Warlord: US Facing Soviet-Style Defeat in Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD: The United States faces a Soviet-style humiliation in Afghanistan, a fugitive Afghan warlord claimed in a video message, and taunted Pakistan for aiding US-led counterterrorism operations.

In a recording obtained by The Associated Press in Pakistan, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar also accused Washington of fomenting conflict among Afghan ethnic groups on a scale comparable with the strife in Iraq.

“Everyone knows that the American aggressors are faced with defeat in every part of the country,” Hekmatyar said. “They were unable to achieve their goals by bombing innocent Afghans, their villages and homes. They are preparing to leave like the Soviet troops.”

He said that foreign troops should pull out of Afghanistan – at least as far as neighbouring countries. Hekmatyar leads a militant faction blamed along with Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters for an intensifying insurgency in Afghanistan, despite the presence of an expanding number of foreign troops. The 24-minute recording, the third from Hekmatyar to surface this month, was undated. It was also unclear where it was recorded. However, Hekmatyar refers to the Muslim celebration of Eid-ul-Azha the turn of the year.

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