| Terror Networks & Islam |
| Zarqawi, al-Qaeda, and the New Islamic Front |
| 2005-06-10 |
| Recent published accounts of the relationship between fugitive Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda terrorist network illuminate the relationship between the two men and their movements' vision of establishing an Islamic caliphate across the Middle East. The sudden rise in terrorist attacks against coalition forces in Afghanistan supports the theory that Arab terrorists in that country have regrouped in an effort to provide a reinvigorated Arab front against the United States, while the continuing insurgency in Iraq shows no signs of abatement, despite recent reports that al-Zarqawi may be near death as a result of a recent injury. Almost immediately after the 1 June suicide bombing of a Kandahar mosque that killed mourners of an anti-Taliban cleric, Afghan officials said that it was carried out by Arab members of Al-Qaeda. "We have found documents on [the bomber's] body that show he was an Arab," Kandahar governor Gul Agha Sherzai told reporters, adding that intelligence indicated that "Arab Al-Qaeda teams had entered Afghanistan and had been planning terrorist attacks. Mohammad Hasham Alikozay, director of the Public Health Department in Kandahar, said that the "features found" at the explosion site indicated that the suicide bomber seemed "to be an Arab." In line with the expectations of Afghan authorities and U.S.-led coalition forces, disruptive activities and terrorist acts either committed by or in the name of the neo-Taliban and their allies have increased since the weather improved in southern and eastern Afghanistan. In April, U.S. Major General Eric Olson said that there "has been an increase in Taliban and enemy activity in the spring [compared to the winter months]. And we anticipate that the enemy has the intention of trying to raise the level of activity this spring." However, Olson predicted that these activities would lack cohesion and fade in traditional neo-Taliban strongholds. |
| Link |
| Afghanistan |
| Taliban Regrouping in South Afghanistan |
| 2003-01-14 |
| Remnants of Afghanistan ousted Taliban regime have begun regrouping near the southern border with Pakistan, Afghan officials said on Tuesday. Obaidullah, security chief of the southern border town of Spin Boldak, said minor clashes had been reported recently between Afghan forces and suspected members of the Taliban. He said small groups of Taliban fighters, led by local commander Hafiz Abdur Rahim, were operating in Kandahar, the former stronghold of the radical Islamic militia, and other southern provinces. "They are trying to persuade people to join a jihad. They carry out guerrilla activities in these areas and then flee to Pakistan," he told Reuters. Running back to their protected areas. This will keep happening until those areas are cleaned out. Afghan officials said last week that four people had been killed and one wounded in an armed clash between Afghan forces and Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan. Two Taliban fighters were arrested after the firefight. The Taliban's resurgence in the border regions comes despite the presence in Afghanistan of thousands of U.S.-led foreign troops pursuing the war on terror. SEE: protected area - Pakistan The Taliban regime was overthrown in late 2001 when the United States pounded Afghanistan with massive air strikes as part of its campaign against the al Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden. Many Taliban fighters took refuge in the rugged borderlands with Pakistan. In recent days posters and pamphlets have appeared in border villages calling for a jihad against foreign troops. Residents of Spin Boldak said last week that posters threatening death to anyone who supported the U.S.-backed government of President Hamid Karzai appeared to be the work of Taliban supporters. Khalid Pashtoon, a spokesman for Kandahar governor Gul Agha Sherzai, told Reuters there was still a risk of militant attacks in the southern region. "We have put our forces on alert because of the risks of attacks on foreign forces," he said. But Fazal Deen Agha, a senior security official in Spin Boldak, said the Afghan government would not let the ousted Taliban become a real threat. "There are clear indications of Taliban presence in the region. But Afghan people don't support them," he said. "We will continue our hunt against the Taliban." Open season, no bag limit. Bounty paid for head vermin, also for vermin heads. |
| Link |
| Afghanistan |
| Gul Agha gives up military command... |
| 2003-01-03 |
| Source: NNI Governor of west Afghanistan's Kandahar province has acted on the central government's decree to leave his control over local military affairs. According to local Radio Liberty, Kandahar governor Gul Agha Sherzai's spokesman Khalid Pushtun said that the governor had limited his power only to the governorship in accordance with the decree. Afghan transitional president Hamid Karzai earlier this month decreed that anyone who had a civilian position in provincial governments could not handle local military affairs. In the past, Sherzai also controlled four neighboring provinces,including Helmand, Oruzgan, Zabul and Nemroz, with his command of local military forces, although he was only governor of Kandahar. He was a warlord before he became governor. He brought his gunnies with him, from Quetta, when the Pashtuns were putting together their "southern alliance." The military troops in Kandahar province are now under command of a separate authority in the province, Radio Liberty said. That would probably be Gul Agha's cousin, Bob, but it's a start... |
| Link |
| Afghanistan |
| Rivals Battle in Afghan Town, 10 Said Killed |
| 2002-06-01 |
| Rival factions fought with rockets and small arms fire in the capital of the southwestern Afghan province of Nimroz, killing at least 10 people. The fighting between the two factions started on Friday night in the provincial capital Zaranj, near the Iranian border, and continued on Saturday. The fighting raged the night after a force led by provincial security chief Mohammad Yaqub Barakzai was attacked by a force loyal to commander Abdul Quddus. Eight people were killed inside a house hit by a rocket while two soldiers died and 20 were wounded in gunbattles between the two factions, he said. A resident in Nimroz said the forces of Barakzai, a close relative of Kandahar governor Gul Agha Sherzai, were being surrounded by those of Quddus'. Gul Agha has sent reinforcements for Barakzai, Afghan sources in the area said. This might be an inter-clan shootout, rather than having any political significance. |
| Link |