(AKI) - By Syed Saleem Shahzad - Foreign troops are sustaining heavy losses and have no prospect of defeating the Taliban in Afghanistan, according to a senior Taliban leader. Mullah Mohammad Hasan Rahmani, former governor of Kandahar province and a close adviser to Taliban leader Mullah Omar, told Adnkronos International (AKI) that the Taliban was having "great success" in its attacks on foreign forces."All places in Afghanistan are under siege by the Taliban, they are sustaining huge losses. During the night the Taliban are able to carry out action anywhere in Afghanistan in any street," he told AKI. "Their main targets are government installations, the police and the army."
The Taliban is having "great success" with these few targets, he said.
Fifty-year-old Mullah Hasan Rahmani was appointed governor of Kandahar under the former Taliban regime and remains a close adviser to Mullah Omar. During the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1978-79, he was part of Hezb-i-Islami, a fundamentalist faction of the mujahadeen which opposed the Soviet occupation. He remains a top Taliban leader.
He lost his left leg during the long-running war against the former Soviet Union and has an artificial limb.
In an interview with AKI in an undisclosed location, Hasan Rahmani said foreign forces, including the Canadian troops stationed in Kandahar, would not succeed in defeating the Taliban. "Nobody is successful against the Taliban" he told AKI. "As far as Canadian forces are concerned, they are fighting against the Taliban only under American pressure.
" I wonder why any country should send their sons to any other country and get them killed for a cause which is not his. This kind of war which is fought for somebody else cannot be successful, neither it can be in the future."
Rahmani said the Taliban would not seek any reconciliation with the Canadian troops stationed in Kandahar. Asked whether the Taliban would negotiate, he said: "Not at all. Not for a single inch."
"Leave Kandahar alone," he added.
He said the Afghan people appreciated that the Taliban had brought peace to Afghanistan while the Americans had invaded the country and brought destruction. "Once again the Taliban are fighting to restore peace and prosperity like they provided the Afghan nation during their rule. Afghanistan understands and appreciates this fact and that's why they are supportive of the Taliban."
He said the Afghan nation understands that the foreign troops of America and NATO are responsible for the bombardment and destruction of Afghanistan and the Taliban is simply resisting them.