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June 29, 2010 Turkey’s Two Faces There is a non-Arab Middle Eastern country that has occupied foreign territory by force for more than three decades — and nobody else recognises that occupation. That same country has denie... June 29, 2010 A Bizarre Take on The Rules of Engagement General David Petraeus has said that he will consider changing the rules of engagement in Afghanistan because of concerns that, though they are designed to protect civilians, they end up putting... June 28, 2010 Seeing Iran Plain The apologists for the Iranian regime generate so much nonsense that a whole crew of fact checkers could be gainfully employed simply exposing them. Let’s take two: “the Islamic Repub... June 28, 2010 American Diplomacy, Pakistan, and July 2011 In September 2009, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke sat down for... June 28, 2010 Afghan, US forces launch offensive in Kunar The Afghan Army and US military launched a major air assault yesterday in a remote district in eastern Afghanistan that borders Pakistan. More than 700 US and Afghan troops were inserted by US Black Hawk helicopters into the Marawara district in Kunar province on Sunday and immediately came under fire from a large force of Taliban fighters, estimated at more than 200 men. Soon more Taliban fighters poured into the area to battle the battalion-sized assault force. "Once the battle began, others from the area tried to maneuver into the area," Colonel Andrew Poppas, the US Army commander of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, told The Washington Post. "This was a tough fight." The US military claimed that more than 150 Taliban fighters were killed in the attack during heavy fighting. Two US soldiers and one Afghan soldier were reported to have been killed during the assault. The intense fighting ended earlier today, and US and Afghan forces are establishing security outposts in the remote district. The US military announced the operation on Sunday but would not disclose details of the offensive to The Long War Journal, citing "operational security" concerns. Details of the operation in Kunar were later provided to The Washington Post by military officers in eastern Afghanistan. On Sunday, the US military said that the operation targeted "al Qaeda and Taliban leadership in the area." The names of the al Qaeda and Taliban leaders were not disclosed, and no senior leaders have been reported killed or captured at this time. Taliban commander Qari Zia Rahman is the group's top regional commander. Rahman operates in Kunar and neighboring Nuristan provinces, and also operates across the border in Pakistan's tribal agency of Bajaur. The Pakistani government claimed they killed Rahman in an airstrike earlier this year, but he spoke to the media and mocked Pakistan's interior minister for wrongly reporting his death. It is unclear if the assault in Marawara marks a shift from the US' strategy of retreating from the remote outposts in eastern Afghanistan. Last fall, ISAF began withdrawing 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. While US officials have viewed northeastern Afghanistan as less strategically significant than the south and east, the Taliban have seized on the opportunity to carve out safe havens in the region, which has facilitated the flow of insurgents into the region from Pakistan. Last fall, a US military official told The Long War Journal that the abandonment of these provinces would force the US and the Afghan military to retake the ground. "Kunar and Nuristan have become magnets [for the Taliban and al Qaeda] in the northeast and we're eventually going to have to deal with that problem," the official said. The withdrawal of US forces from the outposts in Kunar and neighboring Nuristan province over the past year 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. 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. June 28, 2010 A Good General Is Not Enough As General David Petraeus takes over the war in Afghanistan from General Stanley McChrystal, he faces a daunting set of challenges. Thirty years of fighting have taken their toll on the country.... June 27, 2010 US strike kills 5 in North Waziristan The US has carried out its second airstrike in 24 hours in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan. Today's strike took place in the village of Tabbi Tolkhel near Miramshah, the main town in North Waziristan. An unmanned Predator or the more deadly Reaper fired two missiles at a known "militant compound" in the village, Pakistani intelligence officials told Geo News. Five people were reported to have been killed, but their identities are not yet known, according to Dawn News. Geo News put the number of people killed at three, and claimed they were all "rebels," a term used to describe the Taliban, al Qaeda, and the vast number of Central and South Asian terror groups operating in North Waziristan. The Miramshah region is a stronghold of the Haqqani Network, the al Qaeda-linked terror group that operates in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Haqqani Network is supported by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence directorate and operates under the aegis of the Quetta Shura, the top Afghan Taliban council led by Mullah Mohammed Omar. Siraj Haqqani leads the Miramshah shura, one of the four regional councils for the Afghan Taliban. He also sits on al Qaeda's Shura Majlis, or top decision-making body. Siraj is reported to have met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai earlier this week at the behest of General General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, Pakistan's top military leader, and Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha, the head of Pakistan's terrorist-linked Inter-Services Intelligence directorate. The meeting was designed to negotiate an end to the Afghan insurgency and bring the Haqqani Network into the government. Background on US strikes in Pakistan Today's strike was preceded by another on Saturday, when a US Predator fired a missile at a compound in the Mir Ali region in North Waziristan. Two "militants" were