The Afghan soldier who gunned down three Australian diggers last year has gloated about his attack and told how his unit comrades fantasised 24 hours a day about launching similar jihad operations.
Mohammed Rozi has appeared in a slickly produced Taliban video boasting how he ambushed the ''heathen'' Australian troops with a machinegun and rocket launcher before escaping by joining local Taliban and hiding with Kuchi nomads.
A manhunt has been underway for Rozi, then an Afghan National Army member serving alongside the Australians, who vanished last year after opening fire on his Australian mentors, seriously injuring three along with two Afghan soldiers at remote Patrol Base Nasir in Uruzgan province in Afghanistan's south.
His escape and subsequent interview appears to be a public relations coup for the Afghan insurgency and raises doubts about whether the proposed shifting of the majority of Australian troops into training roles will lower the risk of casualties.
The video, linked through what experts say is an official Taliban website, provides a disturbing look inside the insurgency and the mindset of the Afghan troops serving alongside Australians. In one five-month period last year, Afghan soldiers shot 14 Australians, four of whom died while others suffered serious wounds.
Experts have said the video would be used to inspire new jihad recruits, especially in Pakistan's tribal areas where madrassa students have access to cyber cafes.
Posted on the Almera holy war website, the 47-minute clip shows a masked interviewer in a turban sitting in a studio appearing to ask questions of a relaxed Rozi who is located in a room with concrete walls and sitting cross-legged on some cushions.
The tubby ex-soldier occasionally dabs at his mouth with a cloth while calmly answering questions on everything from how he mounted his attack to how was the morale of Australian troops.
''I had one mission on my mind, to kill foreigners and teach them a lesson. We are Muslims, we cannot accept foreigners,'' he says.
''It was the third day of EID [eid al-Fitr]. I prepared the grenade-launcher and my gun with 200 bullets. Foreigners [Australians] were sitting in a room. They were fire worshippers around a big fire. There were 12 of them.
''A soldier ran to me and asked me what I was doing. He suspected my motives. I told him that it was none of his business. I opened fire; when the bullets ran out it was time to use the rocket launcher.''
The account appears heavily embellished with Rozi claiming he killed 12 Australians. However, only three Australian troops and two Afghan troops were wounded in the attack on November 8.
The wounded Australian soldiers were from the Mentoring Task Force-3 (MTF-3), operating at a patrol base in the Charmestan region, north-east of Tarin Kowt and were evacuated out of Afghanistan. Despite its blatant propaganda content, the video reveals some telling insights about attitudes of Afghan soldiers. Rozi says he spent years in a religious school before joining the Afghan army where he found other soldiers did not accept the foreigners. He decided to attack the Australians because he was a Muslim and did not accept that foreigners were working alongside him. He said his friends who were with him in the army were regularly thinking of attacks.
''We used to sit there and they were telling these things [attacking foreigners] and whenever it was possibly we will do this,'' he said.
On another occasion he says: ''For 24 hours we were discussing and our first discussion point was jihad and killing.'' When asked about the Australians' morale, Rozi says they were ''very afraid''.
''They were afraid of bombs, they were afraid of the ambush. They were always going together and when it was dark they would not go because the helicopter would not work,'' he said.
His escape appeared to be assisted by local insurgents.
After he fled the camp in a stolen humvee Rozi said he drove until the vehicle became hot and he saw six people walking back after prayers.
Rozi said he hid while helicopters constantly circled around looking for him.
''I was at night with the Kuchi [a nomadic tribe] and there were many aircraft flying around very close and by the grace of God, the planes could not see me,'' he says.
Rozi also alleged the foreign soldiers would beat the people when they searched houses after bomb blasts. He also claimed the army commanders did not give the rations the soldiers were owed.
The interview also reveals the Taliban's focus on the departure of United States troops in 2014.
The interviewer asks Rozi whether he is aware of the foreigners leaving in 2014.
''I know the American soldiers as well as other soldiers from other foreign countries will leave Afghanistan and that too many soldiers have been killed ... and German and Australian troops and others they always claim that they want to leave Afghanistan.''
Rozi is asked what message he wants to pass on to his fellow soldiers.
''My message is that they are Muslims, the sons of Muslims and the father of Muslims and their grandfathers are Muslims and they should never accept the foreigners. That the foreigners have come for the purpose to destroy our religion and to root out our religion and destroy other things.''
The video raises other concerns as Rozi mentions his friend Habibullah who was responsible for the rocket launcher used in the attack.
Defence has declined to comment on what action was being taken in relation to possible collaboration of soldiers who served with Rozi.
Following the attack, Afghan General Zafar Khan had ordered the 3rd Kandak at the base be disarmed and confined to barracks.
The content of the video was already being widely disseminated across different websites says Tufail Ahmad who is the director of the South Asia Studies Project at the Middle East Media Research institute.
Mr Ahmad who has translated and viewed the video said he had ''no doubt'' it was genuine. ''It is posted on the official Taliban website and it is not hacked,'' he said.
He said it would probably be well viewed in the tribal areas of Pakistan; not so much in Afghanistan as there were cyber cafes in the tribal areas frequented by Taliban.
''These cases do really inspire the Taliban and the footsoldiers,'' he said. Mr Ahmad said the video was probably filmed in Afghanistan and then edited in a major Pakistani city.
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