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Afghanistan
Nangahar Nastiness: Taliban big turbans arrested, ISIS turbans permanently unwound
2018-02-06
Taliban leader in charge of recruitment arrested with another insurgent

[Khaama Press] A Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
local leader who was in charge of the recruitment of fighters has been locked away
Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up!
along with another bully boy in eastern Nangarhar
The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country..
province of Afghanistan.

The governor’s office in Nangarhar in a statement said the two Taliban group members were arrested during the separate operations of the Afghan intelligence operatives.

The statement further added that Taliban’s recruitment chief Mawlavi Rafiullah was arrested from the vicinity of the 4th police district of Jalalabad city.

According to the provincial government, Mawlavi Rafiullah is originally a resident of Khogyani district of Nangarhar.

In another operation conducted in Shirzad district, a member of the Taliban group identified as Mullah Sabir was arrested by the security forces.

Mullah Sabir was actively involved in destructive activities in Shirzad district, the statement said, adding that the two detainees have confessed to their crimes.

The anti-government armed bully boy groups including the Taliban holy warriors have not commented regarding the report so far.

This comes as operations are underway in various parts of Nangarhar province to suppress the anti-government armed bully boy groups.

The 201st Silab Corps said Saturday that nine holy warriors affiliated with the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
terror group were killed during the air and ground operations in Achin district.

Clash among Lashkar-e-Islam and ISIS leaves 9 dead in Nangarhar

[Khaama Press] A clash has taken place between the Lashkar-e-Islami militants and loyalists of the Islamic State terrorist group in eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan.

The 201st Silab Corps said the incident took place in the vicinity of Mamand Dara area of Achin district leaving nine militants dead from both sides.

The Silab Corps in a statement said at least three Lashkar-e-Islam
...a group of Islamic bandidos infesting Khyber Agency. It's headed by a former bus driver....
i and six ISIS militants were among those killed.

The statement further added that three Lashkar-e-Islam and four ISIS militants have also sustained injuries during the clash.

The ISIS loyalists have not commented regarding the clash with the Lashkar-e-Islam militants so far.

25 ISIS militants killed in the latest airstrikes in Nangarhar

At least twenty militants affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group were killed in the airstrikes conducted in eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan.

The 201st Silab Corps of the Afghan Military in the East said the latest airstrikes were carried out in the vicinity of Achin district.

According to the Silab Corps, the militants were targeted in Mamand Dara area of the district and as a result at least 25 insurgents were killed.

The anti-government armed militant groups including the ISIS insurgents have not commented regarding the report so far.

This comes as the local officials said Saturday at least three ISIS militants were killed in drone strikes in this province. The officials further added that the airstrikes were carried out by the unmanned aerial vehicles of the US forces in Haska Mina district. According to the officials, some weapons, ammunition, and explosives of the terror group were also eliminated during the airstrikes.

Afghan force conduct raid on a key hideout of Taliban in Nangarhar

[Khaama Press] The Afghan national defense and security forces have conducted a raid on a key hideout of the Taliban group in eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan.

The provincial government media office in a statement said the raid was conducted late on Sunday night in the vicinity of Khogyani district.

The statement further added that the raid was conducted by the Special Operations Forces of the Afghan intelligence directorate and as a result at least nine insurgents were killed.

At least three Taliban commanders were also among those killed, the statement said, adding that the another suspected insurgent was captured alive.

The Taliban commanders killed during the operation have been identified as Ayoub famous as Malik Agha, Alli and Qasab.

The Nangarhar governor’s office also added that the Afghan security forces confiscated some weapons, ammunition, explosives, and some other equipment during the operation and were later destroyed by the security personnel.

The local residents and security personnel have not suffered any casualties during the operation, the statement said.

The anti-government armed militant groups including the Taliban insurgents have not commented regarding the report so far.
Link


India-Pakistan
Pakistani Taliban changing tactics
2011-09-28
ISLAMABAD - The attack on Monday by a jacket wallah who rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into the residence of a senior police official spearheading a campaign against the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) in the commercial capital Bloody Karachi makes it abundantly clear that the shock waves from the 9/11 terror attacks a decade ago show few signs of abating.

The Bloody Karachi suicide kaboom was in keeping with the change in TTP tactics as the group has apparently decided to target top coppers and military officials involved in counterterrorism efforts. The change in tactic shows increasingly desperation because the TTP is now attacking soft targets, such as homes of law-enforcement officials in large cities, which are bound to be relatively unsecured, as opposed to government or military installations.
Pakistain has suffered 305 suicide kabooms, the death of 4,847 people and injury of 10,227 others at the hands of al-Qaeda and Taliban-linked gunnies in the aftermath of the 2001 terror attacks on New York and Washington. Bloody Karachi, Pakistain's largest city, main seaport and key financial center, which is also the capital of Sindh province, is one of the biggest sources of the Pak Taliban's funds through criminal activities like kidnappings and bank robberies.

Bloody Karachi has not seen as many TTP-sponsored suicide kabooms as other major cities, but it is home to thousands of the group's faceless myrmidons who have decamped army operations in the tribal areas. The first vehicle-borne suicide kaboom in Pakistain was carried out in Bloody Karachi on May 8, 2002, when a human bomb drove his car into the side of a bus outside the Sheraton Hotel, killing 14 people including 11 French naval technicians.

Aslam Khan, the police senior superintendent who heads the anti-extremist cell of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Bloody Karachi, survived the September 19 attack after a double-cabin vehicle packed with C4 explosives was rammed into the main gate at his residence in the heavily guarded Defence Housing Area at 7.30 am. Eight people including six coppers, a woman and a child, were killed. The proscribed TTP quickly grabbed credit for the attack, saying Aslam had been responsible for the arrest of many of its key operatives.