reported to have been killed, but their identities have not been disclosed. Today's strike is the sixth reported inside Pakistan this month. Three of the five prior strikes took place over the course of 24 hours on June 10-11. The first strike, on June 10, killed two low-level Arab al Qaeda military commanders and a Turkish foreign fighter. A US attack on June 19 in Mir Ali killed an al Qaeda commander named Abu Ahmed, 11 members of the Islamic Jihad Group, and four Taliban fighters. So far this year, the US has carried out 44 strikes in Pakistan; all but two of them have taken place in North Waziristan. The US is well on its way to exceeding last year' s strike total in Pakistan. In 2009, the US carried out 53 strikes in Pakistan; and in 2008, the US carried out 36 strikes in the country. [For up-to-date charts on the US air campaign in Pakistan, see LWJ Special Report, "Charting the data for US airstrikes in Pakistan, 2004 - 2010."] Over the past several months, unmanned US Predator and Reaper strike aircraft have been pounding Taliban and al Qaeda hideouts in North Waziristan, and have also struck at targets in South Waziristan and Khyber, in an effort to kill senior terror leaders and disrupt the networks that threaten Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the West. [For more information, see LWJ report, "Senior al Qaeda and Taliban leaders killed in US airstrikes in Pakistan, 2004 - 2010."] In early April, a top terrorist leader claimed that the US program had been crippled. Siraj Haqqani, the leader of the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani Network, said that the effectiveness of US airstrikes in killing senior Taliban and al Qaeda leaders had 'decreased 90 percent" since the Dec. 30, 2009, suicide attack on Combat Outpost Chapman in Khost, Afghanistan, that killed seven CIA employees and a Jordanian intelligence officer. While other factors may be involved in the decreased effectiveness in killing the top-tier leaders, an analysis of the data shows that only three top-tier commanders have been killed since Jan 1, 2010, but seven top-tier leaders were killed between Aug. 1, 2009, and Dec. 31, 2009. [See LWJ report, "Effectiveness of US strikes in Pakistan 'decreased 90 percent' since suicide strike on CIA - Siraj Haqqani," for more information.] But the US scored its biggest success in the air campaign in Pakistan last month. On May 21, a US strike in North Waziristan killed Mustafa Abu Yazid, one of al Qaeda's top leaders, and the most senior al Qaeda leader to have been killed in the US air campaign in Pakistan to date. Yazid served as the leader of al Qaeda in Afghanistan and the wider Khorasan, and more importantly, as al Qaeda's top financier, which put him in charge of the terror group's purse strings. He served on al Qaeda's Shura Majlis, or top decision-making council. Yazid also was closely allied with the Taliban and advocated the program of embedding small al Qaeda teams with Taliban forces in Afghanistan. Pakistani and US officials believed that one of the top Taliban leaders in Pakistan was killed in a strike this year. Up until May 2, most US and Pakistani officials believed that Hakeemullah Mehsud, the leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, had been killed in a Jan. 14 strike in Pasalkot in North Waziristan. The CIA had been furiously hunting Hakeemullah after he appeared on a videotape with the suicide bomber who carried out the attack on Combat Outpost Chapman. But after four months of silence on the subject, the Taliban released two tapes to prove that Hakeemullah is alive. On both of the tapes, Hakeemullah said the Taliban will carry out attacks inside the US. The tapes were released within 24 hours of an attempted car bombing in New York City by Faisal Shahzad, who was trained by the Taliban in North Waziristan. Hakeemullah's tapes were released along with another by his deputy, Qari Hussain Mehsud, who claimed responsibility for the attempted bombing in New York City. US strikes in Pakistan in 2010: ' US strike kills 5 in North Waziristan June 27, 2010 ' US airstrike kills 2 in North Waziristan June 26, 2010 ' US strike kills 16 in North Waziristan June 19, 2010 ' US kills 14 in 2 strikes in North Waziristan June 11, 2010 ' US Predator strike kills 3 in North Waziristan June 10, 2010 ' US kills 11 in Predator strike in South Waziristan May 28, 2010 ' US airstrike kills 6 in North Waziristan May 21, 2010 ' US Predators carry out first strike in Khyber May 15, 2010 ' US pounds Taliban in pair of strikes in North Waziristan May 11, 2010 ' US airstrike kills 10 'rebels' in North Waziristan May 9, 2010 ' US airstrike kills 4 'militants' in North Waziristan May 3, 2010 ' US strike kills 8 Taliban in North Waziristan April 26, 2010 ' US airstrike kills 7 Taliban in North Waziristan April 24, 2010 ' US strikes kill 6 in North Waziristan April 16, 2010 ' US strike kills 4 in Taliban stronghold of North Waziristan April 14, 2010 ' US strike kills 5 Taliban in North Waziristan April 12, 2010 ' US strikes kill 6 in North Waziristan March 30, 2010 ' US strike kills 4 in North Waziristan March 27, 2010 ' US kills 6 in strike against Haqqani Network March 23, 2010 ' US strike kills 4 in North Waziristan March 21, 2010 ' US kills 8 terrorists in 2 new airstrikes in North Waziristan March 17, 2010 ' US Predator strike in North Waziristan kills 11 Taliban, al Qaeda March 16, 2010 ' US airstrike kills 12 in North Waziristan March 10, 2010 ' US airstrike in North Waziristan kills 5 Taliban fighters March 8, 2010 ' US hits Haqqani Network in North Waziristan, kills 8 Feb. 24, 2010 ' US airstrikes target Haqqani Network in North Waziristan Feb. 18, 2010 ' Latest US airstrike kills 3 in North Waziristan Feb. 17, 2010 ' US strike kills 4 in North Waziristan Feb. 15, 2010 ' US strikes training camp in North Waziristan Feb. 14, 2010 ' Predators pound terrorist camp in North Waziristan Feb. 2, 2010 ' US airstrike targets Haqqani Network in North Waziristan Jan. 29, 2010 ' US airstrike in North Waziristan kills 6 Jan. 19, 2010 ' Latest US airstrike in Pakistan kills 20 Jan. 17, 2010 ' US strikes kill 11 in North Waziristan Jan. 15, 