Taliban Chief to America: Let's Make a Deal

Mullah Omar offers US troops safe passage out of Afghanistan
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 30, 2008 3:15 AM CDT
Taliban Chief to America: Let's Make a Deal
Afghan boys sit on the top of an abandoned Soviet tank. The Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan in 1988 after troops were ground down by years of fighting mujahideen warriors.   (Getty Images)

Taliban boss Mullah Omar has warned that the US will suffer defeat just like the Soviet Union if it fails to withdraw from Afghanistan, Reuters reports. In a message posted on extremist websites, the defiant leader offered American forces "safe passage" out of Afghanistan if officials reconsider their "wrong decision of wrong occupation."

"If you leave our lands, we can arrange for you a reasonable opportunity for your departure," the cleric wrote. The fugitive predicted America would be defeated "all over the world." Soviet troops exited Afghanistan in 1988 after a decade of guerrilla warfare bested its military.
(More Taliban stories.)

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