Aiman Al Zawahiri | Aiman Al Zawahiri | al-Qaeda | Afghanistan | 20030104 |
India-Pakistan |
Al Qaeda leader threatens India in latest video |
2009-02-10 |
![]() Sheikh Mustafa Abu Yazeed, who had been operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan, was reported killed in a US drone strike in August 2008. In the 20-minute video in Arabic, Yazeed said: "We will bring mujahideen and suicide attackers from all over the Muslim world to confront you [India]. They will target your economic centres and raze them to the ground," Yazeed said in the video sent to BBC. He said Al Qaeda leader Aiman Al-Zawahiri had made the decision to kill former Pakistani prime minister and PPP chairwoman Benazir Bhutto. The Al Qaeda leader also criticised the Pakistani government and army. He also denounced the ban on militant organisations in Pakistan following the Mumbai attacks. |
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India-Pakistan |
Osama, Zawahiri to be tried in Pakistan if captured: Zardari |
2008-09-29 |
President Asif Ali Zardari has said Pakistan will initiate a trial against Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden or his second-in-command Aiman Al-Zawahiri, if it captures them, Geo News reported on Sunday. The channel quoted the president as telling CNN that the two Al Qaeda leaders could also be handed over to the US to face trail if 'friends advise' Pakistan to do so. Zardari said those who killed his wife former premier Benazir Bhutto could also target him. "Those who killed my wife are also after me," he said. Zardari said US incursions into the Federally Administered Tribal Areas would be counterproductive. The president ruled out the possibility of a war between the two countries. "Friendly fire is a normal thing even among US soldiers," he said. |
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Terror Networks | |
Transformation and mutation of Al Qaeda | |
2007-01-02 | |
Khaled Ahmed ![]()
In 1986, Azzam arrived at the Islamabads International Islamic University. From there he began to make his trips to Peshawar, finally opening his Afghan Bureau Service as a centre of pan-Arab jihad. As a memory jog, the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in December 1979. He could have been the father of Al Qaeda but he was with good reason not ready to retreat in the face of Osama bin Ladens wealth. However, despite Azzams multi-volume encyclopaedia on jihad (what the world now terms terrorism), Osama let him go his own way. Azzam was murdered in Peshawar along with his two sons in 1989. I've never heard anything on who actually dunnit. I suspect it was Ayman, but it could have been lots of other people, to include, I suppose, the Sovs, likely using Hekmatyar. ![]() Al Qaeda in fact absorbed its complexion from where it was located. Osama did not have an intellect like Azzam with which to mould anyone. He just drifted along among flattering followers. The lack of a grand vision also meant he allowed his ancillaries, including those in Pakistan, to indulge in sectarianism. So while he hated Saudi Arabia, Osama did not care that his protégé militias in Pakistan were getting funds from that country and killing Shias. The next turn was foretold. Al Qaeda went into sectarian mode mainly because Osama lacked the intellectual strength to resist it but also because Zawahiri, despite his books, was narrowly focused and was even trying to live down the guilt that he had betrayed a fellow-terrorist under torture in Cairo. There must have been a wrench when Al Qaeda turned into a sectarian organisation. During his Sudan sojourn, Binny had actually been targeted by takfiri for not being Islamic enough. Pakistan, on the other hand, has a long tradition of Sunni-Shia killings -- more Sunni than Shia, from what we've seen lately. Some of it also sprang from local compulsions. Al Qaeda had good relations with Iran before the Taliban spoiled them but placating the Taliban was an essential quid pro quo given that they had provided sanctuaries to the organisations leaders and rank and file. Interestingly, Ayatollah Khomeini was acceptable to Zawahiri for having named a street in Tehran after Khaled Islamboli, the Egyptian artillery officer who assassinated President Anwar Sadat at a military parade in Cairo in 1981. While most Wahhabi groups invoke the 13th century Muslim legist Ibn Taymiyya and Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahhab, the