2010 ' US airstrike hits Taliban camp in North Waziristan Jan. 14, 2010 ' US airstrike kills 4 Taliban fighters in North Waziristan Jan. 9, 2010 ' US airstrike kills 5 in North Waziristan Jan. 8, 2010 ' US kills 17 in latest North Waziristan strike Jan. 6, 2010 ' US airstrike kills 2 Taliban fighters in Mir Ali in Pakistan Jan. 3, 2010 ' US kills 3 Taliban in second strike in North Waziristan Jan. 1, 2010 June 26, 2010 Another Milestone for UN Human Rights Engagement In case you missed it this week – While America has been poring over the Rolling Stone article, and Iran has been bragging about 20% enriched uranium, the United Nations, in its own s... June 26, 2010 US airstrike kills 2 in North Waziristan Unmanned US strike aircraft killed two "militants" in an attack on a compound in the Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan in Pakistan. A Predator or the more deadly Reaper fired a missile at a Taliban safe house in the Mir Ali area, killing 2 terrorists and wounding three more. "It was a US drone strike," a local intelligence official in nearby Miramshah told Geo News. "The drone fired one missile on a house and the house was completely destroyed." The town of Mir Ali is a known stronghold of al Qaeda leader Abu Kasha al Iraqi, an Iraqi national who is also known as Abu Akash. He has close links to the Taliban and the Haqqani Network. The Haqqani Network and Hafiz Gul Bahadar also have influence in the Mir Ali region. Abu Kasha serves as the key link between al Qaeda's Shura Majlis, or executive council, and the Taliban. His responsibilities have expanded to assisting in facilitating al Qaeda's external operations against the West. Background on US strikes in Pakistan Today's strike is the fifth reported inside Pakistan this month. Three of the four prior strikes took place over the course of 24 hours on June 10-11. The first strike, on June 10, killed two low-level Arab al Qaeda military commanders and a Turkish foreign fighter. A US attack on June 19 in Mir Ali killed an al Qaeda commander named Abu Ahmed, 11 members of the Islamic Jihad Group, and four Taliban fighters. So far this year, the US has carried out 43 strikes in Pakistan; all but two of them have taken place in North Waziristan. The US is well on its way to exceeding last year' s strike total in Pakistan. In 2009, the US carried out 53 strikes in Pakistan; and in 2008, the US carried out 36 strikes in the country. [For up-to-date charts on the US air campaign in Pakistan, see LWJ Special Report, "Charting the data for US airstrikes in Pakistan, 2004 - 2010."] Over the past several months, unmanned US Predator and Reaper strike aircraft have been pounding Taliban and al Qaeda hideouts in North Waziristan, and have also struck at targets in South Waziristan and Khyber, in an effort to kill senior terror leaders and disrupt the networks that threaten Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the West. [For more information, see LWJ report, "Senior al Qaeda and Taliban leaders killed in US airstrikes in Pakistan, 2004 - 2010."] In early April, a top terrorist leader claimed that the US program had been crippled. Siraj Haqqani, the leader of the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani Network, said that the effectiveness of US airstrikes in killing senior Taliban and al Qaeda leaders had 'decreased 90 percent" since the Dec. 30, 2009, suicide attack on Combat Outpost Chapman in Khost, Afghanistan, that killed seven CIA employees and a Jordanian intelligence officer. While other factors may be involved in the decreased effectiveness in killing the top-tier leaders, an analysis of the data shows that only three top-tier commanders have been killed since Jan 1, 2010, but seven top-tier leaders were killed between Aug. 1, 2009, and Dec. 31, 2009. [See LWJ report, "Effectiveness of US strikes in Pakistan 'decreased 90 percent' since suicide strike on CIA - Siraj Haqqani," for more information.] But the US scored its biggest success in the air campaign in Pakistan last month. On May 21, a US strike in North Waziristan killed Mustafa Abu Yazid, one of al Qaeda's top leaders, and the most senior al Qaeda leader to have been killed in the US air campaign in Pakistan to date. Yazid served as the leader of al Qaeda in Afghanistan and the wider Khorasan, and more importantly, as al Qaeda's top financier, which put him in charge of the terror group's purse strings. He served on al Qaeda's Shura Majlis, or top decision-making council. Yazid also was closely allied with the Taliban and advocated the program of embedding small al Qaeda teams with Taliban forces in Afghanistan. Pakistani and US officials believed that one of the top Taliban leaders in Pakistan was killed in a strike this year. Up until May 2, most US and Pakistani officials believed that Hakeemullah Mehsud, the leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, had been killed in a Jan. 14 strike in Pasalkot in North Waziristan. The CIA was furiously hunting Hakeemullah after he appeared on a videotape with the suicide bomber who carried out the attack on Combat Outpost Chapman. But after four months of silence on the subject, the Taliban released two tapes to prove that Hakeemullah is alive. On both of the tapes, Hakeemullah said the Taliban will carry out attacks inside the US. The tapes were released within 24 hours of an attempted car bombing in New York City by Faisal Shahzad, who was trained by the Taliban in North Waziristan. Hakeemullah's tapes were released along with another by his deputy, Qari Hussain Mehsud, who claimed responsibility for the attempted bombing in New York City. US strikes in Pakistan in 2010: ' US airstrike kills 2 in North Waziristan June 24, 2010 ' US strike kills 16 in North Waziristan June 19, 2010 ' US kills 14 in 2 strikes in North Waziristan June 11, 2010 ' US Predator strike kills 3 in North Waziristan June 10, 2010 ' US kills 11 in Predator strike in South Waziristan May 28, 2010 ' US airstrike kills 6 in North Waziristan May 21, 2010 ' US Predators carry out first strike in Khyber May 15, 2010 ' US pounds Taliban in pair of strikes in North Waziristan May 11, 2010 ' US airstrike kills 10 