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June 9, 2010
Mr. Obama, Mr. Abbas Does Want the Siege of Gaza to End
President Mahmoud Abbas will ask President Obama to convince Israel to end its blockade of the Gaza Strip when the two men meet Wednesday, the Maan News Agency reports. Notwithstanding t...
June 8, 2010
Afghan commandos strike at the Taliban in the northwest
Map of Afghanistan's provinces. Click map to view larger image. Afghan commandos killed 23 Taliban fighters and captured seven more during a raid last night in a terrorist stronghold in the northwest. The Afghan commandos, backed by Coalition special operations forces, battled the Taliban for 12 hours in the village of Darai Bom in the Balamurghab district in Badghis province. "We received some reports about the presence of Taliban in the area planning to attack government locations, and yesterday night we launched a joint operation with the NATO forces which was a success," Zainuddin Sharifi, a senior Afghan Army commander, told Quqnoos. The Afghan Army commander claimed the Taliban left 23 Taliban bodies on the battlefield. Among them were Mullah Sulaiman and two other local Taliban commanders. Twenty-one Taliban fighters were said to have been wounded during the clash. An unnamed provincial official claimed four Afghan soldiers were killed, but Zainuddin denied the report. The Balamurghab district serves as the Taliban's main operations hub for northwestern Afghanistan. Taliban commanders in Badghis have claimed to have 74 bases scattered throughout the Balamurghab district alone. Both Balamurghab and the neighboring district of Ghormach are considered to be under Taliban control. US, Spanish, and Afghan forces now maintain a presence in the Balamurghab district at Forward Operating Base Columbus. Badghis is critical to the Taliban's northern front. The Taliban are attempting to isolate the province by keeping the instability high so the paved section of the northern ring road cannot be completed. The Taliban want to use their safe havens in Badghis to launch attacks against neighboring Faryab province and eventually Mazar-i-Sharif. Coalition and Afghan forces have been targeting the Taliban in Badghis for years. In February 2009, Mullah Dastagir, the Taliban's shadow governor for Badghis, was killed in an airstrike along with several aides and fighters. Coalition and Afghan forces battled the Taliban through 2008 and early 2009 but have been unable to dislodge them from strongholds in the two districts. An al Qaeda affiliate also operates in Badghis The al Qaeda-linked Turkistan Islamic Party is also known to operate in Badghis province. In January 2010, a US airstrike in the village of Khatawaran in Balamurghab killed 13 Uighurs and two Turkish members of the Turkistan Islamic Party. The Turkistan Islamic Party, which is also known as the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Party or Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement, operates primarily in China' s western province of Xinjiang as well as in the Central Asian republics. The group seeks to establish an Islamic state in the region. The Turkistan Islamic Party has training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan and is known to operate in both countries. The Turkistan Islamic Party has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United Nations, the United States, China, Kazakhstan, and Pakistan. Abdul Haq al Turkistani, the leader of the Turkistan Islamic Party, is closely linked to al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. Haq, who is also known as Maimaitiming Maimaiti, became the leader of the terror group in late 2003 after Hassan Mahsum, the group' s previous leader, was killed in Waziristan, Pakistan. Haq was appointed a member of al Qaeda' s Shura Majlis, or executive council, in 2005, according to the US Treasury Department, which designated him as a global terrorist in April 2009. The United Nations also designated Haq as a terrorist leader. In May, Pakistan's Interior Minister claimed that Haq was killed in Pakistan, but Pakistan has not provided any evidence to back up the assertion. The Turkistan Islamic Party has not issued a martyrdom statement announcing Haq's death, nor has it named a replacement leader. US intelligence officials contacted by The Long War Journal would not confirm Haq's death. Haq was rumored to have been killed in a US Predator airstrike in North Waziristan on Feb. 15, but the report was never confirmed.
June 8, 2010
Mozart, Marshall and Me
Basic Books has sent me a long but highly readable and at times scintillating book by an old friend, Norman Stone. The Atlantic and its Enemies is quite long–well over six hundred pages–and although Norman calls it “a history of the Cold War” it’s much more than that, and it’s full of useful information, witty [...]
June 8, 2010
Taliban overrun Frontier Corps outpost in northwest Pakistan
The Taliban overran a Frontier Corps outpost during an assault today in the Arakzai tribal agency. The attack took place just seven days after the top Pakistani military commander declared an end...
June 8, 2010
Erdogan Makes Turkeys of The Arabs
As the dust begins settling after the Gaza flotilla affair, it has become increasingly clear that Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) resorted in a premeditated way to popul...
June 8, 2010
The German-Israeli Special Relationship
German Chancellor Angela Merkel's administration is widely considered to be Israel's most reliable and stalwart ally on the European continent. Israeli-German relations-as enshrined by...
June 7, 2010
FDD Releases The Afghanistan-Pakistan Theater: Militant Islam, Security and Stability
Press Release June 7, 2010 CONTACT: Judy Mayka 202-621-3948 judy@defenddemocracy.org FDD Releases The Afghanistan-Pakistan Theater: Militant Islam,...
June 7, 2010
About Those Somali Terrorist Arrests in New Jersey
On Sunday, Dan noted this New York Times report by Will Rashbaum about two men arrested in New Jersey on terrorism...
