Call for global jihad puts jittery Afghanistan on high alert

[acmavm]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,1284,1323325,00.html

Call for global jihad puts jittery Afghanistan on high alert

Propaganda urges war on 'oil-thieving Christian crusaders' as Taliban vows to derail today's election

Declan Walsh in Kabul
Saturday October 9, 2004
The Guardian

<snip>
Radical Islamist propaganda calling on Afghans to join a global jihad against "oil-thieving Christian crusaders" has begun appearing in Afghanistan, signalling an attempt by foreign militants to stoke an Iraqi-style insurgency.

A glossy colour poster juxtaposes photos of charred American corpses swinging from a bridge in Falluja with that of a US soldier apparently frisking a burka-wearing Afghan woman.

<snip>

"This is a significant migration of tactics. I've never seen quality material with an international outlook like this before," said Nick Downie, a British security adviser to international aid agencies. "It's a call to global jihad."

<snip>
"We have some evidence that they recently had some problems in recruitment. The trust of the younger Talibs (religious students) is becoming less and less," he told Reuters.

But security analysts predict another spike in violence in the run-up to parliamentary elections scheduled for April.

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