The Taliban’sreclusive leader has said his group is willing to start peace negotiations even as he urged more attacks on foreign troops.
In a wide-ranging emailed message, Mullah Mohammad Omar blamed the US and the Afghan government for the derailment of talks two months ago.
He also called on Afghans to boycott next year’s presidential elections, describing them as being manipulated by the US.
In a message issued ahead of the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the one-eyed chief of the Afghan insurgency urged the army and police to turn their guns on foreign forces, government officials and the Afghan troops who are cooperating with the US-led coalition forces.
The Taliban’s long-standing policy is to continue attacks even as it pursues negotiations.
Striking a conciliatory tone elsewhere in the message, he denied that the insurgents were seeking to monopolise power in Afghanistan and said his group favoured what he described as an “Afghan-inclusive government based on Islamic principles”.
The reclusive leader has not been seen since he reportedly fled a village in southern Afghanistan on motorcycle three months after the US invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001. He mainly communicates in messages relayed by his spokesmen.
In the message, Mullah Omar did repeat a key US demand opening the way for peace talks by pledging not to use Afghanistan as a base to threaten other countries, although he again did not openly denounce al Qaida.