JP
Tomorrow will see the follow up to Sky's Emmy award winning reports 'Pakistan: Terror's Front Line' with 'Inside the Taliban' from Afghanistan with reports from Stuart Ramsey and Alex Crawford.
http://www.skypressoffice.co.uk/SkyNews/Resources/showarticle.asp?id=3019
Quote:
Taliban tells Sky News that Britain is its biggest source of funding
All quotes used must credit Sky News HD
An Afghan Taliban leader has told Sky News that an attack on Britain is planned and may be imminent - and that the UK is the group’s biggest source of funding. In a face-to-face meeting at a secret location, the Taliban commander told Sky News’ Chief Correspondent Stuart Ramsay he had hundreds of fighters and a ready supply of recruits ready to take the fight to British and American forces.
After seven months of negotiation, Sky News was given unprecedented access to a group of fighters in the Taliban heartland of Kunar Province. The footage will be broadcast as part of a series of exclusive reports, Inside the Taliban, which will air from 0600 on Thursday 21st October 2010 on Sky News HD and www.skynews.com/taliban
“We were driven high into the mountains of Kunar, far beyond the reach of any government or military authority, for the first of our meetings. In all, thirty men dressed in ordinary Afghan clothes, but with their faces masked by their scarves, their weapons and gun belts strapped over their shoulders filed into a room that had been set aside for our meeting.” said Sky’s Stuart Ramsay.
“The commander claimed to have over a thousand men in this central region of Kunar but with more in Pakistan. He said that they had been given special permission to speak to us by the Taliban leadership and that their usual order to take all foreigners hostage had been suspended for the duration of our meeting”, recalled Stuart.
In a direct threat to the UK and Europe, the Taliban commander said his group had supporters in Great Britain and across Europe just waiting for the order to carry out attacks on unspecified targets.
He told Sky’s Stuart Ramsay; “We send a message to all foreign nations that we will attack them at any time. It could be in the next two weeks or it could be today, tomorrow or the day after. We will attack Britain as well. We have trustworthy people who will listen to us and are waiting for our orders.”
The commander also revealed that the UK was the Taliban’s greatest source of revenue and that the group is funded by individual donations gathered in Mosques and community centres across Britain. He claimed the money is funnelled through Pakistan and distributed to Taliban groups hiding in the mountains that divide the two countries.
Speaking to Sky News, the commander said: “We are not like a government, we depend on individuals. We get donations from our Muslim brothers in Britain for Jihad and they help us. It is the duty of all Muslims to pay towards fighting a Jihad. And this is how we get our money and buy our weapons and carry on fighting.”
The commander told Sky News that they were prepared to negotiate with the authorities, but that the first demand on the agenda was unmovable - that the foreign troops had to withdraw.
“We have endured a lot of pain from American forces in this place,” he told Sky News. “They have killed many. We tell our people of the ruthless way they kill and make our people suffer. We preach the teachings from the Quran – that Jihad is our birthright and duty. And whoever we tell joins us immediately.”
The footage comes from one of a series of special reports from Sky News’ International Emmy Award-winning team, Chief Correspondent Stuart Ramsay and Special Correspondent Alex Crawford, who negotiated unprecedented access to Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.
In other exclusive reports, Stuart Ramsay witnesses a group of Taliban fighters making and laying the deadly roadside bombs which pose such a grave threat to British, American and other ISAF forces. Sky News Special Correspondent Alex Crawford meets the children of the Taliban to see how the next generation is becoming radicalised, and speaks to the would-be deserters – members of the insurgency who want to lay down their weapons, but can’t due to the threat of retribution.
All quotes used must credit Sky News HD
An Afghan Taliban leader has told Sky News that an attack on Britain is planned and may be imminent - and that the UK is the group’s biggest source of funding. In a face-to-face meeting at a secret location, the Taliban commander told Sky News’ Chief Correspondent Stuart Ramsay he had hundreds of fighters and a ready supply of recruits ready to take the fight to British and American forces.
After seven months of negotiation, Sky News was given unprecedented access to a group of fighters in the Taliban heartland of Kunar Province. The footage will be broadcast as part of a series of exclusive reports, Inside the Taliban, which will air from 0600 on Thursday 21st October 2010 on Sky News HD and www.skynews.com/taliban
“We were driven high into the mountains of Kunar, far beyond the reach of any government or military authority, for the first of our meetings. In all, thirty men dressed in ordinary Afghan clothes, but with their faces masked by their scarves, their weapons and gun belts strapped over their shoulders filed into a room that had been set aside for our meeting.” said Sky’s Stuart Ramsay.
“The commander claimed to have over a thousand men in this central region of Kunar but with more in Pakistan. He said that they had been given special permission to speak to us by the Taliban leadership and that their usual order to take all foreigners hostage had been suspended for the duration of our meeting”, recalled Stuart.
In a direct threat to the UK and Europe, the Taliban commander said his group had supporters in Great Britain and across Europe just waiting for the order to carry out attacks on unspecified targets.
He told Sky’s Stuart Ramsay; “We send a message to all foreign nations that we will attack them at any time. It could be in the next two weeks or it could be today, tomorrow or the day after. We will attack Britain as well. We have trustworthy people who will listen to us and are waiting for our orders.”
The commander also revealed that the UK was the Taliban’s greatest source of revenue and that the group is funded by individual donations gathered in Mosques and community centres across Britain. He claimed the money is funnelled through Pakistan and distributed to Taliban groups hiding in the mountains that divide the two countries.
Speaking to Sky News, the commander said: “We are not like a government, we depend on individuals. We get donations from our Muslim brothers in Britain for Jihad and they help us. It is the duty of all Muslims to pay towards fighting a Jihad. And this is how we get our money and buy our weapons and carry on fighting.”
The commander told Sky News that they were prepared to negotiate with the authorities, but that the first demand on the agenda was unmovable - that the foreign troops had to withdraw.
“We have endured a lot of pain from American forces in this place,” he told Sky News. “They have killed many. We tell our people of the ruthless way they kill and make our people suffer. We preach the teachings from the Quran – that Jihad is our birthright and duty. And whoever we tell joins us immediately.”
The footage comes from one of a series of special reports from Sky News’ International Emmy Award-winning team, Chief Correspondent Stuart Ramsay and Special Correspondent Alex Crawford, who negotiated unprecedented access to Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.
In other exclusive reports, Stuart Ramsay witnesses a group of Taliban fighters making and laying the deadly roadside bombs which pose such a grave threat to British, American and other ISAF forces. Sky News Special Correspondent Alex Crawford meets the children of the Taliban to see how the next generation is becoming radicalised, and speaks to the would-be deserters – members of the insurgency who want to lay down their weapons, but can’t due to the threat of retribution.
http://www.skypressoffice.co.uk/SkyNews/Resources/showarticle.asp?id=3019