"We will continue targeting all such coppers who are involved in the killing of our jihadi comrades," TTP front man Ehsanullah Ehsan said when claiming responsibility for the attack.

The Bloody Karachi suicide kaboom was in keeping with the change in TTP tactics as the group has apparently decided to target top coppers and military officials involved in counterterrorism efforts. The change in tactic shows increasingly desperation because the TTP is now attacking soft targets, such as homes of law-enforcement officials in large cities, which are bound to be relatively unsecured, as opposed to government or military installations. The deaths of family members and neighbors would seem of little consequence to the attackers.

The attack came less than two weeks after another human bomb on September 7 rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into the Quetta residence of the deputy inspector general of the Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
Frontier Corps, killing his wife and 24 others in a high-security zone in the city.

The Frontier Corps deputy inspector was targeted bomb because he was involved in the capture of Younis al-Mauritani, a senior member of al-Qaeda's external operations council, and his two aides, Abdul Ghaffar Al-Shami and Messara al-Shami. The three al-Qaeda operatives were tossed in the calaboose in a suburb of Quetta during a joint operation between the Balochistan Frontier Corps and the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate.

The bombing was the TTP's second attempt in 10 months to assassinate Aslam Khan, who has repeatedly vowed to break the back of the TTP and crush its strong network in the port city, where it works in tandem with sectarian and bad boy groups. Monday's attack, which destroyed or damaged neighboring houses and killed many innocents in the posh area of Bloody Karachi, has once again highlighted that the war against al-Qaeda-linked Taliban gunnies is no longer confined to the tribal belt of Pakistain but has reached the urban centers - be it Quetta, Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Lahore or Bloody Karachi.

The previous attempt to assassinate Aslam Khan was also made by a human bomber, who rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into the Bloody Karachi headquarters of the CID on November 11, 2010. Aslam and other officers of the CID - Fayyaz Khan, Omar Shahid and Mazhar Mashwani - who oversee the anti-extremism cell and run counter-terrorism operations in the port city, beat feet unhurt. The attack began as an armed assault and ended with a truck bomb that killed at least 20 people and injured over 100 others. The CID building was being used to interrogate suspects belonging to TTP and other banned bad boy groups. The attack was carried out a day after Aslam had tossed in the calaboose six activists of the TTP-linked sectarian-cum jihadi group - Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
... a 'more violent' offshoot of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain. LeJ's purpose in life is to murder anyone who's not of utmost religious purity, starting with Shiites but including Brelvis, Ahmadis, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Rosicrucians, and just about anyone else you can think of. They are currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of al-Qaeda ...
(LeJ).

Aslam and his team members largely succeeded in breaking the TTP network in Bloody Karachi by arresting three successive ameers of the Bloody Karachi chapter of the group in recent months - Akhtar Zaman Mehsud and his successors Bahadur Khan Momand and Maulvi Saeed Anwer. This invited the wrath of the Bloody Karachi chapter of the TTP, which has links with faceless myrmidons in the country's tribal areas and with al-Qaeda and several banned bad boy and sectarian outfits. Therefore, the TTP's claim of responsibility soon after the September 19 attack came as little surprise.

Aslam told news hounds he had been receiving threats from the al-Qaeda-linked Pak Taliban. "I was sleeping when they carried out this cowardly act and rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into my house," Aslam told the media outside his ruined residence. "But let me tell you, I will not be cowed. I will teach a lesson to generations of these bad boys. I did not know that these bully boyz were such cowards that they would attack sleeping children."

Due to the nature of his work, the enemies of Aslam in the jihadi circles of Bloody Karachi are as countless and varied as the techniques he himself has used to arrest them. They range from the TTP and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) to drug-runners and hit mans belonging to several major political parties, especially the Muttahida Qaumi Movement
...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead...
(MQM).

Well-informed circles in the security agencies said the Bloody Karachi suicide attack was an attempt to demoralize law enforcement agencies, especially the Sindh Police CID, which in recent days has identified more than two dozen myrmidon bad boy and sectarian outfits in Bloody Karachi for a possible crackdown once the hunt for politically-backed hit mans is over. Prominent alongside the TTP and LeJ among these sectarian and jihadi groups are also: Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Al Alami, Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain, Sipah-e-Muhammad Pakistain, Sunni Tehrik, Daawat-e-Islami, Harkatul Mujahideen, Harkatul Mujahideen Al Alami, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Jamaatul Furqaan, Harkatul Jehadul Islami, Jundallah, Tehrik-e-Islami , Lashkar-e-Muhammadi, Lashkar-e-Islami, Mehdi Militia, Hezbullies, and Tawheed Brigade.

Security sources said some TTP-linked elements had distributed a leaflet in various outskirts of Bloody Karachi in the first week of July, carrying a "hit list" of anti-jihadi personalities, threatening that they would be killed along with family members. The pamphlet justified jihad and urged "pure Mohammedans" to rise up against elements creating problems for jihadis who were described as the defenders of Islam and Pakistain.

According to the leaflet, the definition of a criminal had been changed in recent times. "Previously, it was used for robbers and dacoits, but after 9/11 the term is being used for those who are sincere with the religion of Islam and want to wage jihad against the forces of the infidel."

Those declared "liable to be killed" in the TTP pamphlet, along with the CID's Aslam Khan, included: Capital City Police Officer Bloody Karachi Saud Mirza; CID superintendent Fayyaz Khan; Anti-Violent Crime Unit Chief Farooq Awam; Special Investigation Unit chief Raja Omar Khattab; former Director General of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Wasim Ahmed; Sunni Deobandi scholar Mufti Mohammad Naeem, Shia scholar Mirza Yousuf Baig; and Muttahida Qaumi Movement leader Haider Abbas Rizvi. Television artists and anchors and some Bloody Karachi-based journalists were also on the list.

