UK Troops in Afghanistan say they are fighting Pakistanis

Brunei News.Net
Tuesday 6th May, 2008

UK troops fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan have claimed that nearly 60 percent of the guerrillas they are fighting are Pakistanis.

Without disclosing their source of intelligence, the British troops said that they heard the guerillas speaking in Punjabi accents and had found Pakistani papers and telephone contacts on dead fighters.

UK troops say the ideologically driven young men consider their fighting role to be religious obligation or jihad.

Afghan officials have said that Islamabad is turning a blind eye to the flow of terrorists from Pakistan into Afghanistan.

Lieutenant Colonel Nick Borton, commanding officer of Battle group South, has said: "Our understanding is that the Madressahs of northern Pakistan are the major breeding ground that provide the bulk of brainwashed Taliban fighters."

The guerillas are thought to come from militant hotspots such as Waziristan and Swat, but also from Punjab, a rich agricultural province with a history of producing radical Muslims.

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