Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

Afghanistan

The Territory of the Jihadists: Who Are the Foreign Fighters of ISIS in Afghanistan?

2023-08-13

[8am] Based on the findings of the Hasht-e Subh Daily, IS-K in Afghanistan has not only recruited local fighters but has also added a significant number of imported muscle to its ranks. Paks have consistently been considered primary leaders of IS-K and currently hold notable roles in the council of the group, which is the decision-making body for IS-K, evaluating and finalizing the leader’s decisions. Despite some Pak IS-K commanders being killed in Afghanistan, certain Paks still operate as nominal leaders in some provinces, including Kunar and Laghman
...Afghan province with a population of about 445,600, which is multi-ethnic and mostly a rural society. During the invasions of Alexander the Great, the area was known as Lampaka, wich is apparently Olde Macedonian for Laghman.The city of Mihtarlam serves as the bucolic capital of the province. The population is half Pashtun, the remainder Tadjik and Pashai. It had a repution for great wealth until it was conquered in the tenth century by Abu Mansur Sabuktigin.

He conquered it and set fire to the places in its vicinity which were inhabited by infidels, and demolishing the idol-temples, he established Islam in them, He marched and captured other cities and killed the polluted wretches, destroying the idolatrous and gratifying the Musulmans. After wounding and killing beyond all measure, his hands and those of his friends became cold in counting the value of the plundered property.

After that it was mostly notable for the production of dirt, rocks, and holy men...
Recently, Uzbek fighters from the Jundallah
..."Soldiers of God," a name used by ~~two~~ multiple separate terror outfits, one active in Iran and the other in Pakistain. Both are Sunni organizations that target Shiites. The Pak version has close relations with al-Qaeda and the Pak Talibs and is probably a false nose and mustache for Lashkar-e-Jhangvi...
group have joined IS-K. After the liquidation of their leader by the Taliban
Taliban

...Arabic for students...
, these Uzbek holy warriors, with around two thousand fighters, pledged allegiance to ISIS and joined its Khorasan branch to seek Dire Revenge against the Taliban.

Meanwhile,
...back at the shootout, Butch clutched at his other shoulder......
ISIS-Khorasan (IS-K) has escalated efforts to attract Pak and Uzbek fighters. The leadership of this branch of ISIS continues to strive towards enlisting dissatisfied Uzbek fighters from the Taliban. Notably, with the presence of these fighters, ISIS activities have expanded across Central Asia, resulting in rocket attacks on other countries.

The ISIS group launched its branch’s activities in Afghanistan and the region under the name "ISIS-Khorasan (IS-K)" for the first time in 2015. The geographical scope envisioned by ISIS for its Khorasan region included parts of Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistain. However,
some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them...
the activities of this group have expanded since then, extending its attacks to Central Asia. The latest United Nations
...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly...
statistics indicate that the ISIS-Khorasan (IS-K) branch currently has between four to six thousand fighters in Afghanistan.

Noted.

Previous reports suggested that considering the geographic scope of ISIS-Khorasan (IS-K), most of its members are Afghan nationals and hold key positions within the group.

However,
some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them...
findings of the Hasht-e Subh Daily indicate that a significant portion of ISIS-Khorasan (IS-K) is composed of foreign jihadists; individuals who, due to dissatisfaction with other jihadist groups, including the Afghan Taliban and Tahrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP), have pledged allegiance to ISIS. Some members of al-Qaeda also have connections with ISIS, and given the presence of both groups in Afghanistan, it’s possible that they might have dual affiliations.

Why not? The leadership of the Haqqani faction of the Afghan Taliban also have places on the Al Qaeda table of organization.

But the question remains: which specific groups’ fighters are currently part of ISIS-Khorasan (IS-K), and what role do they play in expanding the group’s operational reach?