The TTP front man, Ehsanullah Ehsan, while claiming responsibility for the Bloody Karachi suicide kaboom, stated, "Aslam Khan was on our hit list and his name will only be removed after he is killed. But let me tell you frankly, he is not the only one on our hit list. There are many other officers of the Bloody Karachi Police on our hit list who will be targeted and killed soon for having sided with the forces of the infidel".
Link


India-Pakistan
TTP-LI clash leaves 9 dead
2010-06-06
At least seven militants and two civilians were killed on Saturday in an armed clash between the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Lashkar-e-Islami (LI) in the Tabai Bazaar area of Zakha Khel. The clash erupted when TTP militants reportedly kidnapped a man of the other militant group. The Lashkar-e-Islami militants surrounded a TTP hideout in the Tabai Bazaar area where nine people, including two passers-by, were killed in the exchange of fire between the two groups. Two militant commanders were also killed in the clash after which the Lashkar-e-Islami abducted another two TTP militants, said sources at the political administration, confirming the incident.
Link


India-Pakistan
5 terrorists killed, 18 arrested in Bara operation
2010-04-28
BARA: Security forces killed five terrorists, including two commanders, and arrested another 18 during an operation in tehsil Bara of Khyber Agency, sources said on Tuesday. The operation was launched at the Akakhel area in which two commanders, including five activists of the defunct Lashkar-e-Islami (LI) were killed, sources said. They said that 18 terrorists were also arrested during the operation.

According to sources, a curfew has been imposed in Akakhel, Zawa and Qambarkhel areas since yesterday, which has added to the miseries of the people. The operation in Bara was launched some months ago, in which a large number of terrorists have died and been injured.

Separately, Khasadar Force personnel along with tribal police arrested Syed Ameen, son of Ayub Jan on having alleged ties with terrorists, during a raid at the Ghundai area of tehsil Jamrud.
Link


India-Pakistan
LI publicly executes 'kidnappers' in Khyber
2009-07-31
The Lashkar-e-Islami (LI) executed four men on Thursday after pronouncing them guilty of abduction and murder at a self-styled court, witnesses and a spokesman said. The executions by firing squad took place near Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency. The LI announced the impending execution by mosque loudspeakers in Bar Qambarkhel village, 10 kilometres northwest of Bara, late on Wednesday and urged locals to witness the killings, a local tribesman told AFP. "Four blindfolded criminals with hands tied behind their backs were brought by LI men and lined up outside the mosque. Four LI fighters sprayed bullets, killing them on the spot," said witness Malik Qasim Khan Afridi. The killings were carried out after morning prayers, he said. "The execution of four men allegedly involved in abduction and murder of innocent people was carried out after a sharia court procedure," said LI spokesman Haji Zar Khan. Ulas Khan Afridi, a 35-year-old shopkeeper, who lives near the mosque, said an LI member announced the execution soon after Fajr prayers.
Link


India-Pakistan
'Mehsud network being targeted with precision'
2009-07-23
The government is targeting the terror network run by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Baitullah Mehsud with precision, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Wednesday.
That's in line with their complaints about the offensive in Afghanistan. If they're only going after the Baitullah network that means ISI thinks they've still got control of the other Taligroups, regardless of any evidence to the contrary.
In an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro, Malik said Baitullah would be pursued until the elimination of his terror network.
Thereby leaving his rival networks and any parallel networks in place -- viz., Mangal Bagh's Lashkar-e-Islami.
He said the government wanted to undertake anti-terror operations in all insurgency-hit areas in order to maintain pressure on the Taliban.
But only on the rogue pieces of the Taliban. The rest of it, including Uzbeks, Chechens, and Arabian riff-raff, a tools to be used in maintaining "strategic depth."
The interior minister said the operation in South Waziristan Agency was not aimed at any particular tribe, but at the terror network operating in the area.
To reiterate: Only at Baitullah, not at anybody else.
Determination: "The government is determined to combat the Taliban and to put an end to terrorism. If we don't do it now, it will spread to the whole of the region and exacerbate the threat for the whole world," he said.
But they're not doing anything at all about Haqqani network facilities...
To a question on the results of the offensive in Swat, he said the army had the support of the entire population, adding that the displaced people were returning to their homes and denouncing the terrorists. "We have discovered many caches of arms. The big difference with the previous operations is that this time we have public opinion on our side. It denounces the Taliban," Malik said.

To a query about cooperation with Afghanistan in the war on terror, the interior minister said the two countries had a "common enemy and must have a common strategy."

"It is urgent that we control the border. Thirty-five thousand Afghans or Pakistanis cross it without a visa or a passport. We have set up biometrics checkpoints. We have agreed to open an emergency telephone link and exchange information."

"During the ongoing operation, among the 1,500 arrests that we made, 90 percent concerned Afghans. There is no way through in the other direction. We are calling for reciprocal measures," he said.
Interesting statistic, given that so many Taliban on the Afghan side of the border turn out to be Paks...
Referring to another question about the past strategies on the issue of terrorism, the interior minister said mistakes had been made in the past due to a lack of understanding that created doubts. "We have decided to be transparent and to respond to terrorism with democracy. Dictatorships have too often favoured terrorism," he added. About his objectives to visit Paris, Malik replied that he and his French counterpart Brice Hortefeux had agreed to cooperate in the fight against terrorism and to exchange information.
Link


India-Pakistan
How to reverse the militancy crisis
2009-02-06
by Charles Ferndale

