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| Afghanistan | |
| 'Walking dead' cross line into Afghanistan to kill | |
| 2007-04-02 | |
| Gazing out at the wheat fields, a haggard police chief pointed to the distant goat paths leading from Pakistan's territory of North Waziristan. Known here as "Osama bin Laden's children" or "the walking dead," nearly two dozen suicide bombers entered Khost province over those paths in the past year. "The only thing left of them after they are done is two feet and a lot of skin," said Maj. Bismullah, a local police chief who, like many Afghans, uses only one name. "If we get a finger, we have to send it to Kabul to analyze the prints." Orphaned by war and schooled in anti-American religious madrassas, the bombers often smile for a final video testament in Pakistan before walking or riding to their deaths in Afghanistan. As new explosives technology and tactics from the war in Iraq arrive in this remote corner of South Asia, suicide bombing attacks in the past 12 months have more than quadrupled from fewer than half a dozen in the previous year. At least some of the bombers cross the border with a blessing from Ayman al-Zawahri, bin Laden's bespectacled
Afghan and U.S. officials say the bombers are trained in Waziristan, a tribal-administered border region of Pakistan. Several weeks of reporting along the rugged border suggests that al Qaeda and its affiliates are regrouping with charitable funds from Gulf Arab states, assistance from rogue elements of Pakistan's intelligence services and profits from the heroin trade. Pakistan, which sanctioned U.S. bombing raids on suspected al Qaeda hide-outs last year, has all but retreated from its effort to fight the Taliban and al Qaeda in border areas, say Western diplomats. Instead, it has signed peace deals last year leaving enforcement of local security to pro-Taliban elders in North and South Waziristan. A similar deal was concluded last week for the similarly lawless Bajaur district farther north. Mr. Mashal criticized Pakistan's embattled President Pervez Musharraf for signing the latest deal. After the signing, Taliban leaders warned Pakistani security forces and U.S. forces to "avoid interference" in their internal affairs. In sunny Khost province, where the governor's guards stand at attention with fresh flowers in their hair, the spate of suicide bombings has altered shopping habits and angered residents. Suicide bombing was unheard of during the long war against Soviet forces in the 1980s, when locals prided themselves on their skill in shooting down Soviet helicopters, rows of which still line the edge of the airport here. As elsewhere in the Islamic world, al Qaeda is usually a facilitator of terrorism, rarely the direct instigator. Bin Laden's operatives exploit anti-American sentiment within home-grown Islamist groups and dispatch young men over the mountains toward martyrdom. Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders in nearby Pakistani community of Miram Shah, mimicking similar martyrdom celebrations in the West Bank and parts of the Arab world, throw lavish parties for the families of the suicide bombers. More | |
| Posted by:Elmavith Fluck6403 |
| #11 "The Immortals" from 300??? On the HISTORY CHANNEL they look like ghostly, Killer/Warrior-Shadows, well-armed but unfortunately not well-armored vv the 300 Spartans = Greek hoplites. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-04-02 23:08 |
| #10 Ship; Heh, heh, damned cold Barb. yea Barb, you getum the Ice Princess Prize on thatr one! ;-) |
| Posted by: Red Dog 2007-04-02 20:09 |
| #9 That would take a firecracker, #5, since they never left it. Heh, heh, damned cold Barb. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2007-04-02 17:28 |
| #8 The only alternative is bomb the north and south Wazoo into the stone age No need for bombs. Just shut off the cell phone towers. |
| Posted by: gorb 2007-04-02 14:30 |
| #7 That would take a firecracker, #5, since they never left it. In fact, I'm not so sure they've even come that far. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2007-04-02 14:10 |
| #6 Wazoo left the stone age? |
| Posted by: 3dc 2007-04-02 13:49 |
| #5 The only alternative is bomb the north and south Wazoo into the stone age. |
| Posted by: anonymous 2007-04-02 13:10 |
| #4 'Walking dead' cross line into Afghanistan |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles in Blairistan 2007-04-02 12:29 |
| #3 The headline needs a tweak: 'Walking dead' cross line into Afghanistan to |
| Posted by: Mike 2007-04-02 12:25 |
| #2 "Braaaaaaains!" |
| Posted by: mojo 2007-04-02 11:07 |
| #1 Nice find, Elmavith Fluck6403. I don't have a mod colour but, if I did, here's where I'd put these few thoughts: Known here as "Osama bin Laden's children" or "the walking dead," Ouch. Orphaned by war and schooled in anti-American religious madrassas, I shouldn't think most were orphaned by war, but that their parents were happy to send them to the free madrassa. Nor is the schooling in anti-Americanism, but anti everything that isn't their particular overstrict Muslim way. Half a decade ago, after all, these were the students who came down the goat paths to become Taliban and shoot women who painted their toenails. al Qaeda and its affiliates are regrouping with charitable funds from Gulf Arab states, assistance from rogue elements of Pakistan's intelligence services and profits from the heroin trade. Not that we didn't know that, but it's nice to see a newsman write it out plainly for his readers. My only quibble is that I'd argue it isn't rogue elements of the ISI but its senior officers. In sunny Khost province...the spate of suicide bombings has altered shopping habits and angered residents. Anger is the first step. Then blame those who train, arm and send Osama's Children, then do something against them. Then we'll have won the battle on the Afghan front. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-04-02 10:59 |