Suicide Bomber Targets Hotel In Kabul

From The Long War Journal:

Feb 14, 2011 9:47 AMSuicide bomber targets hotel in Kabulfrom The Long War Journal


1 person liked thisThe Taliban have claimed credit for a suicide attack today at the entrance to a hotel in Kabul that killed two security guards.



The suicide bomber detonated his vest at the Safi Landmark hotel, which also includes a shopping center. Two other security guards were wounded in the blast.



Witnesses told TOLOnews that gunfire was heard before the explosion, but it is unclear if the shooting was initiated by the suicide bomber or the security guards. Taliban suicide bombers often attempt to shoot their way past security to enter the targeted destination.



The Taliban claimed credit for the attack, according to Reuters.



Today's attack is the first suicide strike in Kabul since Jan. 28, when a suicide bomber opened fire inside a market before detonating a hand grenade and his suicide vest, killing eight people, including six members of a family.



The Taliban target hotels and other locations in Kabul where foreigners congregate. One of the earliest such attacks in Kabul took place in January 2008, when a suicide assault team attacked the Serena Hotel, killing seven people.



Within the past week, the Taliban have carried out two other major suicide attacks in Afghanistan. Yesterday, a suicide assault team killed 16 policemen and three civilians in an attack on the provincial police headquarters in Kandahar. And on Feb. 10, a suicide bomber killed seven people, including the district governor of Chardara, in Kunduz.



Background on the Kabul Attack Network




Today's suicide attack was likely carried out by the Kabul Attack Network, which is made up of fighters from the Taliban, the Haqqani Network, and Hizb-i-Islami Gulbuddin, and cooperates with terror groups such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba and al Qaeda. Top Afghan intelligence officials have linked the Kabul Attack Network to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence directorate as well. The network's tentacles extend outward from Kabul into the surrounding provinces of Logar, Wardak, Nangarhar, Kapisa, Ghazni, and Zabul, a US intelligence official recently told The Long War Journal.



The Kabul Attack Network is led by Dawood (or Daud) and Taj Mir Jawad, military and intelligence officials told The Long War Journal. Dawood is the Taliban's shadow governor for Kabul, while Taj Mir Jawad is a top commander in the Haqqani Network. In the US military files recently released by WikiLeaks, Taj Mir Jawad is identified as a top Haqqani Network leader.



The attacks inside Kabul were directed by Talib Jan, a Taliban commander who has been imprisoned in the Pul-e-Charkhi prison for the past three years.



"From inside the Pul-e-Charkhi prison he was appointing people and giving them targets and instructions: do this, and do that," Lutfullah Mashal, a National Directorate of Security spokesman said on Feb. 9, according to The New York Times. "Most of the terrorist and suicide attacks in Kabul were planned from inside this prison by this man."



ISAF and Afghan forces have been targeting the Kabul Attack Network since the spring of 2010 in an attempt to prevent high-profile attacks in the capital. The Taliban are seeking to create the appearance of instability and shut down the operations of foreign companies operating in the capital, a US military intelligence official told The Long War Journal. The attacks also allow the Taliban to show they can reach into the core of Afghanistan despite ongoing security operations in the Taliban heartlands of the south.



Counting today's bombing, five Taliban suicide attacks have been carried out in Kabul since operations against the Kabul Attack Network intensified last year. On July 18, 2010, a suicide bomber killed four civilians at a medical clinic; on Aug. 10, a suicide assault team killed two security guards outside a guest house used by foreigners; and on Dec. 19, suicide bombers killed five soldiers outside a recruiting facility.



Last year's suicide attacks were far less deadly than attacks in previous years, however, which included 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.

Last World War One Veteran Has Died

From The American Thinker:

February 28, 2011


Last World War I vet dies

Rick Moran

I am feeling very old today.



The last veteran from World War I died at age 110. The Los Angeles Times:





Frank Woodruff Buckles, a onetime Missouri farm boy who was the last known living American veteran of World War I, has died. He was 110.

Buckles, who later spent more than three years in a Japanese POW camp as a civilian in the Philippines during World War II, died Sunday of natural causes at his home in Charles Town, W.Va., family spokesman David DeJonge said.



A total of 4,734,991 Americans served in the military during World War I.



When 108-year-old Harry Landis died in Sun City Center, Fla. on Feb. 4, 2008, Buckles became the war's last standing U.S. veteran.



"I always knew I'd be one of the last because I was one of the youngest when I joined," Buckles, then 107, told the New York Daily News. "But I never thought I'd be the last one."



When I was a kid, our Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Veterans Day parades featured a couple of dozen vets from World War I. Now, they're all gone - including my grandfather who died 20 years ago. Frederick Goodrich fought with the Rainbow Division and was a decorated soldier. At the time of his death, there were just a couple of thousand WWI vets left.



Interesting, but the last Civil War veterans died when I was very young - 1956 and 1958. Some civil war vets had grandfathers who fought in the Revolution. That's how young of a nation we are; At age 4, I could have shaken the hand of a man who shook the hand of someone who was old enough to have shaken Washington's hand.



Not even six degrees of separation.











Posted at 09:12 AM
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ISAF Statement On The Withdrawal From Pech Valley

From The Long War Journal:

6:42 PM (5 hours ago)

ISAF statement on the withdrawal from Pech Valley

from The Long War Journal

 

 

 

 

 

US Army Sergeant David M. Pooler, of 1st Platoon, Able Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, scans the area across the Kunar River as he provides security in the Noorgal district of Kunar province, Afghanistan, May 1, 2010 as part of a community development council meeting. US Army photo by Specialist Lorenzo Ware.






Below is ISAF's official press release on the withdrawal from the Pech Valley in Kunar province:



Coalition forces are repositioning from the Pech Valley to locations along Highway 7 to block insurgent infiltration along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

"Afghan forces will take the lead in the Pech Valley," said German Army Gen. Josef Blotz, spokesman, International Security Assistance Force Headquarters, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, during a weekly update.



Repositioning forces is a normal task for military operations as new strategies and counter-strategies are enacted to win the war. The repositioning of coalition forces also shows an increase in the abilities of Afghan National Security Forces.



"Afghan Security Forces are able to take responsibility of Pech Valley," Blotz continued. "This is testimony to our confidence." Blotz highlighted that while the numbers of ANSF have increased, their skill and abilities have also improved.



The news of this repositioning came as Dominic Medley, senior civilian representative spokesman, NATO, discussed the upcoming transition of the responsibility of security to the Afghan government.



The Joint Afghan NATO Inteqal [Transition] Board met on Tuesday to provide recommendations to Afghanistan's President Karzai and NATO's North Atlantic Council, said Medley.



"We fully expect, as President Karzai has announced his intention, that on the 21st of March he will announce - as president of this country - where transition will begin," said Medley.



The transition board was chaired by Dr. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, chairman, Afghan Transition Coordination Commission, and co-chaired by Gen. David Petraeus, commander, ISAF/U.S. Forces-Afghanistan, and Ambassador Mark Sedwill, NATO Senior Civilian Representative to Afghanistan.




ISAF clearly is banking on Afghan forces to secure the Pech Valley. However, this didn't work so well in the district of Barg-e-Matal in Nuristan province, which was overrun by Taliban forces several times last summer once Afghan soldiers and police were put in charge of security. With Taliban sanctuaries directly across the border in the Pakistani tribal agencies of Bajaur and Mohmand, and existing Taliban and al Qaeda safe havens within Kunar, Afghan troops will be hard pressed to hold the bases in the Pech, even with US air support. See Threat Matrix report US begins withdrawing forces from Kunar's Pech Valley for more commentary on this issue.

HIG Media Emir's Capture Leads To Capture Of Five Other Commanders

From The Long War Journal:

10:55 PM (1 hour ago)HIG media emir's capture leads to capture of 5 other commandersfrom The Long War Journal The capture of a Hizb-i-Islami Gulbuddin media emir almost two weeks ago in eastern Afghanistan has led to the arrest of five other HIG commanders.




The HIG media emir is associated with the top levels of the Taliban's propaganda network. While ISAF would not release the name of the HIG emir, senior US intelligence officials told The Long War Journal that his name is Farid.



Farid, a dentist by training, was described by US officials as a "major player" who is directly linked to Zabiullah Muhajid, the Taliban's top spokesman for the Afghan north and east. Farid is thought to report directly to Muhajid. One intelligence official said that Farid "is as much Taliban as he is HIG" given how closely he works with both groups.



As a HIG media emir, Farid is known to have posted jihadist videos to a YouTube site associated with the terror group. He was also in direct contact with the media.



One day after capturing Farid, the International Security Assistance Force released a statement linking him to two recent suicide attacks in Kabul, and said he had close ties to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, an al Qaeda affiliate that operates in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. Farid was also plugged into "Taliban media insurgents and improvised explosive device networks in the country." [See LWJ report, HIG media emir, military commander detained in Afghan raids, for more information.]



Farid's capture has led to the capture of five other senior HIG military commanders and facilitators.



Immediately after Farid was captured during a Feb. 16 raid in the Charikar district in Parwan province, ISAF and Afghan special operations forces detained a HIG facilitator in Charikar and a military commander who led more than 50 fighters in the district of Sabari in Khost province. ISAF said that information obtained during Farid's capture led to the detention of the two HIG commanders

One day later, a combined special operations forces team captured HIG's leader for the Khugyani district in Nangarhar province. The HIG commander "led a group of HIG and Taliban insurgents involved in planning and conducting various types of attacks to include improvised explosive device attacks against Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and Coalition forces in the province," ISAF stated in a press release. "He also provided food and shelter to five insurgent fighters who were traveling from Pakistan according to recent reporting."