A frequent cause of the human animal's capacity for self-deception is arrogance coupled with wishful thinking. When Robert Gates, the American secretary of defence, said recently something to the effect that America could not afford the money or time to create some sort of Valhalla in the NWFP, if that was what was required to defeat the militancy there, he was deluded by arrogance. Does he think it can be done on the cheap, according to America's timetable?
Probably it can't be done at all. Ignorance and misplaced arrogance are considered virtues in the NWFP. The locals don't take kindly to outsiders trying to tinker with their age-old culture. For that matter, they don't take kindly to insiders doing so.
Valhalla, in Norse mythology, is a great hall to which half of those who die in battle go and where they then live in peace. I doubt that Gates had read up on his Norse mythology. What he intended to say was that America could not afford to create an ideal land in the NWFP just to put an end to the militancy there. But what Mr Gates failed to realise is that, in the troubled areas of Pakistan, paradise is having something to eat, is not freezing to death, is not having one's family killed and injured, is not having one's home destroyed; in short, is not being terrorised. And Mr Gates seems to have overlooked the fact that this tragedy is a direct consequence of American foreign policy since 1977. Since the Americans made the dreadful mess, they should pay to have it cleaned up.
What if we say we can't afford it, and the locals don't want the mess cleaned up, and we walk away from it?
Mr Gates should make up his mind whether or not the present American administration wants seriously to help defeat the militants.
Killing them actually does defeat them. Ask Sri Lanka.
Successive US administrations have claimed that defeating the militants is vital for the security of the rest of the world, so presumably they should be deeply committed to that end. Pakistan can certainly not afford to do what is necessary alone. If the Americans really do want victory over the militants, then they must do whatever it takes.
That would ideally involve killing the bad guyz where they're found, which would include Chitral and Miran Shah and even Quetta, if necessary.
Here is what I think is the minimum that must be done in order to defeat the militants:
Oh, pray tell on...
-- The Americans should guarantee Pakistan against any first attack from India, so that the Pakistani Army can concentrate fully on the troubles on its western border.
Let us count the number of times India has attacked Pakistain.
  • In 1947 Pak forces attacked and occupied approximately 33 percent of Kashmire and Jammu. This resulted in the local maharajah acceding his principality to India, the creation of the line of control, and Pak keeping Pak-occupied Kashmire.

  • In 1965, Pak forces tried to infiltrate Jammu and Kashmire. The Indians beat them up, taking their own lumps in the process, and the Treaty of Tashkent reestablished the status quo ante.

  • In 1971 Pakistain so oppressed its Bengali-speaking population in East Pakistain that they allied themselves with India in their liberation war.

  • And in 1999 the Paks tried swarming across the Line of Control and shelling Indian positions, initiating the Kargil War.
  • A quick analysis of these four wars reveals that 1.) in no case has India attacked Pakistain and 2.) in no case has Pakistain won.

    -- The militants' sources of finance should be discovered and stopped. No insurgency can survive without a continuous supply of money. If, as many Pakistanis believe, a major source of funds is the Indian intelligence agency, RAW, then America must make India an offer they cannot refuse.
    Every time somebody goes "kaboom" in Pakistain the government whips out the "hidden hand" story. Within a day or two it comes out that it wasn't insidious (Subcontinental) foreigners, but Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which is an al-Qaeda front, or one of its taste-alikes. When there's been an open-source money trace discussed, it's originated in the UAE or thereabouts -- let's just politely say "the Arabian peninsula." No doubt the masterminds at RAW are operating through Arab frontmen and disguising the money as the donations of The Faithful.
    -- The resupply of arms must be stopped by whatever means it takes.
    I've always found that arms supply question really interesting. Afghanistan's a landlocked country and yet its southern third has more arms per square foot than anyplace in the world, with the exception of the western third of Pakistain. How does all that armament get in without anybody noticing? Once it's in, do Pashtun children file off all the serial numbers and other identifying data so that the hardware becomes untraceable?If I was still in the intel bidniz, which regrettably I'm not, I'd have a big map on the wall in my office with the paths of all those guns and ammo traced out in different colors, showing where they came from, when, and who paid for them -- and who waved them through customs.
    -- Anyone who has studied guerrilla warfare will know that the single most powerful weapon that can be used against insurgents is inside knowledge, so the militants must be infiltrated. They are too smart and too closed a society to be infiltrated from outside, so their own people should be induced by whatever means it takes--one of which is money--to inform on their colleagues.
    We're doing that. Every once in awhile somebody's head's chopped off in one of the Wazoos.
    -- Whatever information is gained from infiltration of the insurgents must not be allowed to leak back to the insurgents, which, given the supposed sympathy for militancy within the ISI, cannot be guaranteed except by setting up sealed cells within the intelligence services.
    Thank you, Captain Obvious. This is why ISI doesn't get advance notification of dronezaps or special operations raids.
    -- A study of successful counter-insurgencies shows that conventional armies do not do well against insurgents.
    Depends on the situation. Lanka's doing just fine at the moment, thankew. The Ethiops did find against the Islamic Courts. The Northern Alliance did just fine against the Talibs. And the Russers, using an army of draftees with some fairly incompetent officers, did pretty well against the Chechens once they'd leveled most of Grozny (which is Russian for Terrible).
    What is needed is undercover special forces who are as hard to detect as are the insurgents.
    Those'd be the hunter-killer teams I've talked about a time or two here. They have a definite place within a combined arms scenario.
    The Pakistani Army has little experience in this type of warfare,
    ... and they don't do real well at the warfare they have experience with...
    so they should find those who do and get them to train the Pakhtuns as a counter-insurgency guerrilla force.
    I think we're setting similar things up on the other side of the border, modeled on the Iraqi experience. However, they're not a cure-all. The Paks have lots of experience with tribal lashkars, which have become a running joke on the 'Burg. Going back to the Vietnam experience, there were village defense forces that did okay against Viet Cong, but which folded in the face of North Vietnamese regulars.
    The trainers could be sympathetic Mujahideen who fought the Russians, Vietnamese who defeated the Americans, the mountain warfare sections of the British Marines and the British SAS, the Canadians, and so on.
    The sympathetic mujaheddin who fought the Russers were mostly the Northern Alliance. The "Vietnamese who defeated the Americans" are now pushing 60 and live in an entirely different climate and society. The Brits have done okay when their government hasn't put their feet in buckets, but that's happened in almost every operation they've been on. Basra's not going in the books next to Torres Vedras, by any means. And the Canucks, while fine soldiers, could really give a crap. What the writer's left out is the Americans, who're now possessed of the world's best military, bar none.
    -- Chairman Mao, the great Chinese insurgent, said that guerrilla fighters are fish that swim in the sea of the people. Take away the cover of the people among whom they hide and they become fish out of water.
    Yeah, yeah. "The guerilla is the fish, the people are the sea, and the party's the hook." Got any other good quotes?
    The only effective way to do this is to take back and secure, permanently against re-incursion, every village and town in which the insurgents seek cover, food, medical care and resupply. America's record in Vietnam for successfully doing this was bad; maybe the Pakistanis, especially well trained Pakhtuns, can do a better job because they are of the people.
    The Pakhtuns are the problem, not the solution. They're the ones chopping people's heads off. The bad boyz originate in the villages and towns -- they're not seeking cover there. The solution's not the cannon fodder, but the leadership, and the leadership appears to be sacrosanct. The Paks won't even take out an idiot like Mangal Bagh, which would decapitate Lashkar-e-Islami and relieve the pressure on Peshawar. Mullah Fazlullah drives around in a mobile FM transmitter, but no one's taken an RDF fix on him, followed by about 40 rounds of HE Frag. His father-in-law, Sufi Mohammad, hasn't met with an unfortunate accident since being released from jug. And despite having Mullah Omar's address in Quetta, there hasn't been one more unexplained explosion in that fair city.

