Taliban leader goes green, urges Afghans to plant trees

Taliban's leader has just issued a statement calling on Afghans to plant more trees while Kabul government said the move was made to "deceive public opinion" and distract from the Taliban's "crimes and destruction."

In a public letter issued Sunday in four languages, including English, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada said that, "the Mujahideen and beloved countrymen must join hands in tree planting."

The statement does point out that the Taliban remain, "actively engaged in a struggle against foreign invaders and their hirelings" -- a reference to the Kabul government that the militant group seeks to overthrow.

Shah Hussain Murtazawi, deputy spokesman for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, dismissed the statement as an attempt to "deceive public opinion" and distract from the Taliban's "crimes and destruction."

"Since the establishment of the Taliban movement the only things that these people have in their minds are fighting, crimes and destruction," he said. "How is it possible for the Taliban to think about planting trees or protecting the environment in the country?"

Most of Afghanistan's big cities, including the capital Kabul, are over populated and there are few public green spaces or parks. According to officials from the Afghan Public Health Ministry, up to 4,000 citizens die each year in Kabul due to illnesses brought on or exacerbated by air pollution.

Wahid Muzhda, a political analyst in Kabul, said that announcements like this -- and other statements where they claim to be building roads and bridges -- could be part of a Taliban campaign to show that they would provide enlightened leadership in areas of the country that they control.

Akhunzada's statement cites Islamic tradition and the words and deeds of the Prophet Muhammed to reinforce its environmental message.

"Tree planting plays an important role in environmental protection, economic development and the beautification of the earth. Allah Almighty has interconnected the lives of human beings with plants," it says. "Plants live off soil while humans and animals live off plants. If the plants and trees are eradicated, life itself would be put in peril, Allah Almighty says."

Akhundzada, a cleric, is believed to have been in hiding since becoming Taliban leader in May 2016 following the death of his predecessor in a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan.

The Taliban has been waging an insurgency against the government in Kabul and its NATO coalition backers since being ousted from power in a U.S.-led military intervention in 2001.

Since the withdrawal of most foreign combat troops in 2014, the Taliban has made slow but steady gains, now controlling or contesting more than 40 percent of Afghanistan.

While the Taliban is mostly known for its insurgent attacks, it has political aspirations and has often worked to provide basic services and assert connections in communities in areas it controls.

Akhundzada, who was reported to have spent 15 years teaching at a mosque in Pakistan, interpreted verses of the Koran in his call for more trees in the arid country.