Afghan warlord threatens jihad against US and Britain

An Afghan warlord with links to the Iranian and Pakistani authorities has called for a jihad, or holy war, against the British and US soldiers currently stationed in Afghanistan.

In a handwritten letter circulated throughout the country, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar vowed to rally like-minded radicals to liberate Afghanistan from "foreign oppressors".

Earlier this month, US officials said one of their unmanned spy planes fired at missile at Hekmatyar north of Kabul. He survived the attack and said in his letter that reports of deaths among his followers were false.

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, an ethnic Pashtun, is the leader of the Hezb-e-Islami, one of the main groups involved in the war between the Afghan mujahideen and the Soviet Red Army between 1979 and 1989. The Hezb-e-Islami was the main benefactor of US aid during the war. After the war, Hekmatyar served as Prime Minister for less than a year, but he turned against then President Burhanuddin Rabbani and bombarded Kabul in an attempt to oust him. In 1996, he again accepted the position of Prime Minister, but was driven out of Kabul along with Rabbani when the Taliban captured the capital.