Following are excerpts from a video-recording of Mustafa Abu Al-Yazid, the new leader of Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on May 24, 2007.

Mustafa Abu Al-Yazid: The condition of the Jihad in Afghanistan is going fro good to better, Allah be praised. The strikes of the mujahideen against the Americans, against NATO, and against the collaborating government are constantly increasing. During the winter, Allah gave the mujahideen the chance to train their soldiers, and to marshal their ranks, in preparation for the onslaught against the oppressive enemy this season. Allah willing, this will be a season of victory and triumph for the mujahideen, and of defeat, downfall, and frustration for the Crusader enemies, and their collaborating apostates, as was declared by the Emir of the mujahideen, Mullah Muhammad Omar, may Allah protect him.

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Allah be praised, the mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate constantly grow in their numbers. They receive almost total support from the Muslims in Afghanistan, especially in the southern and eastern provinces, who have seen the great difference between the collaborating government that that of the Islamic Emirate, and following the spread of injustice, bribery, corruption, impudence, murder, deception, prisons, and the loss of security, and the spread of drugs, poverty, and deprivation. These are the blessings of the democracy of Mr. Bush... Excuse me – the liar Bush, and his slave, the puppet Karzai. We spread the good tidings to the Islamic nation that there are hundreds of volunteers for martyrdom operations in Afghanistan, especially from among the people of this country.

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With regard to the arrest of the hero brother Abd Al-Hadi Al-Iraqi, may Allah bring about his release and give him support... I want to clarify some things that took place following the arrest of this hero. when he was on his way to Iraq, as he was longing to fight the Americans in the place of his birth and youth, he had asked the leadership to go to Iraq early on, but he remained patient until he received permission to go, a year and a half ago. He was arrested in Turkey. The collaborating government of Turkey extradited him to the Americans, hoping that the master would put in a good word for them with the Europeans, so that they would accept them into the infidel coalition called the E.U. He was handed over to the Americans, even though brother Abd Al-Hadi asked for political asylum, and the Turkish government agreed to grant it to him. The collaborating government also arrested the lawyer who pleaded the case of Abd Al-Hadi in Turkey. What freedom and what justice do they claim to have, and to what Islam do they belong? Their punishment by Allah and by the mujahideen is inevitable, Allah willing. We ask Allah to give strength to brother Abd Al-Hadi and all the Muslim prisoners, and to grant the justice of their release, for He is capable of that. Those who conspire ignore the fact that our plan was to drag the Americans into a war of attrition, beyond [American] borders, in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere. Live training fronts were opened for us in Iraq, Afghanistan, Algeria, and Somalia, the size of which is the size of these countries. Praise be to Allah, who gave success to our Emir, Sheik Osama, may Allah protect him, and to his brothers the mujahideen, in their plan to globalize the ideology of Jihad. It is enough that the two honorable sheiks, Sheik Osama and Sheik Ayman, remained like a lump in Bush's throat, and he tastes their bitterness morning and night. Secondly, the Jihad will continue until Judgment Day. It will not be stopped by the martyrdom or imprisonment of some leaders or cadres. On the contrary, the blood of the martyrs and the steadfastness of the prisoners pump life into the hearts of thousands of this nation's cadres, and encourage them to join the ranks of the mujahideen. Here, we receive new cadres of the sons of this nation every day, and they are all eager to fight the infidels.