June 7, 2010
My Letter to Hearst
Dear Mr. Swartz, More than 30 years ago I cut my teeth as a foreign correspondent for Hearst Newspapers. Indeed, I believe I was the last "roving foreign correspondent" Hearst w...
June 7, 2010
Al Qaeda Cleric Encourages Arab Cooperation with Turkey, Iran
There have been pro-flotilla rallies throughout the Muslim world and some of them have been attended by especially notorious figures. Consider the rallies in Yemen. On June 1, thousands gathered...
June 7, 2010
Evidence presented of US involvement in 2009 airstrike in Yemen
A December 2009 airstrike on insurgents in a known safe haven for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen that resulted in the deaths of both terrorists and civilians has been linked by to the US, according to photographic evidence produced by Amnesty International. The photographs, released on Amnesty' s website today, show parts of a broken up, US-made, BGM-109D Tomahawk cruise missile, as well as an unexploded BLU 97 cluster bomblet, munitions used in the warhead of the Tomahawk. The Dec. 17, 2009, strike targeted what was thought to be a training camp run by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in the town of Ma'jalah in the province Abyan. A separate strike also took place the same day in the province of Sana'a. The Yemeni government initially claimed it carried out the strikes in Abyan and Sana' a, and said that 34 al Qaeda fighters were killed and an additional 17 fighters were later captured in ground operations. Independent reports indicated that between 60 and 90 civilians, mostly nomads living in a tent city, were killed. Amnesty claims, based on a Yemeni government investigation, that 14 al Qaeda fighters, along with 41 civilians, including 14 women and 21 children, were killed in the Abyan attack. But within two days of the strikes, unnamed US intelligence officials acknowledged that the US participated in the strikes and used cruise missiles in the attacks. No official from the US Department of Defense publicly acknowledged involvement in the airstrikes. US intelligence officials have since denied any direct role in subsequent airstrikes against al Qaeda in Yemen, but do say that the US is providing logistical and intelligence support to the Yemeni military. But the US is believed to have carried out some of the strikes in Yemen, including an attack on May 25 that killed a deputy governor of Marib province as he was meeting with al Qaeda. An unmanned US Predator, or the more deadly Reaper, was spotted in the region before the strike. Amnesty has characterized the Dec. 17, 2009, airstrike in Abyan as the extrajudicial targeting of terrorists and said an effort should be made to 'detain them.' 'A military strike of this kind against alleged militants without an attempt to detain them is at the very least unlawful,' Philip Luther, Deputy Director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Program, said in the organization' s press release. Amnesty' s criticism of the Abyan attack comes just days after the United Nation' s special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions called for an end to the CIA-run program that is targeting al Qaeda' s top leaders and external operations network in Pakistan' s tribal areas. Amnesty' s recommendation that the US should first attempt to detain terrorists in Yemen before launching strikes demonstrates a lack of understanding of al Qaeda' s control of regions in the country and the central government' s inability and unwillingness to tackle the terror network. Top members of the Yemeni government support al Qaeda, while the Yemeni security forces do not have the capacity to take on the terror group and its allied tribes head on. Yemen has become one of al Qaeda's most secure bases and a hub for its activities on the Arabian Peninsula and on the Horn of Africa. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula maintains safe havens in various parts of the country and is also known to operate terror camps in Aden, Marib, Abyan, and in the Alehimp and Sanhan regions in Sana'a. The terror group has conducted attacks on oil facilities, tourists, the US embassy in Sana'a, and Yemeni security forces. Yemen serves as a command and control center, a logistics hub, a transit point from Asia and the Peninsula, and a source of weapons and munitions for the al Qaeda-backed Shabaab and Hizbul Islam in Somalia. "Yemen is Pakistan in the heart of the Arab world," a US intelligence official told The Long War Journal in 2009. "You have military and government collusion with al Qaeda, peace agreements, budding terror camps, and the export of jihad to neighboring countries." Some of the top leaders of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula have been targeted in airstrikes since December 2009, including Abu Basir al Wuhayshi, the group's leader; Said Ali al Shihri, the second in command; Abu Hurayrah Qasim al Raymi, the military commander; Ibrahim Suleiman al Rubaish, the top ideologue; and Anwar al Awlaki, a recruiter and ideologue. Airstrikes in Yemen targeting Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula: ' Yemeni airstrike kills deputy governor, al Qaeda operatives May 25, 2010 ' Yemeni airstrike hits al Qaeda camp Mar. 14, 2010 ' Airstrikes target home of Yemeni al Qaeda leader Jan. 20, 2010 ' Al Qaeda's military commander in Yemen reported killed Jan. 15, 2010 ' Yemeni airstrike targets top al Qaeda leaders Dec. 24, 2009 ' US launches cruise missile strikes against al Qaeda in Yemen Dec. 17, 2009 A look at 10 of the most dangerous Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula leaders:
June 7, 2010
German Members of Parliament Were Aboard Mavi Marmara
Two members of Germany's "post-communist" Left party, Inge Höger and Annette Groth, were on the Mavi Marmara...
