Posted on 09/14/2001 6:02:27 AM PDT by Sockdolager
Osama bin Laden appointed commander-in-chief of Taliban armed forces
Thursday, 30 August 2001 9:58 (ET)
Taliban slammed over bin Laden appointment
MOSCOW, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- Russia's Foreign Ministry on Thursday condemned the appointment of Saudi terrorism suspect Osama bin Laden as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces of Afghanistan's ruling Taliban regime, the official RIA Novosti news agency reported.
Bin Laden's appointment confirmed that a center of international terrorism is being set up in Taliban-controlled territory, the ministry said in a statement.
"Pseudo-religious values are being used as a cover to prepare a bridgehead for expansion of militant extremism and separatism far beyond the region's borders," added the statement.
This month, Russian media quoted Pakistan's Nation daily as saying that the Taliban had named bin Laden commander of their troops. Afghanistan's civil war concerns the Kremlin as hundreds of Russian border guards monitor the Afghan-Tajik border and a potential spill of violence could plunge the whole region into chaos.
Moreover, the Taliban's aim to build an orthodox Islamic state has given rise to many Islamic extremist movements in the former Soviet republics in Central Asia. In recent years, Islamic insurgents from Afghanistan launched raids on Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
The Taliban's ongoing clashes with the Northern Alliance movement backing ousted President Burhanuddin Rabbani -- the leader of the government general recognized by international organizations -- have alerted Russia and its partners as arms smuggling, drug trafficking, kidnapping and other crimes have flourished along the Afghan-Tajik border.
On Thursday, Moscow also condemned the appointment of Juma Namangani as bin Laden's deputy. Namangani, an ethnic Uzbek, was liked to a number of raids on Kyrgyzstan's Batken district over the last three years. Namangani advocates creation of an Islamic state run by a regime similar to the Taliban's and spreading over Central Asia.
"Incorporation of the international terrorists' leaders into the ruling structures of the Taliban shows the need to take decisive measures to collectively counter global challenges that are put forward from the Taliban-controlled territory," said the statement.
Mike
Read this before 9/11, Bin Laden is part of the Afgan government. This equals up to a COUNTRY that attacked America, time to declare war on Afganistan, PERIOD!
How can we not level Afghanistan knowing this information?
Is it just me, or does this remind anyone else of Adolf Hitler? The only difference is that propaganda is not being used to take over territories and increase power -- instead, it's to exact revenge per their fatwa against the U.S.
Afghanistan has attacked and killed thousands (5000+ confirmed) of our citizens. Declare war now, use bases in India and Israel as starting points, annex their oil fields, and use their homelands as a base of operations for the destruction of all terrorist camps, organizations, and bases, and to exterminate any nation that would give them aid and comfort from this day forward.
I don't personally see why the reaction against Afghanistan should be any different.
The Taliban had prior knowledge of his activity, and condoned it. They are not only accessories after the fact, but before the fact as well.
Its credibility is high.
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