The head of the Taliban terror group in Afghanistan has broken his reclusive silence to issue a warning to government authorities: Don’t sign any security deal with the Americans.
Mullah Mohammed Omar, who hasn’t been seen in public for a decade, warned that Taliban members would keep up their attacks in Kabul if Afghanistan’s governing authorities went through with an agreement with the United States to establish what’s being billed as a “colonial” peace pact, the Los Angeles Times reported.
He sent the message — which also threatened that harm would befall Afghanistan government officials, the United States and other unnamed foreign officials — in an email over the weekend, a day after Secretary of State John Kerry and President Hamid Karzai announced a partial agreement had been forged, The Los Angeles Times said.
The sticking point between Mr. Kerry and Mr. Karzai is the issue of granting immunity for U.S. military members. Mr. Kerry said no agreement could go forth without a guarantee of protection from local prosecution of American troops. Mr. Karzai, in response, said he couldn’t make that promise — only local tribal elders could decide.
Mr. Omar called the talks a political show and said the Taliban would not accept any terms or signed “documents of slavery,” the Los Angeles Times said. He also said Afghanis ought to boycott the April 5 elections for president, and said Taliban fighters should target joint Afghan-NATO forces, since “the might of the enemy has begun melting” from internal talks.
“Though the Kabul administration may get these documents rubber-stamped by a fake loya Jirga, it will not be acceptable to the Afghans,” he said, in the Los Angeles Times report.
The United States has previously offered a $10 million reward for information that leads to capture of Mr. Omar.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.