June 7, 2010
Israeli Envoys Slam German Pols for Joining Flotilla
Israeli Ambassador to Germany Yoram Ben-Zeev and Emmanuel Nahshon, the chargé d'affaires at the embassy, took the unusual step last week of publicly criticizing Left Party members of...
June 6, 2010
Al Qaeda-linked Taliban commander killed in Western Afghanistan
Map of the Afghanistan's 121 "key districts" and the measure of public support for the government and the Taliban, from the US Department of Defense. Click map for full view. Coalition forces killed a Taliban commander with links to al Qaeda and the training of fighters in Iran during an airstrike in the southwestern Afghan province of Farah. Mullah Akhtar and an undisclosed number of Taliban fighters were killed during a series of airstrikes and a ground raid in the district of Gulistan in Farah. The operation took place in "a known insurgent safe haven," the International Security Assistance Force stated in a press release. Akhtar coordinated the training of Taliban fighters in Iran and is linked to top al Qaeda and Taliban leaders. Farah province borders Iran to the west. "Mullah Akhtar had close ties with Taliban and al Qaeda senior leaders," ISAF stated. "He was responsible for arranging training for foreign fighters from Iran and helped resolve disputes between militant networks." For years, ISAF has stated that Taliban fighters have conducted training inside Iran, with the aid of Qods Force, the special operations branch of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. As recently as May 30, ISAF commander General Stanley McChrystal said Iran is training Taliban fighters and providing them with weapons. "The training that we have seen occurs inside Iran with fighters moving inside Iran," McChrystal said as a press conference. "The weapons that we have received come from Iran into Afghanistan." In March 2010, a Taliban commander admitted that Iran has been training teams of Taliban fighters in small unit tactics. "Our religions and our histories are different, but our target is the same ' we both want to kill Americans," the commander told The Sunday Times, rebutting the common analysis that Shia Iran and Sunni al Qaeda could not cooperate due to ideological differences. Mullah Hayatullah serves as the Taliban's military commander in Farah province. He runs suicide training camps and also serves as a spokesman for the group. Hayatullah is also thought to be closely linked to al Qaeda. Southwestern Afghanistan a fallback position for the Taliban The Taliban have used Farah and neighboring Nimroz province as fallback havens after the US military launched three operations to clear the Taliban from different regions in Helmand province since the summer of 2009. Taliban support in the southwest remains a major problem for the Coalition and Afghan governments as they attempt to wrest control of the region from the Taliban. A survey of the local population's support for the Taliban and the government that was conducted by the Department of Defense and released as part of a report on Afghanistan shows a difficult task lies ahead for the Coalition. The report identified 121 "key districts" which are vital to both the Taliban and the government. The majority of these district are either neutral, sympathetic to the Taliban, or support the Taliban. The picture in the South and Southwest is particularly grim. Only three of the 27 districts assessed are sympathetic to the government; 12 districts are neutral; nine districts are sympathetic to the Taliban; and three districts support the Taliban. Of the four of Farah's eleven districts assessed by the US military as key districts, two (Farah and Bala Buluk) are considered sympathetic to the government, and two (Pusht Rod and Bakra) are considered sympathetic to the Taliban. The district of Gulistan was not assessed, but is considered to be under Taliban control. Only one district in Nimroz, Khash Rod, is assessed, and is considered to be sympathetic to the Taliban. In Kandahar and Helmand, the two provinces considered to be the key to the Taliban's power in the south, the majority is considered to be ambivalent toward the Afghan government and the Coalition, or sympathetic to or supportive of the Taliban. Of the 11 of Helmand's 13 districts assessed, eight of the districts are considered neutral, one is sympathetic to the Taliban, and two support the Taliban. Of the 11 of Kandahar's 13 districts assessed, one district (Kandahar City) supports the government, three districts are considered neutral, six are sympathetic to the Taliban, and one supports the Taliban.
June 6, 2010
Iran Joins the Flotilla’NOT
The Iranians have announced that “if the Supreme Leader gives the word,” the Iranian Navy will accompany future flotillas to Gaza. You can be quite certain that the Leader is not about to give th...
June 6, 2010
And Now, Ahmadinejad Goes to Istanbul
Yes, on Monday Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad plans to touch down in Turkey. Seems like the Turkish and Iranian governments just can’t get enough of each other these days. This visi...
June 6, 2010
A Year of Lost Chances by Obama in Iran
Saturday will mark one year since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stole a second presidential term in a rigged Iranian election. The response last year was shocking: Hundreds of thousands of angry Iranians f...
June 5, 2010
Al Qaeda in Iraq is ‘broken,’ cut off from leaders in Paksitan, says top US general
Iraqi and US forces have hit al Qaeda in Iraq hard over the last several months, crippling the terror group's senior leadership and disrupting its communications with al Qaeda's top lea...
June 4, 2010
Flotilla Organizer has “Clear, Long-Standing Ties to Terrorism and Jihad”
The Associated Press has published its account of an interview with France'...
June 4, 2010
The Afghanistan-Pakistan Theater: Militant Islam, Security & Stability
What is the optimal strategy for the United States and its allies to pursue in Afghanistan? Observers across the political spectrum agree that military operations alone are not enough to secure A...