    Furthermore, with the number of Arabs and Chechens wandering around NWFP and FATA, it should be fairly easy to pick the Qaeda fish out of the Pashtun sea. They don't even speak the same languages fergawdsake. The Arabs are the ones with the gutterals, the Chechens and Uzbeks the guys with the cedillas. And the Uighurs are the short guys that look like Chinamen. Shoot them.

    -- With villages and towns permanently secured,
    ... which means the head cheeses have been Swissed ...
    the damage done by the army and militants can be undone, and people can return to nearly normal life
    Normal life in the NWFP is enough to make a strong but civilized man shudder...
    in the sure knowledge that they will not be killed by the army or militants later. Putting guards on schools so as to lure back girl students is a hopeless idea unless the area is permanently secured. The smaller the area the easier this strategy should be. So start in the small villages and broadcast successes.
    Good idea. This will lure the turbans back like bees to honey...
    The people of the towns and villages should also be armed and trained by Pakhtuns already armed and trained in counter-insurgency.
    They can form tribal lashkars or village defense councils...
    Having broadcast the successful freeing of a village from militants, these guerrilla counter-insurgents should lie in wait for militants returning to take revenge on the newly freed village.
    Ah, yes. The old flypaper technique.
    -- To guard against arrogant and indifferent abuses of power by the army, as many Pakhtun commanders as possible should lead the conventional army in the NWFP operations. Special operations should be largely made up of Pakhtuns from the areas in which they fight.
    You're making the assumption they're good at that sort of thing and that they're immune to arrogance and abuse of power.
    -- Stop killing non-combatants in the areas affected by insurgency.
    Sounds good. What should you do about human shields, though? Seriously? If Paw's a head-chopping fishy in the great sea of the Pashtun people, and he bravely keeps Maw and the kiddies around him at all times for his safety, what're y'gonna do? Think fast now, 'cause he's planning on sending faceless minions to chop off your head.
    The present curfew policy--shooting curfew-breakers on sight--is an obscenity.
    Are the curfew breakers armed? Then it's not.
    Anyone who is not an insurgent and is willing to risk life by breaking the curfew is clearly in urgent need of help, which they should be given.
    But how do you know they're not insurgents? How do you know they're not myrmidons, skulking about and up to no good? How do yo know they're not coming to chop your head off?
    The Punjabi dominated army should be reminded that it is their job to protect, not to kill, non-combatants.
    Oh. Yeah. That'll work. Why didn't we think of that before?
    This is something the Americans have never understood,
    ... because Americans are dumb, unlike the writer...
    for the simple reason that all the wars they have fought in the last 63 years have been in other people's countries, where they have shown indifference to the deaths and injuries they have inflicted upon the indigenous people. The Pakistani army often behaves as if the NWFP were a foreign country.
    But they're not good at killing people who speak languages other than native tongues. How much effort does it take for a Punjabi to pot an Arab, anyway?
    -- Deprive the insurgents of their means of communication, both in military and in propaganda terms. Why the army has not jammed the militants' FM radio, or bombed it out of existence, is beyond me. Radio triangulation is not rocket science.
    I've mentioned that a time or two in the past, right in these pages. Neither is artillery rocket science. Unless you're firing rockets, of course.
    -- Launch effective and honest information services (radio and television) to counter the propaganda put out by the insurgents, and to inform people isolated by war of what is going on around them (set up a Tribal Broadcasting Network).
    The holy men will then shut it down or take it over...
    Set up communication systems so that people within range can call in rapid assistance teams (medical, military, food, information). The people whom the militants terrorise must have good reason not to feel abandoned by the government and the militants must know that their attacks on those people will cost them their lives. The supply of personnel to the militants will dry up if non-combatants feel safe and are not enraged by suffering they perceive to have been caused by the central government.
    You've got a multiple set of problems, Chuck, and you're trying to solve it as one. If you set the hunter-killer teams on the Arabs, Chechens, and Uzbeks (and any Avars, Huns, Goths or Gepids who're included in their number) then you're decapitating the bad guy network. The supply of militants includes places like Mosul and Jeddah, so it's not gonna be an overnight process, but if you make NWFP unhealthy for furriners, you'll kill the insurgency there. Coupled with that, you've got to cut off the supply of heavy armaments and trace them back to their points of origin, where terrible accidents should occur. And if you trace the money flow, no doubt "hackers" will be happy to divert all that cash to their own accounts. Pashtuns represent mostly cheap and easily replaced muscle, with the exception of people like Sami ul-Haq, who should have met with unfortunate accidents years ago. They're the middle men between the Arabs and their henchmen and the locals.
    -- Within the secured areas, undertake intensive, effective, projects that will employ the people and make them self-sufficient. Almost universal literacy could be accomplished within a year at most (in Nicaragua, the Sandanistas changed 85 percent illiteracy to 5 percent in six months, though their population and area was larger). Set up clinics, schools, agricultural advice centres, technical colleges, markets and especially agencies whose job it is to listen to people's grievances and to seek honest solutions to their problems.
    Perhaps they should hire Sandinistas. The Paks aren't even competent to set up elementary schools throughout the country. People send their kids to madrassahs because they're free and (mostly) clean.
    -- Address all the grievances of the local people with impartial courts and jirgas comprised of only trustworthy indigenous people and deprive the bullying intruders of all power and, if necessary, of their ill-gotten property too.
    Ohfergawdsake. The reason the locals are supportive of shariah courts in places like Swat is because the legal system is so riddled with corruption and incompetence they can't get anything resembling "justice." Cases drag on for years. You can murder somebody and unless somebody else files a FIR nothing will happen to you. "State vs. Mahmoud" doesn't appear to exist in Pak jurisprudence. It's all civil unless you're a big cheese -- and even then probably not. Witness how many people have been hung for killing Benazir.
    In my view, these are the necessary, if not sufficient, conditions for a successful reversal in the NWFP of the present militant terror. Of course, if they were implemented, it would mean that the NWFP would become an area in which social justice would truly exist, for the first time in Pakistan. That would not be Valhalla, it would be a miracle.

