Ex-guerrilla chief 'ready for Holy War'

A former guerrilla commander in Afghanistan has urged Taliban rulers to form a broad-based alliance to fight the United States, saying that he and his troops are ready to join such a force.

‘‘I am ready for jihad (holy war) against America,’’ Gulbuddin Hekmatyar told The Associated Press by telephone from Tehran, the Iranian capital, where he is living in exile.