Month: February 2012

We will target US embassy and military headquarters in future                      
Thursday 23 February 2012

[Asharq Al-Awsat] What is your opinion about the reports that Washington has agreed to the proposal to allow the Afghan Taliban to open a political office in Qatar? The British press is reporting that this represents a critical step on the road to reconciliation with the Taliban, more than a decade after the9/11 attacks?
[Ahmadi] Yes, this is true…after the US and its allies failed to militarily control the “Islamic Emirate” [the Taliban refers to itself as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan], it has been forced to deal with us, and this is by opening the door to direct dialogue. The Islamic Emirate will play its role following the opening of this office, which will serve the jihadist interests, guarantee the end of occupation and bring security to Afghanistan.
[Asharq Al-Awsat] What are the Taliban’s major conditions for entering negotiations?
[Ahmadi] Our conditions during the negotiations will be an end to occupation and for the US to leave the affairs of Afghanistan to the Afghan people.
[Asharq Al-Awsat] Do you think the Arab Spring will reach Afghanistan?
[Ahmadi] There can be no doubt that the Afghan resistance against the occupiers during the past century, and the ongoing efforts of the Afghan people against US occupation and its NATO allies, have inspired the resistance of the vulnerable people in the world and prompted them to revolt against regimes that are ruling them against their will. We must therefore say that the “resistance spring” against the occupiers began in Afghanistan and ended, by the grace of God, with the autumn of US hegemony and the collapse of its authoritarian regimes in the Arab world.
[Asharq Al-Awsat] Does the Taliban intend to open other political offices in Saudi Arabia, Libya, Turkey, Egypt, and elsewhere, as is being claimed by some?
[Ahmadi] After 10 years of jihad and steadfastness on the part of the Afghan people against the arrogant occupiers, the entire world is aware of the strength of the Afghan jihad and has accepted the reality of the situation in the Afghan arena. This has caused many countries in the world to desire contact with the Islamic Emirate and the political office of the Islamic Emirate. The Islamic Emirate will welcome the opening of its political offices in these countries and others, if this is approved.
[Asharq Al-Awsat] What is your assessment of what is being repeated by the American side in Afghanistan, namely that they are ready to negotiate and that there is a reconciliation strategy in place?
[Ahmadi] The US side is prepared to negotiate with the Islamic Emirate after it did everything in its power to forcibly eliminate our jihadist power; however it failed to achieve anything tangible in this regard. The Islamic Emirate told the Americans ten years ago that the ideal solution to all problems was peaceful negotiations without depending on the use of force. The Americans now being prepared to negotiate represents recognition of the strength of the Islamic Emirate and the legitimacy of the Afghan people’s jihad. They should have put forward this initiative before thousands of their soldiers were killed and injured, as well as losing billions of dollars in Afghanistan.
[Asharq Al-Awsat] The US Ambassador to Afghanistan, Ryan Crocker, previously informed Asharq Al-Awsat that Washington has spent over $20 billion in civilian assistance to the Afghan people since 2001, which has resulted in many tangible achievements on the ground, including seven million Afghan children in primary and secondary education, and statistics indicate that 37 percent of Afghan students are girls. However during the Taliban era, girls were prohibited from education. Do you have any comment on this?
[Ahmadi] Our comment is: compare the achievements of the Americans [in Afghanistan] with the negative results of the US occupation which have resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Afghans, including women and children, as well the heavy destruction caused to the Afghan infrastructure. In his statements, the US ambassador must make reference to the large thefts that have taken place in front of his eyes as a result of the rife corruption that is hanging over the people [of Afghanistan].
The US ambassador claims that $20 billion has been spent on infrastructure in Afghanistan, however he is ignoring the rampant corruption that is present in government institutions under the auspices of the US embassy.
We ask the ambassador, where has this huge amount of money been spent [in Afghanistan], in light of the fact that 27 Afghan children died in a refugee camp in the heart of the Afghan capital Kabul – which is news that the international media is ignoring – only a few kilometers away from the US embassy? These deaths were due to the lack of adequate housing [inKabul]…therefore these children were forced to live in the refugee camp and endure terrible weather conditions including snow and bitter cold.
