LOS ANGELES, Nov 25: Two admitted conspirators got 18-year prison terms on Monday for plotting to help the Taliban wage war against the United States.

Judge Robert Jones, sitting in the northwestern US city of Portland, Oregon, branded Jeffrey Battle, 33, and Patrice Lumumba Ford, 32, “first class traitors” after they admitted to conspiring to help the Taliban fight US forces, prosecutors said.

“They are traitors,” Assistant US Attorney Charles Gorder said after the pair admitted to a single charge of seditious conspiracy.

“It was what the judge called them: first class traitors,” Mr Gorder said.

“They have some kind of twisted notion of their religion. They were fascinated by fighting in the jihad.”

Mr Battle and Mr Ford admitted planning to travel to Afghanistan to fight alongside the Al Qaeda and Taliban.—AFP