Omar tells Taliban to unite, continue insurgency

By Mirwais Afghan

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) – Fugitive Taliban leader
Mullah Mohammad Omar has called on supporters to put aside
differences and continue their war against the government and
foreign forces in Afghanistan, the Taliban said on Monday.

Omar made the call recently in a message via field radio to
the Taliban’s leadership council, which has been expanded to 18
members, Taliban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi said.

A recording of the message purporting to come from Omar was
handed over to Reuters in the southern city of Kandahar on
Monday by a man who did not identify himself.

In it Omar said: “Unite, and do not disagree, continue your
jihad (holy war) and victory will be yours.”

Hakimi, who spoke himself from an undisclosed location, did
not say where the message was recorded.

He said the leadership council, which previously numbered
ten men, now had eight new members, based on a decision by
Omar.

Neither he nor the message named the new members.

In the message, Omar told Taliban guerrillas not to harass
people while waging war against President Hamid Karzai’s
government and U.S.-led foreign forces.

“Carry out your works quietly,” he said.

Omar did not elaborate on the disagreements he referred to
in the call for unity, or the reference to harassing people.

Omar’s whereabouts have remained unknown since U.S.-led
forces overthrew the Taliban in late 2001 for refusing to hand
over Osama bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders responsible for
the Sept. 11 attacks on U.S. cities.

However, some Afghan officials have said they believe the
one-eyed Omar is hiding somewhere in neighboring Pakistan. Bin
Laden also remains at large.

WORSENING VIOLENCE

The message is one of only a few from Omar issued to the
media. In a written message in March, he dismissed U.S.
military claims that he was no longer in control of the
insurgency and vowed to step up attacks on Afghan and U.S.
forces.

The period since leading up to Sept. 18 parliamentary
elections has seen the worst militant violence since U.S.-led
forces overthrew the Taliban in late 2001.

Hundreds of people have died, many of them guerrillas, but
also many local government officials, police officers and
Afghan and foreign troops.

The dead have included 36 U.S. soldiers killed in action,
making it the bloodiest period for U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

Most of the violence has been in areas near the border with
Pakistan and Afghan officials have repeatedly complained that
Taliban attacks are mostly organized in Pakistan.

Pakistan was the Taliban’s main supporter until Sept. 11,
but became a major U.S. ally in its war on terror.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz visited Kabul on
Sunday and pledged that Islamabad would do all it could to stop
infiltration of militants ahead of the elections.

While Pakistan has arrested hundreds of al Qaeda militants
since 2001, it has detained relatively few Taliban fighters,
even though many are thought to have found refuge there.

Last week, however, Pakistani police said security forces
arrested a handful of Taliban officials from a refugee camp
northwest of Islamabad.

Pakistani newspapers quoted unnamed sources as saying that
Mawlavi Abdul Kabir — a deputy of Omar — was among them, but
senior Pakistani officials were unable to confirm this.