CAIRO, October 3. /TASS/. The radical Taliban movement (outlawed in Russia), which came to power in Afghanistan earlier this year, has set up a special battalion of suicide bombers in the north of the country to protect borders with China and Takjikistan, Badakhshan Province deputy governor Mullah Nisar Ahmad Ahmadi has said.
"A special suicide battalion named Lashkar-e Mansur will be deployed to Afghanistan’s borders," the Hama Press local news agency quoted the governor as saying.
According to the report, suicide bombers from this battalion took part in terror attacks against the ousted government’s forces and members of the US-led international coalition.
"Defeating the United States would have been impossible without this battalion. Those brave warriors are wearing special explosive belts, and they used them to blow up US bases in Afghanistan," Akhmadi said.
After the United States announced plans for its troop pullout from Afghanistan, the Taliban embarked on a large-scale operation to take the country under its control. On August 15, Taliban fighters swept into Kabul without encountering any resistance and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani stepped down and fled the country.
On September 6, the movement said it had secured full control over the entire territory of Afghanistan. On September 7, the Taliban announced a new Afghan government consisting only of the movement’s members, the majority of whom are ethnic Pashtuns. So far, no country has recognized the legitimacy of the Taliban cabinet.