Interview with Mansoor Dadullah

Over at the Counterterrorism Blog, Evan Kohlmann writes:

My colleague Urs Gehriger from Die Weltwoche in Switzerland has forwarded me the English transcript of a new video interview of the Taliban's top military commander Mansoor Dadullah obtained exclusively by Weltwoche with the help of journalist Sami Yousafzai. The interview with Mansoor--the brother of and replacement for the late Mullah Dadullah--took place on June 7, 2007 in the region along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan and was conducted by a Pakistani journalist who was supplied with questions by Weltwoche. Transcript as follows:

Here's a sample of the transcript:

Q. Are you the new Taliban leader in the Helmand region?
A. Yes.

Q. Your brother was known as a ruthless and determined leader, even among his own people. Do you intend to follow in his footsteps?
A. If Allah is willing I will follow in his footsteps, continue his military tactics, and lead a new front of suicide attackers.

Q. Which areas are currently under Taliban control?
A. We have vast areas under our control, by the grace of Allah. In Helmand, for example, we control eight districts. We also rule over Kandahar, Urozghan, Ghazni, Kalat, Jalalabad and Kunar. The government’s military power is virtually confined to the cities, while we control the countryside.

Q. The so-called “spring offensive” does not seem to have been as successful as you had hoped. What went wrong?
A. It was not a failure: the offensive has only just begun. Mullah Omar [the Taliban’s supreme leader] calls the offensive “Kameen” [attack]. And indeed, in the near future it will be increasing in vehemence and scope.

Q. What is your relationship to the population of Afghanistan?
A. Our relationship to the people is marked by respect and friendship, by the grace of Allah. We can count on the people’s respect. In fact, their vigorous support is the main reason for our success.

Note: NATO and US forces would dispute what Dadullah said in this excerpt about the extent of Taliban control and their relationship with the people.

Dadullah also talked about a number of things including source of support, their use of suicide bombers and his goals.