Taliban Claim War is Against Occupiers Have No Interest in Harming Other Countries

Image via Wikipedia

The Taliban issued a statement today regarding the war in Afghanistan.  The statement said that they are fighting to remove occupying forces and do not intend to harm other countries, including the U.S. and her allies.  The statement continued by conveying the Taliban’s wishes to return Afghanistan to an Islamic state.

          This new information was issued after the announcement of a major troop increase in the region to battle insurgent violence.  This is the same wing of Al Qaeda that killed eight Marines, and severely wounded twenty-four in a brazen attack this week.  It is unknown if the statement was made in response to the troop increase.

          The U.S.-led coalition forces with the help of Afghan groups, overthrew the Taliban government during a five-week battle that started on October seventh, in two thousand-one.  This was after the militants refused to hand over Al Qaeda leaders wanted by Washington for the September 11th attacks on the United States.

          Representatives for the Taliban were quick to remind reporters that the British failed to colonize Afghanistan in the nineteenth century and the bloody battles fought by the former Soviet Union in the eighties.  They went on to say that the war on terrorism is a nebulous attempt to colonize middle-eastern countries.  Over fifteen hundred casualties of coalition forces have been the result of the war so far.

          Afghan civilians are growing increasingly frustrated by the insecurity in their country.  Several thousand Afghan’s have been killed during the fighting, including many civilians.  The killing of civilians has been the major pressure point of the conflict.  The civilians face a double-edged sword, being killed by the Taliban for not cooperating with them, and also being killed by coalition airstrikes.