Taleban Leader Warns of Jihad

05/05/2003| IslamWeb

One of the most senior former Taleban leaders ousted from power in Afghanistan has emerged from a hideout promising "jihad" against the Americans and their allies. Mullah Mohammad Hasan Rehmani, former governor of Kandahar, the Taleban spiritual base, was speaking to the Reuters news agency in an interview on a satellite telephone from an undisclosed location. Most of the Taleban leaders fled after the US-led military operation to oust the hardline Islamic regime 18 months ago. He surfaced in an unknown location to deliver his first address since then, promising that the "jihad" would continue against the Americans for occupying Afghanistan and against President Hamid Karzai. He described the Afghan leader as "an American clerk and a toy in the hands of the Northern Alliance," which dominates the current Afghan government. **Al-Qaeda links*** Afghan officials say Mullah Rehmani was someone who had links with the al-Qaeda network and was a trusted adviser to the former Taleban leader Mullah Omar, who is believed to be in hiding. The message comes about a month after the former Taleban military commander, Mullah Dadullah, and another former commander made similar messages. Observers in Kabul say Mullah Rehmani was not a commander, so his warning has no military significance, but they say it could be a sign that remnants of the Taleban leadership are co-ordinating and communicating on a central level. In the past few months, Taleban fighters have regrouped and stepped up attacks against American and Afghan army forces in the south and southeast of the country. They have killed several soldiers, including Americans. Coalition forces, led by the Americans, have launched big operations and have captured small groups of fighters, but many more have fled across the border into Pakistan. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Mullah Mohammad Hasan Rehmani, former Taliban governor of the province of Kandahar, is seen in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in this photo taken November 2, 2001. REUTERS/Mian Khursheed