‘West achieves nothing in Afghanistan’

AFGHANISTAN: Taliban exclusive top commander Mullah Mohammad Omar in a statement issued on the eve of Eid al- Fitr said despite the surge of international troops, western countries should look up the history of Afghanistan as a tomb for invaders and they would face defeated eventually.

“The invaders should study the history of Afghanistan from the time of the aggression of the Alexander, to the Ganges of the yore and to this very day and should receive lesson from it,” said the statement which was released Saturday in Pashtun, Farsi and English versions.

Meantime, Omar said the elections held on Aug. 20 were “fraught with fraud and lies and which were categorically rejected by the people. “

Nevertheless, the Taliban leader hinted some extent of reconciliation but put the withdrawal of all foreign troops as a pre-condition as usual.

“First of all the issue of the existence of the invading forces in the country should be solved and Afghanistan must find its place as a sovereign country on the map of the world. The internal issues among the Afghans can be solved,”the statement quoted Omar as saying.

Taliban militants in a bloody suicide attack on Thursday, only three days before Eid al-Fitr, killed at least 16 people including six Italian soldiers with the NATO-led International Security Force.

Kabul, Tuesday, Xinhua