The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the Taliban's shadow government in the country) has released a video interview of an Afghan National Army (ANA) solder who defected to the Taliban after killing allegedly 12 U.S. soldiers. Several children, as young as 6 years of age, are seen on the video shouting slogans lauding the defecting soldier.
The soldier, who has been identified as Ghazi Mahmood, is claimed to have killed 12 American soldiers at an outpost in Ghaziabad district of Afghanistan's restive Kunar province on May 11, 2012. An attack did take place on U.S. soldiers in Ghaziabad but the number of casualties, as claimed by the Taliban, appears to be exaggerated. The video was published by the Culture Commission of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, and was posted on various websites such as YouTube and Archive.org; it was linked to from the official Urdu-language website of the Islamic Emirate on August 8, 2012. The interview is conducted in Pashtu, with some parts in Dari. Two more defectors from the Afghan Army are shown on the video, along with other militants.