founder of Wahhabism, the Shia in Pakistan were killed by non-Wahhabi Deobandi groups who, despite following the Hanafi fiqh, have increasingly tended to become literalists and rabidly anti-Shia. Osama let these groups indulge in sectarianism because of local compulsions. In fact he never stopped training the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan and Lashkar-e Jhangvi boys in his camps. Part of this nonchalance arose from the fact that the Pakistanis slaughtered were not Arabs. Not members of the Master Race, y'mean... ![]() Zarqawi was converted to killing by a fiery preacher in Jordan, Abu Mohammed al-Maqdisi. Both admired each other. Maqdisi had the mind but envied Zarqawis strength and bravery albeit sans intellect. Zarqawi also upstaged both Maqdisi and Osama. He went into Iraq against the Americans but soon began to see the Shia of Iraq as the beneficiaries of the invasion because of the new system under which democracy would lead to Shia political domination. He began by abusing the grand ayatollah of Najaf, Sistani, and then launched more attacks against the Shia than the Americans who he had gone to Iraq to kill. At one point, Zawahiri pleaded with him not to kill the Shia but Zarqawi did not pay heed to these calls. His mentor Maqdisi also wrote to him reprimanding him for wrongdoing against Islam but Zarqawi wrote back saying Maqdisi was never his teacher and that what he was doing was right. Zarqawi then began destroying the mausoleums of the Imams in Iraq until the Americans finally got him. Zarqawi was like Khaled Sheikh Muhammad; he would behead his victims with his own hands. But it is a measure of the compulsions as well as the internal fault-lines that Al Qaeda owned him after his death and denied that he had ever killed the Shia. This line was also taken by the rightwing in Pakistan. In owning Zarqawi, everybody was diminished, most of all Al Qaeda. But the act also completed the transformation of Al Qaeda as a sectarian organisation taking pride in killing fellow Muslims. | |
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India-Pakistan | |||||
US warns that it will bomb any part of NWFP | |||||
2006-04-16 | |||||
![]() The news is quite disturbing for the people and the governmnet of the NWFP; it has been reported that the United States has warned that it will bomb any part of the province in pursuit of 'terrorists'. The warning, it is said, was conveyed to the NWFP governor, Khalilur Rehman and of course to the chief minister, Akram Khan Durrani, by none other than President General Pervez Musharraf himself at a meeting in Islamabad. The tone of the message, an insider tells TNS, is tantamount to bullying. "The president told the governor and chief minister that Americans have warned that those who are hiding in the Frontier and elsewhere will be bombed out," a source privy to the meeting revealed, requesing anonymity. The warning left the president angry as well as concerned, the source added, saying this could be an epilogue to increased target hitting by umanned Drones on Pakistani territory. Apart from killing Commander Nek Muhammad in South Waziristan Agency, the US planes have targeted two suspected terrorist hideouts in Miramshah and Mirali areas of North Waziristan and Damadola in Bajaur Agency over the past few months. In Miramshah, all the victims turned out to be local tribesmen while mystery shrouds the president's claim that Hamza Rabia, al-Qaeda's No-3, was killed in a raid on Khisokhel village in Mirali sub-division of North Waziristan. Sources, having links with militant groups active in the tribal belt and across the border in Afghanistan, deny the claim. Similarly, claims by the American media and Pakistani authorities that al-Qaeda's No-2, Aiman Al-Zawahiri, was the target of the air strike in Damadola, or that top al-Qaeda operatives have actually been killed, are still to be verified. The clergy-led government in the Frontier, already on the defensive over its silence on military operations in tribal areas and US air strikes, is taking the new warning as a declaration of open war. Confirming that President Pervez Musharraf has informed him of the new dangers ahead, Akram Khan Durrani has said that the US has warned to go after the so-called 'terrorists' even in the settled areas of NWFP, if the attacks against the Americans and their allies continued in the neighbouring Afghanistan.
