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SPIN BOLDAK, Afghanistan - A Taleban video of a 12-year-old boy beheading a man accused of spying has angered many Afghans, drawing condemnation from tribal and religious leaders.
"It's very wrong for the Taleban to use a small boy to behead a man," religious teacher Mullah Attullah told Reuters on Thursday.
"I appeal to the Taleban to please stop this because non-Muslims will think Islam is a cruel and terrorist religion.
"The Taleban do not follow the laws of Islam. They are taking advice from foreigners."
The video released this week shows the boy in a camouflage jacket and a white headband using a knife to behead a blindfolded man accused of being a spy for foreign forces as men cry "Allahu Akbar! (God is Great)".
The Taleban frequently behead suspected spies and often release video footage.
A tribal leader in the south, the Taleban's heartland, said the beheading was un-Islamic.
"The Taleban are doing very bad things and it is against Islam to behead a man by a very young boy," Haji Saeed Jan said.
"Islam does not allow anyone to behead any man. The Taleban show the wrong image of Islam to the world. We condemn this."
In the border town of Spin Boldak, near Pakistan, a young man, Abdul Ghafur, was appalled by the footage.
"After I watched this, I could not eat any food for two days," he said. Some television stations broadcast clips from the footage.
Taleban commander Mullah Hayatullah Khan said the Taleban would kill anyone helping foreign forces in order to protect their guerrilla fighters.
"We showed the beheading video to warn others," he said by satellite phone from a secret location.
Asked why the Taleban used a boy, he said:
"We want to tell the non-Muslims that our youngsters are also Mujahideens (holy warriors) and fight with us against you."
"These youngsters will be our Holy War commanders in the future and continue the jihad for freedom. Islam allow boys and women to do jihad against occupying non-Muslim troops and their spies and puppets."
Last year was the bloodiest since US-led forces ousted the Taleban in 2001 and many security analysts expect this year to be worse, with the Taleban and other militant groups bolstered by money from another record opium crop and the ability to shelter and train in Pakistan.
Five insurgents were killed after an air strike and a clash with Afghan border police and US special forces on Thursday in Paktia province, bordering Pakistan, the US military said in a statement.
The US military said ground forces engaged and pursued more than 10 foreign fighters, but did not say how it was known the insurgents were foreign.
Pakistan denies any continued formal support for the Taleban which it helped to power in the 1990s, but the issue of cross border infiltration has soured ties between Islamabad and Kabul.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai is due to meet his Pakistani counterpart, Pervez Musharraf, in Turkey next week.
Karzai told reporters in Kabul on Thursday he hoped the talks would help ease tensions and boost security.
"Afghanistan is going with a mood of friendship and honest and I hope we have a good outcome," he said. "We hope they (Pakistan) know that peace and security in Afghanistan means peace and security in Pakistan."
But Musharraf criticised Karzai in an interview published on Thursday in the Spanish daily El Pais, accusing him of being weak on terrorism.
"The ones who do nothing against terrorism, like Karzai, are those who criticise those who fight, like us, "' said Musharraf, who is in Spain on a four-day visit.
- REUTERS
