Visit Indian Travel Sites
Goa,
Kerala,
Tamil Nadu,
Andhra Pradesh,
Delhi,
Rajasthan,
Uttar Pradesh,
Himachal Pradesh,
Assam,
Sikkim,
Madhya Pradesh,
Jammu & Kashmir
Karnataka
|
Sacked Afghan governor admits sending 3,000 followers to join Taliban | The former governor of Afghanistan's Helmand province, Sher Mohammed Akhundzada, has admitted that he encouraged up to 3,000 of his followers to join the Taliban following
his dismissal under international pressure. "When I was no longer governor the
government stopped paying for the people who supported me. I sent 3,000 of them
off to the Taliban because I could not afford to support them but the Taliban
was making payments," The Telegraph quoted Akhundzada, as saying. Akhundzada,
a former mujahideen fighter against the Russians, was sacked as Helmand's governor
in 2005 after being accused of being linked to the opium trade. Nine tons of opium
were found in his cellars in 2005. The move coincided with a huge upsurge in the
number of British deaths in Afghanistan. Before moving into Helmand province in
2006, British forces had suffered five deaths, but the death toll has risen to
235, including 98 dead this year. "Lots of people, including my family members,
went back to the Taliban because they had lost respect for the government. The
British bore the brunt of this because the Taliban became the defenders of Helmand,
where the local tradition doesn't allow foreigners to go into people's homes,"
Akhundzada said. Brigadier Ed Butler, who commanded the Helmand Task Force in
2006, confirmed hundreds of Akhundzada's followers had been involved in clashes
with British troops. "There was a force of fighters who had lost one powerful
leader, Sher Mohammad Akhundzada, and had decided to support the Taliban. Our
forces no doubt engaged in the ensuring battles with some of them over the long
hot summer of 2006," he said. President Hamid Karzai is known to believe that
Akhundzada's removal was a disaster, and has publicly praised the senator for
holding the Taliban at bay. Karzai is now rumoured to be considering restoring
Akhundzada, who is now an Afghan senator, to his old job in a forthcoming reshuffle. |
|
|
|
|
|