Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia on Tuesday accused US President George W Bush of committing 'terrorism' in Afghanistan by allegedly killing civilians. ''The Bush administration verbally condemns terrorism but practically commits terrorism in Afghanistan. Every day civilians fall victim to American air raids,'' the Taliban Ambassador in Pakistan, Mulla Abdul Salam Zaeef, alleged at a press conference in Islamabad. He claimed that 19 civilians were killed on Tuesday US-led air raids on Afghanistan. Of them, four were killed in Spoza and Daman districts in Kandahar and 15 in Kala Shahpir where 10 bombs had landed, according to the Taliban Ambassador, recognised only by Pakistan. The public health department in Kandahar has reported that bodies of some of those killed bore symptoms of chemicals, Zaeef said, implying that the US-led coalition of forces might be using chemical weapons.
He said that people in Mazar-e-Sharif and Samangan province had put on fire pamphlets and food items dropped by US planes. ''Bloodshed and food stuff cannot go together,'' Zaeef spurned the food aid drops the US-led forces have been conducting simultaneously when they began hitting Taliban military installations and suspected terrorist bases inside Afghanistan on October seven. ''In this conspiratorial vortex by devilish powers, the Afghan Muslim people are determined to defend their independence, sovereignty, faith and aspirations as their ancestors did in the past,'' Zaeef vowed.
''It is now clear that the big game around for Afghanistan is unraveling day by day. A triangle of Russia, India and the opposition is being formed to give a new dimension,'' the Taliban Ambassador said.
Bureau report