The new leader of the Taliban marked Eid al-Adha — the “Feast of the Sacrifice,” beginning Wednesday evening — with a warning to America that the terrorism that brought U.S. forces to Afghanistan isn’t over.
Mullah Mansour, who formally took over leadership of the Taliban when they admitted in July that one-eyed leader Mullah Omar had been dead for two years, faces not only challenge to his leadership post but challenges from “some other unscrupulous elements,” aka ISIS.
Thus, he called for a community effort — “all sympathizers, revered religious scholars and scholars of other fields as well as analysts not to spare their valuable views, advice, conceptions (roadmaps) and practical assistance in military, political, educational, social and moral refinement and discipline sectors in order to render a positive, excellent and efficient service and to design and implement efficient plans” — to boost the Islamic Emirate and their goal to establish a Sharia state.
“As our 14-years long Jihad against the occupation is nearing its victory and the enemy has faced defeat at every front, therefore, it is trying to create an atmosphere of discord and distrust among the Mujahdeen by utilizing propaganda stratagems,” added Mansour’s statement. “…So keep your ranks and files united in this critical situation.”
The mullah also tried to paint the Taliban as a protection of Afghans and ISIS as a haphazard destroyer: “Mujahdeen should be fully careful not to shed blood of innocent people during operations.”
Taliban attacks within the country will stop, Mansour said, when the Afghan government ends “the occupation” and revokes “all military and security treaties with the invaders.”
“The invaders have not done any fundamental work in Afghanistan in the past fourteen years despite announcement of billions of dollars of assistance, i.e. any fundamental work or of long-term benefits for the Afghans! All their projects are designed for short-terms and are of low quality and spurious. However, they have fully spread poison to harm the way of thinking and trigger internal hostilities among the Afghans,” he continued.
“The Americans and their allies should take a lesson from the bloodshed of thousands of their soldiers and the disability of tens of thousands of others as a result of injury that they themselves admit. Hence, they should not send more troops in order to be killed or become disabled or grapple with psychological disease as a consequence of the current Jihadic response of the Afghans.”
The Taliban leader added that Americans “occupied Afghanistan under the pretext of the September Event; now 14 years have passed since then, you were supposed to prevent other events like that of the 11 September, following the occupation of Afghanistan but you are facing incidents similar to September Event everywhere in the world and at every moment of your life.”
“You are targeted everywhere and your life is at risk,” Mansour said. “Therefore, you should revisit your policies of colonialism for prevention of these incidents and for your own security, rather than dreaming of illusory security by killing and occupying other nations.”
He added that fighters should “gain the support of the people in the performing of Jihadic activities” and “behave with them like a servant not like a ruler.”
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