    The writer has degrees from the Royal College of Art, Oxford University, and the Institute of Psychiatry, University of London. He divides his time between the UK and Pakistan
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    India-Pakistan
    The Bara Operation is a lie, plain and simple
    2008-07-01
    By Mohammad Malick

    PESHAWAR: The so-called grand operation to "protect" Peshawar from the marauding troops of the Lashkar-e-Islami of militant leader Haji Mangal Bagh and others entered its third day today. The government has already claimed victory to the extent of ridding the Khyber Agency of the so -called criminal extremists who ostensibly have been sent scurrying to the farther valley of Tirah.

    Security czar Rehman Malik and Prime Minister Gilani are patting themselves on the back for having restored the government's writ. TV audiences are being treated to a steady feed of images of paramilitary convoys whizzing around and security forces blowing up one 'militant hideout' after another.

    The government is also crowing about the fact that its measures are so popular with the local tribal population and its power so awesome for the obviously chickened-out militants that not a single bullet has been fired at the security forces. A lot is being made out of the banning of Lashkar-e-Islami (led by Mangal Bagh), Ansar-Ul-Islam (led by Qazi Mehboobul Haq who is Mangal's sworn enemy) and Haji Namdar-led Tanzeem Amar Bil Maroof Wa Nahi Anil Munqar. And if Islamabad's version is to be believed then it is only a matter of time before the rest of the tribal region starts toeing their line as well.

    And now the truth: It's all hogwash. It's a drama being staged to placate a nervous public, please the cooperative militias by giving them sufficient advance warning, and confuse the Americans who of late have been displaying the audacity to ask for verifiable deliverables against all the money they have been pumping in for the last eight years. A desperate appeasement attempt for the visiting Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Boucher, if you may.

    But we'll come to the causes later. First the happenings on the ground. The government can go blue in the face claiming otherwise but the fact is that the government's real writ does not extend beyond the last settled area police picket at the Peshawar-Bara sub-division border. And in some cases where it may appear to be present in any diluted form a little farther down the road, there too it is only a negotiated concession from the local militias and not the consequence of any so-called restored the government writ.

    While enough evidence exists on the ground to back this impression it would not be irrelevant to narrate a pertinent incident which occurred only this afternoon while I along with A Geo TV crew were returning from visiting the site of the partially bombed out fortified Madrassah structure of Haji Namdar group in the area of Bur Qumber Khel which lies about 20kms from Peshawar. (By the way the credit is being given to a missile fired by a US drone and the claim also appears credible as it is the only real hit where seven militants actually got killed, this being the highest casualty in the entire operation). Anyway, in our attempt to take a shorter route back we took the Tirah-Jamrud road back but were stopped midway at a checkpoint manned by a small contingent of the Mehsud Scouts. While we were pleading to be allowed to go through, I managed to have a long chat with one of the officers (whom I shall not name for the obvious reasons) regarding the hollowness of government claims of having forced the militants out of the area as I informed him that I had just spent hours in an area which was teeming with armed members of the Haji Namdar group while dozens of twin-cab vehicles loaded with armed militants were calmly patrolling the entire area as if nothing extraordinary had happened there. And you know what? The officer actually let it slip that even if his own commandant had to go into the area "his security is provided by Namdar's men". So much for one banned outfit and the ongoing operation.

    However, there seems to be a general consensus that the Namdar group is not viewed in the same negative vein as Mangal Bagh's and may have been banned only to give the impression of the administration playing even-handed and not singling out the much larger Lashkar-e-Islami of Mangal Bagh.

