Forces loyal to Herat Governor Ismail Khan have arrested a former Taliban militia commander, Mulla Wali Jan, who is said to have led an attack on the Iranian consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif in 1998. Since his arrest, the former militia commander has been locked up in Herat jail. The attack left eight Iranian diplomats and two journalists dead. The Herat court will try the commander after it starts functioning under the 1932 constitution, which was revived after the fall of the Taliban government. Sure hope we're supporting Ismail Khan as much or more than we're supporting crooks like Gul Agha Shirzai. He's one of the few Afghan leaders who's actually looking out for his fiefdom.
This article starring:
MULLA WALI JAN
Taliban
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01/04/2002 ||
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U.S. ground troops, working closely with Afghan fighters, conducted house-to-house searches around Baghran, where Kabul officials said they were fairly certain ex-potentate Mullah Omar was hiding. Earlier, Afghanistan's Minister for Reconstruction told Germany's ARD television he believed Omar had been captured. Australia's ABC television said it had heard the same from a senior official of the Northern Alliance. U.S. military officials denied knowledge of it. "Hi, Mrs Abdullah. Is Omar home? Well, if you see him, tell him we were looking for him, okay?"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/04/2002 ||
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A U.S. Army Special Forces soldier was killed by small-arms fire in eastern Afghanistan, the first member of the American military to die from enemy fire inside the war-torn country in the three-month-old campaign. A CIA officer was wounded in the shootout but was expected to survive. Mopping up is the most dangerous part. Surprised we've gone this long without taking a real combat fatality. Sadly, he probably won't be the last.
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Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf attended a royal banquet. The meeting was the first since the leaders had put their armies on war alert, but they showed no signs they might discuss a peaceful resolution. There appeared to be little chance they would have substantive talks during the SAARC summit, already shortened by the Pakistani President's late arrival. When newspersons were allowed to photograph the seven South Asian leaders gathered for the first time in three years, Vajpayee and Musharraf stood at the opposite ends of the line of dignitaries. Doesn't sound real promising. "Vajpayee had the fish sticks, Musharraf the meat loaf. At one point Vajpayee acknowledged the presence of Musharraf by passing him the salt when asked. After the banquet both leaders returned to their rooms."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
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Hurriyat Conference has decided to send a three-member delegation to Delhi to meet diplomats of different countries to find an "honorable and fair" solution to the Kashmir issue. Comprising Jamaat-e-Islami leader Syed Ahah Geelani, J&K Peoples Conference chairman Abdul Gani Lone and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front president Mohammad Yassen Malik, the delegation will leave shortly. The delegation "will meet envoys of different countries and stress ... an honourable and fair solution to the lingering Kashmir issue to ensure peace and tranquility and a secure future". Hmmm. Interesting development. They could simply be stepping out of the path of an on-coming bus. Trouble is, if they work something out, someone else will ignore it, tarring them with the same duplicitous brush. And if they were to work out something that was actually enforceable, someone will shoot them.
"It is time for Pakistan government to re-assess its Kashmir policy of supporting militancy and shift emphasis to diplomatic, political and human rights issues concerning Kashmir cause," said former information minister Mushahid Hussain. He said Pakistan should stop playing of favorites in supporting leaders in Kashmir since a similar policy had backfired in Afghanistan. "We must respect feelings and choices of the Kashmiri people and should not intervene in their internal affairs to the extent that they start distancing themselves from us," he said. Former director general of Institute of Strategic Studies of Pakistan Lt Gen (Retired) Kamal Mateenuddin said the military government should bring about fundamental changes in the Kashmir policy by first asking all militant groups to wind up their activities from Pakistani soil. That's good thinking. A little less jihad and a little closer to norms of international behavior does it. It's also good thinking to have people you don't like start your cars, to have other people you don't like taste your food at meals, and not to walk down any dark alleys, at least for awhile. Know whudda mean?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/04/2002 ||
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A Pakistani ISI agent and four of his accomplices were arrested in West Bengal. The agent confessed that he had been collecting information on 33 Corps army headquarters in Siliguri. The raid led to the recovery of half a kilo of RDX, a grenade, arms and floppy disc on Army installations, restricted Army maps, Army special train movement maps and pocket diaries listing a large number of telephone numbers in Pakistan and the UAE. Sounds like a very painful experience. This is a real bad time to be him.
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01/04/2002 ||
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14 of the 20 thugs, killers and "criminal masterminds" India has requested Pakistan to extradite have Interpol "Red Corner" notices on them. An Interpol notice against Jammu and Kahsmir Liberation Front chief Amanullah Khan has been pending for over a decade and Pakistan had taken no action despite the fact that Amanullah Khan lives in Rawalpindi and is a known figure. "Red Corner" warrants are issued only after the agency is satisfied with the evidence submitted by a requesting country. No doubt the Paks were just about to get around to picking them up. Someone might try explaining this sort of thing to the Fifth Columnists who keep whining about how rather than conducting military operations we should be getting warrants from "the International Criminal Court" to "bring the perpetrators to justice."
