Al-Qaeda's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has urged Afghans to fight foreign troops in their country.
The three-minute internet video, which was posted on Thursday on a website often used by pro-al-Qaeda groups, showed Osama bin Laden's right-hand man speaking directly to the camera with an automatic rifle propped up behind him.
There was no indication when the video was made, but its posting coincides with some of the deadliest fighting in
Al-Zawahiri said: "Muslim brothers in
"Do not trust these infidel invaders or their agents who want to transform you into oppressed, enslaved people."
Karzai responds
But
"He is first the enemy of the Afghan people, and then the enemy of the rest of the world," said Hamid Karzai on Thursday.
"He killed Afghans for years, thousands, and then he went to
Karzai said the Egyptian-born al-Zawahiri "is the one who destroyed our mosques and schools, vineyards and orchards."
An international force led by Nato is preparing to move into the southern heartland of the Taliban, which will allow the
In the video, al-Zawahiri cited unspecified US "aggressions" in Afghan cities as examples of foreign "crimes against Islam" and mentioned what he called the "ridiculing of our holy prophet by the Italian, Danish and French", referring to the caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad which caused an uproar earlier this year.
Al-Zawahiri last appeared on a video aired by Aljazeera on June 9, in which he urged Palestinians to boycott a referendum on a statehood proposal that implicitly recognized
Photo Caption
Ayman al-Zawahiri