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Taliban Leader: Destroying America is Not "A Matter of Weapons"
LONDON, Nov. 15 (News Agencies) - Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar said Thursday he is planning the destruction of the United States, but told the BBC that this goal will be accomplished without weapons.
When asked if there were concrete plans concerning Osama bin Laden's threat to use nuclear, biological or chemical weapons against the U.S., Mullah said: "This is not a matter of weapons. We are hopeful for God's help. The real matter is the extinction of America. And, God willing, it [America] will fall to the ground.
"The plan is going ahead and, God willing, it is being implemented," added Mullah Omar. "But it is a huge task, which is beyond the will and comprehension of human beings. If God's help is with us, this will happen within a short period of time. Keep in mind this prediction."
"You [the BBC] and American puppet radios have created concern. But the current situation in Afghanistan is related to a bigger cause - that is the destruction of America."
Asked about the setbacks suffered by the Taliban, he said it was not important how many provinces in Afghanistan were now under his control, because territory could be lost and regained.
"We have four-five provinces," said the Taliban leader. "But it is not important how many provinces we have under our control. Once we did not have a single province, and then the time came when we had all the provinces, which we have lost in a week. So the numbers of the provinces are not important."
Mullah, who was speaking exclusively to the BBC's Pashto-language service, said the southern city of Kandahar remained in the hands of Taliban fighters.
Mullah Omar said the struggle for a broad-based government in Afghanistan had been going on for the last 20 years, but nothing had ever come of it.
His statement came as the U.N. Security Council unanimously endorsed a resolution sponsored by Britain and France backing a plan for the country's political future drawn up by the senior U.N. envoy to Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi.
As the Northern Alliance continued to extend the area under their control, the United States said it had bombed a building being used by members of Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network. An official said the building was destroyed and a number of key Taliban leaders were killed.
Under the U.N.-endorsed plan, Brahimi wants to convene a meeting of all Afghan factions within the next few days, and establish a multi-national security force.
The Northern Alliance has said it will not set up an interim government, but will simply run Kabul until talks can be held.
A high military council led by Defense Minister General Fahim Khan has assumed leadership in the capital.
"The council has invited and is ready to receive the delegates of the people who are either abroad or at home to come as soon as possible to Kabul for forming the government through whatever way they wish," said Alliance spokesman Mohammed Habeel.
But Mullah Omar told the BBC: "We would prefer death to the government of fascists."
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