SPIN BOLDAK, Afghanistan, 22 April 2007 — The fugitive Taleban leader Mullah Omar has urged his followers to step up suicide attacks on foreign and Afghan troops and remain united, according to a Taleban commander.
Violence has surged in Afghanistan in recent weeks after a winter lull, following last year’s bloodiest period since the Taleban’s ouster in 2001.
Taleban commander Mullah Hayatullah Khan told Reuters late on Friday by satellite phone from an undisclosed location that Omar had contacted senior and regional commanders and congratulated them for carrying out “successful” attacks in recent weeks.
He would not give details as to how and when Mullah Omar contacted the commanders. “Taleban mujahedeen (holy warriors), through unity in their ranks, should continue and increase their guerrilla and suicide attacks on occupation forces and the infidels will soon run away,” Khan quoted Omar as saying. “Mullah Omar has ordered us to liberate our country, (and) we should step up attacks on occupation forces and their puppet Afghans,” he said.
The Taleban refer to Western-backed President Hamid Karzai and his associates as puppets. Mullah Omar, who has a $10 million US government bounty on his head, told his fighters to try not to harm innocent civilians during their offensives, Khan said. More than 1,000 civilians have been killed in the past year.
The head of NATO’s operations in Afghanistan said on Thursday he expected to see more suicide attacks and roadside bombings from the Taleban but saw it as a sign of desperation because they lacked military muscle.
Omar’s whereabouts is not known. Afghanistan’s government insists he lives and operates in Pakistan, the former key supporter of the Taleban until the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.
Islamabad denies this and the Taleban say he lives in Afghanistan and coordinates attacks from there.
