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Taliban targets Muslim clerics in Afghanistan
The Taliban has expanded its list of targets to include moderate Muslim clerics in southern Afghanistan, killing three of them in the past six weeks. The latest killing was, by most accounts, a classic Taliban operation: two men on a motorcycle, one armed with a Kalashnikov rifle, gunned down Mullah Maulavi Jenab outside his mosque and sped away. Since it was overthrown in early 2002, the Taliban had focused its resistance on U.S. forces and the government of Hamid Karzai. But on June 30, it signalled its intention to take on moderate Muslim clerics by setting off a bomb inside a Kandahar mosque, wounding 27 people. The head of the Kandahar council of clerics, Maulvi Abdul Fayaz, was leading prayers at the time. He survived. The Kandahar council had openly challenged the Taliban, issuing an edict denouncing the organization and its claims to religious legitimacy. The edict, issued this year, accused the Taliban of misinterpreting the Qurâan, and misusing the concept of Jihad, or holy war, as an excuse for killing people. The council is also a vocal supporter of the new government. Couldâve told you that without an edict... Posted by: Raphael 2003-08-06 |
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