On Feb. 20, a combined Afghan and Coalition force captured a HIG facilitator who supplied Taliban and other forces with IEDs during a raid in the Sabari district in Khost. ISAF said the facilitator "made arrangements to record a video of HIG insurgents preparing for upcoming attacks."



And on Feb. 22, combined special operations teams captured a HIG IED leader during another raid in Sabari in Khost. "The HIG leader operated in Sabari district where he was responsible for emplacing IED's and coordinating the movement of weapons and other material for attacks against Afghan and coalition forces," ISAF said.



The capture of six HIG commanders and facilitators in such a short period of time is unusual. In the year prior to the February 2010 raids, only three other other HIG commanders are reported to have been captured by ISAF troops.



Background on the Hezb-i-Islami Gulbuddin



The Hezb-i-Islami Gulbuddin group (HIG), along with the Haqqani Network and Mullah Omar's Quetta Shura, make up the three strongest terror groups in Afghanistan. All three have close ties to al Qaeda and other jihadist groups based in Pakistan and Central Asia.



HIG is led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a notorious opportunist who has links with al Qaeda, Iran, and Pakistan's military and intelligence establishment.



Hekmatyar was a key player in the Soviet-Afghan war and led one of the biggest insurgent factions against Soviet and Afghan Communist forces. But Hekmatyar's brutal battlefield tactics and wanton destruction of Kabul following the collapse of the Afghan Communist regime in the early 1990s led to the demise of his popularity. The Taliban overran his last stronghold south of Kabul in 1995 and forced him into exile in Iran from 1996-2002.




HIG forces conduct attacks in northern and northeastern Afghanistan and maintain bases in Pakistan's Swat Valley as well as in the tribal agencies of Bajaur, Mohmand, Kurram, North Waziristan, and South Waziristan.



In May 2006, Hekmatyar swore alliance to al Qaeda's top leader, Osama bin Laden. "We thank all Arab mujahideen, particularly Sheikh Osama Bin Laden, Dr. Ayman al Zawahiri, and other leaders who helped us in our jihad against the Russians," he said in a recording broadcast by Al Jazeera.



"They fought our enemies and made dear sacrifices," Hekmatyar continued. "Neither we nor the future generations will forget this great favor. We beseech Almighty God to grant us success and help us fulfill our duty toward them and enable us to return their favor and reciprocate their support and sacrifices. We hope to take part with them in a battle which they will lead and raise its banner. We stand beside and support them."



Over the past year, Hekmatyar has put forward a so-called peace plan, which calls for the removal of all ISAF troops in six months and the dissolution of the Afghan government.



Despite Hekmatyar's pledge to al Qaeda, senior US generals have stated that he can be weaned from the insurgency and brought into the Afghan government. In early 2010, Major General Michael Flynn, then the top intelligence official in Afghanistan, called both Hekmatyar and Jalaluddin Haqqani "absolutely salvageable" even if they currently support and harbor al Qaeda

Sources:




•High-level Hezb-e Islamic Gulbuddin leaders captured in Parwan, Khost, ISAF press release

•HIG media emir, military commander detained in Afghan raids, The Long War Journal

•Forces capture Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin leader in Nangarhar, ISAF press release

•ISAF Joint Command morning operational update (Feb. 21, 2011), ISAF press release

•ISAF Joint Command morning operational update (Feb. 23, 2011), ISAF press release

•Wanted insurgent arrested during joint operation, ISAF press release

•Kabul Attack Network-associated attack planner captured in Kabul, ISAF press release

Somali Pirates Strike Again

From Human Events:

Somali Pirates Strike Again


Hostages include three children this time.

by John Hayward



02/28/2011











Having gotten away with the kidnap and murder of four innocent Americans last week, the pirates of Somali have decided to raise the stakes, plucking a Danish yacht from the Indian Ocean with four adults and three children on board. The notion that these pirates rarely target passenger vessels is looking a bit worn around the edges.



Fox News reports the Danish authorities “would not supply any further details on the missing passengers” for security reasons.



The President of the United States, whose name no one can remember any more, has thus far offered no reaction to the murder of American citizens by these pirates, so they clearly have nothing to fear from that quarter. As long as British Prime Minister David Cameron has taken the initiative in securing the rebellious people of Libya from Moammar Qaddafi’s air force, maybe he’ll pick up the abandoned reins of American leadership in this area as well, and task the British Navy to follow its long tradition of shutting down piracy. Once upon a time, they were very good at it.



Once upon a time, so were we.











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John Hayward is a staff writer for HUMAN EVENTS, and author of the recently published Doctor Zero: Year One. Follow him on Twitter: Doc_0. Contact him by email at jhayward@eaglepub.com.

Cameron Fills Void Left By Obama, Asserts Leadership Over Libya

From Human Events:

Cameron Fills Obama Void, Asserts Leadership Over Libya


The post-American century is full of little surprises.

by John Hayward



02/28/2011







British Prime Minister David Cameron has announced he is working on plans for a no-fly zone over Libya.



Addressing the House of Commons, Cameron said, “We will not rule out military assets. We will not tolerate this regime using military force against its own people. This is an illegitimate regime which has lost the support of its people. To that end, I have asked the Ministry of Defense to look into the no-fly zone. Our message to Colonel Qaddafi is simple: go now.”



Thus does the burden of leadership pass from an inert American White House. The post-American century is full of little surprises.



Developing...



Update: The U.S. military has moved the aircraft carrier Enterprise to the mouth of the Suez Canal, in preparation for possible relocation to the Mediterranean for humanitarian or combat duty in Libya.



Also, the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge, with a Marine expeditionary unit on board, is being prepared for possible deployment to the Libyan theater. The 40,500 ton Kearsarge carries both amphibious landing craft and aircraft, as well as a medical facility which can handle up to 600 patients.



Update: it was a tough day for the Libyan uprising, as the Associated Press reports protests in Tripoli were suppressed, while the regime appears ready to move reinforcements into the city of Zawiya, 30 miles from Tripoli, and break a stalemate with rebel forces. Qaddafi's air force bombed an ammunition depot in rebel hands near Ajdabiya, 450 miles east of Tripoli on the Mediterranean coast.







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John Hayward is a staff writer for HUMAN EVENTS, and author of the recently published Doctor Zero: Year One. Follow him on Twitter: Doc_0. Contact him by email at jhayward@eaglepub.com.



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U.S. Continues Bush Policy Of Opposing ICC Prosecutions

From Salon.com and Lew Rockwell.com:

Monday, Feb 28, 2011 09:29 ET


U.S. continues Bush policy of opposing ICC prosecutions

By Glenn Greenwald

AP


Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, right, and President Barack Obama (with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in between) during the G8 Summit in L'Aquila, Italy, July 2009.(updated below w/correction)



It has been widely documented that many of the worst atrocities on behalf of Libyan leader Moammar Gadaffi have been committed by foreign mercenaries from countries such as Algeria, Ethiopia and Tunisia. Despite that, the U.N. Security Council's sanctions Resolution aimed at Libya, which was just enacted last week, includes a strange clause that specifically forbids international war crimes prosecutions against mercenaries from nations which are not signatories to the International Criminal Court (ICC), which protects many of the mercenaries Gadaffi is using. Section 6 of the Resolution states that the Security Council:





Decides that nationals, current or former officials or personnel from a State outside the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya which is not a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of that State for all alleged acts or omissions arising out of or related to operations in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya established or authorized by the Council, unless such exclusive jurisdiction has been expressly waived by the State;





Why would a clause be inserted to expressly protect war crimes-committing mercenaries on Gadaffi's payroll from international prosecutions? Because, as The Telegraph's John Swaine reports, the Obama administration insisted on its inclusion -- as an absolutely non-negotiable demand -- due to a fear that its exclusion might render Bush officials (or, ultimately, even Obama officials) subject to war crimes prosecutions at the ICC on the same theory that would be used to hold Libya's mercenaries accountable:





[T]he US insisted that the UN resolution was worded so that no one from an outside country that is not a member of the ICC could be prosecuted for their actions in Libya.



This means that mercenaries from countries such as Algeria, Ethiopia and Tunisia -- which have all been named by rebel Libyan diplomats to the UN as being among the countries involved -- would escape prosecution even if they were captured, because their nations are not members of the court.



The move was seen as an attempt to prevent a precedent that could see Americans prosecuted by the ICC for alleged crimes in other conflicts. While the US was once among the signatories to the court, George W. Bush withdrew from it in 2002 and declared that it did not have power over Washington. . . . It was inserted despite Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the UN, saying that all those "who slaughter civilians" would "be held personally accountable".



Speaking to reporters outside the council chamber, Gerard Araud, the French UN ambassador, described the paragraph as "a red line for the United States", meaning American diplomats had been ordered by their bosses in Washington to secure it. "It was a deal-breaker, and that's the reason we accepted this text to have the unanimity of the council," said Mr Araud.





This report notes that Araud blamed the Obama administration's demand on "parliamentary constraints" -- implying that Obama officials believed inclusion of this provision was the only way to induce Congress to approve and implement it. There's no evidence that this is the case, but whatever the motives, here we have yet another episode where the U.S. exempts itself from standards it purports to impose on the rest of the world: in this case going so far as to allow murderous mercenaries to go unpunished all in service of this administration's overarching, compulsive goal of ensuring that America's own accused war criminals are never held accountable or even required to have their actions subjected to legal scrutiny. This is the sort of gross, credibility-destroying hypocrisy that escapes notice by America's media but not by anyone else's.



* * * * *



Two related points:



(1) Here is the crux of America's foreign policy unintentionally captured by two consecutive tweets.



