A Taliban commander said in an interview that insurgent fighters will battle "Christian" troops until they leave Afghanistan and an Islamic fundamentalist government is established in Kabul, warning that hundreds of militants are ready to launch suicide attacks to again install strict Islamic law.The regional-level commander, Mulla Nazir Ahmed Hamza, said the Taliban still has thousands of fighters despite NATO reports of heavy losses in recent battles, that support for the hardline movement is increasing every day and that US and NATO forces would have a tough time beating the fighters without air support. "We want an Islamic state and Islamic law," Hamza told The Associated Press while sitting next to a dozen armed fighters in Afghanistan's southern mountains over the weekend. "We don't want the Americans or any other Christians." "As a Muslim it's my duty, I have to fight and I have to carry out jihad against the Americans until they leave."
Hamza said Taliban fighters were moving from province to province to launch ambushes — roadside and suicide bombs — against Western and Afghan security forces. He said fighters by the hundreds are ready to launch suicide attacks. “Whenever the mujahideen are preparing for jihad, it means they made a decision to sacrifice their lives,” Hamza said while sitting next to an isolated mud compound in Zabul province. “Whenever we need a suicide attack, (I will) give my life and that day will be the luckiest day of my life,” he continued. “I am always ready to carry out a suicide attack against the Americans and their allies.”