Warning: Undefined array key "rbname" in /data/rantburg.com/www/pgrecentorg.php on line 14
Hello !
Recent Appearances... Rantburg

Government Corruption
Sam Faddis - 'Why the CIA No Longer Works‐and How to Fix It'
2023-11-30
[Imprimis] The following is adapted from a talk delivered at Hillsdale College on October 3, 2023, during a conference on "U.S. Intelligence: History and Controversies."

We need the CIA, but we also need to recognize the uncomfortable reality that the CIA is not performing at the level we require. It is not keeping us safe. It must be repaired, and it must be repaired quickly.

The CIA was created after World War II with one overriding primary mission—to prevent a reoccurrence of what happened at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. We were never going to allow an enemy to surprise us on that scale again. We were never going to find ourselves blind regarding a threat of that magnitude and immediacy. We would be forewarned and forearmed.

Then came 9/11. Members of Al Qaeda hijacked four airliners. They crashed three of them into their targets. They were prevented from succeeding with the fourth only by the heroism of the brave American passengers.

Al Qaeda was not some unknown entity. It had been around for years. Osama Bin Laden had threatened to attack us on our own soil for years. Al Qaeda had blown up two of our embassies in East Africa. Al Qaeda had almost sunk the USS Cole in Yemen. Al Qaeda had tried once before to take down the World Trade Center.

Yet we had not a single source inside that organization capable of warning us of the 9/11 attacks that would kill almost 3,000 Americans.

On May 2, 2011, U.S. special operations personnel attacked a compound in Pakistan and killed the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. That operation in and of itself was clearly a success. But the fact that it took us almost ten years after 9/11 to find and kill Bin Laden should give us pause.

Bin Laden fully understood the technical capabilities of American intelligence. After his escape from Afghanistan, he established himself in a compound with no internet service. He had no cell phone. He communicated with his organization via a courier system and dealt with those couriers face to face. There were no emails, text messages, or phone calls for us to intercept.

Finding Bin Laden meant getting a source inside Al Qaeda at a level high enough to know his physical location. It took almost a decade for the CIA, with all its resources, to acquire such a source, even though this was probably the CIA’s single highest priority.
Link


-Land of the Free
Why does the American press reveal dirty secrets of Ukrainian intelligence services?
2023-10-27
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
Why? Everyone is headed to the backdoor as instructed, that's why.
by Il'ya Rposhin
A publication in The Washington Post entitled “Ukrainian spies with deep ties to the CIA are waging a shadow war against Russia” caused a stir. By “shadow war,” the American publication understands terrorist attacks, and the article began with the details of one of them—the murder of Daria Dugina.

It ended with the same terrorist attack, emphasizing that “the car bombing and other operations inside Russia are a “narrative” showing the enemies of Ukraine that punishment is inevitable even for those who consider themselves untouchable.”

Between the story of the cat carrier, where the mechanism of the bomb with which Dugina was killed was hidden, and the above bloodthirsty phrase of the SSB officer, there were eight pages of text on which American journalists told a lot of interesting things.

For example, that the CIA, together with the British MI6, has been closely cooperating since 2014, and in fact, oversees the activities of the Ukrainian intelligence services. The favorite brainchild is the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, for which the Americans built new buildings, infrastructure, and training grounds, investing tens of millions of dollars.

An inquisitive reader may find out that the CIA trained Ukrainian saboteurs to work behind the front line; in this office they knew about the first terrorist attack on the Crimean Bridge, but distanced themselves from it, fearing Russia. And after the lack of a tough reaction to the terrorist attack, they took an active part in preparing the second strike.

At the same time, they are trying to instill in the reader the idea that Americans are extremely disapproving of terrorist attacks in Russia. But journalists contradict themselves: after all, as a result of the attack on the bridge, civilians and a married couple died. Their minor daughter was injured.

Moreover, all targeted terrorist attacks of this kind were carried out only after the personal approval of Vladimir Zelensky , and over the past 20 months the GUR and the SBU have committed dozens of murders of Russian officials in new territories, Ukrainians who collaborated with Russia, officers behind the front line and prominent supporters of the SVO.

Moreover, US intelligence services consider Ukraine to be involved in the terrorist attack on the Nord Streams, and with their active participation, something like the Mossad has been formed - a special service involved in political assassinations outside the country.

