Taliban warns Cdn. troops to leave Afghanistan

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CTV.ca News

A top Taliban official says Canadian troops should get out of Afghanistan and stop acting like Americans, or face the insurgents' wrath at the same level the U.S. has experienced.

The military commander and Taliban spokesperson, known as Mullah Dadallah, appeared on the Al-Jazeera television network this week.

"Our main enemy is the United States. As for Canada and the other countries, we have no historical enmity with them," Dadallah said, according to a report in The Globe and Mail on Friday.

"But if they want to come here as fighting forces, we will view then just as we view the Americans. America is a big snake that wants to bite everybody."

Canada currently has 2,300 soldiers in Afghanistan, and recently committed to remaining in the war-torn nation until at least 2009.

Since 2002, 16 Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have been killed in Afghanistan.

Dadallah advised Canada and the other multi-national forces in Afghanistan to abandon both the nation, and any attempts to defend or side with the U.S.

"If they return to where they came from, and withdraw their forces from here, we will not view them like the Americans."

Dadallah said the U.S. is using Canada, and others, to fight its battles for it, according to a transcript of the interview prepared by the Middle East Media Research Institute.

"Our advice to Canada and Britain is to refrain from defending the American propaganda, and from standing by this historic American crime. America wants to get other countries entangled in the crimes it committed in Afghanistan.

"Our advice to these countries is to avoid the heat of battle, because we will wreak vengeance upon them one by one, like we are doing with the Americans, if they remain here when the Americans are gone."

The warning marks one of the few occasions the Taliban has specifically mentioned Canada directly. The comments seem intended to strike fear in the hearts of troops, and to provoke distrust in the Afghan population.

Meanwhile, the Canadian military has gone to great lengths to build bridges with Afghans, holding informal, sit down meetings with village elders around the country to determine the needs of locals, as well as working to help provide vital services.

The Taliban has kept a relatively low profile since the U.S. invaded Afghanistan in 2001, but the insurgents appear to be stepping up efforts recently.

This week in Ottawa, Lieutenant-General Michel Gauthier appeared before a Senate committee. He told members it is vital that Canadian troops strive for the support of locals, and said the work in Afghanistan will be accomplished by providing security and safety to Afghans.

"If they are still being terrorized by the Taliban, that terror might force them to vote with the Taliban," Gauthier said, according to The Globe.

Jack Hooper, the deputy director of operations with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, told the committee that Canada's work in Afghanistan will have ramifications outside the nation's borders.

"In the here and now, terrorism and insurgency are being brought to Canadians in Afghanistan," Hooper said, according to The Globe.

"At some future point, if we are to learn the lessons of history, their practitioners may bring violence to the streets of our cities."

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