Kabul - The Taleban yesterday vowed to keep fighting against United States forces in Afghanistan until all American troops leave the country and stressed that their organisation had no role in the Sept 11 attacks.
In a statement e-mailed to media, the Taleban accused the United States of using the Sept 11 attacks as a pretext to invade Afghanistan and said the international community was responsible for killing thousands of Afghans during the invasion and ensuing occupation.
'Each year, 9/11 reminds the Afghans of an event in which they had no role whatsoever,' the Taleban said. 'American colonialism has shed the blood of tens of thousands of miserable and innocent Afghans.'
The US and its allies invaded Afghanistan on Oct 7, 2001, after the Taleban, who then ruled the country, refused to hand over Osama bin Laden, leader of the Al-Qaeda terrorists behind the 9/11 attacks.
Osama was at the time living in Afghanistan, where the terror network had training camps from which it planned attacks against the US and other countries.
'The Afghans have an endless stamina for a long war,' the Taleban statement also said. 'Through a countrywide uprising, the Afghans will send the Americans to the dustbin of history like they sent other empires of the past.'
Although the Taleban were defeated by the US-led coalition, they have since managed to regroup and rearm. Osama was killed in May in a US raid on his house in north-western Pakistan.
AP