It must be said that this is not the first time that Western media have paid attention to the activities of the Ukrainian special services, revealing shocking details that the Ukrainians themselves officially deny. Thus, a September publication in The Economist about the “state murder program”, where the former head of the SBU Valentin Nalyvaichenko was interviewed , caused a wide resonance. Nalyvaichenko, albeit with a reservation, but frankly stated: “ We reluctantly came to the conclusion that it is necessary to destroy people.”

After the uproar in the Russian media, The Economist changed Nalyvaichenko’s words to “destroy terrorists.”

And before that, there was a publication in The New York Times reporting that it was Ukraine that was behind the first terrorist attack on the Crimean Bridge. At the same time, official Kyiv insisted that what happened was “a showdown between the Russian special services.” Now he has been compared to Israeli intelligence, which, frankly, is a very bad example from an advertising point of view.

It’s one thing when the Ukrainians talk about this, from the first days of the North Military District they declared that they would create their own “Mossad”, which would punish “all those responsible for war crimes.” It’s another matter when the “big brother” talks about it.

The Mossad's methods of action can sometimes be called terrorist. Security forces do not wear white gloves and often violate the law. Only innocent people often became victims of “retribution”.

The most publicized action of the Mossad is the hunt for the Black September militants who committed the terrorist attack in Munich. Only as a result of this answer, on July 21, 1974, an innocent waiter, Moroccan Ahmed Bouchiki, was killed in Lillehammer, who was shot in front of his pregnant wife, confused with Ali Hassan Salame, a Black September operative and the head of Yasser Arafat’s personal security.

Mossad reached Salameh in 1979 in Beirut. But even then, not only he, but also four passers-by died from a bomb explosion in Salam’s car, and 18 people were injured.

Four dead and almost 20 wounded in Lebanon alarmed the world community much less than the murder of a waiter in Norway. But even then, in the 70s of the twentieth century, when in fact the Mossad’s terrorist attacks were justified by the fact that they were “terrorist attacks on the right people,” and their victims were predominantly terrorists, not everyone in the West approved of the methods of the Israeli intelligence service.

Today the situation is completely different.

Despite the horror of the terrorist attack on October 7, the massacre of unarmed kibbutz residents on camera, part of the world, including the West, also condemned the disproportionate response of Israel, which responded with missile and bomb strikes instead of targeted liquidations.

It is not surprising that demonstrations in support of Palestine take to the streets of not only Arab, but also European and even American cities. In the same United States, pro-Palestinian demonstrations also attract the electorate of the Democratic Party, which again raises the question: is the comparison of the SBU and GUR with the Mossad praise from American journalists?

Here it is also necessary to take into account that, unlike the same Israelis who recognize the murder of Buchika as a failure, the Ukrainians recognize the murder of Daria Dugina, which, according to The Washinton Post, was also a mistake (the main target was her father, the philosopher Alexander Dugin) , even are proud, rejecting the Old Testament principle “The son is not responsible for his father.”

The way and with what frequency the Western media shift responsibility for terrorist attacks in Russia from the CIA and other intelligence agencies entirely onto the shoulders of Ukrainians brings to mind other historical examples.

Before the final credits of the 1988 action film “Rambo III,” the inscription appeared on the screen: “This film is dedicated to the valiant people of Afghanistan.” 13 years later, one of these same “valiant people”, whom the British publication The Independent endowed with excellent qualities back in 1993, describing him as “a mountain warrior from the legend of the Mujahideen”, in front of whom “children in chadors dance”, and “preachers recognize him wisdom,” organized the worst terrorist attack in US history.

But in the same eighties, this man - Osama Bin Laden - worked closely with people from the CIA and MI6. The American intelligence service carried out Operation Cyclone from 1979 to 1989, during which the United States and the Saudis spent $40 billion on training the Mujahideen with the help of Pakistani intelligence. Among the students were future al-Qaeda assets*, including Bin Laden, who in those years began a relationship with the head of Pakistani intelligence, Lieutenant General Hamid Gul.

All of Bin Laden's past merits were forgotten when he turned against the West. Just as easily, the United States, with its “flexible adherence to principles,” abandoned the Afghan regime, making a deal with the Taliban*. People falling from the landing gear of a taking off plane were then only lazy people who got involved with “strategic partners” in Ukraine, seeing a completely possible future in this.
....“flexible adherence to principles,” aka exploitation and betrayal.
And now the Western press is preparing in advance a package of compromising evidence, with the help of which it is very easy to show that yesterday’s freedom fighters against Russian tyranny are ordinary criminals and murderers.

For example, the latest Politico publication states that the White House is losing the information war around Ukraine and is changing its messages.