(2) I've written many times before about the case of Sami al-Haj, the Al Jazeera cameraman abducted in late 2001, encaged at Guantanamo for six years without ever being charged, and tortured, all while being questioned almost exclusively about Al Jazeera's operations, not about Al Qaeda. As I've noted, his case was an enormous story in the Muslim world -- entailing, as it did, the U.S.'s due-process-free imprisonment and abuse of a journalist -- but received almost no attention in the U.S. media (Nicholas Kristof was a noble exception, writing several times about the case and demanding his release).



A newly released WikiLeaks cable documents the hero's welcome and massive media storm triggered in the Muslim world by al-Haj's eventual release from Guantanamo in 2007. By contrast, very, very few Americans have any idea who al-Haj is or even know generally that the U.S. imprisoned numerous journalists -- including him -- for years without due process (though they certainly know that Iran and North Korea did that). The vast disparities in perception between non-U.S. Muslim and Americans are often noted, though it's usually attributed in the American media to the way in which They are propagandized. Often times, the cause is exactly the opposite: it's propaganda, to be sure, but not Them who are being subjected to it.







UPDATE/CORRECTION: Looking over the language of the U.N. Resolution again, I think it's quite possible that The Telegraph -- and therefore me -- got a big part of this story wrong. There's language in Paragraph 6 defining the scope of the immunity that is easy to overlook because of the strange way it's drafted -- "arising out of or related to operations in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya established or authorized by the Council" -- that seems to limit the immunity only to those participating in "operations authorized by" the U.N. Security Council: meaning anyone involved in a U.N. peacekeeping mission (or U.N.-authorized military action) in Libya. That would seem to exclude Libya's mercenaries from the immunity clause (in an update, Kevin Jon Heller comes to a similar realization).



This is clearly a case where the Obama administration is continuing the Bush administration's insistence that the U.S. (as a non-signatory to the Rome Statute) should be exempt from all ICC prosecutions, but it does not seem -- as The Telegraph and then I indicated -- that the cost of this position here is immunity for Libya's mercenaries. [The headline and sub-header have been changed to reflect this error; they originally read: "U.S. shields foreign mercenaries in Libya to protect Bush officials - A U.N. resolution bars war crimes prosecutions for Libya's foreign fighters because Obama officials demanded it"].

U.K., Germany Fly Secret Missions Into Libya

From Mainichi:
Via Terry

U.K., Germany fly secret missions into Libya


BERLIN (AP) -- British and German military planes swooped into Libya's desert, rescuing hundreds of oil workers and civilians stranded at remote sites, as thousands of other foreigners are still stuck in Tripoli by bad weather and red tape.



The secret military missions into the turbulent North Africa country signal the readiness of Western nations to disregard Libya's territorial integrity when it comes to the safety of their citizens.



Three British Royal Air Force planes plucked 150 stranded civilians from multiple locations in the eastern Libyan desert before flying them to Malta on Sunday, the British Defense Ministry said in a statement. One of the RAF Hercules aircraft appeared to have suffered minor damage from small arms fire, Defence Secretary Liam Fox said.



The rescue follows a similar secret commando raid Saturday by British Special Forces that got another 150 oil workers from the remote Libyan desert.



Separately, Germany said its air force had evacuated 132 people also from the desert during a secret military mission on Saturday.



German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said Sunday that two German military planes landed on a private runway belonging to the Wintershall AG company, evacuating 22 Germans and 112 others and flying them to the Greek island of Crete.



Another 18 German citizens were rescued by the British military in a separate military operation Saturday that targeted remote oil installations in the Libyan desert, Westerwelle said. He said around 100 other German citizens are still in Libya and the government was trying to get them out as quickly as possible.



"I want to thank the members of the Germany military for their brave mission," Westerwelle said.



German military missions abroad need approval by parliament, and Westerwelle said he had spoken to all party leaders in parliament Friday to tell them about the upcoming military mission. He said the coalition government led by Chancellor Angela Merkel had evaluated the situation in Libya as "very dangerous" and therefore ordered an immediate evacuation by the air force.



The German foreign ministry refused to name the exact location of the company and the site where the evacuation took place.



The head of Wintershall, Rainer Seele, thanked the government.



"We are all relieved and grateful," he was quoted as saying by the DAPD news agency.



Prior to their secret missions in Libya, the British government had been embarrassed by earlier botched attempts to rescue its citizens stranded by the uprising in this North African nation. Its first rescue flight broke down and became stuck on a London runway on Wednesday.



But on Sunday, newspapers could not gush enough about the "daring and dramatic" military operation by two RAF Hercules planes that brought stranded citizens to Malta.



"SAS swoops in dramatic Libya rescue," the Sunday Telegraph headline read, in reference to the storied Special Air Service.



The mission was risky because Britain sent the planes in without obtaining prior Libyan permission, Foreign Secretary William Hague said.



One evacuee said his military plane was supposed to carry around 65 people out of Libya, but quickly grew to double that.



"It was very cramped but we were just glad to be out of there," Patrick Eyles, a 43-year-old Briton, said at Malta International Airport.









Source: http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/international/news/20110228p2g00m0in052000c.html

German-National Terrorists Pass Through Yemen, Meet Awlaki, Before Joining IMU In Pakistan

From The Long War Journal:

Feb 14, 2011 11:43 PMGerman terrorists pass through Yemen, meet Awlaki, before joining IMU in Pakistanfrom The Long War Journal


Abu Ibrahim al Almani, from an Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan propaganda tape.





A German jihadist who fights with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan described his travels from Europe to Pakistan, which included a stop in Yemen and several meetings with Anwar al Awlaki, the wanted American-born terrorist.



The five-page statement was written by Yassin Chouka, a German citizen originally from Morocco who is better known as Abu Ibrahim al Almani. Abu Ibrahim's statement, titled "Our Way to the IMU [Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan]" was produced by Jundallah Studios, a jihadist media outlet that has published propaganda tapes from the IMU in the past. Written in German, the statement was published on Islambruederschaft.com, a German-language website that supports the global jihad.



Abu Ibrahim and his brother, Mounir Chouka, who goes by the name Abu Adam, have been featured in IMU propaganda in the past. In January, Abu Adam announced the death of senior IMU and al Qaeda leader Bekkay Harrach. Abu Adam also provided voice-overs in a tape released in January that praised slain IMU terrorists from across the globe.


The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan is an al Qaeda-affiliated group whose leadership cadre is based primarily in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan. The terror group operates primarily along the Afghan-Pakistani border and in northern Afghanistan. According to one estimate, more than 3,000 Uzbeks, Central Asian, and other foreign fighters belonging to the IMU are sheltering in North Waziristan.




The IMU's former leader, Tahir Yuldashev, was killed in a US Predator airstrike in South Waziristan in September 2009. Yuldashev sat on al Qaeda's top council, the Shura Majlis. He has been replaced by Abu Usman Adil.



From Germany to Yemen



Abu Ibrahim said he documented the brothers' travels to answer questions posed about them on Al Furqon, a popular jihadist forum.



"Increasingly, we get asked questions on the website www.furqon.com that ... reach us personally," Abu Ibrahim said. "As I have said before, we planned to answer many of these questions in the new year in order to inform the general population of the brothers and sisters. One of the frequently asked questions is about how it happened that we (especially my brother Abu Adam and I) decided to fight with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan."



Abu Ibrahim said that he and his brother "wanted then to go to one of the countries in which the jihad ... is led."



"Whether the trip was to Somalia, Palestine, Chechnya, or Indonesia played no role for us," he continued. "The main thing was that we went there."



He said that his first stop was Yemen, when he joined a "Jama'a," or group, known as Al Murabitoon. The group fights alongside al Qaeda against the Yemeni government in the western province of Hadramout, a known haven for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.



"After a few months and after we knew Yemen better, we joined a Jama'a in Hadramout with the name Al Murabitoon," Abu Ibrahim said. "This Jama'a is built on knowledge, has equipped itself with weapons, and fights side by side with Al Qaeda, with Allah's help to overthrow the unfaithful government in Yemen."




Abu Ibrahim claimed that Al Murabitoon carried out attacks against the US Embassy and the Presidential Palace Sana'a, and military bases and police stations. "The jihad in Yemen began, and my brother and I were unexpectedly right in the middle instead of nearby," he said.



Meeting Anwar al Awlaki



While in Yemen, Abu Ibrahim claimed he met none other than Anwar al Awlaki, the American-born cleric who is at the top of the US government's hit list for inspiring terror attacks on the homeland.



"During an indescribable adventure in Yemen, we had the honor of meeting one of the true scholars of our time, the Sheikh and the missionary Imam Anwar al Awlaki," Abu Ibrahim said. "We could benefit much from him and spent precious hours with him."



Abu Ibrahim said that Awlaki "was active in honey sales, [and] had joined forces with some virtuous, big businessmen in order to finance the jihad in Somalia and to send to the brothers in Iraq, Somalia, and Afghanistan."



From Yemen to Pakistan, and the IMU



After spending a year in Yemen, Awlaki advised Abu Ibrahim and Abu Adam to move to Afghanistan as Yemen was becoming unsafe for foreigners. Abu Ibrahim said the move to the Afghan-Pakistani border area took a month, and he described it as "very professionally organized."



"Our journey lasted exactly one month and was very professionally organized. In the various countries, there were intermediate stations at which they were cared for, we got new travel documents, and, at a particular point in time, a mujahid who was working with the field service accompanied us to the ground of jihad. Shortly before our arrival in Afghanistan, at the last intermediate station, which was about a three-day trip away from the destination, they told us that this route was organized by the IMU."

The IMU "made the final preparations for us, gave us a computer, and played us some films about the Movement." They were shown videos made by Tahir Yuldashev, who "started the jihad in Pakistan." And when asked to choose which group to fight with, Abu Ibrahim said they chose the IMU.




