Footage depicting what can only be described as a Taliban “graduation” ceremony that took place June 9 was obtained by abc News this week. The footage and accompanying report, which came by way of a Pakistani journalist invited to observe the ceremony, shows approximately 300 masked men and boys dressed in loose-fitting tunics and sandals and sitting in rows in a desolate mountain range along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

Taliban terrorist leader Mansoor Dadullah appears in the video and still footage and addresses the group with characteristic references to his god and the glory of martyrdom. During the meeting, individual groups of suicide bombers assigned to attack specific countries stand and declare their intentions to use their training to murder Americans, Canadians, Britons or Germans, depending on the group.

The “graduates” depicted in the footage wear black headscarves with white headbands emblazoned with Islamic phrases. Toward the end of the meeting, several of the participants are recorded without their headdress, revealing some to be as young as 12 years old, perhaps 10.

U.S. intelligence officials cited by abc News attributed the video to a terrorist “propaganda campaign” and believe that it does not necessarily constitute a threat to the West.

Whether these 300 are an impending terrorist threat or a piece of propoganda, there is no doubt that scores of young Muslims are being trained in camps and madrassas throughout the region. The effects of such training are being felt by Western forces dealing with an escalation of Taliban violence in Afghanistan. Despite being under near-constant attack by Western forces for more than five years, the terrorist group now appears to be expanding its influence throughout the region. Recent attacks also indicate that the group is adopting strategy and tactics employed by Islamic extremists in Iraq.

Sunday the Taliban claimed responsibility for a fatal suicide bombing on a bus in Kabul that day that claimed the lives of more than 30 people. Did that bomber graduate from a Taliban terrorist training camp?