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The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the Taliban's shadow government) issued a statement accusing the U.S. of censoring the media from publishing details of the June 1, 2012 Taliban attack on a U.S. military base in Afghanistan's Khost province.
The Islamic Emirate said that the media was not permitted to reveal the details of the attack because the White House wants to keep a lid on it in an election year.
"Due to the sensitive timing of the attack which occurred as [President Barack] Obama is running his campaign in a bid for re-election and while the international media is talking about the dissolution of the strength of the Taliban; therefore the enemy tried its best to keep a lid on the realities and keep them away from the public view," the statement said.
Following is the text of the statement:
"Khost-Based Journalists Said... They Are Unable To Publish Their Reports Due To The Restrictions Placed On Them By Foreign And Internal Officials"
"On the 11th of the ongoing Rajab month, 1433, [i.e. June 1, 2012] a successful operation was carried out by mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate on the huge military installation of American forces (Sahrabagh airbase) in Khost province, which caused the foreigners and their local stooges heavy losses.
"Although the coordinated group attack on Sahrabagh was a small sample of the Al-Farooq spring campaign, the enemy still censored the ground realities in accordance with their military tactics and prohibited all large and small news agencies from leaking the details of incurred losses.
"A few Khost-based journalists said in personal ... correspondence that they themselves witnessed the limbs and body parts of American soldiers scattered around the base; however, they are unable to publish their reports due to the restrictions placed on them by foreign and internal [i.e. Afghan] officials.
"You might already know of what occurred by having read the initial reports of the operation on Al-Emara website. However, we will try to shed light and provide further details about this historical falsehood-shattering attack in this report, which has been assembled based purely on the accounts provided by one of the organizers and guide of this thunderous operation."
