(AKI - By Syed Saleem Shahzad ) - Legendary Afghan mujahadeen leader and one of America's most wanted men, Jalaluddin Haqqani, has broken years of silence to launch the Taliban's spring offensive in a video received by Adnkronos International (AKI). In the 25-minute message, Haqqani called on the Afghan people to "stand up against the US-led forces in Afghanistan and drive them out."Haqqani's hair is dyed red with henna and he speaks in his trademark low-pitched voice. His message is accompanied by a jihadist song in Pashtu. In the video, Haqqani pledges his allegiance to fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Omar, laying to rest any doubt that he had split from the mainstream Taliban and set himself up as their leader. Significantly, Haqqani praises a suicide bomber, Turkish-German Cuneyt Ciftci, who in March rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a compound used by NATO and Afghan forces in volatile Khost province, killing four people. The reference to the Khost bombing authenticates the video, which also confirmed that the 70-year-old Jihadi veteran is alive and apparently well.
A press release issued by the NATO joint command in Bagram, Afghanistan last December implied that Haqqani was dead or seriously ill. "Americans thought that with their developed technology they could plant the news of my death in the media, but now the media is realising their lies are aimed at demoralising the mujahadeen," Haqqani says.
The video was deliberately released last week, ahead of the NATO summit, taking place in the Romanian capital, Bucharest. The alliance, which is divided over policy in Afghanistan, is trying to agree on a more coherent strategy in the war against the Taliban, which many analysts believe it is losing.
Along with his son Sirajuddin, Haqqani, a veteran of the 1978-1989 war against the former Soviet Union, has built up a well-organised group in Afghanistan, known as the Haqqani network with roots in Pakistan's tribal areas. Copies of Haqqani's speech have been distributed all over eastern Afghanistan and are available in various formats, including cassettes and mobile phone video downloads.
After earlier reports of his death, the impact of Haqqani's video on Afghans is expected to be immense, especially on disenchanted Pashtuns, the country's largest ethnic group. Members of the Taliban are largely Pashtuns. Pashtuns bitterly resent the disproportionate influence enjoyed by the Tajik ethnic minority under president Hamid Karzai, a legacy of US cooperation with Tajik militias in overthrowing the Taliban.
Pashtuns have been the main victims of US-NATO bombing attacks on the Taliban and operate almost entirely in Pashtun territory in the south and east of Afghanistan.
The video aims to challenge NATO's efforts in recent months to portray the Taliban as a spent force made up of callow youths and lacking a credible leader, after the elimination and deaths of all top Taliban commanders in 2007.
Haqqani roundly dismissed claims that the Taliban was weakened. "I promise that not only American but all 37 allies will be humiliated and driven out of Afghanistan," he says. "Jihad is compulsory, and will continue until the end of time; we are without resources, but we have the support of God. We are geared for war. Bush and his allies had decided to kill us or arrest us - they consider us as weak and think of themselves as all powerful."
"They think we are not left with any place in the world to survive. They think we are destined either to die or to be captured... they think they are wealthy nations, with their money and with half the world behind them. They think that they can enslave poor Afghans - bomb us with their planes and gunship helicopters. They think they have everything and we are voiceless. The media is with them and belittles our resistance. We kill 80 and they report one or two. I promise the Afghan nation that soon we would be victorious,” he says.
Haqqani, on whose head the US has placed a 200,000 dollar bounty, remains the most respected tribal figure in southeastern Afghanistan.
The video is considered to be the most sophisticated yet produced by the Taliban. The inclusion of graphic footage of Ciftci's suicide bombing in Khost is important, as it shows an unprecedented level of planning and organisation hitherto not associated with the Taliban.