TALIBAN REJECT AFGHAN ELECTIONS, VOW TO FIGHT UNTIL TROOPS LEAVE
Kabul, 30 Ramadan 1434/7 AUgust 2013 (MINA) – The Taliban group leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, said in a message released on Tuesday, the Afghan Taliban will not take part in next year’s presidential elections and will wage war until foreign troops leave the country.
The announcement will be analyzed derail the stalled peace talks in the Gulf state of Qatar, Saudi Gazette quoted by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA) as reporting, Wednesday.
“As to the deceiving drama under the name of elections 2014, our pious people will not tire themselves out, nor will they participate,” an English translation of Omar’s message, provided by Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, said.
The Taliban rejected two previous presidential elections but this was the first time they have publicly boycotted the 2014 poll.
For several years, a message from Omar has been delivered to the Afghan people in the days before Eid Al-Fitr, a three-day Islamic holiday celebrating the end of the holy month of Ramadan, a period marked by prayer and fasting.
While it is commonly believed that Omar lives in Pakistan, he has made no public appearances or speeches since fleeing Afghanistan in 2001 when US forces and their Afghan allies toppled the Taliban after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. The Taliban are seeking to overthrow the US-backed government and end foreign occupation.
Omar said the aim of the Taliban’s office in Doha, the capital of Qatar, was to see foreign forces leave the country and to form an inclusive government based on “Islamic principles.”
Most foreign troops are due to leave the country by the end of next year.
“We do not think of monopolizing power,” he said. “Those who truly love Islam and the country and have commitment to both, whoever they may be or whichever ethnicity or geographical location they hail from, this homeland is theirs,” he said.
Omar also said humanitarian organizations should feel free to carry out their work in Afghanistan as long as they were not “inviting people to non-Islamic ways.” (T/P09/P04).
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