The Joseph Biden administration is privately asking congressmen from both political parties to justify the need for new aid to Ukraine on the grounds that it will allegedly be the key to economic growth in the United States itself. “It will help create new jobs and strengthen our own industrial base.” Well, tomorrow the United States can, without blinking an eye, sacrifice Ukraine and its intelligence services to normalize relations with Russia. Moreover, the United States may not be able to fight a war on several fronts - in Europe, the Middle and Far East.

And then, waking up one morning after a restless sleep, the “valiant people of Ukraine” will discover that they have turned into terrible terrorists in their beds.

Link


-Great Cultural Revolution
'I Wouldn't Encourage Anyone To Join': As Pentagon Goes Woke, Veterans Refuse To Help Military Recruitment Efforts
2023-05-20
[DC Inquirer] Veterans of the United States military are refusing to help out with efforts to relieve the Pentagon's acute recruitment problems citing the wokeness problem embedded in the current military structure as their reason to not get involved.

As reported by Just The News, the military has a major recruitment problem among Americans, however, that by itself is not exactly a new development. As previously noted by the DC Enquirer, while obesity rates are an external problem for the military force, wokeness poses an internal problem within the armed forces. The vast majority of Americans from the 17-24 demographic are, according to a Department of Defense study, unfit for military services - primarily due to obesity rates among that demographic.

The Heritage Foundation's Director of the Center for National Defense, Thomas Spoehr, proclaimed that "Woke ideology undermines military readiness in various ways. It undermines cohesiveness by emphasizing differences based on race, ethnicity, and sex. It undermines leadership authority by introducing questions about whether promotion is based on merit or quota requirements."
Related:
Recruitment problem: 2010-12-15 Aussie Navy closes for Christmas, families first in new year
Recruitment problem: 2007-09-17 Defeat Made in Washington
Related:
Military recruit: 2023-05-04 'I can't believe I fought for this bulls**t': Navy SEAL who helped kill Osama Bin Laden fumes over Navy's decision to use drag queen for their recruitment program
Military recruit: 2022-10-11 Darrell Issa accuses Biden DOD of moving goalposts to hide scale of recruiting crisis
Military recruit: 2022-09-27 Good Morning
Link


-Great Cultural Revolution
'I can't believe I fought for this bulls**t': Navy SEAL who helped kill Osama Bin Laden fumes over Navy's decision to use drag queen for their recruitment program
2023-05-04
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
  • Navy SEAL Robert O'Neill who took part in the mission to kill Osama Bin Laden is outraged over the U.S. Navy using a drag queen for a recruitment program

  • 'I can't believe I fought for this bulls**t,' O'Neill tweeted on Wednesday

  • The vet was referencing the Navy's use of Yeoman 2nd Class Joshua Kelley, a drag queen who announced in November an ambassadorship with the Navy
Kelley was tasked with highlighting her journey from performing on board beginning in 2018 and growing to become an 'advocate' for those who 'were oppressed for years in the service.'

A Navy spokesman told DailyMail.com the digital ambassador program was a pilot that ended in March 2023.

The program Kelley was part of ran from October 2022 to March 2023 and was designed to 'explore the digital environment to reach a wide range of potential candidates' for military recruitment.

After O'Neill sent out his tweet Wednesday afternoon, others chimed in to share in O'Neill's outrage over the ambassadorship.

His tweet quickly gained 1.1 million views and thousands of likes and retweets.
Related:
Robert O''Neill: 2016-04-09 Ex-Navy SEAL who says he killed bin Laden charged with DUI
Robert O''Neill: 2015-10-07 Islamic State Published Address of Navy SEAL Who Killed Osama Bin Laden
Related:
Joshua Kelley: 2022-07-31 Priorities: U.S. Military Base Is Hosting a Drag Show
Joshua Kelley: 2018-09-01 Sailor by day, performer by night — meet the Navy’s drag queen, ‘Harpy Daniels’
Link


Government Corruption
That old Seymour Hersh fella, what a crackpot
2023-02-11
[Doomburg] Back when the media establishment was against war and distrusted the US intelligence apparatus, Seymour Hersh was considered a top-tier investigative journalist. He routinely reported on scandals within the upper branches of the US government, winning just about every prestigious journalism award along the way. In 1974, Hersh broke the story that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was spying on domestic anti-war activists, behavior that was in direct violation of the law. The resulting howls of outrage were loud, and the nation was captivated by the congressional hearings that followed.

