Fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Omar called on Afghanistan's neighbors to help his militants oust the government of President Hamid Karzai and force foreign troops out of the country.
A roadside bomb, meanwhile, struck a police vehicle in southern Afghanistan on Friday, leaving four officers dead and six others wounded, NATO said.
Omar's message -- the authenticity of which couldn't be immediately confirmed -- said "neighbors should help Afghans drive Western forces from Afghanistan as they helped them during the Soviet Union invasion."
"They should abandon any kind of support and understand that they [Western forces] are a danger to the whole region," said Omar's statement, posted on a Web site that previously carried militant messages.
It was unclear when it was posted, though it included greetings for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which was expected to start on yesterday.
Afghanistan is going through its most violent period since the Taliban's ouster in the US-led invasion in 2001. More than 5,100 people -- mostly militants -- have died in insurgency-related violence so far this year.
The Taliban often compare their struggle to the war against the Soviet Union's occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, when neighboring Pakistan and Iran -- helped by the US and Saudi Arabia -- armed the anti-communist mujahedeen.
Some observers accuse rogue elements in Pakistan's security forces of supporting today's Afghan rebels, and US officials recently raised the alarm about Iranian weapons reaching the Taliban.
Karzai has offered peace talks with the militants and even positions in the government. But the Taliban and warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of the militant group Hezb-i-Islami, have rejected the overtures, saying international troops must first leave the country.
In his Internet statement, Omar said Karzai's offers were the result of the Taliban's resilience on the battlefield. He said Western forces should end "satanic" policies, including airstrikes that kill civilians, and withdraw.
But he also called on his fighters to be mindful of civilians during combat, suggesting the bloodshed is sapping support also for the militants among ordinary Afghans.
Insurgents often launch attacks from civilian homes and a constant stream of suicide attacks are killing far more civilians than Afghan or foreign troops.
Omar went into hiding after a US-led invasion toppled his Taliban regime in Afghanistan six years ago. Afghan officials have said he is hiding in the Pakistani city of Quetta. Pakistan says he is in Afghanistan.
In southern Afghanistan, meanwhile, a roadside blast targeted a police patrol in Helmand Province's Gereshk district, killing four officers and wounding six other people, including civilians, NATO said in a statement.
In eastern Kunar Province, three rockets struck a house in the provincial capital of Asadabad, killing one young girl and wounding two other children, said Mohammad Jalal, the provincial police chief. He blamed the Taliban for firing the rockets.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
A Croatian town has come up with a novel solution to solve the issue of working parents when there are no public childcare spaces available: pay grandparents to do it. Samobor, near the capital, Zagreb, has become the first in the country to run a “Grandmother-Grandfather Service,” which pays 360 euros (US$400) a month per child. The scheme allows grandparents to top up their pension, but the authorities also hope it will boost family ties and tackle social isolation as the population ages. “The benefits are multiple,” Samobor Mayor Petra Skrobot told reporters. “Pensions are rather low and for parents it is sometimes
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
RSS