AFGHANISTAN

Times of India: Senior Taliban leader resurfaces, vows jihad

SPIN BOLDAK, Afghanistan: One of the most senior leaders of Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime vowed on Sunday to continue a jihad, or holy war, against the United States and its Afghan allies.

Mullah Mohammad Hasan Rehmani, former governor of the province of Kandahar and a close associate of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, was speaking to Reuters by satellite telephone from an undisclosed location in his first interview since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001.

"The Taliban will continue their jihad and struggle for peace, implementation of Islamic sharia law, and against America and its agents", Rehmani said. "The jihad will continue because American troops are occupying Afghanistan".

Afghan officials say the Taliban appears to be regrouping this year and blame the hardline militia for a series of attacks on American and Afghan government troops in recent months