PAKS: FROM FOUNDING IS-K TO ACTIVE ROLE IN LAJNA COUNCIL
Despite the presence of Afghan fighters within IS-K, the branch was initially founded by dissident Pak Taliban members on Afghan soil. Hafiz Saeed
...founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and its false-mustache offshoot Jamaat-ud-Dawa. The United Nations declared the JuD a terrorist organization in 2008 and Hafiz Saeed a terrorist as its leader. Hafiz, JuD and LeT are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Pak intel apparatus, so that amounted to squat. He is periodically placed under house arrest so it looks like the govt is doing something. Once the heat is off they let him go....
Orakzai, a former Pak Taliban commander, pledged allegiance to ISIS in October 2014 due to dissatisfaction with both the Afghan and Pak Taliban. He served as the leader of IS-K for about one and a half years until he was killed by U.S. forces in August 2016. After a year of leadership by Abdul Hasib Pashtun-infested Logari, the leadership of ISIS-Khorasan (IS-K) (IS-K) once again shifted to Pak fighters. At that time, Abdullah Orakzai, also known as Aslam Farooqi, assumed this responsibility in April 2017 until he was eventually detained and imprisoned by authorities of the former government in the year 2020.

Since then, some dissident Pak Taliban fighters have remained part of ISIS-Khorasan (IS-K) and have played crucial roles as commanders in the current IS-K conflict. Even some of the "amirs" or (leaders) of IS-K in Afghanistan are Pak fighters. For example, Qari Faateh, who operated as the nominal amir of IS-K in Kunar province
... which is right down the road from Chitral. Kunar is Haqqani country.....
, was announced to have been killed by the Taliban in Kabul in February of this year. At that time, Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban front man, stated that Qari Faateh was the head of intelligence and operations for IS-K, and the Taliban accused him of orchestrating attacks on mosques and diplomatic sites.

Continuing, in early June of this year, the Taliban announced the killing of an ISIS commander named Tarab Bajauri in the province of Laghman. This Pak commander was operating as the "amir" (leader) of the IS-K branch in Laghman province and was considered one of the individuals who joined ISIS alongside Hafiz Saeed Orakzai. Bajauri had a long military background and was among those responsible for ISIS’s significant influence in Kunar province. The Taliban regarded him as a key member of the ISIS-Khorasan (IS-K) in Afghanistan. Such stances by the Taliban indicate that Pak fighters are significant pillars of IS-K and actively operate within Afghanistan under Taliban control.

Currently, Asadullah Orakzai is another prominent Pak commander of ISIS-Khorasan (IS-K). He operates as the amir of ISIS in Laghman province and is also a member of the Lajna Council. According to the Hasht-e Subh Daily’s findings, this council holds the leadership responsibility for ISIS-Khorasan (IS-K) and decides on the group’s activities in the "Khorasan region." Most of the IS-K commanders, especially the Pak ones who are currently active members of ISIS, are actively involved in the Lajna Council. Qari Faateh, who was also a member of this council, participated in making decisions for the future of IS-K. Additionally, Saifullah Orakzai, another prominent commander of IS-K, is a member of this council.

In this way, the findings indicate that Pak fighters are active members of the ISIS-Khorasan (IS-K) operating in Afghanistan. They have experience in leading the ISIS-Khorasan (IS-K) on two occasions and are currently serving as commanders in provinces as well as engaging in military and intelligence activities.

According to additional information, ISIS-Khorasan (IS-K) is vigorously striving to increase its Pak fighters. This branch of ISIS has included the issue of recruiting Pak fighters as part of its future plans. In this process, individuals dissatisfied with their activities alongside the Tahrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) are being targeted for recruitment by ISIS to expand its activities in eastern Afghanistan and certain areas of Pakistain. It’s noteworthy that most Pak members of the ISIS-Khorasan (IS-K) have joined the group due to dissatisfaction with their previous affiliations, and given the extent of this dissatisfaction, the increase in the number of Pak fighters for ISIS is probable.

