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Thursday, March 08, 2007

4000+ Taliban To Die Soon

Leader: Taliban has 4,000 fighters ready

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A top Taliban commander said Wednesday the group has 4,000 fighters bracing to rebuff NATO’s largest-ever offensive in northern Afghanistan, now in its second day.

Suicide bombers are ready, land mines have been planted and helicopters will be targeted, Mullah Abdul Qassim, the top Taliban commander in Helmand province told The Associated Press.

NATO, meanwhile, announced the capture of a senior Taliban fighter who had eluded authorities by wearing a woman’s burqa. Mullah Mahmood, who is accused of helping Taliban fighters rig suicide bomb attacks, was seized by Afghan soldiers at a checkpoint near Kandahar, the alliance said.Speaking by satellite telephone from an undisclosed location, Qassim said the Taliban has 8,000 to 9,000 fighters in southern Helmand province, including some 4,000 in the northern part of that area where NATO launched its largest-ever offensive Tuesday. He said all the fighters were Afghan, denying reports of hundreds of foreign fighters in the region.

“All of them are well-equipped and we have the weapons to target helicopters,” Qassim said. “The Taliban are able to fight for 15 or 20 years against NATO and the Americans.”


I hope someone has a stopwatch to time how long it takes these animals to run away like cowards.