A well-worn path to jihad



Abu Ibrahim's description of his journey to the Afghan-Pakistani region matches numerous other accounts of terrorists traveling to hot zones to wage jihad. Al Qaeda and its affiliates maintain safe houses and transit points throughout the Middle East and Central and South Asia. The alphabet soup of Pakistani jihadist groups, such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, and their charitable fronts, have elaborate networks devoted to moving foreign fighters into Afghanistan.



Often, host nations aid in the facilitation of the movement of foreign terrorists, particularly into Afghanistan. For instance, Iran, via the Ansar Corps, a sub-command of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, facilitates the movement of al Qaeda and Taliban fighters into Afghanistan. Elements of Pakistan's military and intelligence services also support Pakistani jihadist groups that run networks into Afghanistan; these same groups are often used to attack Indians in Kashmir.

Deputy Emir Of Al Queda Training Camp Agrees To Plea Deal At Guantanamo

From The Long War Journal:

Deputy emir of al Qaeda training camp agrees to plea deal at Gitmofrom The Long War Journal An al Qaeda trainer who was also the deputy emir of a top terrorist training facility in Afghanistan agreed to a plea deal before a military commission at Guantanamo on Tuesday. Noor Uthman Mohammed pled guilty to "to supporting terror and conspiring with al Qaeda," according to the Miami Herald, but the substance of the plea deal remains sealed. Military sources cited by the newspaper "said the deal could send Noor home by January 2015."




Noor was not just a top trainer for al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan. According to declassified documents produced by US military and intelligence officials, he was also allegedly involved in al Qaeda's plotting against American and Israeli targets.



Al Qaeda and Taliban trainer



Noor was captured on March 28, 2002, at an al Qaeda safe house in Faisalabad, Pakistan. Also captured in the raid was Abu Zubaydah, a top al Qaeda operative who orchestrated the millennium terrorist plots against the LAX airport in California and tourist spots in Jordan. Zubaydah was the main target of the March 2002 raid, which ended only after an intense shootout with American and Pakistani officials.



Noor had begun working for Zubaydah in the mid-1990s, when Zubaydah headed the Khalden training camp in Afghanistan. During his combatant status review tribunal (CSRT) hearing at Gitmo, Noor conceded that he had received extensive training at the camp on everything from light arms to artillery and anti-tank weaponry.



After completing Khalden's training courses, Noor was selected to become an instructor. Noor quickly rose up the ranks at the camp, becoming its deputy emir and overseeing the training of both al Qaeda and Taliban members. In declassified memos, US officials note that Noor was referred to as the "70th Taliban commander," but it is unclear what that means.


During his CSRT hearing at Gitmo, Noor did not deny that he was a Khalden trainer, but claimed the camp had nothing to do with al Qaeda. "[Y]es I did train the people," he said, adding "I'm not the only trainer there, there were other trainers as well. Not everybody that comes to the camp is trained by me." Noor elaborated: "The Khalden camp is a place to get training. It has nothing to do with al Qaeda...."




Noor's denial of any affiliation between al Qaeda and the Khalden camp rings hollow.



Countless al Qaeda members and recruits trained at Khalden through the years, including some of the 9/11 hijackers. More than two dozen detainees at Gitmo once trained at Khalden. The truth is that Khalden did not serve exclusively as an al Qaeda training facility, but was also used to train Pakistani terrorist groups. Khalden's trainers identified which recruits were best suited for Osama bin Laden's operations.



Despite the demonstrable ties between the Khalden facility and al Qaeda's core operations, Zubaydah has tried the same ploy as Noor. Zubaydah has erroneously claimed, through his attorneys and in testimony at Gitmo, that the Khalden facility was never officially an al Qaeda facility. Zubaydah has even tried to deny that he was an al Qaeda member.



Noor's and Zubaydah's claims are simply not credible. Zubaydah was not only the point man for al Qaeda's millennium plots, but was also responsible for a thwarted plot against the American embassy in Paris in 2001. Zubaydah was involved in al Qaeda's plotting against the US Homeland in 2002, too. After his capture, it was Zubaydah who initially identified Jose Padilla and other sleeper agents as al Qaeda operatives dispatched to the US to carry out attacks. Zubaydah also had detailed knowledge of the Sept.11 plot, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's role in masterminding it.



US courts have found that there is "no dispute that Abu Zubaydah was an al Qaeda operative and that Al Qaeda-related activities took place in his [Faisalabad] house." [See LWJ report: Member of top al Qaeda operative's cell denied habeas petition.]



At the safe house, Zubaydah and his cell were plotting attacks using improvised explosive devices (IEDs) against American forces in Afghanistan. Declassified documents prepared for Noor's case at Guantanamo do not allege that he was involved in this plotting, but it would not be surprising to learn that he was, since he had been selected for specialized IED training.




The declassified memos do note that Noor was "was one of three veteran trainers at Khalden Camp in Afghanistan in 1998 who received a two-month training course on electronic firing devices." At the camp, Noor learned about "electrical theory and basic electronic circuitry; simple remote control firing devices; timers; and, photocell firing devices." And Noor "was expected to train other Mujahedin on electronics after the course."



According to the memos, however, Noor's "skill in electronics was average" and he "had difficulty making a circuit when given a schematic, but could probably make a device given enough time." Noor "was not able to train others in electronics."



Allegedly involved in plotting against American and Israeli targets



In the late 1990s, Noor was allegedly "assigned to participate in al Qaeda-planned attacks against unnamed United States military bases in Khobar and/or Dhahran." It is not clear what al Qaeda intended, exactly. In 1996, Iranian-backed terrorists bombed the Khobar Towers, which housed US military personnel in Saudi Arabia. The US military subsequently relocated its Saudi bases. The purported al Qaeda attack was never launched.



Later, Noor allegedly became involved in Zubaydah's plotting against Israel. One declassified memo reads:



[Noor] was going to participate in operations against Israel that a senior al Qaeda operative was planning in 2001 to take place at an unspecified time in the future. However, the detainee was captured with the senior al Qaeda operative in March 2002.

The "senior al Qaeda operative" mentioned is certainly Zubaydah. A biography of Zubaydah released by the Director of National Intelligence's office notes:



At the time of his capture, Abu Zubaydah was trying to organize a terrorist attack in Israel and he had enlisted the help of [Abu Musab al] Zarqawi in finding a smuggling route into Israel for moving persons and materials.

In November 2001, Zubaydah helped Zarqawi and dozens of al Qaeda operatives escape into Iran, the DNI notes.




The DNI's biography goes on to explain that "the $50,000 that Abu Zubaydah received from Saudi donors and passed to al Qaeda's senior leadership for his Israel plot may have been used for the [Sept. 11] attacks."



It was this Israel plot that Noor was allegedly selected to participate in. Despite passing on the funds to other al Qaeda senior leaders, Zubaydah continued his plotting against Israel until he was caught.



In all likelihood, so did Noor

We Must Not Fear The Tyrants Of Tripoli

From The American Thinker:

February 28, 2011


We Must Not Fear the Tyrants of Tripoli

By Joel B. Pollak

The favored excuse for President Obama's inaction on Libya is that there were hundreds of Americans stranded on a ferry in Tripoli for several days, waiting for weather conditions to improve before they could leave for Malta. Apparently, President Obama was concerned that any action by the United States -- even direct verbal criticism of dictator Muammar Gaddafi -- could provoke him to take Americans hostage, or worse.





Was that really the reason? If so, there is no better illustration of how President Obama's foreign policy is weakening America. Never mind whether we can -- or should -- use our military to affect events in Libya or anywhere else in the Middle East. Put aside the tortured question of whether we ought to promote our democratic principles abroad. What is at stake is more fundamental: our ability to protect American citizens from harm.





This is not the first time Americans have been threatened by a tyrant from Tripoli. In the early days of our republic, pirates controlled by Tripoli and other Barbary Coast states attacked U.S. ships and kidnapped American sailors. When President Thomas Jefferson refused to pay tribute, Tripoli declared war in 1801. Jefferson asked for, and received, Congress's authority to use the new U.S. Navy to protect American shipping and lives.





In 1803, the USS Philadelphia ran aground in Tripoli harbor. The entire crew was taken hostage, and the ship -- still in the harbor -- was turned into a formidable weapon against American patrols. Instead of caving to Tripoli's demands, the U.S. sent Marines on a daring mission into Tripoli harbor. Dressed in local garb and speaking Arabic to trick Tripoli's guards, the Marines boarded the Philadelphia, destroyed it, and escaped.





The First Barbary War ended after American ground troops captured the city of Derna in 1805, which had been controlled by Tripoli. The ruler of Tripoli gave in to Jefferson's demands, and freed his U.S. prisoners. The victory is marked by the Tripoli Monument at the U.S. Naval Academy, the oldest U.S. military monument. It reminds us of the purpose for which our military was created: to protect Americans at home and abroad.





Today the Obama administration trembles at the very thought that Americans might be taken hostage by Tripoli -- a fear that handed Gaddafi effective veto power over U.S. foreign policy. While the White House wrung its hands, Britain executed a daring military rescue of 150 British civilians, who were airlifted from the Libyan desert. It was an operation that redounded to the glory of Britain and to the disgrace of Washington.





The idea that America ought to fear the reaction of an embattled dictator is so feeble, and so contrary to 200 years of U.S. military tradition, that one wonders whether Obama believes it. Perhaps his political advisers, fearing a Carter-like hostage crisis (just as they hope to trap the GOP in a Clinton-era government shutdown), made a calculation that the political cost of provoking Gaddafi was not worth the benefit of toppling him.