June 4, 2010
Turkey’s Two-Faced Aid For Gaza
From the fury with which Turkey's leaders are demanding carte blanche access for aid to Gaza, you might suppose the Turkish government had exhausted every available route for pouring its own...
June 3, 2010
Al Qaeda operative killed in South Waziristan strike
A senior al Qaeda operative and a Taliban commander were killed in last week's airstrike in Pakistan's lawless tribal agency of South Waziristan. The Al Fajr Media Center, a ji...
June 3, 2010
The Muslim Brotherhood’s Flotilla
Western press accounts have enumerated the many left-wing human rights activists who were...
June 3, 2010
Inside Shell’s Iran Game
Royal Dutch Shell resumed its gasoline shipments to Iran, International Oil Dailyreported this morning. The company got back into business with the Iranian regime after a six-month hiatus....
June 3, 2010
Beyond Strategery
Is it possible to defeat an enemy we don't understand? That is only one of the questions that ought to occur to anyone reading President Obama's new National Security Strategy (NSS). Ad...
June 3, 2010
Inside Iran’s Shell Game
Royal Dutch Shell resumed its gasoline shipments to Iran, International Oil Daily reported this morning. The company got back into business with the Iranian regime after a six-month hiatus....
June 3, 2010
Thanks To The Flotilla, Iran Off The Hook Again
It is crucial to understand the broader strategic context of Monday's events. The Gaza convoy was organised by IHH, a Turkish Islamist "charity" with links to al Qaida and Hamas. It...
June 2, 2010
The Gaza Flotilla Decoy for Iranian Missiles to Hezbollah?
"De-Blockading" Hamas? At first glance, the takeover by the Israeli Navy of the "humanitarian flotilla" heading towards Gaza is just one more of the disputed crises between Israel and its foes. As in all previous incidents, the spiral of...
June 2, 2010
Strengthening America
What can be done to advance American strength? The list is long and the mission is urgent. It starts with this: Strengthening America must become a priority. That is not the case at present as an...
June 2, 2010
Newly minted Taliban shadow governor in Afghan north captured
Map of Afghanistan's provinces. Click map to view larger image. Afghan and Coalition forces leveled another blow at the Taliban's top leadership in the northern province of Baghlan. A joint Afghan and Coalition force captured the Taliban's newly appointed shadow governor of Baghlan during a May 31 raid in the Baghlan-i-Jadid district "after intelligence information revealed insurgent activity," the International Security Assistance Force stated in a press release on its website. The shadow governor of Baghlan, whose name was not provided by ISAF, was captured "as he prepared to leave for Pakistan." One of his associates were killed and an undisclosed number were captured during the raid. The joint Afghan-Coalition special operations forces have put pressure on the Taliban to quickly promote new leaders, ISAF said. "This capture marks the third time in as many weeks that the Taliban have had to replace named shadow governors for Baghlan province because of Coalition operations," the press release stated. The unnamed captured shadow governor spent only two days as the top leader for Baghlan. His predecessor, Mullah Rohullah, was killed in a Coalition airstrike on May 29. Rohullah was appointed the shadow governor of Baghlan in early May. Background on the Taliban's shadow government and the situation in the North The Taliban establish shadow or parallel governments in the regions they control or where the Afghan government is weak. These shadow governments fill the void by dispensing sharia justice; mediating tribal and land disputes; collecting taxes; and recruiting, arming, and training fighters. The Taliban have established shadow governments throughout Afghanistan, with provincial and militarily leaders appointed to command activities. In January 2009, the Taliban claimed to be in control of more than 70 percent of Afghanistan's rural areas and to have established shadow governments in 31 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces. Over the past two years, the security situation in the northern provinces of Baghlan and neighboring Kunduz has deteriorated. The Taliban and allied terror groups maintain safe havens in Baghlan and Kunduz, and control large portions of the provinces. Two districts in Baghlan province - Baghlan-i-Jadid and Burka - are under the control of the Taliban. Of the seven districts in Kunduz province, only two are considered under government control; the rest of the districts - Chahara Dara, Dashti Archi, Ali Abab, Khan Abad, and Iman Sahib - are considered contested or under Taliban control, according to a map produced by Afghanistan's Interior Ministry in the spring of 2009 [see LWJ report, "Afghan forces and Taliban clash in Kunduz," and Threat Matrix report, "Afghanistan' s wild-wild North"]. The Taliban's top leadership in the north has been hit hard over the past year, however. Afghan intelligence captured the shadow governor of Samangan province on May 20. Afghan officials claimed the shadow governor of Kunduz province was killed on April 26. Pakistani intelligence reportedly detained the shadow governors of Kunduz and Baghlan in February. And in September 2009, police detained the shadow governor of Bamyan province.
June 2, 2010
Hamas Refuses Humanitarian Aid
CNN reports: Israel has attempted to deliver humanitarian aid from an international flotilla to G...
June 2, 2010
Germany Turns a Blind Eye to Radical Islam
Just as the danger of homegrown political Islam is on display in the United States with the attempted Times Square bombing--the third attempted attack in six months--Germany seems to be recoiling...
June 2, 2010
Assad May Be Cruising For A Bruising
If Damascus continues to arm Hezbollah, would the Israelis strike against Syria? Despite Israel’s past track record of overlooking Syrian malfeasance, there is reason to think the equation...