    And if there are still any doubts on this front then let me share another incident which took place on our way in. We had barely entered Namdar territory when suddenly a Toyota twin-cab came after us at bullet speed, the headlights flashing in a signal for us to stop while a blue police light (incidentally mounted on all vehicles of Namdar and other groups operating in the area) for the added official touch I presume. The moment we stopped, six men jumped off the vehicle and surrounded us, their guns aimed at our heads. Their leader, hardly 19 or 20 years of age, demanded an explanation for our presence in "their territory". About 15 minutes and few reasons later we were allowed to move on after strong hand shakes, warm smiles, and the message to tell the world that they are only fighting against the Americans and for Afghan Muslims and not against Pakistan. As if we were going to argue with that logic. By the way, this incident took place barely three kilometers after entering the tribal area from Peshawar. Wasn't it close enough to qualify as falling in the jurisdiction of re-imposed state writ, one wonders?

    Now to Mangal Bagh's people. While Mangal himelf had left for Tirah, where incidentally he is engaged in a bitter sectarian feud, his followers were not found lacking in numbers or visibility. The truth is that within minutes of the security forces moving out after blowing out the abandoned and vacated structures, the Lashkar-e-Islami militants could be seem calmly raising their black flags over the damaged structures and casually inspecting the damaged goods. The interesting part is that not a single militant of any group ever seems in a hurry to get away from the scene, or the area, and at least on three occasions I personally saw militant loaded vehicles drive by Levis and others with no reaction from the paramilitary forces. One amazing operation cleanup isn't it?
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    India-Pakistan
    Lashkar-e-Islam flags fly over Bara
    2008-06-30
    Blacks flags emblazoned with swords could be seen flying over many of the mud-houses in the town of Bara on Sunday, in a show of support for a militant who government forces are trying to capture.

    The flags were those of the Lashkar-e-Islami (LI) in Khyber Agency, a wedge of tan-coloured mountains speckled with small trees sandwiched between the city of Peshawar and the Afghan border. Security forces launched an offensive on Saturday to push members of the militant group, led by commander Mangal Bagh, from the approaches of Peshawar after Bagh’s men began making sojourns into Peshawar to impose their Taliban-style teachings.

    Unfair accusations: Though many in Peshawar fear the LI, the commander is well regarded in Bara town. “He’s a nice man. He’s being painted as a bad man because he talks about Islam,” said resident Fazale Mehboob, standing by the debris of Bagh’s house that security forces blew up on Saturday.

    Khyber is one of seven ethnic Pashtun-majority regions in northwest Pakistan that have never come under the full control of any government. A former bus driver with little education, Bagh, who is in his mid-40s, appears to have won support the same way the Afghan Taliban did when they emerged in the early 1990s and sorted out warlords and criminals preying on the people. “He brought peace and got rid of the criminals in our area. He’s good for us,” Mehboob said.

    Bara was peaceful on Sunday with a surprisingly light security presence. Despite a curfew, some people were out in its main market although most stalls were shut. There was no evidence of any militants and no one was seen carrying a gun in a region where most men own a rifle. Some soldiers drove around in double-cabin pick-up trucks and a few armoured personnel carriers patrolled the dusty streets but security forces made no effort to stop curious residents going out to see the ruins of Bagh’s office and a four-room mud house, both near the market, that soldiers blew up on Saturday.

    A senior government official said there had been no violence in the area since Saturday evening and a Reuters reporter heard no gunshots or explosions in Bara or along the lightly guarded road from Peshawar.

    Angry sibling: Among those out on the streets was Bagh’s older brother, Soocha Gul, who is in his early 50s. “It’s a shame, barbaric,” an angry Gul said of the destruction of his brother’s buildings. “They came suddenly, asked us to vacate the house immediately and then blew it up. What crime did our women and children commit?” he asked.

    Bagh’s militants are not allied with the local Taliban and they have not been known to head off to Afghanistan to fight Western troops there.
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    India-Pakistan
    LI retreats after rival tribe surrenders
    2008-04-19
    The Lashkar-e-Islami (LI) on Friday ended clashes with the Kooki Khel tribe after the tribe accepted the militant organisation’s demands to end illegal businesses. The Peshawar-Torkham Highway was opened for traffic after five days of closure due to fighting between the LI and the Kooki Khel tribesmen of the Jamrud subdivision in the Khyber Agency.

    The LI captured the houses of tribesmen late on Wednesday, and told them to stop extorting money from vehicles on the highway and end illegal businesses, including the sale of liquor and the sheltering of criminals. Frontier Constabulary personnel are still guarding the highway.

    Tribal elders said Iqtidar Shah, the elder son of the late Malik Zahir Shah, had surrendered to the LI late on Thursday, during a jirga. They said that Kooki Khel elder Guli Shah had accepted LI’s 30-point agenda during a similar jirga held at the Shah Kas area early on Friday.

    Haji Misri Khan, a close aide of LI chief Mangal Bagh, said the tribe had accepted all their demands.

    He said the Kooki Khel tribe had agreed that they would eradicate distilleries from the area and stop the sale of hashish and the extortion of money from commuters, adding that they would also expel criminals from the area.