'rebels' in North Waziristan May 9, 2010 ' US airstrike kills 4 'militants' in North Waziristan May 3, 2010 ' US strike kills 8 Taliban in North Waziristan April 26, 2010 ' US airstrike kills 7 Taliban in North Waziristan April 24, 2010 ' US strikes kill 6 in North Waziristan April 16, 2010 ' US strike kills 4 in Taliban stronghold of North Waziristan April 14, 2010 ' US strike kills 5 Taliban in North Waziristan April 12, 2010 ' US strikes kill 6 in North Waziristan March 30, 2010 ' US strike kills 4 in North Waziristan March 27, 2010 ' US kills 6 in strike against Haqqani Network March 23, 2010 ' US strike kills 4 in North Waziristan March 21, 2010 ' US kills 8 terrorists in 2 new airstrikes in North Waziristan March 17, 2010 ' US Predator strike in North Waziristan kills 11 Taliban, al Qaeda March 16, 2010 ' US airstrike kills 12 in North Waziristan March 10, 2010 ' US airstrike in North Waziristan kills 5 Taliban fighters March 8, 2010 ' US hits Haqqani Network in North Waziristan, kills 8 Feb. 24, 2010 ' US airstrikes target Haqqani Network in North Waziristan Feb. 18, 2010 ' Latest US airstrike kills 3 in North Waziristan Feb. 17, 2010 ' US strike kills 4 in North Waziristan Feb. 15, 2010 ' US strikes training camp in North Waziristan Feb. 14, 2010 ' Predators pound terrorist camp in North Waziristan Feb. 2, 2010 ' US airstrike targets Haqqani Network in North Waziristan Jan. 29, 2010 ' US airstrike in North Waziristan kills 6 Jan. 19, 2010 ' Latest US airstrike in Pakistan kills 20 Jan. 17, 2010 ' US strikes kill 11 in North Waziristan Jan. 15, 2010 ' US airstrike hits Taliban camp in North Waziristan Jan. 14, 2010 ' US airstrike kills 4 Taliban fighters in North Waziristan Jan. 9, 2010 ' US airstrike kills 5 in North Waziristan Jan. 8, 2010 ' US kills 17 in latest North Waziristan strike Jan. 6, 2010 ' US airstrike kills 2 Taliban fighters in Mir Ali in Pakistan Jan. 3, 2010 ' US kills 3 Taliban in second strike in North Waziristan Jan. 1, 2010 June 26, 2010 Let Turkey Pay for UNRWA More money! is the cry from Filippo Grandi, the commissioner-general of the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA. Speaking in Beirut on Saturday, Grandi was lamenting what he describe... June 25, 2010 US designates Caucasus Emirate leader Doku Umarov a global terrorist Doku Umarov, the leader of the Islamic Caucasus Emirate, al Qaeda's affiliate in the Caucasus, from a videotape in which he took credit for the March 29 suicide attacks on the... June 25, 2010 Iran Wimps Out As I told you a while back, they’re not going to take on Israel by sending ships — with or without the Revolutionary Guards — to challenge the Gaza blockade. The details a... June 25, 2010 The Truth About U.N.’s Iran Sanctions When the United Nations Security Council passed its latest sanctions resolution on Iran, on June 9, President Barack Obama hailed it as "the toughest sanctions ever faced by the Iranian governmen... June 24, 2010 Coalition and Afghan forces kill Taliban commander in Kandahar Afghan and Coalition forces killed the top Taliban commander in a vital district in Kandahar province after destroying an IED factory in an airstrike. The clashes took place after Coalition aircraft bombed the Taliban IED factory in Panjwai. A Coalition and Afghan force raided the attack site and battled with a Taliban force in the area. The combined force "quickly overwhelmed insurgent forces defending the area near the destroyed IED factory," the International Security Assistance Force stated in a press release on its website. Izzatullah, the Taliban's military commander for Panjwai, was among those killed. A police chief put the Taliban casualties at 15, according to Xinhau. Izzatullah "planned and conducted attacks against coalition forces and was involved in the attack on Sarpoza prison outside of Kandahar City in June 2008," ISAF stated. Several top Taliban leaders were killed during the complex suicide and military assault on Sarpoza prison in the heart of Kandahar City. Panjwai, along with the district of Arghandab, Zhari, Maywand, Ghorak, Khakrez, and Shah Wali Kot are major strongholds for the Taliban in Kandahar. Coalition and Afghan forces claimed to have ejected the Taliban from Shah Wali Kot during a five-day long operation in the northern district which included "heavy fighting." A "significant number of insurgents" were killed, according to an ISAF press release. "Through this operation, the combined force dealt a major blow to more than 100 insurgents and their commanders." Targeting the Taliban in Kandahar The Coalition has been targeting top Taliban leaders and facilitators in Kandahar in the run-up to the long awaited operation to dislodge the Taliban from the province. The much-touted Kandahar operation, which was supposed to be launched this month, has been delayed until the fall as local tribal leaders and other influential Kandaharis have expressed reservations about the offensive. Kandahar is the birthplace of the Taliban and a major power center for the group. Over the past four months, more than 70 mid-level Taliban commanders have been killed during a series of special operations raids in and around Kandahar City, The National Post reported. Izzatullah is the third top Taliban leader to have been killed in Kandahar since late May. On May 30, Afghan and Coalition special operations forces killed Mullah Zergay, who led the Taliban in Kandahar City and in the vital districts of Zhari and Arghandab. On May 29, Afghan and Coalition forces killed Haji Amir, who was described as one of the top two Taliban leaders in all of Kandahar province. The Taliban have launched their own offensive in Kandahar province. The Taliban have targeted tribal leaders, politicians, and other elites for assassination. More than 20 people, including the district chief for Arghandab and the deputy mayor of Kandahar City have been killed over the past several months. The International Security Assistance Force has placed great emphasis on Kandahar and is deploying the bulk of its forces en route to Afghanistan to the province. President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates have said that progress must be made by December in Kandahar, and in other key areas in the south, east, and north, in order for Western nations to continue their support for the war. But a Department of Defense survey of the situation in key districts in Afghanistan paints a grim picture of Afghan 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 situation appears equally grim in neighboring Helmand province. 