| Submit your comments on this article |
| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| Mullah Cyclops rejects amnesty, sez he's goin' down fighting |
| 2005-05-11 |
| Taliban leader Mulla Mohammad Omar has rejected an offer of amnesty and ordered his men to battle on against US and Afghan government forces, a Taliban spokesman said on Tuesday. The man in charge of Afghan government efforts to persuade the Taliban to give up their fight said for the first time on Monday Omar would be accepted under an amnesty offer. "We don't need any guarantee of safety from the government," Taliban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi said by telephone from an undisclosed location More than 80 insurgents have been killed over the past week in the south and east, the US military said. Two US Marines were killed, clearing a cave on Sunday and 10 government men were killed last week. The Taliban deny suffering such heavy losses and say they killed many more government and US troops. President Hamid Karzai has tried to tempt fighters to give up under an amnesty open to all except militant leaders associated with atrocities or Al Qaeda, but only a handful have accepted. Former president Sibghatullah Mojaddedi, who is in charge of the amnesty programme, told a news conference on Monday it would also be open to Omar and another wanted anti-government militant chief, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Karzai, who is visiting Europe this week, has not confirmed Mojaddedi's announcement. A US military spokesman said the amnesty was not a general one and people who had commited crimes would have to be held responsible. The Taliban spokesman dismissed the announcement by Mojaddedi, who was a leader of anti-Soviet Islamic fighters during their jihad, or Muslim holy war, in the 1980s. He briefly became president in the early 1990s. "Mojaddedi is not aware of the facts," Hakimi said. "Why has he forgotten the lesson of jihad? He himself fought against the Soviets." Omar had ordered Taliban fighters to battle on, Hakimi said. "On his orders we have increased attacks on US forces in recent weeks and will continue this." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #2 I've always thought the phrase, "punishing the one eyed Mullah" would be used more often by college students explaining why they were late for something. |
| Posted by: mhw 2005-05-11 08:14 |
| #1 Hokay... |
| Posted by: mojo 2005-05-11 02:06 |