NEFA Foundation: Focus on the Taliban's Official Al-Somood Magazine
By Evan Kohlmann
In reflection of the growing intensity of Taliban activity in Pakistan and Afghanistan, over the coming weeks, the NEFA Foundation will be releasing a stream of content drawn from Al-Somood, a monthly Islamic magazine published by the Taliban’s media center. Al-Somood began publication in the summer of 2006, and features a variety of content--including updates on military maneuvers, interviews with senior Taliban leadership figures, and ideological messages calling for the implementation of "martyrdom operations."
In the first translated excerpt now available on the NEFA Foundation website (dated July 2007), Al-Somood interviews Mullah Akhthar Muhammad Mansur, the Taliban’s Military Commander in the Kandahar District. Asked about the number of fighters under his leadership, Mansur said, "In practice, there are 3,500 mujahideen in Kandahar who are fighting the crusaders. However, the number of the mujahideen is much greater than this, but we have armed a limited number among us with weapons and supplies. In the times of necessity this number will be raised easily, because all of the men and the youth in the county carry the spirit of jihad and of sacrifice against the enemy.”
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