Following are excerpts from an interview with Taliban's Military Commander, Mulla Dadallah, which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on February 13, 2006.
Mulla Dadallah:We have said that we will incorporate martyrdom-seeking operations in the new plan we are implementing in Afghanistan.
I am saying to the Afghan people
that in the future, Allah willing,
after we gain
the trust of the people,
we will move forward with the martyrdom operations. A group of Afghan fidayeen await their turn to carry out martyrdom operations.
[...]
We call upon the Afghan people
to keep away from the Americans,
their offices,
and their centers,
and to avoid places
where American convoys pass,
so that they will not become victims of these attacks.
[...]
As for the Spin Boldak operation,
it was the government that carried it out.
When the martyrdom-seeking operations against the government increased,
and the top Afghan
officials could not leave their homes,
they conspired
and carried out this operation.
This is not a
martyrdom-seeking operation.
Several innocent
Muslims were killed.
The top officials sacrificed
some of their own people
in order to distort the image
of the Muslims and of the Taliban. Our operations do not kill civilians.
[...]
Interviewer: As for Mullah Muhammad Omar, Osama bin Laden, and Ali-Zawahiri, do you have any
connection with them? Are they in Afghanistan?
Where are they?
Mulla Dadallah: They are in every corner of the world.
I don't think it appropriate
for everybody to know where they are.
They continue
to command the operations,
and they issue orders
to the mujahideen with no difficulty.
[...]
Our terms
for ending the war
are that America withdraw
from Iraq and Afghanistan,
and that it unconditionally stop harming the Muslims.
Then we will consider negotiating with them.
Interviewer: Why do you link the issue of Afghanistan with that of Iraq and other regions?
Mulla Dadallah: The issue of Iraq concerns all Muslims.
We are not fighting here
[only] for Afghanistan,
but for all the peoples
of the Islamic world.
The same is true for the mujahideen in Iraq.
The infidels attacked
the Islamic world,
and every Muslim has a personal
duty to help his Muslim brother.
If they withdraw from Afghanistan but not from Iraq, we will fight them.
