Afghanistan to prove to be 3rd Vietnam for U.S.: dissident

As leader of the radical Hizb-e- Islami and a former Afghan premier, Gulbudin Hekmatyar warned that this post-Taliban central Asian state would become the third Vietnam for the United States, a Kabul-based newspaper reported Wednesday.

"Afghanistan will prove to be a third Vietnam for the United States," daily Outlook quoted a statement of the dissident Afghan warlord as saying.

Terming Iraq as the second Vietnam, Hekmatyar maintained that wars in Iraq and Afghanistan would break the U.S. economic backbone and that its fate would be similar to the former Soviet Union, a reference to the USSR's dismemberment.

Hekmatyar, a wanted man by the U.S. government, in his statement also called on Afghans to continue Jihad or holy war till the withdrawal of U.S.-dominated foreign forces from Afghanistan.

It is the second statement issued by Hekmatayr over the past 10 days. In his previous statement released on the eve of Eidul Fitr to mark the end of Muslims fasting month of Ramadan, he called on Afghans to back him in fighting the foreign forces in Afghanistan.

Source: Xinhua