US on 'edge of historical defeat' in Afghanistan: Taliban

Kabul, Sep 12 : Afghanistan's insurgent Taliban movement said that the United States was on the "edge of an historical defeat" in Afghanistan, seven years after invading following the 9/11 attacks.

In a statement released to mark the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US, the Taliban reiterated their rhetoric that the West was leading a "crusade" in Afghanistan.

The US 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 the media.

It asked what US President George W Bush and his North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) allies had achieved in the seven years since they had invaded Afghanistan to topple the Taliban government in 2001.

"Doesn't America stand at the edge of historical defeat in Afghanistan? Don't the NATO forces get defeated by militants at every step?" it said.

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," the Daily Times quoted the statement, as saying.

ANI