Security and humanitarian aid for Afghanistan will be the two issues in focus when Hamid Karzai arrives in India today for a two-day State visit. His visit, billed as a goodwill gesture, will seek to address the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan. Issues of humanitarian aid will form the other issue of intense discussion. Good thing to keep in touch with your friends.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/26/2002 ||
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Gulbuddin Hekmatyar has disappeared from his home in Iran's capital after being told to leave the country. Reports of Hekmatyar's disappearance came a day after an Afghan official said he would be treated as a war criminal if he returns to his homeland and as Afghan Prime Minister Hamid Karzai ended a three-day visit to Iran. We're all gonna be so surprised when he turns up in Kandahar, surrounded by gunnies while Gul Agha brings him coffee.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/26/2002 ||
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About 200 fighters for one of northern Afghanistan's key warlords have laid down their weapons in a ceremony that may mark the first step towards broader disarmament. "We have turned a new page," Atta Mohammed told his soldiers marshaled at the 120-year-old Baghjahanuma fort, about 50 miles southeast of the main northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif. "Now is not the time for fighting, now is the time to lay down our guns."
Atta Mohammed, the Tajik leader of the Jamiat-e-Islami faction in the area, and Majid Rozi, a senior lieutenant of Dostum's ethnic Uzbek faction, met in Khulm, where clashes between fighters from both sides killed at least six people and injured dozens of others last week. That's wonderful. Now if they're not slaughtered by troops who've retained their arms, there might be enough incentive for more to give them up. Dostum wants his troops paid before they give up their arms.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/26/2002 ||
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I forgot what I was going to say.
Posted by: Large Angaising5916 ||
07/17/2008 22:24 Comments ||
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Jamaat-i-Islami, district Dir, has decided to form an alliance with other religious parties in the forthcoming general elections to be held in October. JI amir of Dir district, Maulana Asadullah, said there would be a strong contest between the religious parties and what he called the pro-US parties in the general elections. The Jamaat-i-Islami leader alleged that the Musharraf's government was trying to convert the country into a secular state and that the ban on Jihadi organisations and arrest of religious parties' leaders were part of that plan. He urged all the religious parties to shun their differences and form an alliance to thwart the government attempt and wage Jihad against anti-Islamic forces. JI was the Taliban's midwife. Its agenda seems to consist of mindless anti-Americanism and disapproval of sin in all forms. Those members who don't join Jaish or Lashkar and explode still seem to spend an inordinate amount of time waving guns and swords and screaming "Jihad!"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/26/2002 ||
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U.S. and European officials say they have scored an important advance in their efforts to disrupt the biggest weapons-trafficking network in the world, responsible for supplying the Taliban and terrorist groups from al Qaeda in Afghanistan to the Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines, as well as rebel forces in Africa. For the past three years, U.S. intelligence agencies have been trying to thwart the sprawling arms empire of Victor Bout, a former Soviet military officer based in the United Arab Emirates. Bout's network is unique because of its ability to deliver sophisticated weapon systems virtually anywhere in the world. Bout specialized in breaking arms embargoes around the world. He traffics almost exclusively in weapons bought in the former Soviet bloc, chiefly Bulgaria and Romania.
Sanjivan Ruprah, a suspected top associate of Bout's is under arrest in Belgium, and investigators say he is providing fresh, inside information on how the arms network functions. While Bout has long been suspected of supplying weapons to the Taliban, officials said intelligence gathered in recent months in Afghanistan and elsewhere has provided new details. Before the arrest, Ruprah, had secretly been in contact with U.S. officials, providing them with information about Bout. "Oh, ye masters of war..."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/26/2002 ||
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A date for joint Israel-Palestinian security talks was set, while the EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana will also travel to Saudi Arabia for talks on a Saudi peace initiative gaining support across the region. Israeli, Palestinian and US officials are to meet in Tel Aviv, but an Israeli minister warned that the army could re-occupy Palestinian towns to flush out extremists. The head of preventive security in the Gaza Strip, Mohammed Dahlan said the Palestinians at the security meeting "will repeat our call for the Israelis to end assassinations and the shelling of Palestinian offices."
