Reuters: Afghan Taliban say rearmed, ready for war

[PhilipShore]

23 Feb 2007
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SP100413.htm


SPIN BOLDAK, Afghanistan, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Rearmed with new guns the Taliban on Friday vowed this would be the deadliest year for foreign soldiers in Afghanistan since the Islamists were toppled in 2001.

"This year will prove to be the bloodiest for the foreign troops. It is not just a threat, we will prove it," senior commander Mullah Dadullah told Reuters by satellite phone.

"The Taliban's war preparations are going on in caves and in mountains. Our 6,000 fighters are ready for attacks on foreign troops after the change in weather and as it becomes warmer."

With winter snows melting, fighting has already picked up dramatically in recent weeks.

[PLF]

1. Sounds fishy, why would they advertise their intentions?

[High Plains]

2. Those opium profits have bought lots of shiny new weapons.

While the members of the government involved in the trade are investing in real estate and new mansions in Kabul, the Taliban is investing in war and driving out the infidels.

The US and NATO have a real dilemma on their hands: Try to eradicate the opium and drive the peasants into the waiting embrace of the Taliban, or lay off the opium and let the Taliban continue to fund itself that way. One group, the Senlis Council, has proposed buying up the opium crop and diverting it into legitimate medicinal markets, but no, that's way too sensible and goes against the core values of the drug war.

Meanwhile, junkies from Lahore to London are enjoying plentiful supplies of cheap, high quality smack.

[gratuitous]

3. Little Arfin' Annie should head over there

Things are going swimmingly!

[Acadia Blue]

4. No Osama, and an war with Iraq...what a mess this dumbo made.

[Mudoria]

5. Please, come on out so you can be crushed once and

for all. A world without the Taliban will be a much better world..