Afghanistan’s ousted Taliban have claimed responsibility for a series of recent attacks across the country and warned Afghans not to help the United States, an Afghan news agency reported on Monday. The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press said a two-page faxed statement to news offices in the Pakistani city of Peshawar described at least 50 recent attacks across Afghanistan as the handiwork of the Taliban, which was ousted from power by a U.S.-led coalition in late 2001. Most of the attacks had targeted U.S. or other Western interests in the war-ravaged country, it said. “Over 1,600 clerics say jihad (holy war) against infidels is incumbent on every Muslim,” the statement said. “Anyone who opposes this jihad is also an infidel.” The statement, in the Pashto language, warned Afghans to stop assisting the Americans and said anyone who continued to do so would also be considered an infidel. Last month the same news agency said it had received an unsigned message purporting to come from fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, urging Afghans to fight a holy war against the United States and the Kabul government and threatening with death those who collaborated. Southern Afghanistan has seen a series of attacks in recent months blamed on the Taliban and the fighters of a fundamentalist warlord, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Full Story
About OODA Analyst
OODA is comprised of a unique team of international experts capable of providing advanced intelligence and analysis, strategy and planning support, risk and threat management, training, decision support, crisis response, and security services to global corporations and governments.