The Palestinians broke off security cooperation Sunday after Israel ended its siege of Yasser Arafat's Ramallah compound but refused to allow the Palestinian leader him to leave the West Bank town, where he has been trapped by troops since early December. Arafat met Monday with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who is on a five-day regional tour, and said he had been persuaded to resume security talks with Israel designed to curb the raging violence. It looks like both sides are pinning a bit of hope on the Saudi proposals. They represent a convenient way out of the corner Yasser's painted himself into, while the Israelis are being pushed by their peace lobby into grasping at what's probably a chimera. If the Saudi proposal actually gets close to implementation, look for a fresh round of particularly bloody Hamas and/or Islamic Jihad attacks to derail it. A hundred years from now, some academic going through some dusty records will note with passing curiosity that the order for the blow-up came from Riyadh.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/26/2002 ||
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Security forces shot dead a Hizbul Mujahideen and arrested two others in separate operations in North Kashmir since Monday night. The gunnie was killed in an encounter with security forces at Watapora. An AK rifle, four magazines, 64 rounds, a wireless set and six grenades were recovered from him. Security also forces nabbed a thug from Chak-i-Reshipora and recovered a pistol and some ammunition from him. Another snuffy was apprehended by the security forces in Kupwara district on Tuesday. Four grenades, 50 rounds and three magazines were recovered from him. Jammu and Kashmir must be such a lovely place, with crazed killers frolicking over hill and dale, gaily waving their guns.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/26/2002 ||
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The United States pressed Pakistan to extradite the confessed "mastermind" behind the abduction of Daniel Pearl. The US ambassador to Pakistan spoke with President Pervez Musharraf about extraditing Sheikh Omar, also wanted over the 1994 kidnapping of an American along with three Britons in 1994. Officials would not say how Musharraf responded when Ambassador Wendy Chamberlin raised Omar's potential extradition. The two countries do not have an extradition treaty, but Pakistan extradited two suspects wanted in 1993 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and outside the Central Intelligence Agency headquarters near Washington. Our expectation would be politely regretful refusal, coupled with some sort of cock and bull explanation. But the Paks are kinda backed into a corner, with Musharraf's tough words on terrorism. Agreement will cause a sharp spike in toilet paper consumption within the ISI. It's doubtful any life insurance salemen will be calling on the Sheikh family any time soon.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/26/2002 ||
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Gunmen sprayed gunfire at a Shiite Muslim mosque in Rawalpindi, killing at least nine in the first major sectarian attack since a nationwide crackdown on extremism was announced last month. Three gunmen drove to the mosque and shot up a group of Shiite worshippers in Shah-Najam mosque. Nine people were killed and twelve more injured in the attack. Two of the three gunmen entered the mosque began spraying automatic gunfire at about 28 worshippers. Interior Secretary Tasneem Noorani said, "This clearly appears to be a sectarian attack. It (sectarianism) has been curbed in the past, but to expect that everything will fall in line is expecting too much," Noorani said. "But we are determined to wipe out this terrorism from Pakistan and will continue to make our best efforts. This government will do whatever needs to be done to prevent such attacks and bring the culprits to justice." More than 2,000 people have been killed in the past decade in sectarian violence in Sunni Muslim-majority Pakistan, where Shiites make up about 20 percent of the population. Y'see, Islam is a religion of tolerance and peace. Its practioners are capable of living in harmony with Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Shiites, Sufis, Druzes, Jews - well, maybe not Jews - and all the other lesser orders, unless they get out of line.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/26/2002 ||
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I forgot what I was going to say.
Posted by: Herb Snomoter6787 ||
10/01/2008 15:08 Comments ||
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I forgot what I was going to say.
Posted by: Andy Spomoter2328 ||
10/05/2008 14:59 Comments ||
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A bomb explosion overnight outside the Italian interior ministry rattled authorities days after they claimed to have foiled a terrorist plot to bomb the United States embassy. The crude explosive device -- believed to have been attached to a scooter parked on the sidewalk behind some trash cans -- had the power to cause serious devastation. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said the attack was a "a worrying sign. It would be a mistake to underestimate it."
Police last week arrested a group of Moroccans they believe were plotting to bomb the US embassy in Rome, but a top anti-terrorist prosecutor, Stefano Dambruoso, said the bombing was more likely linked to "internal subversion," rather than international terrorism. "This internal phenomenon has a life parallel to that of international terrorism and recurs from time to time," Dambruoso said. Nothing to worry about. Just some of the paisans playing with dynamite.
This set of incidents would imply that the Italians and Europeans in general have more to worry about concerning terrorism than the US on a daily basis. We just get the graduates from their elementary school classes in the case of the WTC attacks, although our home grown nuts like McVeigh are bad enough to make the moped bombers look silly. Posted by Tom Roberts 2/26/2002 4:12:29 PM
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/26/2002 ||
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Saudi Arabiaâs grand mufti strongly defended Islam against terrorism charges made in the West in the wake of the September 11 attacks on the United States. 'It is unfair to associate Islam with terrorism,' Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh told more than two million Muslims gathered near Makkah for the annual pilgrimage in a sermon broadcast live on Saudi state television. 'Terrorism equals tyranny and injustice, and these are alien to Islam,' he said. 'How can terrorism be linked to a religion which orders respect for human life ... (a religion which advocates) justice and promotes peace rather than war?' Sheikh Abdul Aziz asked. Well, we might dwell on the difference between word and deed. Empirical evidence would seem to indicate that those committing the atrocities were Muslims, motivated by a Muslim or pseudo-Muslim doctrine, to including wild-eyed shrieking muftis demanding death to infidels. Cause and effect being a Western idea, the connection might be too subtle for the grand mufti to catch.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/26/2002 ||
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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.
