Afghan Taliban 'have loya jirga security plan'

KABUL: The Afghan Taliban say they have acquired security plans for a forthcoming national meeting, a claim the government has dismissed as a ploy to intimidate participants, said the Guardian report.

The Taliban boasted on their website that they had obtained maps and documents that would allow them to launch precision attacks on the traditional Afghan Loya Jirga, or grand assembly, being held this month in the capital. The movement alleged that they obtained the security plans from insurgents embedded inside the government.

Earlier, the Taliban warned that their fighters would target every individual involved in the jirga, which is being held to discuss a future US-Afghan strategic partnership agreement and efforts to reconcile with the Taliban.

A copy of the Taliban's message was released on Sunday night by Site Intelligence Group, a US-based organisation that monitors militant websites.

Afghan officials have strongly rejected the claim. "This is not our plan," an intelligence service spokesman, Latifullah Mashal, said on Monday. "The plan that we have drafted – and I have seen it – is 100% different from the one that has been sent to the media."

He claimed Afghan security forces have arrested insurgents trying to infiltrate the capital and bring in explosives. "The security plan that we have drafted has been very successful so now they are relying on a kind of psy-ops," Mashal said. "They are sending messages to people warning them not to take part and they are sending fake draft security plans to the media."

At the last jirga, held in June 2010, Taliban-fired rockets and gunfire disrupted the opening speech by the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai.