"We had and have no plan of harming countries of the world, including those in Europe ... our goal is the independence of the country and the building of an Islamic state," the Afghan Taliban says in a new statement posted online, Reuters reports.

According to the news service, the message is posted at shahamat.org. It comes eight years to the day after U.S. forces, working with anti-Taliban militias, began the battle to oust the Islamist extremists from power because the Taliban had harbored the al-Qaida terrorist network that attacked America on Sept. 11, 2001.

Reuters says the Taliban adds that:

"Still, if you (NATO and U.S. troops) want to colonize the country of proud and pious Afghans under the baseless pretext of a war on terror, then you should know that our patience will only increase and that we are ready for a long war."

Click here for much more of NPR News' coverage of events in Afghanistan. The Obama administration is now reviewing its strategy.