At the same time, President Musharraf has questioned the validity of the list of wanted Taliban leaders that Kabul believes to be residing in Pakistan. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has handed over the list to Islamabad as Kabul asks Pakistan to do 'more' to stop cross border infiltration and to destroy hideouts of the Taliban and other extremists operating from Pakistan in Afghanistan.
Intelligence agencies as well as tribal sources believe that a sizeable number of the local Taliban and foreign nationals have moved out of the tribal areas and are believed to be hiding in settled districts of the province. | |||||
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Israel-Palestine | ||||
Which anti-terror model do you like? - Interesting analysis | ||||
2004-05-23 | ||||
Three anti-terror models emerge over the last month. As world leaders were grieving in Madrid over 201 victims of the train bombing, the Pakistanis demonstrate their Keystone Cops qualities, while Israel was taking flak from the Europeans for the targeted killing of Sheikh Ahmad Yassin and Rantisi. While neither [sic] model is perfect, you be the judge which one works.
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Terror Networks |
Qaeda sez they're not dead yet... |
2003-01-25 |
Taliban Online Via Pravda The strength of the Al-Qaeda organization is 3,500 people and its Mujahideen intend to continue their jihad everywhere in the world, including the struggle against American troops in Afghanistan. That statement was made by Gazi Mullah, a Taliban field commander who added in his interview given to the Pakistani "News" newspaper at one of the available secret bases at the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan that the organization was not destroyed but on the contrary "was prepared to wage new battles." I'd wager those secret bases are on the Pak side of the border, though... According to the commander, the full name of the organization presently is "Al-Qaeda Al-Jihad." Gazi Mullah explained that at the end of August 2001 the two groups of, "Al-Qaeda Ansarullah" of Osama bin Laden and "Jamaat Al-Jihad" of Aiman Al-Zawahiri, officially merged and at that time the organization adopted its new name. Both Mujahideen leaders signed a political manifesto. According to the newspaper, they allegedly attached to it a list of 3,501 names of Mujahideen of that organization and a certain operative action plan. Gazi Mullah said, Al-Qaeda was established to struggle against the USA, United Kingdom, Russia, Israel and India which "oppressed Muslims." We knew all that, and nobody really gives a fÀrt about the official name of the organization. Even though the two are now one, sleeping in the same bed and even sharing toothbrushes, they still seem to have separate cadres. That 3,501 names would appear to date from the time of the marriage, which means the list went down by 19 names a month later, and has been dropping steadily since. But of course, there's always new fodder for the cannons, so maybe it's back up to the 3,500 point by now... Gazi Mullah also described the Al-Qaeda's plan of the new summer military campaign in Afghanistan. According to him, with this objective new camps will be created all over the country to train Mujahideen fighters and "Washington and New York would shudder as a result of their future attacks." No doubt they will. I think the Talibs are going to go to their graves in itty-bitty camps along the Pak side of the border, little old men, sitting around and plotting dire revenge while sucking their toothless gums and complaining about their rheumatizz... |
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Afghanistan |
Taliban claim to have chemical weapons |
2003-01-04 |
Interview with Taliban diplomat Naseer Ahmed Rohi in the Gulf News. Contains the usual boasts of large numbers of American casualties, but there are a few interesting items as well. Remnants of theTaliban regime announced they possess chemical and other sophisticated weapons provided by 'friendly' states to the Afghan resistance aimed at challenging the presence of U.S. and the allied forces in war-shattered Afghanistan. "Mujahideen (holy warriors) are now in possession of chemical and other sophisticated weapons provided by friendly countries. We have still not used them but guided missiles and remote control weapons have been used and the results are very encouraging," claimed former Taliban diplomat, Naseer Ahmed Rohi. Guided missle means they leaned it against a rock before running away. Remote control weapon = suicide bomber. The former Taliban diplomat, who claimed to have served as first secretary at an Afghan embassy before the fall of the Taliban was briefing a select group of senior journalists in Peshawar on Friday. He said the