US wrongly considers Taliban

PESHAWAR: Rejecting as baseless the US allegations about the presence of Afghan Taliban in Pakistan’s tribal areas, a militant commander said they did not need to flee to the neighbouring country when Taliban controlled major parts of Afghanistan.

Mullah Sangeen, a key commander of Afghan Taliban, claimed there was no truth in the US charges as Taliban were holding 80 per cent of territory in Afghanistan.In his video message which the Taliban commander claimed was recorded in one of his camps in Paktika province, he said the Haqqani Network was active and based in Afghanistan.

Mulla Sangeen is associated with the Haqqani Network, a strong Taliban group operating in Khost, Paktia, Paktika, Logar, and Wardak provinces of Afghanistan as well as the capital Kabul.

The network led by Sirajuddin Haqqani, the elder son of veteran Afghan Mujahideen leader Maulvi Jalaluddin Haqqani, has nominated Mulla Sangeen as the shadow governor of Paktika province.

He said by pressing the Pakistan government to launch military operation in North Waziristan, the US was in fact trying to weaken the country. He said the US was making all-out efforts to pit Pakistan’s armed forces and people against each other.

Mulla Sangeen, who was declared dead twice by the US and its allies in Afghanistan, said the Taliban had become a strong force and were now ruling most of the country with support from the Afghan people.

“The US knows that we are here in Afghanistan and are fighting against them. The US always levels such allegations whenever it suffers losses at our hands,” he stressed.He said the US and its allies had invaded their country with a claim to make it prosperous and developed.

“Instead, they turned Afghanistan into ruins. Thousands of Afghans were killed and their houses bombarded in the name of war on terrorism. The US still does not understand the complexity of the situation. It wrongly considers the Taliban are furthering somebody else’s agenda. Now is the time for the US to understand that we are Afghans and are fighting for the freedom of our homeland,” the Afghan commander maintained.

Regarding reports of US-Taliban talks, Mulla Sangeen termed this baseless, saying they don’t want talks with the occupying forces when they had ruined their country, filled jails with innocent Afghans and made thousands of Afghan children orphans and women widows.

He said the Taliban had drawn up counter-plans and were waiting for arrival of fresh 30,000 US troops in Afghanistan to give them a tough time. “With an increase in the number of their troops, they would suffer more casualties,” he warned.

Mulla Sangeen said the Haqqani Network had inflicted heavy loses on the US and its allies in Afghanistan. “This is the reason the US is putting pressure on Pakistan to launch military operation in North Waziristan. At a time when Pakistan is supporting the US in its war against terror and US drones are flying over North Waziristan round the clock, no sane person would like to live in Waziristan,” Mulla Sangeen explained.

Source:thenews.com.pk/