- ISLAMABAD -- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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."
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- It recalls that Afghans had in the past defeated "brazen
and merciless invasions of the British and the Russians."
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- 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.
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- "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.
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- "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.
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- "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.
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- "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.
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- "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.
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- "Rise with your high Afghan pride, faith and courage
and direct your swords against the infidel and its puppets," it added.
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- "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.
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- http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=84566
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