coup de’tat was a short-cut for grabbing power in the Islamic countries.

These are the unimpeachable facts of that time. The West has now intentionally forgotten them and closed their eyes to admit the splendid acts of heroism of the proud Afghan people who saved the Islamic and non-Islamic world from the claws of communism.

It was only the Afghan Mujahid people who withstood the Red Deluge and permanently effaced the arrogant empire of the former Soviet Union. However, on April 29, when the surrogate communist regime was toppled thanks to the sacrifices of 1.5 millions martyrs and the jihad parties gained political power in Afghanistan, they, unfortunately, focused on their personal goals rather than aiming at establishing an Islamic government. Thus, they frustrated the suffering afghan people who had been nurturing the hope of seeing sovereignty of an Islamic government in the country.

To put an end to the corruption, anarchy and mischief in the country, some honest Mujahideen who felt their obligation, rose to the occasion in the shape of the Taliban Islamic Movement, launching their struggle for restoration of security and establishment of Islamic system. This struggle has been continuing as of to date, having passed through different phases; and the Mujahideen have been solidified in the vicissitude of times.

It is worth mentioning, the Red Army invasion of Afghanistan and their defeat, the failure of America and NATO in Afghanistan in the past nine years are live lesson for the arrogant America. The Afghans are not kowtowing before the black colonialism in the shape of the so-called democracy as they did not do that before the Red colonialism in the shape of communism. This is because the Afghans now can realize the real intentions and goals of the enemy behind their flagrant and attractive slogans.

The Americans like their formers Soviet Union, have martyred thousands of Afghans and detained thousands of them in Guantanamo, Bagram, Kandahar and other secret jails. They have perpetrated crimes in violation of all rules of human rights under the name of fighting terrorism—even the brutalities of the past invaders seem minimal in comparison to theirs.

They also claim that now the world is unipolar and there is only one super power and that is America. However, they are forgetting that in the near past, in this land, by the hands of these Afghans, an empire stronger than theirs, did collapse and fell smithereens.

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, while condemning the April 28 (Saur) coup de’tate and considers it as a colossal tragedy and a source of all the suffering of the Afghan Muslim people, meanwhile reminds the rulers of the White House to be aware of the consequence of the day that you will end up regretting the mistakes that you are making in Afghanistan today as now the remains of the Red Empire of communism are regretting their mistakes.

It is more plausible and rationale for the Americans to desist from turning Afghanistan into a bastion for achievement of colonialist goals in the region and the world under the spurious name of fighting terrorism. They should let the Afghans to pride fully live under the shade of Islamic system in an independent country. In this, lies the secret of stability and security of the whole region. The rulers of the puppet Karzai Administration should take lessons from the consequences of the henchmen of Kremlin, the defeated communists. They should abstain from bowing before their foreign masters and instead, side with their people and nation. They must trust their own people and not let them be prosecuted at the hand of the foreigners.

Source: Theunjustmedia.
Link: http://theunjustmedia.com/Afghanistan/Statements/April10/Statement%20of%20the%20Islamic%20Emirate%20of%20Afghanistan%20Regarding%20the%2031st%20Anniversary%20of%20Condemnation%20of%20the%20Saur%20Evil%20Coup%20de%E2%80%99tat.htm.

Statement of the Leadership Council of the Islamic Emirate Regarding the Recent Propaganda about Negotiation

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

Quoting the Daily Sunday Times, some mass media outlets have reported that the leadership of the Islamic Emirate is ready to participate in a dialogue with the USA. The Sunday Times has published the report against all codes of journalism, on the basis of two unknown and alleged members of the Leadership Council of the Islamic Emirate. Other news agencies have published it without any alternations and verification from the official and well-known spokesmen of the Islamic Emirate. The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, while believing that such farcical rumors is a fatuous propaganda stunt of the moribund enemy, declares its stand as follows:

1. The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan emphasizes its unwavering stand regarding talks with the Americans and considers unconditional withdrawal of all invading forces from Afghanistan as a prerequisite for talks and negotiation with the Americans. Talks with America in conditions of presence of foreign forces would mean giving their invasion legitimacy.

2. The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan believes that the presence of Americans in Afghanistan is the main factor of instability in Afghanistan and the whole region. So any deal under the name of negotiation is a betrayal to the Islamic aspirations of the people of Afghanistan and all vital interests as long as this factor remains in its place.

