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Article: Hard-line Taliban fighters remain committed to enduring struggle.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- November 21, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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SPIN BOLDAK, Afghanistan _ In the Taliban's version of reality, they are united despite stunning retreats, they will never give up power willingly, will soon counterattack and will fight America to the death.
"I have never seen any American ground troops here, but I would be happy to meet and fight them," said Mohammad Ismael Saadat, 25-year-old former governor of Helmand province and now intelligence chief for this Taliban-controlled corner of southern Kandahar province.
While most of the Taliban claims are clearly bravado, they show the mindset and perhaps confusion among the ultra-fundamentalist Muslims, many of them virtually illiterate religious ...