Or perhaps the Obama administration really does believe its halting, self-contradictory policy toward the Arab uprisings is working -- that it got Egypt "about right," as Obama said in his Feb. 15 press conference, and that voting "present" in other crises ought to work as well. Liberal pundits like Peter Beinart are praising American inaction, declaring that "waiting on events" is better than "trying to remake the Middle East at gunpoint."





But in Tripoli, the issue is not remaking the Middle East -- it is protecting Americans, as well as the civilians being slaughtered by a madman we have the power to stop. President Obama refuses to accept that responsibility. His initial response to Libya and other crises has been to decry "violence" in the abstract, as if tyrants like Gaddafi and their terrorized people were equally guilty of using force to achieve their political aims.





Obama has long been ambivalent about American leadership in the world -- a doubt reflected during the Arab upheavals by his repeated references to universal human rights, rather than American values of freedom. Yet when we have the power to protect our citizens, we cannot be ambivalent about using it. That is why we have a military in the first place: so that the tyrants of Tripoli will fear us, not the other way around.





Joel Pollak was the GOP nominee for U.S. Congress in Illinois's 9th district in 2010.

Gap In Pakistan Predator Strikes Not Unusual

From The Long War Journal:

Feb 16, 2011 10:11 AMAnalysis: Gap in Pakistan Predator strikes not unusualfrom The Long War Journal


For over three weeks, the CIA's controversial covert air campaign that targets al Qaeda, Taliban, and allied terror groups' leaders and operatives in Pakistan's lawless and Taliban-controlled tribal areas has been silent. There has not been an airstrike by the armed, unmanned Predators and Reapers, or drones as they are more commonly called, for 25 days. This pause has sparked speculation that the US has halted the strikes for political reasons, but a look at the pace of the strikes over time shows that long pauses are not uncommon.



The current 23-day lull in strikes in Pakistan is the third-longest period of inactivity since the US ramped up the program in August 2008, according to data on the strikes compiled by The Long War Journal [a list of operational pauses that have been longer than eight days appears below].



The most recent strikes took place on Jan. 23, when the Predators and Reapers pounded al Qaeda and Taliban targets in the Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan.



The two most extended periods of operational inactivity so far have occurred in 2009. The longest recorded pause was 33 days, from Nov. 4 to Dec. 8, 2009. The second-longest pause was 28 days, from May 16 to June 14, 2009.



Also, there have been two other periods of time in which 20 or more days went by without a strike. Again, both operational pauses occurred in 2009: from Jan. 23 to Feb. 14 (21 days); and from Jan. 2 to Jan. 23 (20 days).



Also, there have been two other periods of time in which 20 or more days went by without a strike. Again, both operational pauses occurred in 2009: from Jan. 23 to Feb. 14 (21 days); and from Jan. 2 to Jan. 23 (20 days).




In 2010, there were two periods exceeding 15 days' time in which no Predator strikes occurred in Pakistan: from July 25 to Aug. 14 (19 days) ; and from June 29 to July 15 (15 days).



Since August 2008, there have been 24 periods of eight days or longer with no Predator strikes.



Most US intelligence officials contacted by The Long War Journal were unwilling to discuss the reasons for the current pause in strikes, or previous strikes, citing operational security concerns. But weather in the region is known to be the primary reason for slowdowns in the strikes.



Pakistani news outlets have speculated that the pause in strikes is related to the arrest of Raymond Davis, the US consular official who shot and killed two Pakistanis in Lahore. Davis believed the men were trying to kill him, but Pakistani courts refuse to recognize his diplomatic status and release him. One theory is that the US is not launching Predator strikes while Davis is in custody lest an attack inflame Pakistani sentiments.



But US officials contacted by The Long War Journal would not link Davis' detention to the pause in strikes.



Number of days between Predator/Reaper strikes in Pakistan since August 2008, eight days or greater



2011:



•23 days, Jan. 23 to Feb. 16

2010:



•9 days, Dec. 17 to Dec. 27

•19 days, July 25 to Aug. 14

•15 days, June 29 to July 15

•12 days, May 28 to June 10

•12 days, March 30 to April 12

•10 days, Feb. 24 to March 8

•11 days, Feb. 2 to Feb. 14

2009:




•33 days, Nov. 4 to Dec. 8

•13 days, Sept. 30 to Oct. 14

•9 days, Sept. 14 to Sept. 24

•10 days, Aug. 27 to Sept. 7

•8 days, Aug. 11 to Aug. 20

•9 days, June 23 to July 3

•28 days, May 16 to June 14

•9 days, April 19 to April 29

•10 days, April 8 to April 19

•9 days, March 15 to March 25

•10 days, March 1 to March 12

•12 days, Feb. 16 to March 1

•21 days, Jan. 23 to Feb. 14

•20 days, Jan. 2 to Jan. 23

2008:



•11 days, Nov. 29 to Dec. 11

•13 days, Sept. 17 to Oct. 1



Correction: the data was updated to fix copy errors in days/dates.

Taliban Suicide Assault Team Kills 42 At Jalalabad Bank

From The Long War Journal:

Feb 19, 2011 2:34 PMTaliban suicide assault team kills 42 at Jalalabad bankfrom The Long War Journal


1 person liked thisA Taliban suicide assault team attacked a group of Afghan police waiting in line at the Kabul Bank in the city of Jalalabad in Nangarhar province, then stormed the bank and detonated their vests. In this latest attack targeting the Afghan police, 42 people were killed.



The suicide assault team, estimated at seven-men strong, dressed in Afghan border police uniforms, and armed with assault rifles and hand grenades, opened fire on a group of policemen and civilians today as they stood in line at the bank. Several of the fighters (the Taliban claimed three) entered the bank and opened fire, then detonated their vests.



More than 70 people, including 14 policemen, were wounded in the attack. Among those injured were the chief and deputy chief of police for Nangarhar province.



The Taliban timed the attack to inflict maximum casualties on police. The bank is known to disburse payments to police officials, and the attack took place on payday.



The Taliban claimed credit for today's assault, saying their suicide assault team attacked "when the puppets were going to receive their monthly salary." The Taliban released a statement claiming the attack on their English-language website, Voice of Jihad.



Today's attack is the latest major suicide assault carried out by the Taliban. Yesterday, a suicide bomber killed nine people at a police checkpoint outside the home of the governor of Khost province; the governor is thought to have been the target. And on Feb. 12, a suicide assault team struck the provincial police headquarters in Kandahar City, killing 15 policemen and three civilians.


The Taliban have launched several other suicide attacks in the past few weeks, including the Jan. 28 assault at a supermarket in Kabul that killed eight Afghans; the Jan. 29 bombing that killed Kandahar's Deputy Governor, Abdul Latif; the Feb. 7 attack at the Inland Customs Warehouse in Kandahar that killed a retired US Customs and Border Protection officer and wounded three American customs workers; the Feb. 10 strike that killed seven people, including the district governor of Chardara, in Kunduz; and the Feb. 14 attack at a hotel in Kabul that killed two security guards.




In response to the Coalition and Afghan offensive in the southern provinces of Kandahar and Helmand, the Taliban have mounted a nationwide campaign of violence and intimidation. Taliban fighters have been told to "capture and kill any Afghan who is supporting and/or working for coalition forces" and the Afghan government, as well as "any Afghan women who are helping or providing information to coalition forces," according to a directive issued by Mullah Omar in June 2010.



Nangarhar a haven for al Qaeda and allied terror groups



Sharing a border with the Pakistani tribal agency of Khyber, Nangarhar is a strategic province for both the Taliban and the Coalition. The majority of NATO's supplies pass through Khyber and Nangarhar before reaching Kabul and points beyond.



In addition to the Taliban, Al Qaeda and the Lashkar-e-Taiba, a dangerous terror group based in Pakistan and supported by that country's military and intelligence services, maintain a strong presence in Nangarhar, according to an investigation by The Long War Journal. The presence of al Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba cells has been detected in the districts of Achin, Bati Kowt, Behsud, Chaparhar, Dara Noor, Deh Bala, Jalalabad, Khogyani, Pachir wa Agam, Sherzad, and Shinwar, or 11 of Nangarhar's 22 districts.



Other Taliban-like groups based in Pakistan also operate in Nangarhar. On Dec. 18, 2010, ISAF targeted the Lashkar-e-Islam, a Pakistani terror group based in the Khyber tribal agency, during a raid in Nangarhar. The Lashkar-e-Islam has established its own Taliban-like government in large areas of the Khyber tribal agency, including in Bara, Jamrud, and the Tirah Valley. The group provides recruits to battle US and Afghan forces across the border, and attacks NATO's vital supply line moving through Khyber.


ISAF has targeted the terror cells in Nangarhar recently. On Jan. 8, a combined Coalition and Afghan special operations team targeted an "al Qaeda-associated Taliban leader" during a raid in the Chaparhar district in Nangarhar province, ISAF stated. One suspected Taliban fighter was detained during the operation.




The targeted Taliban commander is the shadow governor for the Pachir wa Agam district. The commander "facilitates fighters and suicide bombers to attack coalition forces and Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in Jalalabad, Behsud and Pachir wa Agam districts" and "was coordinating an attack on a provincial reconstruction team in the province."



On Feb. 3, special operations teams captured "a high-level Taliban leader in Chaparhar" who served as a "financier, through an international drug smuggling network" and was "known to have facilitated the movement of foreign fighters through the district."



Taliban leadership in the east



The Peshawar Regional Military Shura, one of the Afghan Taliban's four major commands, directs activities in the eastern Afghan provinces of Nangarhar, Laghman, Nuristan, and Kunar. Abdul Latif Mansur is thought to currently lead the Taliban's Peshawar shura. Mansur formerly served as the Taliban's shadow governor of Nangarhar.



