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  Interview with a Taliban Commander: 'What's Important Is to Kill the Germans'

Interview with a Taliban Commander 'What's Important Is to Kill the Germans'

Part 2: "The Germans Are Viewed as Invaders"

Haqqani: We do not justify it, Islam does. Even if the head of state promised him millions of dollars, you couldn't convince someone in Germany to kill his enemy by conducting a suicide attack. But in our region we have a culture of jihad and with a single call and within a single day, dozens would be ready. We didn't attack any other country. We are only defending our own country. We are confident that we will win this war sooner or later. We are prepared for a war that could last a few decades, but we are sure that the West will start to leave Afghanistan in 2010 and that many countries will pull their troops out.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Do you have any sympathy for the victims of this terror? Most are innocent civilians. And many NATO soldiers come with the honest intent of helping to reconstruct your country.

Haqqani: If the victims are Muslims, then we have sympathy for them and their families. We know that their deaths are important for the success of Islam and Allah, and we honor them as faithful and believers.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: But these victims do not die willingly -- they were maliciously murdered.

Haqqani: The Afghans do not hold the Taliban responsible for such collateral damages because they know that the Taliban doesn't have enough high-tech weapons at its disposal. For example, in the Kunduz market attack, we are not using the technology Germans and Americans have available to them. Instead the Afghans condemn the invaders for killing innocent men, women and children despite their precision weapons. My guidance to the people of Kunduz is that they should avoid meeting or getting near the Germans or people from other foreign countries. Those who work for the invader in any capacity will be seen by the Taliban as enemies, just like the Germans, the Canadians and the Americans.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: The majority of the residents of Kunduz greeted the arrival of the Germans with great joy after the Taliban were driven out.

Haqqani: Who says the majority want the Germans in Kunduz? Please go out and talk to people. They are fed up with false authorities, violence and a corrupt government system. They are registering the fact that these criminals meet with the Germans at the airport, drinking wine and dancing with girls they bring in from Tajikistan. The Germans are backing the most-hated warlords, smugglers, governors and officials.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: The Afghans were at times conservative but also a liberal people. The strict form of Islam imposed on the country by the Taliban, though, in no way represents Afghanistan's culture.

Haqqani: If, according to your claim, the people in Kunduz really didn't want the Taliban, then they wouldn't be able to live amongst them and the local population wouldn't provide (the Taliban) with food and shelter. We are much more popular than the Germans in Kunduz. We are viewed as freedom fighters for the people there. The Germans, on the other hand, are viewed as invaders, and no one who is truly an Afghan in their hearts would so much as offer a glass of water to them.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Many former Taliban and warlords today support the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Why don't you do the same in order to help get your country back on its feet again?

Haqqani: We will never accept the fact that 40 nations of infidels attacked us. The law is on our side. We have the right to fight for our self-determination and our independence. It is the will of Allah and our religion. Our morals demand that we resist the virus of the foreigners.

Interview conducted by Susanne Koelbl and Sami Yousafzai