June 1, 2010
Afghan commandos retake eastern district from the Taliban
Map of Afghanistan's provinces. Click map to view larger image. Afghan commandos, backed by Coalition advisers and air support, have retaken a district in eastern Afghanistan that had been captured by the Taliban last weekend. More than 200 Afghan commandos 'assisted by a small contingent of coalition partners' retook the district of Barg-e-Matal in Nuristan province yesterday, the International Security Assistance Force said in a press release. The district was recaptured just two days after Afghan police abandoned Barg-e-Matal as part of a 'tactical retreat' to avoid civilian casualties. The operation to retake the district began early on May 31, when Coalition air support engaged the Taliban with 'precision-guided airstrikes on known insurgent locations near Barg-e-Matal,' ISAF stated in a press release. 'The airstrikes were requested by local officials and ANSF [Afghan National Security Force] commanders,' ISAF said. 'Extreme care was given to validating the targets, which were under surveillance for an extended period of time. The operation was launched in response to significant insurgent activity in the area during the previous week. The precision strikes were designed to degrade enemy positions, command and control, and staging/caches sites in the area.' The airstrikes were followed by an air assault by Afghan commandos, who linked up with more than 400 local police in the region, The Associated Press reported. No Taliban casualties were reported in the airstrikes or the subsequent commando operation to retake the district. "This successful operation by Afghan forces will return governance to Barg-e-Matal," said Zemarai Bashary, the Ministry of Interior spokesman. "This operation shows the improved planning and operational capabilities of our joint forces in response to serious incidents even in the most remote locations of Afghanistan." The crisis in Nuristan began on May 25, when a large Taliban force estimated at between 300 to 500 fighters attacked the district center. Afghan officials said the Taliban were supported by Pakistani, Chechens, and other Central Asian fighters. Pakistani Taliban leader Mullah Qari Fazlullah, who is known to shelter and operate in Nuristan, is said to have led the attack. Fazlullah was later reported killed, but the Taliban denied the report and said he was not involved in any fighting in Nuristan. The Barg-e-Matal district is a known Taliban transit area to and from the northern Pakistani district of Chitral. Last summer, the Taliban took control of Barg-e-Matal for several months after a similar attack. US and Afghan forces were deployed to the region to help local Nuristanis eject the Taliban, but the forces later withdrew. Barg-e-Matal borders the district of Kamdesh, which has been under Taliban control since US forces withdrew from combat outposts last fall after an attack by a large Taliban and al Qaeda force. The withdrawal of US forces from the outposts in Nuristan and neighboring Kunar province has provided the Taliban with major propaganda victories. The Taliban released propaganda tapes showing large-scale assaults on the US outposts followed by scenes of the Taliban occupying the abandoned bases. Weapons and ammunition that had been hastily abandoned by US and Afghan forces were displayed by the Taliban in the tapes. ISAF withdrew forces from remote districts in Nuristan and neighboring Kunar province as part of its new counterinsurgency plan that emphasizes securing major population centers over rural areas. According to ISAF commanders, the remote provinces of Nuristan and Kunar will be dealt with after more strategic regions in the south, east, and north have been addressed. The outposts in Nuristan and Kunar were initially created in 2006 as part of a plan to establish a string of bases to interdict Taliban fighters and supplies moving across the border from Pakistan. But the plan was not completed, because US forces were diverted to the south in Kandahar after the Taliban began launching increasingly sophisticated attacks. Previous LWJ reports on the fighting in Barg-e-Matal: May 29, 2010: "Taliban take control of district in Nuristan" May 28, 2010: "Nuristani Taliban commander denies Fazlullah killed" May 27, 2010: "Mullah Fazlullah reported killed in Afghanistan" May 26, 2010: "Pakistani Taliban assault district center in Nuristan"
June 1, 2010
On the Death of Mustafa Abu Yazid
The death of Mustafa Abu Yazid (aka Sheikh Saeed al Masri), who was killed in an airstrike e...
