posted on September 10, 2004 03:33:03 PM new
Bush has failed on two fronts. The Taliban and Al Qaeda are regrouping in Afghanistan and Iraq continues to spin out of control. Those Democrats who have been screaming themselves silly at Bush over his lack of focus can once again point fingers at Bush's lack of attention on taking care of business in Afghanistan from the beginning. Chasing the Taliban into the mountains and allowing them to regroup and join forces with extremists only proves once again that his policies continue to fail the United States and the rest of the world. Bush's only intentions with terrorists is to let them continue their attacks so that he can continue to gain funding and support to fight terrorism. Bush has no desire to end terrorism. It reaks of Reagan and Bush Sr's War on Drugs. Their goal was to simply tax and spend more money and drive our deficit up.
Taliban Say Attack Shows They Can Strike at Will
Fri Sep 10, 5:20 AM ET Add Top Stories - Reuters to My Yahoo!
By David Fox
KABUL (Reuters) - A rocket attack aimed at Kabul's international airport showed the Taliban have the ability to target anywhere in Afghanistan (news - web sites), the group said on Friday, warning the Americans the country would become their "burial ground."
AP Photo
Slideshow: Afghanistan
Although the four rockets fell well short or wide of their target, Mullah Dadullah Akhund -- the Taliban's military commander and a member of its 10-member ruling council -- said U.S.-led forces in the country were pinned down in their bases.
He was speaking a day after the Arabic satellite TV channel al Jazeera broadcast a video of Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s Egyptian-born deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, claiming that mujahideen fighters had U.S. forces pinned down in Afghanistan and Iraq (news - web sites).
"The enemy are limited to their capitals," al-Zawahri said in the tape, broadcast two days before the third anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. Washington quickly blamed al Qaeda and sent troops to Afghanistan to overthrow the Taliban.
"The Americans are hiding in their trenches and refuse to come out to face the mujahideen, as the mujahideen shell and fire on them, and cut roads off around them. Their defense is only to bomb by air, wasting U.S. money as they kick up dust."
Mullah Dadullah told Reuters by satellite phone early on Friday that four rockets which struck a crowded residential area in the Afghan capital late on Thursday night had been aimed at the nearby airport, where U.S. forces and the NATO (news - web sites)-led International Security Assistance Force have a strong presence.
Two adults and a child were slightly wounded in the attack, which Kabul's police chief said was an attempt to disrupt Afghanistan's first direct presidential elections on Oct. 9.
The Taliban also claimed on Friday that they had killed five soldiers and captured three in an attack near Tarin Kot, southwest of the capital in Uruzgan province.
Governor Jan Mohammed Khan confirmed an attack on an army vehicle, but said government forces had suffered two casualties with two soldiers captured.
AMERICANS "SCARED AND AFRAID"
"Ayman al-Zawahri's statement is based on reality that allied forces in Afghanistan were confined to their military camps because they were scared and afraid and they do not have the courage to fight with the Taliban and other mujahideen," Dadullah said.
"Inshallah (God willing) we will make Afghanistan the burial ground for the Americans," he said.
U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taliban in late 2001 after it refused to give up bin Laden and other al Qaeda figures.
A U.S.-led force of about 18,000 troops is still hunting Taliban and al Qaeda guerrillas in Afghanistan but has yet to capture bin Laden or Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.
The U.S. military had no immediate comment on the Taliban remarks, but has dismissed such statements in the past.
In the al Jazeera broadcast, Zawahri said Iraq and Afghanistan were becoming quagmires for the United States.
"In both countries, if they continue they will bleed to death and if they withdraw they lose everything," said Zawahri.
U.S. combat casualties in Afghanistan in the past three years have been less than a tenth of the 1,000 troops they have lost in Iraq since last year.
Wearing a white turban with a machine gun at his side, Zawahri spoke to camera for several minutes in the tape.
"In Kabul, the Americans and peacekeeping forces are hiding from the shells of the Mujahideen and expect martyrdom (suicide) attacks at every moment," Zawahri said.
The Taliban, who frequently exaggerate the effect of their attacks on U.S. troops, said they had also fired "many rockets" at a U.S. position in Uruzgan on Thursday night causing "a lot of damage to the Americans."
Governor Khan said no one was hurt in that incident. U.S. forces were, again, not immediately available for comment.