The Peshawar Regional Military Shura was led by Maulvi Abdul Kabir before his detention in Pakistan in February 2010.



A Taliban group known as the Tora Bora Military Front operates in Nangarhar and has been behind a series of deadly attacks in the province. The Tora Bora Military Front is led by Anwarul Haq Mujahid, the son of Maulvi Mohammed Yunis Khalis, who was instrumental in welcoming Osama bin Laden to Afghanistan after al Qaeda was ejected from Sudan in 1996. Pakistan detained Mujahid in Peshawar in June 2009. Prior to his detention, Muhajid served as the Taliban's shadow governor of Nangarhar.



Mujahid is now out of Pakistani custody. On Feb. 8, Mujahid spoke at the funeral of Awal Gul, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee who was captured by US forces in 2002 and died at the facility of natural causes on Feb. 1 of this year.



In early 2010, media reports had claimed that Kabir and Muhajid were in negotiations with the Afghan government, even though both were said to detained by the Pakistani authorities at the time. But Kabir released a statement on Voice of Jihad, the Taliban's website, denouncing any talks. Further doubt was cast on peace talks with the Taliban after ISAF discovered that it was in discussions with an impostor rather than the real Mullah Akhtar Mohammed Mansour, one of Mullah Omar's top two deputies who ran the Quetta Shura.

Chinese Stealth Technology Acquisition Foiled

From The American Thinker:

February 20, 2011


Chinese stealth tech acquisition foiled

Steve McCann

The Chinese tech firm Huawei has given up on its attempt to purchase American server technology company 3 Leaf. AT warned readers about this February 15 and February 16. From the latter item:





It now has been revealed that Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States (CIFUS) officials only found out about Huawei's acquisition last summer when they came across a puzzling find during a routine review of Huawei, as that company is prominent on the government's radar screen. (snip)





This was yet another part of the long term pattern of obfuscation and dishonesty by Huawei as well as their close ties to the Chinese military.





This has now become a major political issue between China and the U.S., and if not approved by Obama there is a distinct possibility of a retaliatory move by Beijing against American companies.





The mere fact that the Chinese willfully, secretly and blatantly acquired the 3Leaf with no notification, which they knew was necessary, and now appeals the CIFUS decision to the President, reveals the mindset of the Chinese that the United States is their de facto puppet and must do whatever Beijing demands.





The Financial Times reports that the company has now given up:





Huawei, the Chinese telecom equipment maker, has aborted its challenge to the US government over a deal Washington had refused to give national security clearance.





The move is the latest twist in the increasingly dramatic conflict between Chinese companies' global expansion and some governments' suspicions that allowing them in could make countries vulnerable to hostile action from an ever more powerful China.





"This was a difficult decision, however we have decided to accept the recommendation of [the Committee on Foreign Investment ] to withdraw our application to acquire specific assets of 3Leaf," the company said Saturday morning.





The statement is a surprise about-turn from its insistence just four days earlier that it would not voluntarily unwind the $2m acquisition of patents from 3Leaf, a small US company, made last May, as proposed by Cfius, the secretive executive agency which screens foreign investments in the US for national security risks



Perhaps shining the light on this outrageous move had something to do with Huawei slinking away from their outrageous tech grab. We hope so.

Posted at 12:15 PM

U.S. Predators Strike In South Waziristan

From The Long War Journal:

Feb 20, 2011 7:09 PMUS Predators strike in South Waziristanfrom The Long War Journal


1 person liked thisUnmanned US strike aircraft killed five "militants" in an attack in Pakistan's contested tribal agency of South Waziristan today. The strike is the first in South Waziristan since last year, and ends a long pause in strikes in Pakistan that began on Jan. 24.



The Predators or the more deadly Reapers fired three missiles at a Taliban compound in the village of Kaza Panga, which is about 10 miles west of Wana, the main town in South Waziristan, Pakistani officials told AFP.



No senior al Qaeda or Taliban commanders have been reported killed in the missile attack.



The target of the strike is unclear. The area is controlled by Mullah Nazir, the leader of the Taliban in the Waziri tribal areas in South Waziristan. Pakistan's military and intelligence services consider Nazir and his followers "good Taliban" as they do not openly seek the overthrow of the Pakistani state.



Nazir openly supports Mullah Omar and Osama bin Laden, however, and wages jihad in Afghanistan. Significantly, more senior al Qaeda leaders have been killed in Nazir's tribal areas during the US air campaign than in those of any other Taliban leader in Pakistan. Nazir also shelters the Mehsuds from the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, in violation of a peace agreement with the Pakistani government.



In the past, the US has killed several senior al Qaeda leaders in Nazir's territories. One of the most senior al Qaeda leaders killed was Midhat Mursi al Sayyid Umar, who is better known as Abu Khabab al Masri. Abu Khabab was killed along with four members of his staff in a Predator strike on July 28, 2008.



Today's strike is also the first in South Waziristan since Sept. 28, 2010. All but four of the strikes since then have occurred in North Waziristan. The other four strikes took place in Khyber

The Predator strikes, by the numbers




Today's strike is the first since Jan. 23, when the Predators pounded three different targets in North Waziristan. Many analysts speculated that the pause in strikes was related to the shooting deaths of two Pakistanis by a US consular official in Lahore on Jan. 27. Pakistan has refused to release the American.



But a look at the Predator strike history shows that there were several long pauses in time between the strikes. The most recent gap was not the longest since the US ramped up the program in August 2008 [See LWJ report, Analysis: Gap in Pakistan Predator strikes not unusual].



January 2011 proved to be the slowest month for Predator strikes in a year, with nine, and February is on track to be slower than January. The recent slowdown in attacks has occurred after the pace of the strikes from the beginning of September 2010 until the end of December picked up. September's record number of 21 strikes was followed by 16 strikes in October, 14 in November, and 12 in December. The previous monthly high was 11 strikes in January 2010, after the Taliban and al Qaeda executed a successful suicide attack at Combat Outpost Chapman that targeted CIA personnel who were active in gathering intelligence for the Predator campaign in Pakistan. The suicide bombing at COP Chapman killed seven CIA officials and a Jordanian intelligence officer.



The US carried out 117 attacks inside Pakistan in 2010, more than double the number of strikes that occurred in 2009. By late August 2010, the US had exceeded 2009's strike total of 53 with a strike in Kurram. In 2008, the US carried out a total of 36 strikes inside Pakistan. [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 - 2011.]



In 2010 the strikes were concentrated almost exclusively in North Waziristan, where the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban, the Haqqani Network, al Qaeda, and a host of Pakistani and Central and South Asian terror groups are based. All but 13 of the 117 strikes took place North Waziristan. Of the 13 strikes occurring outside of North Waziristan, seven were executed in South Waziristan, five were in Khyber, and one was in Kurram. That trend is holding true this year, with all seven strikes in 2011 taking place in North Waziristan.



Since Sept. 1, 2010, the US has conducted 73 strikes in Pakistan's tribal agencies. The bulk of those attacks have aimed at the terror groups in North Waziristan, with 65 strikes in the tribal agency. Many of the strikes have targeted cells run by the Islamic Jihad Group, which have been plotting to conduct Mumbai-styled terror assaults in Europe. A Sept. 8 strike killed an IJU commander known as Qureshi, who specialized in training Germans to conduct attacks in their home country.




The US campaign in northwestern Pakistan has targeted top al Qaeda leaders, al Qaeda's external operations network, and Taliban leaders and fighters who threaten both the Afghan and Pakistani states as well as support al Qaeda's external operations. [For a list of al Qaeda and Taliban leaders killed in the US air campaign in Pakistan, see LWJ Special Report, Senior al Qaeda and Taliban leaders killed in US airstrikes in Pakistan, 2004 - 2011.]

Taliban Suicide Bomber Kills 32 In Afghan North

From The Long War Journal:

Feb 21, 2011 (6 days ago)Taliban suicide bomber kills 32 in Afghan northfrom The Long War Journal The Taliban struck again with yet another major suicide attack inside Afghanistan, the eighth major attack in the country since the end of January. Today's suicide attack killed 32 Afghans in the northern province of Kunduz, a stronghold of the Taliban and the al Qaeda-linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.




A Taliban suicide bomber entered the provincial branch of the national statistics department in the district of Imam Sahib and detonated his vest in the middle of a crowd of Afghan civilians waiting for ID cards. Several women and children were killed in the blast; more than 40 Afghans were wounded, some critically.



The Taliban took credit for the deadly attack, claiming their suicide bomber targeted recruits attempting to join the Afghan Local Police, the local militias being formed to halt the Taliban advance throughout Afghanistan. Zabiullah Mujahid, a top Taliban spokesman, said that the suicide bomber was from the eastern province of Logar.



"He entered the recruitment and enrollment center of the Afghan government and foreigner-supported program called the Local Police and carried out a martyrdom attack," Mujahid told The New York Times.



Afghan officials denied that the office was used to recruit soldiers or members of the Afghan Local police, and said the likely target was the governor of Kunduz province, who has an office next door to the national statistics department.



Today's suicide attack is the latest mass-casualty attack carried out by the Taliban in Afghanistan. The Taliban have targeted Afghan police and soldiers, government officials, and anyone who works with the Afghan government [see list of attacks below].



In response to the Coalition and Afghan offensive in the southern provinces of Kandahar and Helmand, the Taliban have mounted a nationwide campaign of violence and intimidation. Taliban fighters have been told to "capture and kill any Afghan who is supporting and/or working for coalition forces" and the Afghan government, as well as "any Afghan women who are helping or providing information to coalition forces," according to a directive issued by Mullah Omar in June 2010.