JUNDALLAH UZBEK JIHADISTS AND THEIR INVOLVEMENT WITH IS-K
The findings indicate that members of the Uzbek group Jundallah have also joined IS-Khorasan (IS-K) in the northern regions of Afghanistan. According to the information, currently, except for a small fraction of the group, most of the Uzbek commanders and fighters have become part of IS-Khorasan (IS-K). ISIS has incorporated a segment of the Jundallah group, consisting of Uzbek fighters in northern Afghanistan, into its ranks. Consequently, Mullah Saad, an Uzbek national, has assumed leadership of this group within IS-Khorasan (IS-K), and Uzbek holy warrior Osama Ghazi serves as his deputy. In addition to these two leaders from the Jundallah group, around two thousand fighters from this group and thousands of their supporters in Takhar, Kunduz, Badakhshan, and Faryab provinces have also become part of IS-Khorasan (IS-K).

This significant shift occurred as Uzbek fighters in Jundallah grew disillusioned with the Taliban regime. According to the Hasht-e Subh Daily’s findings, the Uzbek holy warriors played a major role in the Taliban’s takeover in the north of Afghanistan. However,
some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them...
following the Taliban’s return, Jundallah’s leadership and members faced hostility from them. The Taliban resorted to assassinations of some Jundallah leaders to control the group. Notably, Uzbek migrant Osman Ghazi, who entered Afghanistan with five thousand of his Uzbek followers during Baranuddin Rabbani’s rule, later joined Jundallah at the request of Abdul Malik Rigi, a Jundallah member. Rigi, who operated in Iran, was executed after being arrested by the Islamic Theocratic Republic of Iran.

After the first fall of the Taliban regime, Ghazi went to Pakistain to lead his group’s terrorist attacks alongside the Afghan Taliban against the previous government. Following orders from Mullah Mohammed Omar, the founder of the Taliban, Ghazi returned with hundreds of his followers to the province of Zabul and, in 2016, made an informal allegiance to ISIS during a consultation with some Taliban leaders. This move seemingly served as part of the plan to eliminate him, as shortly after, Ghazi became the target of an ambush by Taliban commanders and was killed in Zabul province along with his wife and several children.

Based on the findings of the Hasht-e Subh Daily, this action led Osama Ghazi, his son, and 150 other Jundallah members from Zabul province, where his father was present, to go to the provinces of Kandahar and Badakhshan and then leave those areas too. However,
some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them...
he waited for Dire Revenge from the Taliban until, following the Taliban’s resurgence, he and all members of his group joined ISIS. It should be noted that ISIS has utilized Jundallah members in expanding its activities in Central Asia. For instance, a member of this group, who previously operated under Salahuddin Ayubi’s command in Faryab province, launched a rocket attack on the soil of Uzbekistan.

On the other hand, IS-K’s efforts to gain the allegiance of Salahuddin Ayubi, a commander of Uzbek origin and dissatisfied with the Taliban, have intensified. He has close relations with the northern hard boyz and appears to be able to establish connections with other gangs in Tajikistan and other northern regions of the country. Moreover, ISIS, pursuing its plans for expanding activities in Central Asia, seeks to establish further communication with Uzbekistan fighters. This endeavor highlights the group’s intention to engage with some commanders and fighters of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.

Meanwhile,
...back at the shootout, Butch clutched at his other shoulder......
based on available information, ISIS has previously designated a commander for Tajikistan as well. It is worth recalling that, in addition to Khorasan, the group is also seriously focused on the Indian subcontinent. According to the findings, in mid-2022, the leadership of ISIS instructed its members in the "Province of Hind" to intensify their activities in India and Pakistain. Abu al-Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, the then-leader of ISIS in Iraq and Syria, had urged Sheikh Zubair Ahmed, the ISIS governor in India, to bring about positive changes in that geography. Subsequently, Sheikh Zubair Ahmed decided to activate his media unit and conduct activities through Telegram, following the same directive.

The Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really 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 western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
of Iraq and Syria, known as ISIS, was originally formed in the late 20th century under the name "Jamāʿat al-Tawḥīd wal-Jihād." It merged with al-Qaeda in 2004 but adopted the name "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" in 2013. In 2014, ISIS declared a caliphate, with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as its first recognized leader. Currently, besides Iraq and some Arab countries, ISIS also operates extensively in Afghanistan. These activities have intensified after the return of the Taliban to power, and they encompass attacks on diplomatic sites and rocket attacks on countries in Central Asia. With recent changes in ISIS and the joining of imported muscle to its Khorasan branch, it appears that the group has significant plans for further infiltration into the "Wilayah of Khorasan." Previously, information indicated that IS-K was seeking to seize control of Kunar Province
...one of the four N2KL provinces (Nangarhar, Nuristan, Kunar and Laghman). N2KL is the designation used by US and Coalition Forces for the rugged and very violent region opposite Pakistain's Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Northwest Frontier Province. Kunar is the center of the N2KL region. Its population is 95% Pashtun. It is adjacent to Bajaur Agency..
, a move that has been delayed after the assessment by its Lajna Council.

Link

Afghanistan

Meet the next leader of Afghanistan

2021-08-17

[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]

Abdul Ghani Baradar fought in the mujahideen against the Soviets in the 1980s

He was co-founded Taliban in the early 1990s with Mullah Mohammed Omar

Baradar was captured in 2010 in Pakistan at the request of the US government

But released 2018 as Trump administration believed he could help broker peace

On Sunday, he flew from Doha to Kabul as militants stormed presidential palace

Link

Afghanistan

In Afghanistan, jailed Taliban await peace, their freedom

2019-12-31

[DAWN] Thousands of Taliban
Taliban

...mindless ferocity in a turban...
prisoners placed in durance vile
Into the paddy wagon wit' yez!
in Afghanistan as ~~bandidos~~ krazed killers see a peace deal being hammered out between the United States and the Taliban as their ticket to freedom.

They know a prisoner release is a key pillar of any agreement that brings an end to Afghanistan's 18-year war, Washingtons longest military engagement.

A list of about 5,000 Taliban prisoners has been given to the Americans and their release has been written into the agreement under discussion, said a Taliban official familiar with the on-again, off-again talks taking place in Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media. US and Afghan government officials have said a prisoner release is part of the negotiation.

But some analysts say freeing prisoners could undermine peace in Afghanistan.

"There's a need for Afghan and US officials to do their due diligence on any Taliban prisoners they're planning to release, in order to minimise the likelihood that they'll set free jihadists that can do destabilising things and undercut a fledgling grinding of the peace processor," warned Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Program at the US-based Wilson Center.

The News Agency that Dare Not be Named interviewed more than a dozen Taliban prisoners inside the notorious Pul-e-Charkhi prison on the eastern edge of the capital, Kabul. Several of them were nostalgic for the Taliban's Afghanistan, ruled by the mighty hand of their previous leader, the reclusive one-eyed Mullah Mohammed Omar, who died several years ago.

But they also insisted that they accept it would not be the same now and that, though they still wanted what they call Islamic rule, they no longer call for some of their strict edicts, like the ban on education and on girls and women working.

"We want women to be educated, become engineers, we want women to work in every department," said one prisoner, Maulvi Niaz Mohammed, though he said the work must be "based on Islam". He said young Afghans should not fear the Taliban, "it is they who will build our country and develop it".

Taliban negotiators have taken a similar tone in the talks. But there is a deep distrust on both sides of the conflict and many in the public worry what will happen if the Taliban, who ruled for five years until they were toppled in the 2001 US-led invasion, regain authority.

On Sunday, the Taliban ruling council agreed to a temporary cease-fire in Afghanistan, providing a window in which a peace agreement with the US can be signed, Taliban officials said. They didn't say when it would begin.

The Taliban have well-organised communication networks inside Afghan prisons that record the latest arrests, province by province, as well as who is sick and who has died. It all gets delivered to a prisoners commission, devoted to their release and headed by Mullah Nooruddin Turabi, who during the Taliban rule served as justice minister and the virtue and vice minister in charge of ~~inquisitors~~ religious police.

Khaama Press adds:

Analysts and even the United States’ own Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction John F. Sopko said neither Afghanistan nor the U.S. is ready for the Taliban prisoners’ release.

