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Afghanistan
Taliban Say Want Peace With Afghans, NATO Troops Out
2009-02-27
The Taliban is willing to work with all Afghan groups to achieve peace, but the problems of Afghanistan can only be solved if foreign troops withdraw from the country, a senior insurgent leader has said.

"We would like to take an Afghan strategy that is shared and large-scale, in consultation with all the Afghan groups, to reach positive and fruitful results," Mullah Mutassim, a former Taliban finance minister and member of the group's political council, told Al-Samoud magazine in an interview conducted on February 25.

But, he said, the United States "has to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan as soon as possible, because the real starter of crises and complication of matters is the presence of foreign forces in the country.

"If these forces leave, the problem will be over, the question will be finished, and peace will prevail," he was quoted as saying in the interview translated by the U.S.-based Site Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadi websites.

Mutassim is regarded as close to fugitive Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Omar.

But, Mutassim said, the Taliban was not for a share in power. "The Islamic emirate demands to rule the country so as to establish an...Islamic system in it, not in order to occupy high positions in the agent government," he said.
Mutassim said the armed struggle was the only way to drive out foreign forces and if the United States sent more troops to Afghanistan that would just lead to more soldiers being killed. "Obama's taking this unreasonable strategy indicates the plan of his bloody and fierce war strategy, which will cause the death of many of his arrogant troops in the face of the holy Afghan jihad," he said.

Despite his harsh words for the West, Mutassim only had praise for the government of Saudi Arabia, which is often scorned by hard-line Islamists for its close ties with the United States.

Saudi Arabia, one of only three states to recognize the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001, has hosted tentative talks between former Taliban and Afghan government officials aimed at exploring ways toward peace.

But, Mutassim said, the Taliban was not for a share in power. "The Islamic emirate demands to rule the country so as to establish an...Islamic system in it, not in order to occupy high positions in the agent government," he said.

Mutassim denied the austere Islamists' movement had been against women's education while they were in power, but said the ravages of war had not allowed girls to be schooled. "I say that educating women is as necessary as educating men," he said.

The Taliban has eased a number of its hard-line edicts against such things as television and music in the areas they control, making them, Mutassim said, more popular now than when they were in power.
Posted by:Fred

#3  WAFF.com > MEMRI - ALL OF PAKISTAN'S CITIES ARE WITHIN THE TALIBAN'S REACH [Talib presence = armed manpower already present].

Also, TOPIX > WARNING TO THE THE USA: BEWARE TREATING AFGHANISTAN LIKE IRAQ.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2009-02-27 18:25  

#2  All muslims want peace...after global conquest.
Posted by: Alistaire Greash5374   2009-02-27 03:35  

#1  IIRC, PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > NORTH AND SOUTH WAZIRISTAN TALIBAN/MILITANT GROUPS MERGE TO FIGHT NATO???
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2009-02-27 01:20  

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