Taliban: We may attack Paris

Press TV

The Taliban has threatened to carry out attacks on the capital city of Paris unless French troops are withdrawn from Afghanistan.

A Monday video broadcast on Saudi owned al-Arabiya television station showed a Taliban military leader- identified as Mullah Faruq- saying that France would await a response in Paris if French troops are not withdrawn from the war-torn country.

The video included footage of a French armored unit being stalked by the Taliban fighters. In the video, Taliban also claimed responsibility for an August 18 ambush around 60 kilometers (40 miles) south of Kabul in which 10 French troops were killed and more than a dozen injured. Some insurgents were later shown wearing uniforms of the French soldiers they had killed.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has sent an extra 700 troops to Afghanistan this year, responding to a US plea for its NATO allies to do more to tackle the Taliban-led insurgency. France currently has around 2,600 soldiers deployed in Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

On October 2001, the United States and the United Kingdom launched an attack on Afghanistan in what they claimed was a response to the September 11 attacks on New York.

70,000 US, British and NATO forces are now experiencing some of the most violent attacks since the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan.

Western troops have failed to crush the Taliban led insurgency across the country and over 250 foreign soldiers and more than 5,000 Afghans have been killed so far this year.