Of course, that was 50 years ago, and much has changed since then. Our leaders have become alarmingly comfortable harnessing the near-limitless powers of the intelligence community for raw political purposes, and being anti-war has somehow morphed into an "alt-right" or "pro-Putin" position. Perhaps uncoincidentally, Hersh’s reporting came to be seen as a bit of a nuisance, and his reputation as a journalist was put under assault. In 2015, Hersh wrote skeptically about the Obama administration’s narrative surrounding the killing of Osama Bin Laden, and an orgy of attack pieces was unleashed in traditional media outlets. Here’s how Trevor Timm described the ugly affair in the prestigious Columbia Journalism Review (emphasis added throughout):
Related:
Seymour Hersh: 2023-02-09 Good Morning
Seymour Hersh: 2023-02-09 Seymour Hersh claims Biden ordered the attack on the Nord Stream pipelines
Seymour Hersh: 2022-05-20 Inside the Hunt for Russia's ‘Fourth Man' Within the CIA
Link


--Tech & Moderator Notes
9-11 and 21 Years later, do we have ALL the facts yet?
2022-09-11
Tail number N334AA
Accident date 11 Sep 2001 NYC/NY
Aircraft type Boeing 767-200ER

Tail number N612UA
Accident date 11 Sep 2001 NYC/NY
Aircraft type Boeing 767-200ER

Tail number N644AA
Accident date 11 Sep 2001 Washington DC / Pentagon
Aircraft type Boeing 757-200

Tail number N591UA
Accident date 11 Sep 2001 Shanksville, PA
Aircraft type Boeing 757
------------------------------------
NTSB Factual Report
The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 are under the jurisdiction of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Safety Board provided requested technical assistance to the FBI, and this material generated by the NTSB is under the control of the FBI. The Safety Board does not plan to issue a report or open a public docket.

NTSB Probable Cause
The Safety Board did not determine the probable cause and does not plan to issue a report or open a public docket. The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 are under the jurisdiction of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Safety Board provided requested technical assistance to the FBI, and any material generated by the NTSB is under the control of the FBI.
Never forgive. Never Forget. Never “understand”.
Courtesy of Skidmark:
'I thought about executing every person celebrating 9/11': Marine who watched the attacks in fury from his base was among the first Americans in Afghanistan at 19 - and one of his first missions was hunting Bin Laden's children
  • Staff Sergeant William 'Bill' Bee watched 9/11 unfold in his barracks at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina

  • At just 19 years old he was one of the first Americans on the ground in Helmand Province to fight the Taliban

  • He had his first firefight and wrote his family goodbye letters, all while he wasn't old enough to buy a beer

  • It was his destiny to fight in the Marines and avenge the New Yorkers picking up the pieces of their city

  • 21 years on, in his new book The Shot, Bee details the response to the attack at the base

  • One of his first operations was trying to find one of Osama Bin Laden's children

Link


Home Front: Politix
First 12 Things Trump Will Do When He Inevitably Returns To Power
2022-07-09
[Babylon Bee] The prophets have long whispered of the return of ULTRA-MAGA King Trump. In faith, we know that his return is inevitable and that he will soon reclaim the presidency and set right what has gone awry.

Here are the first 12 things Trump will do when he returns to power:

1. Spray Febreze on the Oval Office curtains to get the old man smell out: Step one to draining the swamp is giving it a flowery scent.

2..Make Pelosi wear a sweater on the beach: I mean, really.

3. Welcome back Mike Pence, just to tell him he's fired: It'll be the highest ratings for a single episode of The Apprentice. Maybe ever.

4. Invade Afghanistan so he can show how much better he would be at withdrawing from Afghanistan: He's been dreaming about this one every night when he goes to sleep.

5. Finish building that wall, but make Hunter Biden pay for it: Hunter will borrow from Joe, who will borrow from China. 4D chess!

6. Make everything at the dollar store $1 again: And abolish the Fed.

7. Sneak out of the Oval Office for a quick 9 holes: Trump needs to keep his golf skills sharp so he can challenge Putin to a match for the fate of Russia.

8. Bring back the McRib: And make it permanent this time!

9. Find Osama Bin Laden's body and kill him again: USA! USA! USA!

10. Declare total infinity immunity with no take-backs: Should put an end to congressional witch hunts.

11. Put Dr. Fauci in the stocks in the National Mall so everyone can throw cabbage at him: Somewhere up there Samuel Adams is drunkenly smiling.

12. Buy Greenland and make Mexico pay for it: And then drill for oil like there's no tomorrow.

NOT SATIRE: COVFEFE: Making Coffee Great! The America First choice. The best choice.