List of major attacks in Afghanistan since the end of January



Feb. 19, 2011

A Taliban suicide assault team attacked a group of Afghan police waiting in line at the Kabul Bank in the city of Jalalabad in Nangarhar province, then stormed the bank and detonated their vests; 18 people were killed.



Feb. 18, 2011

A Taliban suicide bomber killed nine people, including women and children, in an attack on a police checkpoint in the eastern province of Khost.



Feb. 14, 2011

A suicide bomber detonated his vest at the entrance to a hotel in Kabul, killing two security guards.



Feb. 12, 2011

A suicide assault team attacked the provincial police headquarters in Kandahar City, killing 16 policemen and three civilians.



Feb. 10, 2011

A suicide bomber killed a district governor and six other Afghans in an attack in Kunduz.



Jan. 29, 2011

A suicide bomber killed Kandahar's Deputy Governor, Abdul Latif, as he drove in a convoy from his home to his office.



Jan. 28, 2011


A suicide bomber opened fire on civilians and detonated a hand grenade before detonating his vest at the Finest grocery in the Afghan capital, killing eight civilians.



Jan. 7, 2011

A suicide attack at the Inland Customs Warehouse in Kandahar killed a retired US Customs and Border Protection officer and wounded three American customs workers.



Sources:



•Kunduz Suicide Attack Kills 32, Hurts 40 Civilians, TOLOnews

•Many dead in Afghan suicide bombing, Al Jazeera

•Taliban bomber kills 31 at Afghan office, Dawn

•Bomber Attacks Government Office in Afghanistan, The New York Times

U.S. Predators Strike Again In Pakistan, Kill Nine Militants

From The Long War Journal:

Feb 21, 2011 (6 days ago)US Predators strike again in Pakistan, kill 9 'militants'from The Long War Journal US Predators struck again in Pakistan's lawless tribal agencies today, this time in the Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan. Nine "militants" were reported killed in the second strike in two days.




The latest strike took place in the town of Spalga (also known as Aspalga) in the Miramshah area of North Waziristan. Unmanned US Predators, or the more deadly Reapers, fired four missiles at a compound in the town, according to Dawn.



Local Pakistani officials claimed that nine "militants," a term used to describe Taliban or al Qaeda fighters, were killed. No senior Taliban or al Qaeda fighters have been reported killed in the attack.



The town of Spalga is located in the sphere of influence of the Haqqani Network, a powerful Taliban group closely allied to al Qaeda and a favorite of Pakistan's military and intelligence services. The Haqqani Network shelters and supports al Qaeda, and launches attacks against Coalition and Afghan forces across the border.



US Predators have struck in Spalga two other times in the past; once on Dec. 14, 2010, and the first time on Dec. 8, 2009.



The Predator strikes, by the numbers



Today's strike is the second in two days. A strike yesterday in South Waziristan was the first in Pakistan since Jan. 23, when the Predators pounded three different targets in North Waziristan. Many analysts speculated that the pause in strikes was related to the shooting deaths of two Pakistanis by a US consular official in Lahore on Jan. 27. Pakistan has refused to release the American.



But a look at the Predator strike history shows that there have been several long pauses in time between the strikes. The most recent gap was not the longest since the US ramped up the program in August 2008 [see LWJ report, Analysis: Gap in Pakistan Predator strikes not unusual].



January 2011 proved to be the slowest month for Predator strikes in a year, with nine, and February is on track to be slower than January. The recent slowdown in attacks has occurred after the pace of the strikes from the beginning of September 2010 until the end of December picked up. September's record number of 21 strikes was followed by 16 strikes in October, 14 in November, and 12 in December. The previous monthly high was 11 strikes in January 2010, after the Taliban and al Qaeda executed a successful suicide attack at Combat Outpost Chapman that targeted CIA personnel who were active in gathering intelligence for the Predator campaign in Pakistan. The suicide bombing at COP Chapman killed seven CIA officials and a Jordanian intelligence officer.




The US carried out 117 attacks inside Pakistan in 2010, more than double the number of strikes that occurred in 2009. By late August 2010, the US had exceeded 2009's strike total of 53 with a strike in Kurram. In 2008, the US carried out a total of 36 strikes inside Pakistan. [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 - 2011.]



In 2010 the strikes were concentrated almost exclusively in North Waziristan, where the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban, the Haqqani Network, al Qaeda, and a host of Pakistani and Central and South Asian terror groups are based. All but 13 of the 117 strikes took place North Waziristan. Of the 13 strikes occurring outside of North Waziristan, seven were executed in South Waziristan, five were in Khyber, and one was in Kurram. That trend is holding true this year, with all seven strikes in 2011 taking place in North Waziristan.



Since Sept. 1, 2010, the US has conducted 74 strikes in Pakistan's tribal agencies. The bulk of those attacks have aimed at the terror groups in North Waziristan, with 66 strikes in the tribal agency. Many of the strikes have targeted cells run by the Islamic Jihad Group, which have been plotting to conduct Mumbai-styled terror assaults in Europe. A Sept. 8 strike killed an IJU commander known as Qureshi, who specialized in training Germans to conduct attacks in their home country.



The US campaign in northwestern Pakistan has targeted top al Qaeda leaders, al Qaeda's external operations network, and Taliban leaders and fighters who threaten both the Afghan and Pakistani states as well as support al Qaeda's external operations. [For a list of al Qaeda and Taliban leaders killed in the US air campaign in Pakistan, see LWJ Special Report, Senior al Qaeda and Taliban leaders killed in US airstrikes in Pakistan, 2004 - 2011.]

Al Queda Operative, "Punjabis" Thought Killed In South Waziristan Predator Strike

From The Long War Journal:

Feb 21, 2011 (6 days ago)Al Qaeda operative, 'Punjabis' thought killed in South Waziristan Predator strikefrom The Long War Journal


1 person liked thisA senior al Qaeda operative and several "Punjabi" terrorists are reported to have been killed in yesterday's Predator airstrike in an area of South Waziristan that remains under the control of the Taliban.



Abu Zaid al Iraqi, an al Qaeda operative who is also known as Ali Khan, is said to have been killed along with several "foreigners" in the Feb. 20 strike in the town of Kaza Panga in the Azam Warzak area of South Waziristan. Reports indicate that between five and seven "militants," a term used to describe Taliban and al Qaeda fighters and operatives, were killed in yesterday's strike.



Abu Zaid is said to be al Qaeda's top financier in Pakistan, The Associated Press reported, based on information from Pakistani intelligence officials. Previously, al Qaeda's top financial official in the Afghan-Pakistan region was Mustafa Abu Yazid, the Egyptian commander who also led al Qaeda in the Khorasan. Yazid was killed in a US Predator airstrike in North Waziristan on May 21, 2010.



According to The Associated Press, Abu Zaid shifted operations from Afghanistan to South Waziristan sometime in 2008.



US intelligence officials contacted by The Long War Journal said they were aware of the reports of Abu Zaid's death, but would neither confirm nor deny the reports. One official cautioned against accepting the report without some form of confirmation from al Qaeda.



"We've been burnt by numerous bad reports of supposedly dead al Qaeda and Taliban HVTs [high value targets] from Pakistani officials," an intelligence official said.



Another report, from the BBC, said that several "Punjabis" were killed in the Feb. 20 strike in South Waziristan. The names or number of the so-called Punjabis was not disclosed, however.




The term Punjabi is often used to describe one of the several Pakistani terror groups based in Punjab province. These groups include the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, and Harkar-ul-Ansar. Also, these is a group known as the Punjabi Taliban, which is made up from members of the various Punjabi terror groups. And finally, there is a group that calls itself al Qaeda in Punjab.



The strike against al Qaeda and Punjabi terrorists in the Azam Warzak area of South Waziristan highlights the failure of the Pakistani military and government's policy of selectively battling Taliban groups in the tribal areas. Although the military went on the offensive against the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan in the Mehsud tribal areas of South Waziristan, it ignored the Wazir Taliban, under the control of Mullah Nazir.



Pakistan's military and intelligence services consider Nazir and his followers "good Taliban" as they do not overtly seek the overthrow of the Pakistani state, while the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan openly attacks the state.



Nazir openly supports Mullah Omar and Osama bin Laden, however, and wages jihad in Afghanistan. Significantly, more senior al Qaeda leaders have been killed in Nazir's tribal areas during the US air campaign than in those of any other Taliban leader in Pakistan. Nazir also shelters the Mehsuds from the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, in violation of a peace agreement with the Pakistani government.



The US has killed several senior al Qaeda leaders in Nazir's territories. One of the most senior al Qaeda leaders killed was Midhat Mursi al Sayyid Umar, who is better known as Abu Khabab al Masri. Abu Khabab was killed along with four members of his staff in a July 28, 2008 Predator strike.



Two other top al Qaeda leaders killed in Nazir's care are Osama al Kini (Fahid Mohammed Ally Msalam), al Qaeda's operations chief in Pakistan; and Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan, one of al Kini's senior aides. Both men were wanted by the US for their involvement in the 1998 suicide attacks on the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.



In another strike in Nazir's territory, US Predators also killed Abu Hazwa Jawfi, who is said to have led Jundallah, a Pakistani terror group that is based in Karachi and maintains with close ties with al Qaeda.

Al Shabaab Suicide Attack Kills Twenty In Somali Capital

From The Long War Journal:

Feb 22, 2011 (5 days ago)

Shabaab suicide attack kills 20 in Somali capital

from The Long War Journal

 

Al Shabaab, the radical Islamist terror group that serves as al Qaeda's affiliate in East Africa, claimed it carried out a deadly suicide attack that killed more than 20 Somalis yesterday, including civilians, in the capital of Mogadishu.



