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Afghan Envoy: Taliban Troops Defecting
Thursday, October 11, 2001
The Associated Press

“There are clear signs of Taliban disarray.”

A Washington-based envoy for rebel forces in Afghanistan says his group welcomes defecting troops from the Taliban government and is willing to bribe Taliban commanders to change sides as well.
Photo Credit: AFP.

WASHINGTON -- AP
A Washington-based envoy for rebel forces in Afghanistan says his group welcomes defecting troops from the Taliban government and is willing to bribe Taliban commanders to change sides as well.

“We have no objection in trying to bribe the Taliban,” Haron Amin said Wednesday in an interview with The Associated Press. “Bribing other commanders is one the tools of the Taliban in the past.”

Switching sides is as common as war in the Central Asian nation, where U.S. military strikes are paving the way for possible rebel advances. Indeed, Amin's northern alliance -- or United Front -- claims it has attracted more than a thousand Taliban defectors so far.

Amin described the alliance's plan to retake parts of Afghanistan, laying out a four-pronged ground offensive in the country's northern and western regions, all into areas where military facilities have been targeted by U.S.-led air strikes since Sunday.
(More: The WorldNews Network News Source)
2001 © WorldNews.com.

Methinks our Washington representative talks too much to the press. It would be interesting to see if the Taliban listens to what Amin has to say, and arranges for a stronger-than-anticipated four-pronged defense to be set up to meet the advance of the United Front.

Dan