Omar had issued the directive in June, NATO spokesman Brig. Josef Blotz said, adding that the Taleban chief was believed to be in hiding in neighboring Pakistan.
“The message was from Mulla Omar, who is hiding in Pakistan, to his subordinate commanders in Afghanistan,” Blotz said. He said the order to Taleban fighters was to fight coalition forces to the death, and to capture and kill any Afghan civilian supporting or working for coalition forces or the Afghan government.
It also encouraged the recruitment of any Afghan with access to NATO or US bases in the country, Blotz told reporters.
Omar is a founder of the Taleban and is often referred to as its “supreme commander.” Many analysts and diplomats have long believed he is in Pakistan, although Islamabad has denied his presence.
The letter, if genuine, appears to be a departure from an earlier directive that urged Taleban not to harm captives.
“Whenever any official, soldier, contractor or worker of the slave government is captured, these prisoners cannot be attacked or harmed,” said the August 2009 code of conduct, attributed to Omar.
Casualties among foreign troops have spiked in recent months, with more than 370 killed so far this year, compared to 520 for all of 2009.
Meanwhile, a suicide bomber slipped through the Afghan capital’s tight security ring on Sunday, killing three civilians near a market two days ahead of an international conference hosting representatives from about 60 nations, officials said.
An American service member died in a roadside bombing in the south and other weekend attacks left 14 Afghans dead, reports said. The bomber was on foot near the market and his target was unclear, police said.
Hospitals reported three civilians killed, including a child, public health official Kabir Amiri said. Health Ministry spokesman Ghulam Sakhi Kargar said about 45 people were wounded.
Taleban also staged a series of raids in western Afghanistan on Sunday, blowing up the gate of a jail and freeing 23 insurgent prisoners, officials said.
Insurgents attacked four police posts leading to the center of Farah town early on Sunday, said Mohammad Younus Rasooli, the governor of western Farah province.
“They kept the police preoccupied and the same time blew up the gate of Farah’s jail, which resulted in the escape of 23 prisoners,” Rasooli told Reuters by phone.
Four of the inmates were immediately arrested because they had suffered wounds in the escape, he said, adding seven more were captured.
A policeman was killed during the incident, which lasted several hours, he said.
A spokesman for the Taleban, Qari Mohammad Yousuf, confirmed that members of the movement were behind the attacks.
