MSNBC:
The leader of the Afghan Taliban said his group wants to boost the country's mining and energy sectors once it regains strength after the NATO-led force fighting them pulls out in 2014.
Interest in economic stability and investment in mining marks a new approach for the resurgent Islamist group, ousted from power by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in 2001.
"Afghanistan has vast arable land, rich mines and high potential of energy resources, therefore, we can make investments," Mullah Omar said in a lengthy statement carried by the SITE online monitoring service on Sunday.
Such investments would "wrangle ourselves from the tentacles of poverty, unemployment, backwardness and ignorance," the reclusive leader said in honor of Eid al-Fitr, Islam's most important festival, which marks the end of Ramadan and will most likely kick off in Afghanistan on Tuesday.