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. June 24, 2010 Senior Jemaah Islamiyah commander captured in Indonesia Click the photo to view a presentation on Jemaah Islamiyah, al Qaeda's affiliate in Southeast Asia. The presentation was created by Nick Grace and Bill Roggio in January 2008.... June 24, 2010 Congress Sends Comprehensive Iran Sanctions Bill to President Obama Press Release June 24, 2010 CONTACT: Judy Mayka 202-621-3948judy@defenddemocracy.org Congress Sends Comprehensive Iran Sanctions Bill to President Obama Bill targets regime through sanctions on oil and natural gas sectors, refined petroleum June 24, 2010 Victims of The Ayatollah Iran’s rulers have long embraced Stalin’s impeccable logic: “The people who cast the votes don't decide an election; the people who count the votes do.”... June 23, 2010 Congress Sends Comprehensive Iran Sanctions Bill to President Obama Press Release June 24, 2010 CONTACT: Judy Mayka 202-621-3948 judy@defenddemocracy.org Congress Sends Comprehensive... June 23, 2010 Obama’ s Teachable Moment: Getting to Know the General Rolling Stone’s piece on The Runaway General hit the web, and presto! before the print edition was even on the newsstands, Gen. Stanley McChrystal was ordered back to Washington for a sitdo... June 23, 2010 US, Afghan forces hammer the Haqqani Network in Paktia Map of Afghanistan's provinces. Click map to view larger image. US and Afghan forces again battled with the deadly Haqqani Network in eastern Afghanistan, near the border... June 23, 2010 Congress Pushes Tough Iran Sanctions The Conference Report on the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010, released yesterday, gives the president sweeping new authority to sanction energy companies... June 23, 2010 Times Square Bomber Discusses Taliban Ties at Plea Hearing During a plea hearing in New York on Monday, Faisal Shahzad, who attempted to detonate a car bomb in Times Square on May 1, pled guilty to all of the charges levied against him and discussed his... June 22, 2010 Taliban commander detained in Karachi Pakistani police detained a Taliban commander who has links to terrorists in North Waziristan and Afghanistan. Police detained Asmatullah Mehsud during a recent raid in the southern port city of Karachi. Asmatullah is described as a "key commander" who was plotting to attack police officials in the Criminal Investigation Department. The CID is responsible for investigating terrorism cases. Asmatullah "was involved in providing financial support to the TTP campaign and was providing safe hideouts and medical treatment to injured militants in the city," Dawn reported. Asmatullah played a major role in the Oct. 17, 2007 assassination attempt against former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. The massive suicide bombing, the largest in Pakistan to date, killed 132 people and wounded hundreds more. Bhutto survived the assassination attempt but was killed two months later in a complex suicide and shooting attack in Rawalpindi. Asmatullah has links that extend to the Taliban havens of North and South Waziristan and in Afghanistan. His brother is Abdul Wahab Mehsud, a wanted commander of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan who operates in North Waziristan. Abdul Wahab is also said to run a Taliban training camp in Badar in Ghazni province, Afghanistan. Both Asmatullah and Abdul Wahab were among the original group of Taliban commanders who linked up with the radical, anti-Shia Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, and expanded the network in Karachi. The two brothers were identified as having allied with Baitullah Mehsud, the previous leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, back in September 2008. The Taliban and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi nexus in Karachi was led by a commander named Rahimullah, who is also known as Ali Hassan or Naeem, according to a report in Daily Times. Rahimullah also led al Qaeda's network in the southern Pakistani city. Police captured Raheemullah in September 2008. June 22, 2010 This Just In: Your Mother Wears Army Boots Politico reports: The top commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, has been summoned to the White House to explai... June 22, 2010 Two Items on Hezbollah Here are my two latest pieces on Hezbollah. The first, from last week, analyzes aspects of Nasrallah's speech on the anniversary of Khomeini's death. The second, out today, looks into Hezbollah's financial networks worldwide, in light of two recent arrests of Hezbollah operatives in Ohio and Paraguay. June 22, 2010 House, Senate Agree on Stiffer Iran Sanctions WASHINGTON — House and Senate negotiators reached agreement Monday on legislation that would impose additional U.S. sanctions against Iran in hopes the economic punishment convinces Tehran to cur... June 22, 2010 FDD Welcomes Conference Report on Iran Sanctions The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) welcomes comprehensive legislation providing the White House sweeping new authority to sanction energy companies and financial institutions that continue to do business with Iran as well as Iranians involved in serious human rights abuses. June 22, 2010 Hezbollah Acts Local, Thinks Global A couple of recent arrests have once again shined the spotlight on the subject of Hezbollah’s global networks, namely its financial networks and illicit sources of funding worldwide. Some o... June 22, 2010 Syriana In the annals of “big policy ideas,” perhaps none has had as much staying power in the face of a dismal track record than the seemingly perpetual conviction that integrating Syria int... June 21, 2010 The Failed Frontal Assault of Fareed Zakaria Now comes Fareed Zakaria to denounce the “fantasy” of an Iranian revolution. His