June 1, 2010
Pakistani military ends operation in Arakzai
The Pakistani military has called an end to an operation in a Taliban-dominated tribal area in the northwest. The Pakistani Army announced the cessation of operations in Arakzai as General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), visited troops in Arakzai and Kurram today, and said Arakzai is now cleared of the Taliban. "COAS' visit to Arakzai Agency marks the successful conclusion of operations in the Agency," a press release at the Inter-Services Public Relations stated. "Return of IDPs [internally displaced persons] is excepted to start shortly. He appreciated the professional conduct of the operation which has cleared the Agency of terrorists." The military's declaration of victory in Arakzai took place seven weeks after it claimed the Taliban was "fleeing" Arakzai and was on the verge of defeat. Since the operation began on March 21, the Pakistani military has claimed that 1116 Taliban fighters have been killed in Arakzai, while in fact, only 25 soldiers have been killed, according to Pakistani press reports compiled by The Long War Journal. The military has claimed that 286 Taliban casualties were killed since May 23, when 70 fighters were said to have been killed in a series of airstrikes. The military also claims to have destroyed more than 100 Taliban training camps, safe houses, and other facilities, according to Geo News. US military and intelligence officials contacted by The Long War Journal are skeptical of the Pakistani military claims of success in Arakzai, and said the reports of Taliban casualties are greatly inflated. "You can bet that the Pakistani military hasn't killed 45 Taliban fighters for every one of their soldiers killed," one official said. The Pakistani military has mixed civilian casualties with Taliban casualties, the official continued. "You can bet the vast majority of those killed in Arakzai are civilians and not Taliban," the official said. The Pakistani military is known to rely on air and artillery strikes to pound the Taliban and continue to level villages in indiscriminate attacks. The Taliban's top leaders in Arakzai still remain free, US officials also noted. "Not a single senior leader of the myriad of groups in Arakzai have been killed or captured," a military intelligence official said. The Pakistani military has targeted the Taliban in Arakzai, Khyber, and South Waziristan over the past several months, and claimed to have defeated the Taliban during operations in Swat, Bajaur, and Mohmand over the past year. The Taliban still control large swaths of territory in these tribal agencies, while al Qaeda and allied groups maintain a safe haven in North Waziristan. The Pakistanis have rebuffed US pressure to target the Taliban and al Qaeda based in North Waziristan. Some of the most deadly Taliban groups operate from Arakzai, and many of the suicide and military attacks carried out in Pakistan have originated from this tribal agency [see list]. The Taliban terror alliance in Arakzai has taken credit for some of the most lethal terror attacks inside Pakistan, including suicide attacks in Islamabad and terror-military assaults in Lahore and Peshawar. These groups often cooperate in attacks, and leaders and members may be affiliated with several groups. Major Taliban groups based in Arakzai Akhunzada Aslam Farooqui is the leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan in the Arakzai tribal agency. Farooqui took control of the Taliban after Hakeemullah Mehsud was promoted to lead the entire Taliban movement in Pakistan' s tribal areas and in the northwest. Farooqui was described as the "patron-in-chief" of the Taliban in Arakzai and a "close friend of Mullah Mohammad Omar" back in 2001. At the opening of Operation Enduring Freedom, Farooqui promised to have 12,000 tribesmen to battle US forces in Afghanistan and offered support such as sanctuary and weapons and ammunition. He claimed to lead 7,000 Taliban fighters. Fedayeen-e-Islam: Formerly led by Hakeemullah Mehsud, the Fedayeen-e-Islam has taken credit for multiple terror assaults and suicide attacks throughout Pakistan. The group is made up members of the Pakistani Taliban, the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, Jaish-e-Mohammed, and other Islamist terrorists from Pakistan. It is based in Arakzai and South Waziristan. Senior leaders of the Fedayeen-e-Islam include Qari Hussain Mehsud, a former senior deputy to Baitullah who trains child suicide bombers. Qari Mohammed Zafar, who was killed in a US Predator airstrike in North Waziristan this year; Asmatullah Moaviya, another senior aide to Baitullah who was reportedly arrested in Mianwali in Punjab province; and Rana Afzal. Lashkar-i-Jhangvi: An anti-Shia terror group that has integrated with al Qaeda and the Taliban in Pakistan's tribal areas, the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi has an extensive network in Pakistan and serves as the muscle for terror attacks. Commander Tariq Group: This group is considered the most powerful outfit in Arakzai and is based in Darra Adam Khel. Commander Tariq Afridi is the leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan in Khyber, as well as in regions in Peshawar, Kohat, and Hangu. Afridi was named the terror group's commander of Khyber in November 2009. Afridi is also the leader of the Commander Tariq Afridi Group. This Taliban outfit is considered the most powerful terror group in Arakzai, and is based in Darra Adam Khel. The Tariq Afridi Group also conducts attacks on Pakistani security forces in Arakzai, Kohat, and Hangu. His fighters were responsible for closing down the Kohat Tunnel twice in 2008. In early 2009, the Commander Tariq Afridi Group claimed the murder and beheading of Polish geologist Piotr Stanczak. In early 2010, operating under the guise of an outfit named the "Asian Tigers," the group was responsible for the kidnapping and murder of former ISI officer and jihadist sympathizer Khalid Khawaja. Omar Group: Based in Darra Adam Khel, this major Taliban group has conducted attacks in the regions around Peshawar. Ghazi Force: This group is named after Ghazi Abdul Rasheed, the brother of former Red Mosque leader Maulana Abdullah Aziz. Ghazi was killed when Pakistani troops assaulted the Red Mosque in July 2007. The Ghazi force runs a terror training camp in Guljo in Hangu and has conducted suicide attacks in Islamabad. The group is led by Maulana Niaz Raheem, a former student of the Red Mosque. Abdullah Azzam Brigade: This shadowy group appears to be made up of Taliban members from the Commander Tariq Group who merged with some Arakzai-based elements of Ayman al Zawahiri's Egyptian Islamic Jihad. A spokesman named Amir Muawiya, who is also a leader in the Commander Tariq Group, said that the Abdullah Azzam Brigade was behind a terror assault in Peshawar.
June 1, 2010
Hamburg Mosque Hosts Pro-Iran Event
BERLIN – The Imam Ali Mosque in Hamburg hosted a conference last week supportive of the regime of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and with the participation of advocates of revolution...
