Afghans Behead Taliban in Revenge for Beheadings

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Afghans Behead Taliban in Revenge for Beheadings

James Joyner | Tuesday, June 22, 2004

Reuters — Afghans Behead Taliban in Revenge for Beheadings

Afghan soldiers beheaded four Taliban fighters after guerrillas cut off the heads of an Afghan interpreter for U.S.-led forces and an Afghan soldier, a government commander said on Tuesday.

The interpreter and the soldier were beheaded after becoming separated from a patrol of Afghan and U.S.-led foreign troops in the Arghandab district of the southern province of Zabul on Monday night, Namatullah Tokhi, commander of the government’s 27th division in the province, told Reuters. He said government troops later captured and killed four Taliban guerrillas in the same way. “They cut off their heads with a knife, so when our forces arrested four Taliban, we cut off their heads too.”

Zabul and adjoining southern provinces have been the scene of bloody clashes between Taliban guerrillas and U.S.-led and government forces since U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taliban in late 2001. Taliban fighters have beheaded government soldiers in the past, but it is the first time government forces in Zabul have admitted doing the same, marking the escalation of a brutal conflict that has claimed more than 800 lives since last August.

The Taliban and their Islamic militant allies, including al Qaeda, have declared a holy war against U.S.-led forces and consider foreign and local aid workers legitimate targets as well as foreign and government soldiers and officials.

So it goes with the Religion of Peace: An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a head for a head.

(Hat tip to reader DeltaDave)

About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.

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