Taliban warns on Afghanistan
TRUMP SENDS MORE TROOPS
The Taliban yesterday warned that Afghanistan would become “a graveyard” for the US after President Donald Trump cleared the way for thousands more American troops to be sent to the war-torn country.
“If America doesn’t withdraw its troops from Afghanistan, soon Afghanistan will become another graveyard for this superpower in the 21st century,” said Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesperson for the Taliban in Afghanistan.
He said the US should think of an exit strategy “instead of continuing the war”.
“As long as there is one US soldier in our land, and they continue to impose war on us, we, with a high morale will continue our jihad,” Mujahid said.
Trump on Monday backtracked from his promise to rapidly end the US’s longest war in his first formal address to the nation as commander-in-chief.
He said he had concluded “the consequences of a rapid exit are both predictable and unacceptable”, leaving a vacuum that terrorists “would instantly fill”.
Trump refused to provide troop numbers but senior White House officials said he had already authorised his defence secretary to deploy up to 3 900 more troops to Afghanistan.
Earlier, Mujahid had dismissed the strategy as vague and “nothing new”.
A senior Taliban commander said Trump was just perpetuating the “arrogant behaviour” of previous presidents such as George W. Bush. “He is just wasting American soldiers. We know how to defend our country. It will not change anything. For generations we have fought this war, we are not scared, we are fresh and we will continue this war until our last breath,” he said.
He added that the statement proved the current Afghan government “is a US puppet”.
The insurgents signalled their intentions minutes after Trump spoke by claiming the US embassy in Kabul had been the target of a rocket attack on Monday. Trump also lambasted US ally Pakistan for offering a safe haven to “agents of chaos”.
A commander from the Taliban-allied Haqqani network, long believed to have links to Pakistan’s shadowy military establishment, said Trump “has proved it’s a Crusade... he wants to eliminate the entire Muslim umma [community].”
Prior to Trump’s announcement, the Taliban had written an open letter warning him not to send more troops and calling for the complete withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan. – AFP
For generations we have fought this war, we are not scared