By Mutiullah Taeb, IOL Staff

DOHA, August 28 (IslamOnline) - An Afghani group sent a statement to IslamOnline (IOL) on Tuesday, August 27, claiming responsibility of the attacks targeting U.S. troops in Afghanistan and promising to continue its attacks in revenge for the innocent civilians killed during the U.S. attacks.

The group, calling itself the Secret Army of the Afghan Fighters (Mujahadeen), said their attacks against the Americans in Afghanistan will continue till the last U.S. soldier leaves the country and a “free Islamic Afghanistan” is established.

The statement, which provides the details of 30 attacks against the U.S. troops in Kabul, Baghram military base and six towns east and south Afghanistan during the period from March 4, 2002 to August 23, 2002, is apparently the first one issued by this new group whose name was not mention before.

“These attacks were not launched by the Taliban or Al-Qaeda, instead they are the work of those heroes and fighters who decided to establish a Jihadi group under the name of Secret Army of the Afghan Fighters following the unjust U.S. attack against Afghanistan,” the statement said.

According to the statement, these attacks resulted in the death of 59 American soldiers, in addition to three Canadian soldiers and 15 Afghani soldiers described in the statement as spies or agents.

The U.S. Defense Ministry, the Pentagon, has continuously denied any news about the killing of its soldiers in Afghanistan.

The statement, written in Pushtu on a computer, starts with a long introduction explaining that a U.S.-Russian plan to end the Taliban rule and bring to power the former king Mohamed Zaher Shah with a new government was ready before the September 11 attacks.

“But the September attacks changed the plan and made the exclusive leadership of the terror war belongs to the U.S. that attacked Afghanistan with international blessings,” it said.

A year after the U.S. attack, the Americans are far from ending this war and they have no full control of the country, in addition to not being able to secure any areas, including the capital Kabul and the UN offices and employees, as the acts of killings and thefts are spread all over the country, the statement aid.

“A year after the attack, the ending of the rule of Taliban, the new pro-U.S. Afghan government coming to power, the stabilization of more than 20 thousands U.S. soldiers in the country, the spending of $17 billion in this campaign and the killing of 25 thousands of Afghan civilians, the U.S. was not able to end the war,” it said.

The message was send to IslamOnline by email, said IOL Peshawar correspondent, Hosbanallah Motawakel, adding that although the message was not dated, the mention of the latest attacks means it is recently written.

The statement maybe released to mark the anniversary of the Afghan independence from the British occupation on August 18, reminding the Afghans of their ancestors fight against occupation and encouraging them to launch Jihad against the foreign troops in the country, he said.

The statement was written in a simple style and was directed to the Afghans only, Motawakel said, adding that the language of the statement resembles to the dialect of the residents of eastern and central Afghanistan.

“The style of the speech of this statement is totally different than those of the Taliban and AlQaeda,” he said.

The long list of operations against the U.S. the group claimed it is responsible for means that the secret army group members are spread in all the parts of country, including Kabul, north, north east, and east Afghanistan, he said.

“I think the timing of sending this statement aims at scaring the enemy from one side and encouraging the Afghans to resist the U.S. presence from the other,” he said.

Forty percent of the Afghan are Pashtuns and they live in north and east Afghanistan. The Taliban movement started among the Pashtuns, and currently, their areas are attacked by the U.S. forces who are searching for members of the Taliban or Al-Qaeda.

An Afghani source, who asked for anonymity, said that it is hard to believe that a new group is able to launch all these attacks without being baked by the Taliban, Al-Qaeda or any of it supporters, or any other opposition groups such as the Islamic Party, headed by Galabeldin Hekmatiar.

“Most probably this group is newly established and is using these events to highlight itself, give hope to the resistance and win more public, as well as regional and international, support,” the source said.

More small groups like this one may surface in the coming period, as it is obvious that the Taliban movement collapsed and divided into small factions acting each according to its capabilities, he added.

Another Afghani source said that such statements are probably send by individuals, not groups, who want to send certain messages to the Afghan and the Islamic populations about the necessity of resisting the American invasion.

These messages are used as media and psychological tools coming at a time when the public resentment against the U.S. is increasing, especially among the Pashtuns who were not offered a position in the new government and who are paying for their support to Taliban, he said.

“On the other hand, this statement could be issued by a new group who may settle down in Pakistan and receive funds from Pakistani sources who are secretly helping them so that they won’t loose connections with other forces in Afghanistan,” he said.