    Security personnel: Also on Friday, unidentified gunmen released 16 security personnel who were kidnapped during the clashes, Dawn News reported.
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    India-Pakistan
    Lashkar-e-Islami 'court' receives complaints against private hospital
    2008-03-04
    When thirty-year-old Zarbad Khan, who was suffering from an eye disease, went to a public hospital for cure, the doctors refused to help him, saying that an operation was the only cure, but that they could not operate upon his eye because of his high blood pressure.
    Hah! Doctors trained in infidel ways! Ptui! Whadda they know?
    Khan found the solution to his dilemma at a private hospital, where his eye was operated upon.
    "Hey, Doc! Will yez operate on my eye?"
    "Yeah, sure. Lemme finish lunch, okay?"
    "Okay, but wash your hands first."
    "What? That ain't Islamic!"
    However, his suffering was far from over, as his eye did not stop bleeding for days and he eventually lost his eyesight.
    Whoa! Good thing he didn't listen to the infidel-trained docs, huh? He coulda kept his eyesight or something.
    Surrounded by longhaired ‘Mujahidins’, Khan narrates his tragic story while sitting at a ‘court of justice’ set up by the Lashkar-e-Islami. He said, “The government doctors refused to operate upon my eye because of my high blood pressure, and they prescribed a medicine. However, when I felt severe pain in my eye, I went to the nearby Al-Noor Hospital, where doctors, after checking my medical tests, said that I did not have a high blood pressure and that my eye could be operated upon.”
    "What's his blood pressure, nurse?"
    "I ain't sure, Doc! I dunno how to work this thing!"
    "You sure it goes around the neck like that?"
    However, after having the operation, Khan’s eye kept bleeding for days and he lost his eyesight.
    Which is the tragedy? He lost his eyesight? Or he's stoopid?
    70 people: He is one of 70 people, who have sued the administration of Al-Noor Hospital, which is a private hospital operating in Bara, in Lashkar’s court for exploiting their ignorance and maltreating them. He said, “The doctors did what they did to us to earn extra money. They should be brought to justice for their wrong deeds.”
    Sounds like An-Noor Hospital & Dry Goods, Inc, is getting a bad reputation. Too bad nobody wants to go to the gummint hospital because they adhere to medical norms, and all the NGOs are run out of town for being infidels.
    According to the applications submitted at Lashkar’s court, two doctors working at the Al-Noor Hospital were conducting operations on patients without having any specialisation in the field, creating severe physical, mental, and economic problems for the victims.
    "Hey, Doc! Y'wanna try your hand at a laparectomy?"
    "I don't even know what that is!"
    "There's a coupla grand in it!"
    "Well, okay. I'll give it a shot."
    The victims claimed that the doctors did many major operations without even bothering to investigate the real problems. “When my leg was fractured, I went to Al-Noor Hospital for treatment, where they told me that my bone had been broken and that for treatment an iron rod would have to be fixed in my foot,” 24-year-old Ayub Khan told Daily Times. “After having had an operation on my leg, I felt pain for many days. When the pain did not stop, I consulted senior doctors in Peshawar, who told me that two of my leg muscles had been damaged during the operation.”
    "Goddamit, nurse! That rod's a foot too short!"
    "Sorry, Doc! They sent the wrong size. Can we make do with this?"
    "I guess. Take the shade off and unscrew the bulb, though."
    Ayub has filed an appeal in the Lashkar’s court. He also looks to Mangal Bagh, the de-facto ruler of the Khyber Agency, for justice. Bagh has raised his own armed force, called Lashkar-e-Islami, and is ruling the Agency. He has set up his own courts in the Agency.
    I was gonna do that, but Mangal beat me to it. I'll have to settle for ruling Cleveland with an iron hand.
    Doctors admonished: According to Bagh, the doctors at Al-Noor Hospital had acted unprofessionally and maltreated the patients.
    "Aaaaiiieeee! It hurts! It hurts!"
    "Shuddup. Slap him, nurse!"
    “They performed major surgeries without having any expertise,” he said. He claimed that Lashkar’s doctors were investigating the matter, and that if the hospital’s doctors were found guilty, they would be punished.
    "Hrarrrr!"
    "What the hell are you?"
    "I'm a Lashkar doctor!"
    "Cheeze. They told us in medical school not to bring rocket launchers into the operating room!"
    "Hrarrr! Prob'ly one o' them infidel medical schools!"
    The Al-Noor Hospital administration, however, denied the charges.
    "No, no! Certainly not!"
    “We are human beings and we cannot mistreat other human beings,” said Dr Nusrat, who rejected the allegations levelled at him. Dr Abdul Rauf, the acting director of the health section of the FATA Secretariat, said that he was unaware of the story. He said that he had not received any such complaint. “We could not take any legal action against the hospital, even if we had received any complaints, since the drugs laws does not apply to FATA hospitals,” he added. “We have provided a hospital with specialist surgeons to the residents of Bara Tehsil. They should go there,” the doctor said.
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    India-Pakistan
    Tribal women vote despite militant threats
    2008-02-19
    Despite threats from radicals, numerous women in the Federally Administered Tribal Area and Frontier Regions cast their votes in Monday’s election.

    Armed activists of the Lashkar-e-Islami (LI) in Khyber Agency stopped women from voting and damaged a camp set up by political parties at the Pasidkhel Government High School close to the Pakistan-Afghan border, where only two women cast their votes.

    On Thursday, LI Chief Mangal Bagh had announced a ban on participation of women in the balloting in two constituencies of Khyber Agency including NA-45 in Jamrud subdivision and NA-46 in Bara subdivision. Bagh had warned the agency residents to not let women vote, or face action “according to tribal traditions”. Around 2,027 women cast their votes in NA-45 of Jamrud subdivision amid tight security provided by the government and armed candidates. Around 25 women used their right to vote at the Sultan Khel Civil Dispensary polling station, out of the total 1,010 registered votes, in addition to two women voters in Pasidkhel.

    In NA-46, Darra Addam Khel, women visited two polling stations only, while other polling stations wore a deserted look, as women did not come out of their houses. In one female polling station, 60 female voters, out of the total 818 registered, cast their votes, while in another polling station, 49 women, out of the total 332 voters, cast votes amid tight security.

    Reportedly, North Waziristan women also took part in voting despite the local Taliban’s threats of punishment “in accordance with the tribal traditions”.
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