Following are excerpts from an interview with former Afghan prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of the Afghan Islamic Party, which aired on Al-Jazeera Network on May 12, 2011:
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar: I believe that the Americans will not be able to achieve their filthy goals. They will not be able to resolve their domestic problems by means of killing and terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan. They will not be able to oppress the Islamic resistance by killing one or two people. Osama was a role model of sacrifice and freedom for a generation or two.
The [Americans] have affronted the Islamic world in its entirety by declaring that they had performed the last rites over his body, in accordance with Islamic tradition. That's just great when it comes from barbarians, who mutilate bodies, allow the gouging out of their eyes, and throw the bodies into the sea.
I say to the Americans: You suffered a lot until you reached Bin Laden. It took ten years. 150,000 of your soldiers took part in his assassination. It cost you more than 30,000 dead and wounded. You suffered serious losses in lives and in money. You had to spend more than two trillion dollars. What will you do when another Osama emerges in each Islamic country?
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