A Shabaab suicide bomber rammed a van packed with explosives into a police checkpoint near the main seaport in Mogadishu. Witnesses said that the blast killed 10 police officers and security guards and more than a dozen civilians, Garowe reported.



Shabaab's top spokesman, Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage, who is also known as Ali Dheere, held a press conference in the Somali capital to announce the bombing. Rage claimed that the target was a Somali military base, and said only soldiers were killed and wounded in the attack.



"We successfully achieved our mission that was planned by our soldiers, we killed many Somali soldier (our enemies)," Rage told the media.



The terror group routinely holds press conferences in Mogadishu; African Union and Somali forces control only small areas of the capital and are unable to stop the terror group from operating in the open.



Over the past several years, Shabaab has targeted African Union and Somali forces, as well as the Somali government, in a number of suicide attacks. Shabaab launched four suicide attacks between Aug. 23, 2010 and Sept. 20, 2010. While two of the attacks ultimately failed to strike their intended targets, the Shabaab suicide bombers were able to penetrate several layers of security.



Shabaab has carried out 26 major suicide attacks in Somalia since September 2006, when the Islamic Courts Union usurped control of the government (the Islamic Courts Union was ousted from power a few months later, in an invasion by Ethiopian forces in December 2006). Several of the attacks have been carried out by American and British citizens who had left their home countries to join Shabaab.



Shabaab has also executed a suicide attack outside Somalia's borders: the July 11, 2010 double suicide attack in Kampala, Uganda, that killed 74 people. It was carried out by a suicide cell called the Saleh ali Nabhan Brigade, which is named after the al Qaeda leader who served as Shabaab's military commander before he was killed in a US special operations raid in September 2009.



Six "al Qaeda-linked foreign fighters" killed in Mogadishu



African Union forces claimed that six "al Qaeda-linked foreign fighters" were killed during clashes in Mogadishu over the past three days. The fighters are said to be "from Yemen, Pakistan, Kenya, India, and Syria," according to DPA.




Foreign al Qaeda fighters are occasionally killed and wounded while fighting Somali and African Union forces. In December 2010, a Yemeni commander named Rajah Abu Khalid and 12 foreign fighters were killed during heavy fighting in the capital.



Background on Shabaab's links to al Qaeda



Shabaab merged with al Qaeda in November 2008, after requesting to join the international terror group in September 2008. Top al Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden, Ayman al Zawahiri, and Abu Yayha al Libi have praised Shabaab in propaganda tapes and encouraged the group to carry out attacks against the Somali government, neighboring countries, and the West. In late 2009, Osama bin Laden appointed Fazul Abdullah Mohammed to serve as al Qaeda's operations chief in East Africa; the announcement was made at a ceremony in Mogadishu that was attended by Ahmad Godane Zubayr, Shabaab's spiritual leader.



Over the past several years, al Qaeda commanders have taken over some of the top leadership positions in Shabaab. Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, who was indicted for his involvement in the 1998 attacks in Kenya and Tanzania along with Osama bin Laden, served as Shabaab's top intelligence official before replacing Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan as Shabaab's top military leader.



Other foreign al Qaeda operatives also hold key leadership positions in Shabaab. Shaykh Muhammad Abu Fa'id, a Saudi citizen, serves as a top financier and a "manager" for Shabaab. Abu Musa Mombasa, a Pakistani citizen, serves as Shabaab's chief of security and training. Mahmud Mujajir, a Sudanese citizen, is Shabaab's chief of recruitment for suicide bombers. Abu Mansour al Amriki, a US citizen, serves as a military commander, recruiter, financier, and propagandist.



Al Qaeda's central leadership, which is based in Pakistan, recently instructed Shabaab to downplay its links to the terror group but to continue to target US interests in the region, a senior US intelligence official who closely follows al Qaeda and Shabaab in East Africa told The Long War Journal.



Shabaab is considered by some US military and intelligence officials to be one of al Qaeda's most successful affiliates. Shabaab has defeated Hizbul Islam, a rivial Islamist terror group, and has taken control of much of southern and central Somalia after waging a terror insurgency against Ethiopian forces and the UN-backed Transitional Federal Government.




In early 2009, Ethiopian forces withdrew from Somalia under fire and were replaced by some 6,000 African Union peacekeepers from Uganda and Burundi. The fractured and weak central government and African Union forces presently hold pockets within Mogadishu and little else.



Outside of Mogadishu, the government wields little influence. Shabaab currently controls almost all of the southern provinces and many of the central ones as well.

Afghan Intelligence Links Jalalabad Bank Attack, Other Suicide Attacks To Pakistan

From The Long War Journal:

Afghan intel links Jalalabad bank attack, other suicide attacks to Pakistan

from The Long War Journal

 

 

 

Warning: the images in the video above are graphic; the Taliban are seen executing civilians during the Feb. 19 attack at a bank in Jalalabad. Footage from TOLOnews.





Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security has linked the recent suicide attack at

a bank in eastern Afghanistan as well as other deadly strikes in the country to Taliban and Haqqani Network operatives based inside Pakistan.



The NDS captured one of the "masterminds" of the Feb. 19 suicide assault at a bank in Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province, as well as several teenage boys who were recruited to carry out suicide attacks in other areas of Afghanistan. The NDS held a press conference in Kabul on Feb. 26 and displayed several of those captured.



Lutfullha Mashal, spokesman for the NDS, said that the Jalalabad suicide assault was planned months in advance from within Pakistan, "in cooperation with Pakistani Taliban." In the Jalalabad attack, 42 people, nearly all of them civilians, were killed.



"The planning of this incident-all of it-took place in Pakistan. It took them four months to plan the attack from inside Pakistan," Mashal said. "The person who took part on the attack got training in weapons, bomb making, and other tactics in Pakistan."



Portions of the Jalalabad bank attack were captured on security cameras in the bank. A clean-shaven Taliban fighter dressed in an Afghan police uniform was seen indiscriminately gunning down civilians in the bank as he ordered them to move into a different room. The footage has caused shockwaves in the ranks of the Taliban, which has had to admit it is now investigating the murders.



Mashal said one of the attackers was captured after he ran out of ammunition, and the "mastermind" of the attack was also captured.



The Jalalabad attack bore the hallmarks of the November 2008 terror assault on the India financial capital of Mumbai, which was carried out by the Pakistan-based and Pakistan-supported Lashkar-e-Taiba. In both the Mumbai and Jalalabad attacks, the terror assault teams were being directed by the planners via telephone.




The Taliban fighter who was captured in Jalalabad "made a phone call to the planners of the attack," Mashal said. "The person he called was the mastermind behind the operation."



The NDS did not directly link the Jalalabad attack to the Lashkar-e-Taiba, but the terror group is known to operate in Nangarhar and several other of Afghanistan's eastern provinces, including, Kunar, Nuristan, Laghman, Paktia, Paktika, Khost, and Kabul.



The Lashkar-e-Taiba has been linked to numerous complex attacks in eastern Afghanistan and in Kabul. Its fighters have worked with the Haqqani Network, run by Siraj Haqqani, to carry out attacks on Indian and other targets in Kabul. The Lashkar-e-Taiba is backed by Pakistan's military and intelligence services, and operates a Hezbollah-like state within a state inside Pakistan.



The Lashkar-e-Taiba also cooperates with the Kabul Attack Network, a network of terrorist groups that work together to facilitate and execute attacks inside the capital and in the surrounding areas. The Kabul Attack Network is made up of fighters from the Taliban, the Haqqani Network, and Hizb-i-Islami Gulbuddin, and cooperates with terror groups such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba and al Qaeda. Top Afghan intelligence officials have linked the Kabul Attack Network to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence directorate as well. The network's tentacles extend outward from Kabul into the surrounding provinces of Logar, Wardak, Nangarhar, Kapisa, Ghazni, and Zabul, a US intelligence official told The Long War Journal in 2010.



Taliban press teenage suicide bombers to attack Afghan



The NDS spokesman also displayed three young men who are said to have been coerced by the Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan to serve as suicide bombers. Mashal said the Taliban "recruited very young people 15-16 years old. They do it by force and threats." Young suicide bombers for the Taliban are often told they will be targeting foreign forces. but end up being directed at Afghan security forces and civilians.



The first young suicide bomber who spoke to the press was Akhtar Nawaz, a 14-year-old Pakistani boy who was recruited by the Haqqani Network and sent to a madrassa, or religious school.



"The Taliban took me, and said I had to go to get a religious education," Nawaz. "Because some infidels are coming and I had to go kill them. I was scared to leave. They threatened me."




Nawaz "was sent to Khost province to attack the ANP [Afghan Nation Police], but he was captured by NDS," Mashal said.



The Haqqani Network operates in the open in Pakistan's tribal agencies of North Waziristan and Kurram, and runs madrassa where young Taliban fighters are trained and indoctrinated.



The second young suicide bomber shown by the NDS was Nasir Ghami, a 19-year-old Afghan from Kandahar. Ghami "was recruited four months ago" and "was promised paradise in return, if he attacked Spin Boldak," Mashal said. "The Taliban threatened to kill his parents if he did not execute the attack. "



"They [the Taliban] told me if I do this, I will go straight to heaven and that everyone

would appreciate it," Ghami told the press, explaining that his family was suffering from financial hardships. "They promised to support my family financially.... On the day of the attack, we had a meeting. They told me I would go to heaven because Americans are

inside my land."



The third young would-be suicide bomber who spoke to the press was Yasir, a 19-year-old Pakistani who was recruited in Pakistan by a Taliban leader named Zainulabudin and then transferred to Afghanistan to carry out an attack in the eastern province of Laghman.



"When I was recruited, they told me to do jihad to fight against foreign and American forces," Yasir said. He spent several nights at a hotel before he was captured by NDS forces.



"I was brainwashed," he said.