June 1, 2010
Welfare Despair
Northern Europeans' anger at their southern cousins may be justifiable. An already stressed yet lethargic eurozone had to absorb the full shock of Greece's public debt in the full knowl...
June 1, 2010
The ‘Peaceful’ Jihad in America
Most Americans don't realize that jihad is about much more than terrorism. Even the terrorists don't blow up buildings for the sake of blowing up buildings. There is method in...
June 1, 2010
An Islam of Their Very Own
Well, at least he had it half right. For John Brennan, President Obama’s al-Quds lovin’ counterterrorism guru, that’s a significant improvement. Last week, Brennan inte...
May 31, 2010
Gaza Terror Flotilla
Gaza’s Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh has got the bloody propaganda triumph he was preparing for when he told followers last week that whatever came of the Gaza “aid” floti...
May 31, 2010
Senior Taliban commander killed in Kandahar
Map of the Afghanistan's 121 "key districts" and the measure of public support for the government and the Taliban, from the US Department of Defense. Click map for full view. Coalition and Afghan forces killed one of the top two Taliban commanders in the strategic southern province of Kandahar during a raid yesterday. A top military commander named Haji Amir and "several of his fighters" were killed Sunday morning in "a precision air strike" in the Taliban-controlled district of Panjwai in Kandahar, the International Security Assistance Force said in a press release. Amir, who is also known as Haji Agha, was killed in an airstrike after he and his security detail stopped at a farm in the village of Zangabad. Intelligence assets had tracked Amir "for several days." ISAF considers Amir to be "one of the two most senior Taliban leaders in Kandahar province." The current shadow governor of Kandahar is said to be Mohibullah Akhundzada, a US intelligence official told The Long War Journal. Amir was recently in Pakistan to plan the Taliban's counteroffensive in Kandahar and returned in April to lead his forces against Afghan and Coalition troops. The Taliban's top council, the Quetta Shura, is thought to be based in the Pakistani city of Quetta in Baluchistan province. US military intelligence officials told The Long War Journal that Amir is a top military commander in the province. He is known to operate in the Taliban stronghold districts of Panjwai, Dand, and Zhari. Amir escaped from Afghan custody during the 2008 jailbreak at the Sarposa Prison in Kandahar City. Scores of Taliban commanders and fighters, as well as criminals, were sprung from the prison during the coordinated assault by suicide bombers and armed squads who overpowered the prison guards. The Taliban have denied reports that Amir is dead and claimed no top leaders have been killed or captured in the past week. US and Afghan special operations forces have been conducting raids against the Taliban's top leaders and operatives in Kandahar to prepare the battlefield for an upcoming offensive that seeks to wrest control of the province from the Taliban. The US has placed great importance on the need to secure Kandahar, which is considered the ideological and spiritual home of the Taliban. Two brigades of the additional troops surging into Afghanistan are slated to deploy in Kandahar in the upcoming months. But a Department of Defense survey of the situation in key districts in Afghanistan paints a grim picture of public support for the government in the south. In Kandahar and Helmand, the two provinces considered to be the key to the Taliban's power in the south, the majority of the population is considered to be ambivalent toward the Afghan government and the Coalition, or sympathetic to or supportive of the Taliban. Of the 11 of Kandahar's 13 districts assessed earlier this year, one district (Kandahar City) supported the government, three districts were considered neutral, six were sympathetic to the Taliban, and one supported the Taliban. Of the 11 of Helmand's 13 districts assessed, eight of the districts were considered neutral, one was sympathetic to the Taliban, and two supported the Taliban. The US has indicated that it will begin turning over security to the Afghan Army and police by July 2011 and that it will also start to withdraw its forces from the country at that time.
May 31, 2010
P.S. ‘ Iran Now Has Fuel for 2 Nuclear Weapons
While the world is focused on bloodshed aboard a Turkish ferryboat manned by sympathizers of the terrorists of Hamas, the real crisis looms like Godzilla rising from the sea. In its latest...
May 31, 2010
Top al Qaeda leader Mustafa Abu Yazid confirmed killed in airstrike in North Waziristan
A banner from As Sahab announcing the death of top al Qaeda leader Mustafa Abu Yazid. Al Qaeda has announced that its top leader in Afghanistan and chief financial official...
May 31, 2010
Europe’s Topsy-Turvy Sense of Balance
The European reaction to the Israeli Navy's interception of the flotilla containing pro-Palestinian "peace" activists en route to the Gaza Strip today adheres to the standard Pavlovian respo...
May 31, 2010
Taking Paintballs to a Gunfight
Ron Ben Yishai reports for the Israeli newspaper Yediot Achronot that the commandos attempting to halt the flotill...
May 31, 2010
Jenin on The High Seas
If Israel truly had wanted to “massacre” the Hamas sympathizers and fellow travellers aboard a six-ship Gaza-bound flotilla, the operation would not have been complicated. The Israeli...
May 31, 2010
The Terror Finance Flotilla
The Turkish organizers of the Gaza Strip-bound flotilla that was boarded this morning by Israeli commandos knew well in advance that their vessels would never reach Israeli waters. That's be...
