Taliban not an international threat?

[U-said-it]

A US soldier keeps watch at the site of an explosion in Logar province south of Kabul Photograph: Omar Sobhani/Reuters

The Taliban have said they pose no threat to the west, in a statement apparently intended to influence the debate over the future of the war in Afghanistan.

The announcement appeared on ­several websites used by the Taliban. It will be scrutinised by Barack Obama's national security advisers, who are reported to be pressing him to shift the focus of the war from the Taliban in Afghanistan to ­al-Qaida in Pakistan.

Some of the advisers, along with Joe Biden, the vice president, argue that the Taliban are not a direct threat to the US but al-Qaida's deepening intrusion into Pakistan threatens to turn it into a destabilising base for terrorist attacks.

The Taliban statement said they are fighting to expel foreign invaders from Afghanistan and establish an Islamic state. "We did not have any agenda to harm other countries, including Europe, nor do we have such agenda today," said the statement on a known Taliban website.

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[Jeeba Jabba]

Of course they don't. They never have. But they have and will continue to house al-Qaeda.

[U-said-it]

Can anyone verify the claims this guys is making about Afghanistan?

Truth is war’s first casualty. The Afghan War’s biggest untruth is, `we’ve got to fight terrorists over there so we don’t have to fight them at home.’ Politicians and generals keep using this canard to justify a war they can’t otherwise explain or justify.

Many North Americans still buy this lie because they believe the 9/11 attacks came directly from the Afghanistan-based al-Qaida and Taliban movements.

Not true. The 9/11 attacks were planned in Germany and Spain, and conducted mainly by US-based Saudis to punish America for supporting Israel’s repression of the Palestinians.

Taliban, a militant religious, anti-Communist movement of Pashtun tribesmen, was totally surprised by 9/11. Osama bin Laden, on whom 9/11 is blamed, was in Afghanistan as a guest because he was a national hero for fighting the Soviets in the 1980’s and was aiding Taliban’s struggle against the Afghan Communist-dominated Northern Alliance afterwards.

Taliban received US aid until May, 2001. The CIA was planning to use Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida to stir up Muslim Uighurs against Chinese rule, and to employ Taliban against Russia’s Central Asian allies. Most of the so-called `terrorist training camps’ in Afghanistan were being run by Pakistani intelligence to prepare mujahidin fighters for combat in Indian-held Kashmir.

In 2001, Al-Qaida only numbered 300 members. Most have since been killed. A handful escaped to Pakistan. Only a few remain in Afghanistan. Yet President Obama insists 68,000 or more US troops must stay in Afghanistan to fight al-Qaida and prevent extremists from re-acquiring `terrorist training camps.’

http://www.ericmargolis.com/political_c ... -lies.aspx