KABUL, July 2 (Xinhua) -- New Taliban leader Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada on Saturday issued his maiden message as supreme leader, calling on the United States and its allies to withdrawal all its forces from the militancy-plagued country.
"Our message to the American invaders and her allies is this: the Afghan Muslim people are afraid of neither your force nor your stratagem ... Admit the realities instead of useless use of force and muscle show and put an end to the occupation," Akhundzada said on the advent of Muslims' upcoming annual religious festival Eid-ul-Fitr.
"So it is rational if you come with a reasonable policy for solution (of the issue) instead of the use of force," he said.
The NATO and U.S. forces completed their combat mission in Afghanistan by the end of 2014, after 13 years of military presence in the country.
Nearly 13,000 foreign forces are currently stationed in Afghanistan within the framework of the NATO-led Resolute Support (RS) mission to help Afghan forces in the field of training and advising and backing Afghan forces in the war on insurgents.
Akhundzada become the new Taliban leader on May 25, days after former Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Akhtar Mansoor was killed in a U.S. drone strike in a remote area of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region.