With 1000+ 5-Star reviews, our coffee will quickly become the coffee of choice in your household! What will you choose? Red Pill Light Roast, Drain The Swamp Medium Roast, or MAGA Dark Roast? Single-Serve, Whole Bean, Ground, or Decaf? Unlike the other coffee brands, our Christian family ownership frees us from the ever-changing Neo-Liberal Orthodoxy. In addition, each purchase gives us the ability to donate to impactful organizations that produce results. We've contributed to Election Integrity, Exposing Anti-White initiatives, Rittenhouse Legal Fund, and others. So let's raise a cup of COVFEFE and take this country back!
Link


Afghanistan
Al Qaida Is Back - We Will Pay The Price
2022-06-02
[AND Magazine] In 2001, We went into Afghanistan to destroy a terrorist safe haven and drive Al Qaida from that nation. Al Qaeda had blown up two of our embassies, almost sunk a U.S. Navy destroyer, and flown planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Thousands of Americans had been killed.

We succeeded brilliantly. With relative handfuls of men on the ground, we crushed the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden had to flee for his life to Pakistan.

Then we lost our way.

We spent twenty years trying to turn Afghanistan into ’Switzerland in Central Asia’. We paved roads, built schools and tried to teach Afghans about gender equality and liberal democracy. We lost focus, squandered blood and treasure, and made federal contractors rich.

We could have stopped, rationalized our approach, remembered why we were there and moved ahead. We did not. Under the direction of Joe Biden -easily the worst President in American history - we fled. We handed over billions in advanced weapons to Islamic jihadist thugs, abandoned our friends and allies, and flew away.

Ever since the Biden administration has attempted to paper over the debacle with vague assurances that somehow our national security is not negatively impacted. "Al Qaida is gone. The Taliban want only to be left alone. The threat is minimal."
Link


Britain
Police quizzed Bin Laden's former spin doctor for just ONE HOUR on a video call before he was waved back into Britain after being released early from 25-year prison sentence in the US
2022-03-21
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
  • Adel Abdel Bary, 61, was allegedly the spin doctor of Osama Bin Laden in the 90s
    ....and emir of the London cell of Ayman al-Zawahiri’s Egyptian Islamic Jihad, subsequently folded into Al Qaeda when Dr. al Zawahiri became Osama bin Laden’s Number 2
  • He was jailed for 25 years for his role in Al Qaeda bombings of two US embassies

  • Attacks in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 killed 224 people and injured thousands

  • The former lawyer was released in 2020 and has returned to his London home
    Officials were concerned that his gross obesity would be a risk factor for Covid, so they made him Britain’s problem
  • He was only questioned by officials for one hour before returning to the UK
Related:
Adel Abdel Bary: 2020-12-11 Ex-Bin Laden henchman freed from NJ prison after judge deems him too fat for jail
Adel Abdel Bary: 2020-10-12 Osama bin Laden's ex-London spokesman is ‘freed early from 25 year US jail term because he is at high risk from Covid due to his obesity' and 'will return to the UK within weeks'
Adel Abdel Bary: 2015-02-07 Egyptian jailed in US over Africa embassy bombings
Link


Arabia
Al Qaeda announces death of former Bin Laden associate
2022-01-21
[JPost] The director of SITE Intelligence Group said on Thursday that AQAP (Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula) announced the death of a military commander in a US airstrike in Yemen.

Rita Katz, director of SITE which monitors militants groups online, said the militant group did not mention any date or location for the death of Salih bin Salim bin Ubayd ’Abolan (aka ,, 'Umayr al-Hadhrami) who was also a former associate of Al Qaeda's leader Osama Bin Laden.

Katz pointed to Twitter reports of a US airstrike that killed 3 AQAP militants on Nov. 14.
We apparently missed it when it happened, as I saw nothing in the archives around that time. But now we know. ULULULULULULULULU!!!
Link


India-Pakistan
NIA court convicts 3 al-Qaeda-inspired terrorists in 2016 Mysuru court blast case
2021-10-09
[OneIndia] An NIA court here on Friday convicted three people, who had pledged their allegiance to proscribed terrorist organisation al-Qaeda, for their involvement in the bomb blast in a Mysuru court in 2016, an official said.

Nainar Abbas Ali, M Samsun Karim Raja and Dawood Sulaiman, all residents of Tamil Nadu, have been convicted for their involvement in the bomb blast on August 1, 2016, in a public toilet in the court premises at Chamarajapuram in Karnataka's Mysuru city, the NIA official said. Quantum of punishment will be pronounced on October 11, the official said.

