Afghanistan's Taliban regime on Friday called for international recognition as it celebrated the country's 81st independence anniversary with a show of military muscle.
The ceremonies began with a military parade involving thousands of Taliban soldiers escorted by tanks, short-range missiles, anti-aircraft guns and armored personnel carriers.
Taliban Supreme Leader Mulla Mohammed Omar asked the international community to normalize its relations with the puritanical Islamic militia, which is only recognized by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
"The Islamic Emirate (Taliban) calls upon the world to bear the current realities in mind and to normalize its relations with us," his independence message said, emphasizing the Taliban controlled most of the country.
It said the Taliban "allowed no aggression against the country's independence" and asked Muslim nations to rally in support.
The march began with a group of uniformed military cadets waving flowers to Mulla Mohammed Rabbani, the Taliban's number two, and other ministers on a mounted pavilion outside the presidential palace.
Without music, which is banned under the Taliban's strict laws, personnel from military universities marched past the pavilion decorated with the militia's white flag and the Islamic holy creed.
Perhaps because of the lack of a military band, they lost their order as soon they got out of the palace gate.
Pairs of Soviet-era jetfighters made low passes over the all-male spectators as the Taliban's battle trademark, thousands of white Japanese pickups, drove past the subdued crowd.
The heavily armed, turbaned and bearded Taliban soldiers were carrying assault rifles, grenade launchers, heavy machine guns and lengthy rounds of bullets around their necks.
They also displayed a single, truck-mounted Luna missile with an effective range of 70 kilometers (43 miles) as well as anti-aircraft guns.
Soviet-made multi-barrel rocket launchers, known as BM-21s and Uragons, were also shown, but the audience, most of whom had seen the deadly weapons in action, seemed indifferent.
The newly painted military vehicles sported messages like "You are always in my heart" and "The destination is the same, but people are travelling separately."
The Taliban, which means Islamic students, sprang from religious schools in 1994 and pushed the chaotic government of ex-president Burhanuddin Rabbani out of Kabul two years later.
Forces loyal to Rabbani are still holding out against the Taliban in remote pockets of resistance - KABUL (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
