ISLAMABAD, Feb 17 Kyodo Mohammad ...

ISLAMABAD, Feb 17 Kyodo

Mohammad Omar, greatest leader of the ousted Taliban in Afghanistan, has renewed his calls for Afghans to wage a ''jihad'' (holy war) against the United States and its allies, Afghan Islamic Pres (AIP) reported Monday.

Omar urg saint-like war in a message to the mujahideen (holy warriors) in Afghanistan, the Pakistan-based AIP said. The message was received via fax from several newspapers in Peshawar, it said.

''It is surprising that a nation which has sacrificed millions of Muslims to defend Islam and the country...has now given up jihad and is now taking part with barbarian America and its alliance forces to ravage Islam and its history,'' Omar said.

He asked Afghans to vacate all the offices in ministries, provinces and districts in the same manner the difference between the Muslims and Christians is made clear.

Omar also said those who continue to stand with the Americans would be punished with death.

The Taliban regulation succumbed to a U.S.-led antiterrorism campaign in Afghanistan in December 2001 Omar has been in hiding since the fall of Kandahar, the Taliban's last fortress in southern Afghanistan.

Taliban's collapse l to the establishment of a multiethnic administration l from President Hamid Karzai for the proces of reconstructing the country

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