The Taliban issued a statement this week saying that Senator Lindsey Graham has proven the U.S. is trying to colonize the Near East nation.In its statement issued Tuesday the Taliban reacted to comments made by Graham during an appearance on "Meet the Press."
Graham said putting U.S. air bases in Afghanistan, at the request of Afghanistan, would be "enormously beneficial to the region."
"We have had air bases all over the world. A couple of air bases in Afghanistan would allow the Afghan security forces an edge against the Taliban in perpetuity. It would be a signal to Pakistan, the Taliban are never going to come back in Afghanistan that it could change their behavior," he said. "It would be a signal to the whole region that Afghanistan is going to be a new and different place."
In a harshly worded message, which called Graham out by name, the Taliban group said that the senator's remarks "reveal the colonialist intentions of America" under the guise of the war on terror.
"Such remarks by a well-known official of invading America clearly shows that the war on terrorism has been a drama, produced by Washington," said the Voice of Jihad.
The Taliban Voice of Jihad Online also claimed the U.S. wishes to "loot" the nation of its resources in order to take advantage of the shift in industrial development from the West to Asia and called attacks on civilian sites like markets and mosques "conspiracies by the invading America."
"They only carry out raids on people's homes like thieves during the night and martyr innocent Afghans," the declaration says in a appeal for cash and support.
NATO has "lost the ability to confront the mojahedin in broad daylight," it added.
Graham responded that the Taliban is grasping at straws because the Afghanis realize they are better off now than under the Taliban.
"The overwhelming majority of Afghans have no desire to return to Taliban control. Taliban control represented one of the darkest periods in Afghan history," Graham told Fox News. "It is my desire to have an enduring relationship with the Afghan people that would be mutually beneficial to both countries."