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01/04/2002 ||
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Pakistan has arrested more than 130 militants, including leaders of Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad. "The crackdown which started last night is still going on," Javed Iqbal Cheema said. LeT and JeM were among those detained. The Sunni extremist Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan said police rounded up more than 200 of its supporters in overnight sweeps while a Shiite radical group Tehreek-e-Jafria Pakistan said 100 of its members were detained. Now, you might not think that rounding up significant numbers of wild-eyed gunmen and religious lunatics would have much of an effect on the quality of public discourse, but you might be surprised.
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01/04/2002 ||
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Pakistan called on India to pull back its troops, saying that "maybe their whole Army" was deployed at its border. "We feel the Indian government must pull back ... to de-escalate tensions," Pakistani spokesman Rashid Qureshi said in Kathmandu ahead of the SAARC summit. Of course they've got a a lot of troops. They've got a billion people, fer cat's sake! Where'd you think they were gonna put them? France?
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01/04/2002 ||
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British Prime Minister Tony Blair said "of course, Pakistan has a very strong position on Kashmir and they are entitled to that political position but I think most people recognise and indeed the action of (Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf) has demonstrated that there cannot be any place for the type of terrorist act that we have seen in the past few weeks. Therefore, what is necessary is for the action to be taken against terrorism and then for the situation to be de-escalated to be calmed down. I will try to talk to both sides in order to make sure that we exercise as great a calming influence as possible." Translated: "Hmmm. Yasss. Both sides have their points. Perhaps we should stop the indiscriminate killing of women, children, puppies, kittens and baby ducks so we can discuss them." That's guaranteed to frost both sides.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/04/2002 ||
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Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee urged the SAARC summit to focus on economic issues and warned that politics should not hold up the regional body. Vajpayee sought to shift attention at the summit of the seven-member South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, away from mounting tensions between India and Pakistan. What the hell kind of economic policies are you gonna have to implement when you're radioactive?
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01/04/2002 ||
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Iran claims it has no military cooperation arrangements with the Palestinians. "Every day, the Zionist regime is making baseless claims and takes undue advantage of the indifference of international forums to the suppression of Palestinians in order to increase its inhumane activities," a foreign ministry spokesman said. Of course not. It's just business. Strictly business.
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In denying the smuggling accusations, Palestinian officials said the Israeli government made the allegations to sabotage American mediator Sisyphus Anthony Zinni's mission. Damn those perfidious Jews. They do that all the time. Just your typical Mossad frame-up operation.
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Israeli commandos raided a vessel in the Red Sea, capturing 50 tons of Iranian-made weapons being smuggled in by members of Yasser Arafat's security forces. The vessel was seized in international waters about 300 miles from Israel's Red Sea port Eilat in a joint operation by Israel's navy, air force and intelligence services. The vessel had been bought by the Palestinian Authority and the captain and several crew were members of the Palestinian naval police. Chairman-for-Life Yasser Arafat denied any knowledge of the shipment and offered his full cooperation and a full investigation. Cold with your pants down, ain't it, Yasser? And you know they're still gonna bill you for all that stuff. And I'll betcha they won't give the boat back, either.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/04/2002 ||
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A suspected anti-Catholic militant was killed when the pipe bomb he was carrying exploded in his face. William Moore Campbell, 19, died when the bomb exploded outside an abandoned house in Coleraine. Police said the victim lived nearby and the house was being used by Protestant paramilitary outlaws to store weapons. Faith and Begorrah! The lad's whole day was ruined, do doubt. 'Tis sad, the low-quality explosives we get these days.
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Malaysian authorities have arrested 13 people they suspect may be linked to Sept. 11 terrorist suspect Zacarias Moussaoui. Authorities accuse the suspects of belonging to an Islamic militant group that Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad says aimed to topple the government and establish a hardline Islamic state comprising Malaysia, Indonesia and the southern Philippines. The suspects belonged to a wing of the Kumpulan Militan Malaysia. The group, also known as the Malaysian Mujahadin Group, trained in Afghanistan and has links with Islamic extremist organizations in Indonesia and the Philippines. It's like picking lice off the body politic.
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The imam of the Grand Mosque in Mecca slammed Western arrogance saying, that it thrives on humiliating and subjugating other nations. Sheikh Saleh ibn Humeid said in his Friday sermon, televised around the world by satellite channels, that there is a huge gap between theory and practice of the Western principles of democracy, freedom and human rights. Today's world order is "dark, characterized by arrogance, haughtiness, humiliation and disdain. It is characterized by tyranny, suppression of peoples and nations, domination and monopolization," the imam said. "What kind of principles are these that create hatred, and educational systems that allow humiliation (of others)? What kind of a system is this that sows arrogance and conceit?" Those Learned Elders of Islam get downright huffy when they can't have their way, don't they?
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