main target is Sen. John McCain, but while he’s at it Zakaria unloads on Reuel Gerecht, Br... June 21, 2010 Treasury’s New Iran Sanctions On Wednesday, the U.S. Treasury announced targeted financial sanctions on a formidable list of Iranian companies, persons, and entities. Some of the designations specifically target Iran's n... June 21, 2010 Iran and the European Moment Last week, only days after a U.N. Security Council Resolution introduced new sanctions against Iran, Europe's leaders approved guidelines to expand their scope. Given that Europe is Iran&#03... June 21, 2010 Should the New START Treaty Be a Non-Starter? America’s most senior foreign policy officials defended the merits of the first strategic arms control treaty to be brought before the Senate in almost 20 years last week. Secretaries Hilla... June 21, 2010 Saudi Gitmo Recidivists On Saturday, June 19, Saudi officials told reporters that about 25 former Guantanamo detainees, or approximately 20 percent of the 120 detainees who have been repatriated to Saudi Arabia, have re... June 20, 2010 Sea Hunt A video about the Gaza flotilla incident, "Maritime Martyrs: The Truth about the Mavi Marmara," was produced by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for internal uses. A copy has been made available t... June 20, 2010 EU Must Forgo Commercial Interests to Help Iran’s Green Movement Iran Revolutionary Guards Members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps march during a military parade in Tehran. Photograph: Morteza Nikoubazl/Reuters/Reuters Yesterday, Euro... June 19, 2010 US strike kills 15 in North Waziristan The US struck again today at the Taliban and al Qaeda in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan. Unmanned Predators or the more deadly Reapers fired missiles at a Taliban safe house in the Mir Ali area, killing 15 terrorists. News outlets gave differing accounts of the name of the village where the attack took place; Geo News said it was Inzarabad , while Associated Press and other agencies said it was Haider Khel. Several "foreigners," a term used by Pakistani officials to describe Arab or Central Asian al Qaeda fighters, were killed in the strike, the Associated Press reported. The identity of those killed is not yet known, and no senior al Qaeda or Taliban leaders have been reported killed at this time. The town of Mir Ali is a known stronghold of al Qaeda leader Abu Kasha al Iraqi, an Iraqi national who is also known as Abu Akash. He has close links to the Taliban and the Haqqani Network. The Haqqani Network and Hafiz Gul Bahadar also have influence in the Mir Ali region. Abu Kasha serves as the key link between al Qaeda's Shura Majlis, or executive council, and the Taliban. His responsibilities have expanded to assisting in facilitating al Qaeda's external operations against the West. Background on US strikes in Pakistan Today's strike is the fourth reported inside Pakistan this month. The three prior strikes took place over the course of 24 hours on June 10-11. The first strike, on June 10, killed two low-level Arab al Qaeda military commanders and a Turkish foreign fighter. So far this year, the US has carried out 41 strikes in Pakistan; all but two of them have taken place in North Waziristan. The US is well on its way to exceeding last year' s strike total in Pakistan. In 2009, the US carried out 53 strikes in Pakistan; and in 2008, the US carried out 36 strikes in the country. [For up-to-date charts on the US air campaign in Pakistan, see LWJ Special Report, "Charting the data for US airstrikes in Pakistan, 2004 - 2010."] Over the past several months, unmanned US Predator and Reaper strike aircraft have been pounding Taliban and al Qaeda hideouts in North Waziristan, and have also struck at targets in South Waziristan and Khyber, in an effort to kill senior terror leaders and disrupt the networks that threaten Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the West. [For more information, see LWJ report, "Senior al Qaeda and Taliban leaders killed in US airstrikes in Pakistan, 2004 - 2010."] In early April, a top terrorist leader claimed that the US program had been crippled. Siraj Haqqani, the leader of the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani Network, said that the effectiveness of US airstrikes in killing senior Taliban and al Qaeda leaders had 'decreased 90 percent" since the Dec. 30, 2009, suicide attack on Combat Outpost Chapman in Khost, Afghanistan, that killed seven CIA employees and a Jordanian intelligence officer. While other factors may be involved in the decreased effectiveness in killing the top-tier leaders, an analysis of the data shows that only three top-tier commanders have been killed since Jan 1, 2010, but seven top-tier leaders were killed between Aug. 1, 2009, and Dec. 31, 2009. [See LWJ report, "Effectiveness of US strikes in Pakistan 'decreased 90 percent' since suicide strike on CIA - Siraj Haqqani," for more information.] Since the beginning of this year, most US and Pakistani officials believed that Hakeemullah Mehsud, the leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, had been killed in a Jan. 14 strike in Pasalkot in North Waziristan. But recently, after four months of silence on the subject, the Taliban released two tapes to prove that Hakeemullah is alive. On the tapes, Hakeemullah said the Taliban will carry out attacks inside the US. The tape was released within 24 hours of an attempted car bombing in New York City by Faisal Shahzad, who was trained by the Taliban in North Waziristan. Hakeemullah's tape was released along with another by his deputy, Qari Hussain Mehsud, who claimed responsibility for the attempted bombing in New York City. US strikes in Pakistan in 2010: ' US strike kills 13 in North Waziristan June 19, 2010 ' US kills 14 in 2 strikes in North Waziristan June 11, 2010 ' US Predator strike kills 3 in North Waziristan June 10, 2010 ' US kills 11 in Predator strike in South Waziristan May 28, 2010 ' US airstrike kills 6 in North Waziristan May 21, 2010 ' US Predators carry out first strike in Khyber May 15, 2010 ' US pounds Taliban in pair of strikes in North Waziristan May 11, 