Pakistani Volunteers Want To Take Taliban Side

The leader of the radical Islamic party Tehrik-Nafaz-Shariat-Muhammadi, Sufi Mohammad, and a group of his supporters have arrived in Jalalabad, the main city of the Afghan province of Nangahar which borders on Pakistan. He is trying to convince the Taliban to accept thousands of the volunteers who have gathered at the border near Bajaur. As the newspaper Pakistan Observer reports, Sufi Mohammad intends to discuss with the Taliban religious leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, the question of the armed Pakistani fundamentalists joining the jihad - a holy war against the infidels - on Afghan territory. According to some data, from 8,000 to 12,000 militants have gathered in the area of Bajaur. They are ready to cross the Pakistani-Afghan border (2,430 kilometres) which is practically not guarded except for some check-points and passes.