3. The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has an organizational set-up inside the country for the conduct and advancement of all Jihad activities against the invaders. The organizational entity by the name of Quetta Council which the enemy ascribes to the Islamic Emirate is a groundless and fabricated designation which has no existence on ground.

4. The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has appointed two spokesmen for the clarification and elucidation of its official policy. These two spokesmen are entrusted with the duty to pronounce stand of the Islamic Emirate and explain the policy of the Islamic Emirate regarding all pertinent issues of the country. If some one speaks on behalf of the Islamic Emirate, it should be verified from these two spokesmen. Every posturing or political course of action which bobs up in the Western media from time to time, being contrary to the official line of the Islamic Emirate and lacking prior verification from the official spokesmen of the Islamic Emirate, is categorically a part of the enemy maligning campaign against the Islamic Emirate. It does not reflect or represent the official stand of the Islamic Emirate.

5. The leadership Council of the Islamic Emirate respectfully urges all independent news agencies and media outlets to fulfill their due obligations of journalism while publishing such report and observe all journalistic rules and norms in this regards. Similarly avoid painting such assertions of unknown persons as the official stand of the Islamic Emirate without prior clarification and verification from the official spokesmen of the Islamic Emirate.

The Leadership Council

Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

Source: Theunjustmedia.
Link: http://theunjustmedia.com/Afghanistan/Statements/April10/Statement%20of%20the%20Leadership%20Council%20of%20the%20Islamic%20Emirate%20Regarding%20the%20Recent%20Propaganda%20about%20Negotiation.htm

As a country-wide Resistance Movement

Wednesday April 14, 2010

In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

Now after the passage of nine years since the American invasion of Afghanistan, the public of the world have reached the conclusion that the usage of the word of terrorism was an unjustified pretext and the attacks were an illegitimate aggression. Being so, it was part and parcel of a colonialist strategy of Washington drawn up by Pentagon strategists after the disintegration of the former Soviet Union. By using this pretext, they wanted to bring the world under their belly.

Washington needed some slogans to make the invasion appear justified and the execution of the colonialist plan feasible. So they adroitly and cunningly coined the War on Terror cliché. However, the ground realities in Afghanistan indicate that the invading forces in Afghanistan are not fighting against a few armed opposition but they are facing the Afghan nation in an armed confrontation. Had it not been the case, they would not have needed 150,000 soldiers to maintain the status quo.

On 13, last February, 15,000 foreign troops supported by 20,000 Afghan hireling police and army soldiers launched massive offensive against Marja, a town in Helmand province., But now after the passage of two months, the American and their puppets see a certain defeat there. If there are a few terrorists as they prefer to call them, then why their highly-trained soldiers and sophisticated weapons could not achieve victory. Vice versa. Army may fight against an armed group but they could not withstand a people’s upheaval.

Nine years back, Bush claimed, Taliban were not more than 1000-2000 and promised to eliminate them soon. But today one of their prominent generals, general McKiernan, says America needs 400,000 soldiers to contain Mujahideen in Afghanistan. Likely, in the past nine years, never a day has passed without the invaders claiming that they have killed tens of armed Taliban. By now, they should have finished all those 2,000 Taliban. But the ground realities of today show that the resistance movement grows day by day.

According to a survey conducted by Western institutes, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has influence in 80% of the Afghan territory. Is it possible for 2,000 or even 10,000 armed men to do this? The fact is that the current Jihad movement is a nationalist, Islamic and country-wide movement. Torture, detention, air strikes and brutal raids would never eliminate it.

The Red Army of the former Soviet Union killed about two million Afghans but they could not put a stop to the resistance. The more the invading Americans and their allies martyr the Afghans, the more they would bounce back stronger, rather than being silenced; the flames of revenge will become more wide-spread and burgeoning.

The bottom-line is when the White House rulers and the Pentagon generals stop, not throwing dust into the eyes of the public of the world under the fake name of fighting terrorism and when they will abandon their ambitious colonialist goals and dreams of dominating the world?

We deem it necessary to a remind these rulers who are intoxicated by the craze of capturing the world, if you do not look at the realities as they are , you will certainly end up facing the fate of the former Soviet Union. Then surely, you will not only lose control of the world but face disintegration back home. Now the choice is yours.

Source: Theunjustmedia.
Link: http://theunjustmedia.com/Afghanistan/Statements/April10/the%20Islamic%20Emirate%20of%20Afghanistan,%20as%20a%20country-wide%20Resistance%20Movement.htm.