2010 ' US airstrike kills 10 'rebels' in North Waziristan May 9, 2010 ' US airstrike kills 4 'militants' in North Waziristan May 3, 2010 ' US strike kills 8 Taliban in North Waziristan April 26, 2010 ' US airstrike kills 7 Taliban in North Waziristan April 24, 2010 ' US strikes kill 6 in North Waziristan April 16, 2010 ' US strike kills 4 in Taliban stronghold of North Waziristan April 14, 2010 ' US strike kills 5 Taliban in North Waziristan April 12, 2010 ' US strikes kill 6 in North Waziristan March 30, 2010 ' US strike kills 4 in North Waziristan March 27, 2010 ' US kills 6 in strike against Haqqani Network March 23, 2010 ' US strike kills 4 in North Waziristan March 21, 2010 ' US kills 8 terrorists in 2 new airstrikes in North Waziristan March 17, 2010 ' US Predator strike in North Waziristan kills 11 Taliban, al Qaeda March 16, 2010 ' US airstrike kills 12 in North Waziristan March 10, 2010 ' US airstrike in North Waziristan kills 5 Taliban fighters March 8, 2010 ' US hits Haqqani Network in North Waziristan, kills 8 Feb. 24, 2010 ' US airstrikes target Haqqani Network in North Waziristan Feb. 18, 2010 ' Latest US airstrike kills 3 in North Waziristan Feb. 17, 2010 ' US strike kills 4 in North Waziristan Feb. 15, 2010 ' US strikes training camp in North Waziristan Feb. 14, 2010 ' Predators pound terrorist camp in North Waziristan Feb. 2, 2010 ' US airstrike targets Haqqani Network in North Waziristan Jan. 29, 2010 ' US airstrike in North Waziristan kills 6 Jan. 19, 2010 ' Latest US airstrike in Pakistan kills 20 Jan. 17, 2010 ' US strikes kill 11 in North Waziristan Jan. 15, 2010 ' US airstrike hits Taliban camp in North Waziristan Jan. 14, 2010 ' US airstrike kills 4 Taliban fighters in North Waziristan Jan. 9, 2010 ' US airstrike kills 5 in North Waziristan Jan. 8, 2010 ' US kills 17 in latest North Waziristan strike Jan. 6, 2010 ' US airstrike kills 2 Taliban fighters in Mir Ali in Pakistan Jan. 3, 2010 ' US kills 3 Taliban in second strike in North Waziristan Jan. 1, 2010 June 19, 2010 US, Afghan forces kill 38 Haqqani Network fighters in Khost Map of Afghanistan's provinces. Click map to view larger image. US and Afghan forces killed 38 Haqqani Network fighters during a clash in eastern Afghanistan near the border with Pakistan. The battle began Friday night in the Musa Khel district in Khost province, along the border with neighboring Paktia province, and near the border with Pakistan, and continued into today. US and Afghan forces were conducting an operation in the district when more than 200 Haqqani Network fighters attacked. Thirty-eight Haqqani Network fighters were killed, according to an Afghan police official. "The clash erupted in Musa Khel district Friday night and so far 38 Taliban rebels have been killed," Abdul Hakim Ishaqza, the provincial chief of police for Khost, told Xinhua. The US military confirmed the battle too place but did not provide an estimate of enemy casualties. "Precision airstrikes were used in self defense against a large number of armed insurgents," the International Security Assistance Force stated in a press release. Both the US military and Afghan forces received reports of civilian casualties and are investigating. "We are aware of conflicting reports of civilian casualties made by local officials and are therefore reviewing the operational details of the engagement," ISAF stated. Today's clash in Khost is the second in the province in more than a week. On June 9-10, US and Afghan forces killed Haqqani Network commander Fazil Subhan and an undisclosed number of fighters during a raid in the Shamal district. Subhan and his team were holed up in fortified fighting positions in the district. He was a known facilitator of al Qaeda fighters and aided them in entering the country from Pakistan. Also, Afghan and US forces killed 38 Haqqani Network fighters in neighboring Paktika province on June 16, according to an Afghan police officials. The operation took place in Surobi and Komal districts, two known strongholds of the Haqqani Network. Click to view slide show of the Haqqani Network. Pictured is a composite image of Siraj Haqqani. Background on the Haqqani Network The Haqqani Network has extensive links with al Qaeda and the Taliban, and its relationship with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency has allowed the network to survive and thrive in its fortress stronghold of North Waziristan. The Haqqanis control large swaths of the tribal area and run a parallel administration with courts, recruiting centers, tax offices, and security forces. They have established multiple training camps and safe houses used by al Qaeda leaders and operatives, as well as by Taliban foot soldiers preparing to fight in Afghanistan. The Haqqani Network has been implicated in some of the biggest terror attacks in the Afghan capital city of Kabul, including the January 2008 suicide assault on the Serena hotel, the February 2009 assault on Afghan ministries, and the July 2008 and October 2009 suicide attacks against the Indian embassy. American intelligence agencies confronted the Pakistani government with evidence, including communications intercepts, which proved the ISI' s direct involvement in the 2008 Indian embassy bombing. [See LWJ report "Pakistan's Jihad" and Threat Matrix report "Pakistan backs Afghan Taliban" for additional information on the ISI's complicity in attacks in Afghanistan and the region.] The Haqqani Network is led by Jalaluddin Haqqani and his son, Sirajuddin. Jalaluddin is thought to be ill and is considered the patriarch of the network. Siraj runs the daily operations and is the group's military commander. Siraj is one of the most wanted Taliban and al Qaeda leaders in the Afghan-Pakistan region. The US military has described Siraj as the primary threat to security in eastern Afghanistan. He is the mastermind of the most deadly attacks inside Afghanistan, including suicide assaults in Kabul, and he is the senior military commander in eastern Afghanistan. He is the leader of the Taliban's Miramshah Regional Military Shura, one of the Afghan Taliban's four regional commands [see LWJ report, "The Afghan Taliban's top leaders"]. Siraj is considered dangerous not only for his ties with the Afghan Taliban, but also because of his connections with al Qaeda's central leadership, which extend all the way to Osama bin Laden. Siraj is a member of al Qaeda' s Shura Majlis, or top council, US intelligence sources told The Long War Journal. In a tape released in April 2010, Siraj admitted that cooperation between the Taliban and al Qaeda "is at the highest limits." On March 25, 2009, the US Department of State put out a $5 million bounty for information leading to the capture of Siraj. Despite Siraj's ties with al Qaeda, and the Haqqani Network's use of suicide attacks, some top US military commanders have stated that Jalaluddin Haqqani, his father, and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, another supporter of al Qaeda, are "absolutely salvageable" and ripe for negotiations. 