The case was registered against unknown accused. Based on the orders of the MHA, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) re-registered the case and took over the investigation.

The bomb blast in the Mysuru court was one among a series of five explosions by the members of Base Movement, an organisation owing allegiance to al-Qaeda, the NIA official said.

In 2016, they had executed a blast at Chittor Court at Nellore in Andhra Pradesh in April, at Kollam court in Kerala in May, again at a Nellore court in September 2016 and at Mallapuram court in Kerala in November 2016, the official said. Ali and Sulaiman had formed the Base Movement in Tamil Nadu in January 2015, inspired by the ideology of al-Qaeda and its leader Osama Bin Laden, according to the NIA official.

They recruited other accused and hatched a conspiracy to threaten government departments, especially courts, holding them responsible for "atrocities and injustice meted out to a particular religious group", the official said.

They systematically issued threats to prison authorities and police officials of different states and the French Embassy in India. The NIA had filed a charge sheet against Nainar Abbas Ali, Raja and Sulaiman in May 2017 and the trial in the case was concluded in September 2021, the official said.
Related:
Mysuru: 2019-08-18 Possible terror attack puts Bengaluru on very high alert
Related:
Base Movement: 2016-11-30 Indian Agencies Nabs Al-Qaeda Suspects Running Base Movement
Base Movement: 2016-08-10 Mystery group linked to blasts at court complexes and Al Qaeda offshoot sent 3 ‘warnings’
Link


India-Pakistan
Taliban In Pakistan To Fight for 'Greater Afghanistan'
2021-08-15
[LOKMAT] "According to the teachings of Islam, victory of one Muslim necessarily helpful to another Muslim. How Taliban control of Afghanistan will help Pakistani Taliban, time will tell," said the most elusive chief of UN designated terror organisation TTP Noor Wali Mehsud to CNN in an interview.

The dreaded militant leader has a plan in place after the Taliban's takeover of Kabul. He told the channel that the TTP is fighting along with the Taliban in Afghanistan, but the group's main "goal" is to have its "own" independent country.

"Our fight is only in Pakistan and we are at war with the Pakistani forces. We are firmly hoping to take control of Pakistani border regions and make them independent," declared Mehsud from his unclosed hideout in Waziristan near the Durand Line, the disputed border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

TTP's stated objectives are the expulsion of Islamabad's influence in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and neighbouring Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province in Pakistan. Besides, the implementation of a strict interpretation of sharia throughout Pakistan, and the expulsion of Coalition troops from Afghanistan is part of the TTP's playbook. TTP leaders also publicly say that the group seeks to establish an Islamic caliphate in Pakistan that would require the overthrow of the Pakistani Government. TTP has historically maintained close ties to senior al-Qaeda leaders, including Osama Bin Laden.

Page 2

"The TTP is targeting Pakistani Army personnel and CPEC and they are being bolstered by the Afghan Taliban, who want to show their power in territories on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border to assert its power and influence," says one Pakistani analyst.

Meanwhile, the growing popularity of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement PTM) is a matter of concern for the TTP and the Pakistani rulers.

PTM is a secular, democratic movement of young Pashtuns demanding restoration of peace and tranquillity in the tribal areas of restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA. PTM holds Pakistan Army responsible for gross human rights violations in the garb of successive counter terrorist operations in the tribal areas.

On Tuesday, the PTM, which has strongholds in Pakistan's tribal areas, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces, and parts of Karachi, organised the "jalsa" in support of the peace and stability in Afghanistan
Related:
Noor Wali Mehsud: 2021-07-29 Resurgent Terror
Noor Wali Mehsud: 2021-07-28 Taliban victory in Afghanistan is victory of entire Muslims: TTP leader
Noor Wali Mehsud: 2021-02-18 Security Forces Gun Down 3 Terrorists in an Encounter in North Waziristan: ISPR
Related:
Pashtun Tahafuz Movement: 2020-05-05 PTM leader Arif Wazir dies after being attacked in Wana
Pashtun Tahafuz Movement: 2019-09-19 MNAs Ali Wazir, Mohsin Dawar make bail in Kharqamar attack case
Pashtun Tahafuz Movement: 2018-06-05 Ismatullah Muavia sending terrorists to Afghanistan and Kashmir: Nabil
Link



Warning: Undefined property: stdClass::$T in /data/rantburg.com/www/pgrecentorg.php on line 132
-12 More