Every past attempt at re-integration has been costly and a failure.

Link

Terror Networks

Mil Times Follow-up article: 5 freed from Gitmo in exchange for Bergdahl join Taliban's political office in Qatar

2018-10-31

[Military Times] KABUL, Afghanistan ‐ Five members of the Afghan Taliban who were freed from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in exchange for captured American Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl have joined the insurgent group’s political office in Qatar, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said Tuesday.

They will now be among Taliban representatives negotiating for peace in Afghanistan, a sign some negotiators in Kabul say indicates the Taliban’s desire for a peace pact.
Bowe Bergdahl as the deranged POW. Carter Page as the traitorous Russian spy. Dr. Christine Blasey Ford as.... Same basic diversionary theme, different movie.
Others fear the five, all of whom were close to the insurgent group's founder and hard-line leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, bring with them the same ultra-conservative interpretation of Islam that characterized the group's five-year rule that ended in 2001 with the U.S.-led invasion.

Link

Afghanistan

US marks 16 years of war in Afghanistan

2017-10-22

[Jpost] On Friday, October 20 a man entered a Shia mosque in Kabul, Afghanistan for Friday prayers. Soon after, according to reports, he gunned down the worshippers and blew up a bomb. At least 39 were killed. In Ghor province another attack at a Sunni mosque targeting a tribal elder killed 20. Overall around 180 have been murdered in terror attacks in Afghanistan in the last week.

Sixteen years ago, on the night of October 19th, US Army Rangers and special forces raided an airfield and attacked Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar’s headquarters near Kandahar. It was the first ground action of Operation Enduring Freedom, launched after the September 11th attacks. "It’s crazy to think about," says Rebecca Zimmerman, a Policy Researcher at the RAND Corporation. "I have been trying to mark this anniversary and think more deeply about what it means to be there 16 years and the essential question we all need to ask if not just is it still worth it, it pretty well is worth it, but when will it not be worth it," she says.
I wonder why Reagan was satisfied with a few bombings instead of invading Libya, overthrowing the Kadafy regime, and building a nation? Could it be that he knew something that Bush II didn't?

Link

Afghanistan

Taliban names Mullah Ibrahim Sadar as new military chief

2016-08-31

[MILITARYTIMES] The Taliban have appointed a new military chief as the murderous Moslems try to gain ground rather than talk peace under a new leadership, Taliban officials said in telephone interviews over the weekend.

They said that the appointment of Mullah Ibrahim Sadar, once a close ally of Taliban founder Mullah Mohammed Omar, heralds a commitment to confrontation at a time when multiple governments are trying to coax the Taliban to the negotiating table.

Sadar is a battle-hardened commander, who gained prominence among Taliban foot soldiers following the movement's overthrow in 2001. The two officials both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly for the Taliban.

Link

-Obits-

Akhtar Mansour's brief reign as Taliban chief marked by turmoil

2016-05-23

[NATION.PK] Mullah Mohammed Akhtar Mansour's brief rule, which ended with his death in a drone strike, was marked by mistrust and strife.

Mansour, who was believed to be in his mid-50s, was reported killed by an ~~Arclight~~ airstrike in southwestern Pakistain on Saturday, according to U.S. and Afghan officials. However a senior Taliban capo told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named that he was killed Friday night.

Since his takeover of the movement following the announcement last year of founder Mullah Mohammed Omar's death, Mansour had battled other Taliban capos. He eventually enlisted the powerful semi-independent faction known as the Haqqani network to cajole important commanders back into the fold and promised positions on the leadership council to entice Mullah Omar

Link

Afghanistan

Taliban says will not take part in Afghan peace talks

2016-03-05

[Rooters] The Taliban said on Saturday it would not take part in peace talks brokered by a four-way group including representatives of Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, and the United States.

The Taliban, ousted from power in a U.S.-led military intervention in 2001, has been waging a violent insurgency to try to topple the Western-backed Afghan government and reestablish a fundamentalist Islamic regime.

