US at the 'edge of historical defeat'
Afghanistan's insurgent Taliban movement said Thursday that the United States was at the "edge of historical defeat" in Afghanistan seven years after invading following the 9/11 attacks.
In a statement released to mark the September 11, 2001 suicide attacks on the United States, the Islamist movement reiterated its rhetoric that the West was leading a "crusade" in Afghanistan.
It had not realised that there were "so many guardians of Islam who will guard God's religion and its values," said the statement e-mailed to media.
It asked what US President George W Bush and his Nato allies had achieved in the seven years since they had invaded to remove the Taliban government in late 2001.
"Doesn't America stand at the edge of historical defeat in Afghanistan? Don't the Nato forces get defeated by Mujahideen (holy fighters) at every step?"
The statement, which claimed the Taliban had control of the whole country except Kabul, called on Nato and US forces to leave.
"Afghans have never surrendered to foreign interference and have always united against the infidel invasions and have defeated the invaders unitedly," it said.
The al-Qaeda-linked militants make heavy use of propaganda in their insurgency, which military commanders say has help from other extremists, including those based in Pakistan.
They also rely on suicide attacks and other bomb blasts in a battle that has claimed thousands of lives.
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