May 30, 2010
The Gaza Flotilla: Showboating for Hamas
What’s the latest fetish shared by all of the following? Noam Chomsky, George Galloway, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), UNRWA and Code Pink. Why of cours...
May 30, 2010
Top link between al Qaeda and Taliban thought killed in US Predator strike in Khyber
A Taliban commander who is serves as key link to al Qaeda and carried out the assassination of a former Pakistani prime minister is said to have been killed in a US predator strike in Khyber in mid-May. The commander, Ebad-ul-Rehman, is thought to have been killed in a May 15 airstrike in the Tirah Valley in the Khyber tribal agency along with his brother, Yousaf, eight Uzbek fighters, and three Taliban fighters, The News reported. Two civilians, a woman and a child, were also said to have been killed in an attack that targeted a Taliban compound and training camp. The strike was the first by the US in Khyber. Pakistani intelligence officials said they are certain Rehman is dead, but do not have positive confirmation, The News reported. "The rest 5 per cent confirmation can only be obtained through DNA testing and we do not have access to the body," an official told the Pakistani news agency. US intelligence officials contacted by The Long War Journal would not confirm Rehman's death. Rehman, who is also known as Farooq Chatan, exemplifies the new bread of jihadist that is being cultivated in Pakistan's northwest, US military intelligence officials told The Long War Journal. Rehman, who rose in the Taliban ranks in the northwestern district of Malakand, serves as a key link between the Pakistani Taliban and al Qaeda. Although he was a Taliban commander, Rehman also was a key adviser to Abu Ubaidah al Masri, al Qaeda's former external operations chief. Ubaidah fell ill from complication with hepatitis and died in early 2008. Rehman is said to have served on the shura, or main council, for Ubaidah's external operations, along with other Taliban fighters. Ubaidah was ordered by Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda's top council, the Shura Majlis, to assassinate former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto after her return to Pakistan in October 2007. Ubaidah is said to have tasked Rehman with organizing the cells and coordinating the Bhutto's murder. Rehman received operatives and logistical support from Baitullah Mehsud, the former leader of the Pakistani Taliban, and the so-called Punjabi Taliban. Bhutto was eventually killed in a shooting and suicide attack on Dec. 27, 2007. Bhutto's assassination highlights integration of the Pakistani Taliban with al Qaeda The assassination of Bhutto was part of al Qaeda's plan to draw in the various Taliban and allied jihadist groups into open war again the Pakistani state, US intelligence officials told The Long War Journal. Al Qaeda openly declared war against the Pakistani state immediately after the Pakistani Army launched an assault against the Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, in Islamabad in July 2007. The Red Mosque was run by two radical clerics who attempted to impose sharia, or Islamic law by force in the capital. More than a hundred people were killed in the assault, including one of the two senior clerics, which inflamed the jihadist groups. Al Qaeda immediately capitalized on this anger and led the charge in declaring war against the Pakistani state. The first declaration of war was made on Aug. 1, 2007 by Abu Yahya al Libi, a top ideologue and propagandist for the group. "Go to battle together in order to be rid of this infidel tyrant [then President General Pervez Musharraf] and remove his heretic secular rule," al Libi told the Pakistani people. "May you pound away at his fragile army, at his swarms of intelligence miscreants and the fortresses of his unbelieving control. Take example from your neighbors, the brave people of Afghanistan." Ayman al Zawahiri, al Qaeda's second in command, repeated al Libi's call for the Pakistani people to overthrow the state several times. In February 2009, Zawahiri compared the Pakistani Taliban battle against the government to the Afghan Taliban's fight against Coalition and Afghan forces, and said the groups were fighting for the same causes. "Your brothers in the Taliban are not fighting to liberate Afghanistan only, but also the Taliban in Pakistan are carrying out jihad to purge Pakistan from the United States and its agents in the Pakistani Government and army," Zawahiri said. Al Qaeda's overarching strategy to consolidate the disparate Pakistani jihadist groups under a single banner has largely proven successful, intelligence officials said. The formation of the Punjabi Taliban is pointed to as a major victory for al Qaeda. The Punjabi Taliban includes members and factions of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), and Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI). Some top leaders and operatives of the Punjabi Taliban include Qair Saifullah Akhtar, the leader of HUJI; Ilyas Kashmiri, the operational commander of HUJI; Rashid Rauf, a senior leader in JeM; Matiur Rehman; a top leader in LeJ; and Qari Zafar, the slain former military leader of LeJ. Many of these leaders and operatives are also senior al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan. Kashmiri is the chief of al Qaeda's military wing, the Lashkar al Zil; Rauf is a top operational leader in al Qaeda's external operations network; and Matiur Rehman is a top operational leader who is said to manage al Qaeda's "Rolodex" of fighters who have passed through training camps and safe houses. The Punjabi Taliban have pooled their resources and contacted to execute brazen, deadly attacks inside Pakistan against military, intelligence, police, government, and civilian targets in Pakistan's major cities. One attack even took place against Army General Headquarters in Rawalpindi. The Punjabi Taliban, like the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, which is led by Hakeemullah Mehsud, is seen as being closely allied to al Qaeda. Both Taliban groups have embraced al Qaeda's tactics, including suicide attacks and armed terror assaults.
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