KABUL — Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar said Monday that the insurgents’ strategy aims to increase operations nationwide and fight the U.S.-led coalition in a war of attrition.
But in a sign that NATO’s campaign against the Taliban may be hurting the militants far more than they have acknowledged, Omar also appealed for funding from Muslims around the world.
Omar, who has not been seen in public since being driven from power following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S., said the Taliban wants to boost operations across Afghanistan to “compel the enemy to come out from their hide-outs and then crush them through tactical raids.” In his message for Eid al-Adha, the most important holiday on the Islamic calendar, the Taliban leader also claimed that NATO forces were in Afghanistan for the “achievement of some colonialist objectives and goals, so it is the religious and humane obligation of the Afghans to stand up.” The Associated Press
