CAIRO/KABUL, 17 February 2007 — Al-Qaeda posted yesterday a video showing an insurgent attack on a military position of US and Afghan forces in southern Afghanistan. The video appears to be an attempt by the terrorist network to disparage US claims to be winning the war against the Taleban and allied militia in Afghanistan.
It argues that the people of Afghanistan support the insurgents and provide physical assistance to their attacks on US-Afghan forces. The video carried the logo of the Al-Qaeda media production company, As-Sahab, and was posted on an Islamic website known for hosting extremist material. It was titled “Holocaust of the Americans in the land of Khorasan, the Islamic emirate: Capture of an American post, Arghandab.” Khorasan refers to Afghanistan.
The tape begins with the deputy leader of Al-Qaeda, Ayman Al-Zawahri, ridiculing US President George W. Bush’s claim to have deprived Al-Qaeda of a safe haven in Afghanistan is a “barefaced lie.”
Zawahri, who speaks in Arabic with an English translation in subtitles, seems to be referring to a Bush speech on Jan. 10 when the president said that US forces “took away Al-Qaeda’s safe haven in Afghanistan — and we will not allow them to re-establish it in Iraq.”
With a narrator speaking in American-accented English, the tape then shows video film of an attack on a military position in Arghandab, a district in Zabul province, 160 kilometers northeast of the southern city of Kandahar, carried out by 150 “mujaheedeen,” or holy warriors, led by Zakariya Al-Jiddawi.
Meanwhile, the Taleban have deployed 10,000 fighters for a spring offensive of “bloody attacks” against foreign troops in Afghanistan, a rebel commander said in Spin Boldak yesterday.
As the harsh winter snows melt, the insurgents have resumed their attacks, mostly in the south, where they have captured a major town and have threatened a key hydroelectric dam.
