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| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| Taliban Reduced Operations During Election To Avoid Killing Muslims |
| 2004-10-25 |
| From Jihad Unspun The Taliban did not attack polling sites in Afghanistan's US-backed presidential elections to avoid killing ordinary Muslims, Taliban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi said. "In order to avoid bloodshed of innocent Muslims we did not target the polling stations," he told Tuesday by satellite phone from an undisclosed location. "We had operations, but not in places where the nations were gathering," he said. "There were large swathes where they could not hold elections. In Zabul province excluding the capital, they could not hold elections in any of the districts," Hakimi said. Electoral officials in southern Kandahar said that in Zabul's Deh Chopan district voter turnout was low because of Taliban threats but polling sites across the province remained open. Eight policemen and three civilians were killed in landmine attacks in Kandahar on election day and the days before and after but there were no major attacks on polling sites. Officials said the Taliban's failure to violently disrupt the election could demoralise the militia and impact its efforts to attract new followers. Hakimi however denied the Taliban had been weakened. "In all mountainous areas it is still the rule of the Islamic Imarat. The Taliban are organized and are getting more organized every day. There is no split in Taliban as they claim," he said. "We will continue our jihad and elections are not going to stop us." Meanwhile, rumors are surfacing that US and Afghan officials including Wali Karzai the brother of Hamid Karzai are holding talks in Uruzgan province with Mullah Abdul Razzak, a high-ranking Taliban official, in an effort to bring "moderate" Taliban into the the Karzai government if it forms. According to Radio Tehran, two rounds of talks have been held however there is no independent verification of this claim. |
| Posted by:Mike Sylwester |
| #2 Me too, I call BS! |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-10-25 11:46:16 PM |
#1 The Taliban did not attack polling sites in Afghanistan’s US-backed presidential elections to avoid killing ordinary MuslimsHahahahahahahahaha! Like those clowns give a rat's ass in hell for the lives of "ordinary" Muslims. They think all Muslims (except themselves, of course) should be martyrs, even if only accidently. I call bullshit on this one. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2004-10-25 11:43:22 PM |