Pro-Taliban Fliers call for Jihad Against U.S.

Pashtu language pro-Taliban leaflets urging Afghans to wage jihad (holy war) against U.S.-led coalition forces and their "puppets" in Afghanistan were circulated overnight at refugee camps in northwest Pakistan, Afghan and official sources said yesterday.

The pamphlets were found scattered around several refugee camps in the region bordering Afghanistan. Pakistan shelters around 1. 5 million Afghans, a majority of them living in camps in the northwestern region.

The unsigned fliers were distributed in Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan on Monday night, the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) said.

The undated and unsigned pamphlets bear a 'Declaration by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA'" which the Taliban had set up under Mulla Mohammed Omar.

The Taliban supreme leader went into hiding after the ouster of the Islamic militia from power in November 2001 a month after the U.S.-led coalition forces launched military operations in Afghanistan.

Taliban remnants and other anti-government elements have carried out stray attacks from time to time since then, though they have posed no serious threat to the coalition-backed administration of President Hamid Karzai.

Two American soldiers and several Afghan government troops were reportedly killed over the past few weeks in rebel attacks in southern and eastern regions of the country.

The pamphlets came in the wake of accusations by Afghan officials that Taliban remnants were regrouping in the border region with Pakistan and had launched a series of attacks on the U.S. and Afghan forces in recent weeks.

A message purported to be from elusive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar was distributed in northwestern Pakistan in February, calling for jihad, or holy war, against the United States and the Karzai government.

The pamphlet vows that the IEA plans to start "extensive military operations" in all parts of Afghanistan to "teach an unforgettable lesson to the U.S. imperialism."

It recalls that Afghans had in the past defeated "brazen and merciless invasions of the British and the Russians."

The leaflet in part says: "Afghanistan is a soil of honour, courage and sacred sacrifices. Today once again the great Satan of the world, the United States, and its Zionist exploiters have invaded our heroic nation and sacred soil.

"They play upon the identity of the Afghans. They kill Afghans. They put tribal and religious personalities in chains and are engaged in laying infidel traps and plans.

"In the guise of a few bowl-licking Shah Shojas, Afghan kings of the 19th Century installed by the British and regarded as a puppets, they intend to subjugate the Afghans to the Jews for ever.

"Faithful masses! You are aware of the fact that the puppet administration which has been set up by the British and the United States has brought nothing but prostitution, banditry and slavery as a gift to the Afghans.

"It is for this reason that the infidel-crushing mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan consider that the only path towards prosperity, salvation and progress for the Islamic Ummah and in particular for the mujahed nation of Afghanistan is the path of sacred jihad and struggle.

"The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan - in accordance with a decision made by the true mujaheddin, the respected Ulema and tribal leaders - intend to begin extensive military operations in all parts and regions of the country, and thus teach, with the help of God, an unforgettable lesson to the U.S. imperialism in Afghanistan," the leaflet stated.

"Rise with your high Afghan pride, faith and courage and direct your swords against the infidel and its puppets," it added.

"We ask those Afghans, who are cooperating with the puppet administration, to adhere to their Afghan pledge and national awareness and give up these ranks and rise against them," it was pointed out.

Source: Gulf-News