'The HIG already have members in Karzai' s government, and it could evolve into a political party, even though Hekmatyar may be providing al Qaeda leaders refuge in Kunar," Major General Michael Flynn, the top military intelligence official in Afghanistan, told The Atlantic in April 2010. "Hekmatyar has reconcilable ambitions. As for the Haqqani network, I can tell you they are tired of fighting, but are not about to give up. They have lucrative business interests to protect: the road traffic from the Afghanistan-Pakistan border to Central Asia.' Sir Graeme Lamb, a senior adviser to General McChrystal, echoed Flynn's view on Hekmatyar and Haqqani, and discounted the groups' close ties to al Qaeda. "Haqqani and Hekmatyar are pragmatists tied to the probability of outcomes," Lamb also told The Atlantic. "With all the talk of Islamic ideology, this is the land of the deal." A Haqqani Network leader known as Zakim Shah serves as the shadow governor of Khost province. Khost, Paktika, and Paktia provinces are the main strongholds of the Haqqani Network in eastern Afghanistan. The Haqqani Network also has a presence in the provinces of Logar, Wardak, Nangarhar, Ghazni, Zabul, and Kabul. The Haqqani forces in Paktika province are commanded by Mullah Sangeen Zadran, a senior lieutenant to Sirajuddin Haqqani. A US military intelligence official told The Long War Journal that Sangeen also commands forces outside of Paktika and has become one of the most dangerous operational commanders in eastern Afghanistan. Last summer, Sangeen took credit for the kidnapping of a US soldier who apparently stepped away from his post at a combat outpost in Paktika on June 30, 2009. US forces in eastern Afghanistan launched a massive manhunt for the soldier, but failed to find him. The soldier is believed to be held across the border in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan. US and Afghan forces hit the Haqqani Network hard in the summer of 2009 during a series of raids in Khost, Paktika, Paktia, Logar, and Zabul. Major battles were fought in mountainous regions as the joint forces assaulted heavily defended Haqqani Network "fortresses." The raids failed to dislodge the Haqqani Network from the provinces. The Haqqani Network has also been heavily targeted by the CIA in the covert air campaign in Pakistan's tribal areas. Siraj has been the target of multiple Predator strikes. His brother, Mohammed, who served as a military commander, was killed in a February 2010 strike in North Waziristan. June 19, 2010 Al Qaeda commander killed in US strike in North Waziristan A US airstrike in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan killed an al Qaeda commander and a dozen members of the Islamic Jihad Group. Abu Ahmed was among 16... June 19, 2010 Some Perspective on Afghanistan’s Mineral Resources As everyone who follows Afghanistan should know by now, during the past week the country was estimated to have up to $3 trillion in untapped mineral resources. There is hope that this could trans... June 18, 2010 EU Okays Iran Energy Sanctions WASHINGTON – The European Union, for the first time, approved energy sanctions as part of a package of strong steps imposed against Iran Thursday, adding to US efforts to build on the recent pass... June 18, 2010 U.S., Europe Target Iran Investment, Trade The United States and its allies are swiftly tightening an economic cordon around Iran by imposing new strictures that could inflict far more economic pain on the Islamic republic than previous san... June 18, 2010 Turkey’s Hollow Prize It's time Congress pulled the plug on Washington's taxpayer-subsidized Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, which has turned itself into a global joke. With Turkey's l... June 17, 2010 How ’bout We Call It ‘Bon Jovi Islam’? After all, we've tried "radical Islam," "extremist Islam," "fundamentalist Islam," "sharia Islam," and — for a real natural in the annals of political correctness — "political Is... June 17, 2010 We Link, You Decide The Defense Department’s Michele Flournoy and Ashton B. Carter argue here that missile defense is essential and that the Obama administration is not negotiating with Russia to limit our opt... June 17, 2010 The Fatal Follies of Containment Cliff May has an outstanding piece arguing, correctly I think, that containment will not work with a nuclear Iran. It would be too costly to maintain, involve too many countries with confl... June 17, 2010 Black-Market Gas Shelters Iran Proposed U.S. sanctions aimed at starving Iran of foreign gasoline could be signed into law before the end of June, but a shadowy network of Middle East gasoline suppliers is already undermining U.... June 17, 2010 The Situation Room BP's ties to the Iranian energy sector. Watch the video here.... June 17, 2010 Boxing Iran? President Obama’s policy of “engagement” with Iran can be viewed as an experiment. There was at least a chance that it was only President Bush — that swaggering, unilatera... June 17, 2010 Hearing on What START Treaty Means for Missile Defense Yesterday Obama officials made the case before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the new START treaty will not have a negative effect on their plans to field a system to protect the Uni...

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