Taliban: ‘Obama has failed’
Taliban leaders react tersely to US President Barack Obama’s claims that Allied forces are making progress in and around the Pakistani border areas.
The President’s comments came less than a day before at least 24 militants were killed by CIA drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal region this morning, according to intelligence officials.
It also came after reports emerged that two British converts to Islam were killed in a similar drone strike last week.
In Mr Obama’s first comprehensive assessment of Afghan strategy, he said that US troops can begin withdrawing on schedule in July.
But he recognised that many gains against the Taliban and al-Qaeda are “fragile and reversible.”
“In short, Al-Qaeda is hunkered down,” he told a press conference yesterday.
“It will take time to ultimately defeat al-Qaeda. Make no mistake, we are going to remain relentless in disrupting and dismantling that terrorist organisation.”
Channel 4 News Washington producer April Brown said that terrorist attacks from the Taliban are still a significant problem, with a roadside bomb today killing 14 passengers on a minibus in the northwest of Afghanistan, and an attack on Sunday in southern Afghanistan where six American soldiers died.
Taliban response
And the Taliban issued a statement contradicting Mr Obama’s claims and vowed to continue their efforts.
“In our opinion, as Obama’s strategy has failed in the past, his review of the strategy will also face failure and will not give any positive message to the Americans,” a statement from the Islamic Emirate of the Taliban read.
“It has been proved over the last nine years that the insistence on increasing foreign military forces and on using military force for the success of foreign military forces in Afghanistan has failed and has been futile.”
The statement pointed to the fact that more US personnel had died since Mr Obama announced his strategy than previously.
It added: “The only noticeable change in the review is the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan next year and this is a bitter outcome the American nation will suffer after losing thousands of American soldiers and spending thousands of billions of dollars.”
This morning, three suspected US drone missiles killed 24 militants in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber region on the Afghan border; the fourth attack in two days.
Khyber is home to Lashkar-e-Islami, a militant organisation sometimes allied with the Pakistani Taliban, but which has often clashed with other groups.
The attacks on Friday in Tirah valley occurred within hours of each other.
Pakistani authorities said on Thursday that two British citizens were killed along with four others in a drone missile strike in the North Waziristan on 10 December.
The white British Muslim converts, which unconfirmed reports suggest were called Steven and Gerry Smith, 25 and 48, but used adopted names Abu Bakr and Mansoor Ahmed, were killed in a stronghold of al Qaeda-affiliated militant groups.