Dadullah claims control of southwestern Afghanistan

DOHA: The Taliban have regained control of all southwestern provinces of Afghanistan, Al Jazeera television quoted the group commander, Mullah Dadullah, as saying.

In his first interview with Al Jazeera since reports of his arrest spread across the world last week, the Taliban leader threatened to attack North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) troops deployed in the south of the country, the channel reported.

Dadullah accused the United States of fighting Islam and Muslims. He condemned the US attack on civilians in southern Afghanistan and said that Washington viewed all Afghans as its enemies and therefore killed civilians.

He held Afghan President Hamid Karzai responsible for the killings of civilians, saying that Karzai wanted foreign troops to stay in the country. He said that the Taliban had adopted a new war strategy. He said that his appearance on the television would disappoint the US and foreign and Afghan troops who had aired news of his arrest.

Meanwhile, three Taliban fighters and one Afghan policeman were killed in a clash southwest of Kabul on Sunday, police said. On Sunday, in the Andar district of Ghazni province, southwest of the capital, Taliban fighters killed one policeman and wounded six others in an ambush on a police convoy, but the attackers lost three of their own men as they tried to escape, said Abdul Wakil Kamiyab, a senior provincial police official. Also, a land mine exploded near shepherds tending their flock in northern Afghanistan, killing one boy and injuring another, police said on Sunday. agencies

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