Toronto Star : Pull out or else, Taliban warns Canada

Pull out or else, Taliban warns Canada

Letter from militants vows more Canadians will die unless troops go

Tobi Cohen | The Canadian Press | August 18, 2008

KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN–The Taliban are threatening to kill more Canadian aid workers unless Ottawa pulls out of Afghanistan.

The threat, issued in an "open letter" addressed to "the Canadian people," comes just days after two Canadians, Shirley Case and Jacqueline Kirk of the New York-based International Rescue Committee, were shot to death along with an American woman and their Afghan driver in a Taliban ambush Wednesday in Logar province.

In the letter dated Aug. 15, the Taliban said while they don't want to kill Canadians, they have no choice as long as Canada continues following the "American" agenda.

"Events such as Logar will happen again, because occupied Afghanistan looks at all actors that are established in the interest of America with an eye of hostility," said the letter sent on behalf of the "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan."

"You have to convince your government to put an end to the occupation of Afghanistan so that the Afghans are not killed with your hands and so that you are not killed with the hands of the Afghans."

The letter says Canada "sacrificed" its national and international self-respect by not following a "neutral agenda."

The Taliban blame Canada for injuring and killing many Afghan men, women and children. They suggest the attack that killed Kirk, a 40-year-old Canadian-British citizen from Montreal, and Case, 30, of 100 Mile House, B.C., was motivated by revenge.

The attack on the aid workers came about two weeks after Canadian troops accidentally shot two children to death in the Panjwaii district of Kandahar, fearing the vehicle they were riding in was going to attack them.

"The Afghans did not go to Canada to kill the Canadians. Rather, it is the Canadians who came to Afghanistan to kill and torture the Afghan, to please the fascist regime of America," it said.

"The Canadian people have to realize if their sisters, their brothers and their children are being killed in Afghanistan, it is because of the wrong policy of the government of Canada and their falling under the influence of others when they sent occupation soldiers to Afghanistan."

Neither Canadian Forces officials in Kandahar nor the embassy in Kabul would comment on the letter. But a spokesperson for Prime Minister Stephen Harper called the threat "a propaganda exercise."

"We're not going to respond to threats, and certainly it will have no effect on Canadian policy," said Kory Teneycke. "It's not surprising the Taliban are targeting aid workers; they're targeting their own civilians," he said.

In an interview with The Canadian Press, Taliban spokesperson Qari Muhammad Yussef restated the Taliban position that it does not wish to harm Canadians or be harmed by Canadians.

"Canadians are working under the policy of America. It is a big mistake," he said. "Don't sacrifice your politics for America."

In reality, Canada is among some 40 countries taking part in NATO's UN-mandated International Security Assistance Force.

While the United States is part of the force, it is also part of Operation Enduring Freedom, a parallel mission involving the United States, Afghan forces and several other countries. Since February 2002, 90 Canadian soldiers and one envoy have been killed in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, security was beefed up yesterday in both the capital Kabul and in the volatile southern province of Kandahar, where most of Canada's 2,500 troops are based.

The boosted security comes as the country prepares to celebrate tomorrow's 89th anniversary of its independence from Britain. Any breach of security during the celebration would be a huge embarrassment for Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government.

Spokesperson Zemarai Bashary said 5,000 extra police had been drafted for what he described as the biggest operation of its kind in Kabul since 2001, when U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban government.

Kabul has so far been spared the level of violence that has afflicted other parts of the country, though it suffered spectacular bomb attacks this year against a hotel and the Indian embassy.

In April, gunmen fired on Karzai at a military parade in Kabul, killing three people, including a member of the Afghan National Assembly.

Bashary declined to discuss whether officials are worried that militants are now at the city's gates.

In Kandahar, provincial police chief Matiullah Khan said there will be additional police officers and checkpoints both within Kandahar city and outlying areas. Many of the checkpoints will be on roads travelled by coalition forces.

Meanwhile, British officials acknowledged yesterday that British troops accidentally killed four civilians and wounded three others with rockets during an operation against insurgents in Helmand province.

The International Security Assistance Force said women and children were among the casualties in the Saturday operation, but it did not detail the dead and injured.

It said a patrol spotted insurgents on the roof of a compound and launched three rockets without knowing civilians were inside.

With files from the Star's wire services