Taliban leader announces US defeat, warns them to go home

Taliban leader Mullah Omar said they will double their struggle and press the United States to withdraw in what he considers to be a failing NTO-led coalition war in Afghanistan.

9 September 2010, 12:00am

2 min read

Omar spoke in a message made available by the US-based monitoring service SITE intelligence group, to mar the end of the of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

"Those military experts who have framed strategies of the invasion of Afghanistan or are now engaged in hammering out new strategies, admit themselves that all their strategies are nothing but a complete failure," he said.

"The victory of our Islamic nation over the invading infidels is now imminent and the driving force behind this is the belief in the help of Allah and unity among ourselves," Omar said.

Specifically addressing the Americans, he said "you tested all your might... to maintain your occupation over the Afghan Islamic and independent country but you achieved nothing except a dashing defeat."

"What we want to convey to you through this message is that (you) withdraw your soldiers from our country unconditionally and as soon as possible. This is in your interest and in the interest of your people and the best option for regional stability."

Mullah Omar was one of the Taliban rulers when the regime ruled brutally and unsympathetically between 1996 and 2001, after which it was driven out of power by the US invasion. He has been underground since then.

"You should know that your rulers have continuously told you lies since the beginning of the aggression on Afghanistan until this very day. They have wasted hundreds of billion(s) of dollars of your tax money in the shape of financial expenditures and your manpower in Afghanistan and have still been wasting them. You shall be witness to another economic melt-down," he told US nationals.

The NATO-led mission in Afghanistan has swelled to 150,000 soldiers as part of a surge strategy aimed at defeating the Taliban once and for all.

Jessica Chetcuti •

I have no doubt that once the US withdrawal takes place, supposedly in July 2011; the Taliban will then stroll into Afghanistan meeting very little resistance. They will then overthrow the government and once more establish their own brutal regime, while we in the west will wonder what the hell has the last ten years been all about. It will only be a matter of time before countries will actually recognise this new government, but it will surely happen.