Mullah Omar: Fighters Infiltrating Afghan Forces, Killing Foreigners

Touts Taliban's New 'Luring and Integration' Department

In his annual Eid al-Fitr letter, Taliban leader Mullah Omar bragged of the growing number of attacks by Afghan forces against NATO troops, saying that it was the result of Taliban infiltration into Afghanistan’s police and army.

“They are able to (safely) enter bases, offices and intelligence centers of the enemy,” Omar said. “Then, they easily carry out decisive and coordinated attacks, inflicting heavy losses on the enemy.”

The number of green-on-blue attacks have been growing precipitously over the past several months, and while the Taliban has taken credit for most of the incidents, in at least some cases the shootings were the result of arguments or other disagreements with occupation forces.

Still, Omar’s comments, touting the Taliban’s new “Luring and Integration” department aimed at increasing its infiltration of Afghan government forces, suggests that the militants are determined to increase the number of such attacks going forward.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.