new weapon was not used by Mujahideen in the past. However, experts and analysts of the Afghan situation believe that the claim by the Taliban official needs verification. They think he's lying like the rug he was sitting on The Taliban official categorically denied Pakistan's role in the provision of the latest technology and dangerous weapons, but said some Muslims as well as non-Muslim friendly countries have supplied the Mujahideen with the weaponry. Denied Pakistan gave him weapons,did he? Was he asked, or did he just volunteer it? Rohi did not name the country that supplied what he claimed were chemical weapons to the resistance forces in Afghanistan, but said the situation was encouraging because of the attacks on the U.S. and allied forces in eastern and southern provinces of the country during the last few months. If we find the "weapon" we can trace it back, and return it Rohi claimed that Taliban, Al Qaida fighters loyal to Osama bin Laden and Hizb-i-Islami's Mujahideen under the leadership of Gulbadin Hikmatyar have joined hands and reactivated its dormant cells in several provinces to take on the enemy. "Hikmatyar met Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammed Omar in Uruzgan province and both the leaders have agreed on the war strategy and coordination among the resistance groups," he said adding that the two leaders have resolved to launch a joint struggle for the liberation of Afghanistan from foreign forces and holding of general elections in the country in case of success to oust the invaders. "It was Hikmatyar's insistence to hold general elections in the country after the victory," Rohi said. Bet there's only one name on the ballot Uruzgan is the native province of Mullah Omar, and the Taliban official claimed that their leader spends most of the time in his area due to the fact that he is little known to the people as he kept his distance and did not allowed cameramen to take his pictures. "It was purely because of his Islamic view, but non-existence of his photos has proved a blessing in disguise for him and is paying off now," Rohi said. That's true, there is supposed to be only one picture of him. That was taken from a long way off and not very clear The Taliban official said that Mullah Omar has not changed the way he dresses nor had Osama bin Laden, but certain key Taliban leaders wanted by the U.S., have done so by shaving their beards or trimming them out of compulsion. Rohi said that Hizb's fighters have taken responsibility to launch attacks on the U.S. forces in eastern provinces while Taliban and their supporters would carry out such activities in southern parts of Afghanistan. About bin Laden, he said, the Al Qaida chief was alive and moving in areas between Pakistan and Afghanistan along with one of his wives and children. Bin Laden has four wives and more than a dozen children. "Osama received injuries in the chest during the Tora Bora bombing by U.S. planes, but has survived the air strikes. Wishful thinking? However, the entire family of Aiman Al Zawahiri has been killed including his two wives and children," the Taliban official claimed. He said that Al Zawahiri, second in command in the Al Qaida network, has moved out of the region saying that according to his information, Zawahiri was no longer in Asia. He did not disclose his whereabouts. Saudi, perhaps? Rohi claimed that Hekmatyar's forces have captured as many as 50 U.S. soldiers on way to Kabul from Logar while the Taliban fighters captured another 26 U.S. special forces personnel during the Shah-i-Kot fighting, code named as Operation Anaconda. "We will bring them before the press after the approval of the top leadership," he said. Fiction, if we had MIA's we'd be turning over every rock in the dammed country. That lesson we learned all too well. However, Pakistani intelligence officials denied the story, saying that news about 10 to 15 missing U.S. soldiers has been in circulation for long. "I believe that the operation in Kunar province of Afghanistan last month was aimed at finding clues to the whereabouts of the missing Americans," an official of the secret agencies said. Rohi also claimed that as many as 5000 fighters loyal to the Taliban movement have been activated in southern as well as eastern provinces. "We still have Arab, Chechen, Uzbek and even Pakistani fighters with us and were ready to fight against the foreign invaders. More the merrier Taliban as well as the Arab Mujahideen are not happy with Pakistan's policy of arresting and handing over hundreds of Muslims to the U.S.," he said. They are still alive working on their suntans in Gitmo. Come to Afganistan to fight us and you might get to join them, if you're very lucky. You'll most likely just get dead |
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