17 November 2008 - 17H48
Taliban threaten Paris attacks
Taliban insurgents warned France in a video message on Monday that they would attack Paris unless French troops were withdrawn from Afghanistan. The insurgents also claimed the ambush that killed 10 French soldiers earlier this year.
Also read: Taliban close in on Kabul
Watch: The enemy is also French, says Taliban commander
DUBAI - The Taliban threatened to launch attacks in Paris unless France withdraws from Afghanistan, in a video aired by Al Arabiya television on Monday.
The video also claimed an ambush that killed 10 French troops in August was carried out by the Taliban. It was not clear when the recording was made.
"We have killed 10 French soldiers today as a message to the French so that they rectify their mistakes and withdraw from Afghanistan, and if they don't they will hear our response in Paris," said Mullah Farouq, identified as the commander of the unit that raided the French troops, on the video. His remarks were dubbed into Arabic by the station.
The video included footage of what appeared to be a French armoured unit being stalked by Taliban fighters. Some insurgents were later shown wearing uniforms of the French soldiers they had killed.
Taliban fighters killed the 10 French soldiers and wounded 21 in a major battle near the capital Kabul after ambushing their reconnaissance patrol in August, in the biggest single loss of foreign troops in combat there since 2001.
France's President Nicolas Sarkozy visited Afghanistan to honour those killed and said French troops must stay in Afghanistan to fight terrorism.
Sarkozy sent an extra 700 troops to Afghanistan this year, responding to U.S. pleas for its NATO allies to do more to help check the resurgent Taliban. That brought the number of French troops in Afghanistan to about 2,600.
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Comments
Afghanistan, Taliban, Paris, NATO... What's to be done?
Why is France in Afghanistan? That question may resonate among people who themselves have a habit of running Gulags where tens of thousands perish such as North Korea, suppressing freedom of expression at will, as in China, suppressing political competition as in Russia, and the homicide of homosexuals and free women in Iran, Saudi Arabia, and on through the middle east the list goes. The cruel perpetrators of these horrors are probably very much concerned.
Why is France in Afghanistan? Maybe some French people think men throwing acid in the face of little girls so they can’t go to school is cruel and barbaric. Maybe some French would like to be unselfish with their freedoms, is that hegemonic?
If France hides away and does nothing, will all terrorism go away? What is France; liberty, equality, and fraternity? The French lit a torch when they revolted and that light is still shining, it shines on the shores of the United States, and it shines from the center of Europe, people can see it, they would like to walk in that light also. NATO is an instrument to protect and defend, it is an alliance, if it did not exist, would it justify doing nothing in the face of the extraordinary oppression the Taliban would like to install? Is it ethical to do nothing when people are executed for believing in the God of their choice or no God at all? What can France do? She is in Afghanistan, it isn’t the solution, but can the French do nothing? The Taliban, as it spreads and grows will spare no one.
The Taliban want to attack Paris. Are Parisians quaking in their shoes? I doubt it. Paris is the most beautiful city I’ve seen, her people the most passionate I’ve encountered, whether I agreed with them or not, they were and are beautiful too. I would die to defend it; an attack on one is an attack on all.
Jeremy
San Diego, California
Why is NATO in Afghanistan?
Nobody has yet explained why NATO is in Afghanistan. The organization was designed to prevent Soviet tanks rolling across the plains of Northern Europe and is NOT equipped for export!
taliban afghanistan
You fight like our crusders did ,you anniliate the whole of society ,you match terror with terror.all this talking is for morons ,these people dont change. ,terror is the only thing they understand ,..