When the US ambassador is listing the alleged achievements [of the Americans],he must mentions the criminal acts carried out by American soldiers recently against the Afghan people, from desecrating the corpses of the slain to committing sexual assaults against children to utilizing fighter jets to bomb and kill innocent people.
[Asharq Al-Awsat] If the Taliban returns to rule in Afghanistan, do you have social and economic plans in place to raise the standard of living in the country? How will you engage with the outside world?
[Ahmadi] The policy of the Islamic Emirate with regards to creating economic and development plans and projects to raise the standard of living of the Afghan people and its future dealings with the outside world have been clearly made in the official statements of the Islamic Emirate which have been issued from the office of the Commander of the Faithful [Mullah Omar], and anybody who wants to know this need only refer to these statements.
[Asharq Al-Awsat] What is the objective of Taliban operations that have taken place in the heart of Kabul in broad daylight, for example, the latest attack on the diplomatic district? Is the goal to expose the inability of the Karzai government to maintain security?
[Ahmadi] This will not be the last time that the US embassy and the military headquarters of foreign troops will be targeted; we will attack them in the future as well, in addition to using other tactics. The objective of this is to show the power of the mujahedeen and their military presence in the heart of the Afghan capital Kabul, and invalidate the claims of the Americans that they have pushed out the mujahedeen from some areas.
[Asharq Al-Awsat] It has been reported in some western media that Mullah Mohammed Tayyib Agha, the Afghan mediator in the peace talks, fled Germany –where he was in the process of negotiating a peace settlement – after his name was revealed in the press. Is this true?
[Ahmadi] Escape is not a habit of the mujahedeen, brother Mohammed Tayyib Agha did not flee, rather he is carrying out his effective and active role with regards to the policies of the Islamic Emirate, and this is something that is confirmed by the western press itself.
[Asharq Al-Awsat] In your own view, to what extent does NATO bombardment inAfghanistan result in civilian causalities?
[Ahmadi] To a very great extent indeed, and far greater than what is revealed by the international media.
[Asharq Al-Awsat] What are the Taliban sources of funding? Does the Taliban enjoy Arab and Gulf support in this regard?
[Ahmadi] The most important source of funding for the mujahedeen is the Afghan people themselves; the Afghan people are funding and assisting the mujahedeen, financially and materially. We must also not forget the assistance provided by our brothers in the Islamic world, and their standing with us against American imperialism.
[Asharq Al-Awsat] Is it true, as US officials claim, that the Taliban is dependent upon opium-production to fund its operations?
[Ahmadi] Do not believe everything the Americans say, for they say that they have eliminated the Taliban and removed them from the areas that they control…if you believed such claims then we do not have anywhere to sit down, let alone harvest opium.
We have repeatedly stated, and I will say this once again here, that jihad is a legitimate obligation and we have never funded this with drugs, nor do we intend to do so in the future. It is the explicit policy of the Islamic Emirate to eradicate drugs [from Afghanistan].
[Asharq Al-Awsat] US forces have claimed, on more than one occasion, that the Taliban receives support from Iran, in the form of technology, improvised explosive devices [IEDs], etc. Is this true?
[Ahmadi] Let me tell the Americans that if foreign assistance was effective on the Afghan battlefield then you [the Americans] would have been victorious, because you receive military assistance from more than 47 foreign states.
Yes, we acknowledge that we have made developments, with the grace of God, in the making of IEDs that have defeated the Americans and their allies, and we will further develop this, God willing.
[Asharq Al-Awsat] Can you tell us how many fighters the Taliban has? What is your view of the Taliban members who have put down their arms and joined reconciliation programs?
[Ahmadi] The number of fighters that the Islamic Emirate possesses is the entire Afghan people, not including Karzai and the number of ministers in his government, in addition to some of his [Karzai’s] mercenary officials. As for the reconciliation program, and the announcements they make