Taliban Ready With 500 Tanks To Save Kandahar

QUETTA, Pakistan, Friday - Taliban troops defending their embattled stronghold of Kandahar may have 500 tanks and would defend the ancient southern Afghan city to their last breath, said a former commander who recently escaped the city. Mullah Bismillah, in charge until two weeks ago of a Taliban ammunition depot in Kandahar, said Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar and his hardcore fighters were waiting for the ground war. “They have all kinds of weapons and ammunition to defend themselves. If there is a ground attack by America, they will fight,” Bismillah told Reuters on Thursday evening. Bismillah fled Kandahar for the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta in early November because of heavy U.S. bombing, and because he said he did not believe in sacrificing his life for Osama bin Laden. “As far as tanks and ammunition are concerned, I myself saw 500-600 tanks in Kandahar city,” he said. He said some tanks positioned in the mountains around Kandahar had been destroyed by U.S. air strikes. Up to two weeks ago, the bombings had killed or injured some 200 Taliban troops, he said, but added that the city’s defenders still had considerable firepower. “They will be fighting for as long as they are alive. There will be a bloodbath in Kandahar,” Bismillah said. Reuter Ends