Following a meeting of the so-called Quadrilateral Coordination Group made up of representatives of the four countries in Kabul in February, officials said they expected direct peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban to begin in early March.

But the Taliban, which calls itself the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, publicly denied they would be participating in any upcoming talks in Islamabad.

With the American troops remaining in the country conducting air strikes and special operations raids in support of the Kabul government, the Taliban would not participate in talks, the group said in a statement.

"We reject all such rumors and unequivocally state that the leader of Islamic Emirate has not authorized anyone to participate in this meeting," the statement said. "(Islamic Emirate) once again reiterates that unless the occupation of Afghanistan is ended, black lists eliminated and innocent prisoners freed, such futile misleading negotiations will not bear any results."

Direct talks between Kabul and the Taliban have been on hold since last year's announcement of the death of the movement's founder and long-time leader Mullah Mohammed Omar some two years earlier.

New leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour has laid down preconditions for taking part in any talks as he struggles to overcome factional infighting, with some breakaway groups opposing any negotiations whatsoever.

Link

Terror Networks

Zawahri urges lone wolf attacks in Western states

2015-09-14

[Beirut Daily Star] Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri called on young Moslem men in the United States and other Western countries to carry out attacks inside there and urged greater unity between turbans.

"I call on all Moslems who can harm the countries of the crusader coalition not to hesitate. We must now focus on moving the war to the heart of the homes and cities of the crusader West and specifically America," Zawahri said in an audio recording posted online Sunday, referring to nations making up the Western-led coalition in Iraq and Syria.

He suggested Moslem youth in the West take the Tsarnaev and Kouachi brothers, who carried out the Boston marathon bombings and Charlie Hebdo
...

A lefty French satirical magazine, home of what may well be the majority if the active testicles left in Europe...
shootings in Gay Paree respectively, and others as examples to follow.

It was not clear when the recording was made but references to ex-Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar as being alive suggest it is at least 2 months old. Omar's death was announced by Afghanistan's government in late July.

Zawahri reiterated his position on ISIS, repeating what he said in a recording posted Wednesday -- that he viewed the group's claim to be a caliphate as illegitimate but would join them in fighting Western and secular forces in Iraq and Syria.

Link

India-Pakistan

Unity among North Waziristan militant groups crumbles

2011-04-29

[Dawn] Crumbling unity among forces of Evil could provide the Pakistain army an opening to conduct a limited offensive against a particularly vicious Taliban group in a strategic tribal region, according to analysts and a senior military official.

The target of such an operation in North

Wazoo would be the most violent factions within the so-called Pak Taliban. Their leader, Hakimullah Mehsud, is believed to be increasingly isolated after executing a prominent former Pak official over the objections of senior bad turban leaders.

Although Mehsud has been linked to attacks in neighbouring Afghanistan, his main focus appears to be in plotting carnage elsewhere in Pakistain. And that makes him a prime target for the army.

Washington has long urged the Paks to launch an operation in North Waziristan, a region overrun by an assortment of bad turban groups including al Qaeda. Most US drone strikes in Pakistain take place in North Waziristan.

Already there are more than 30,000 soldiers in North Waziristan, and some analysts say the Mighty Pak Army could quickly redeploy to the area. The army has 140,000 soldiers in the tribal regions that border Afghanistan

The Paks, however, are unlikely to target the Haqqani group, which the US considers its greatest enemy in Afghanistan. US Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, complained last week that Pakistain's secret service maintains links to the Haqqani network. The Haqqanis are Afghan Taliban who control parts of eastern Afghanistan and have bases in North Waziristan.

If the Haqqanis and other bad turban groups in North Waziristan cooperate with a military assault against the Pak Taliban, that would give the army more options.

The fissures among the forces of Evil were laid bare in February, when Mehsud released a gruesome video that confirmed the shooting death of former Pak spy Sultan Amir Tarar, better known as Col. Imam, according to a senior Pakistain army officer who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.

As Pakistain's consul general in Afghanistan's Kandahar province during the Taliban's rule, Imam was the conduit for money and weapons to the religious movement. A former Pak intelligence officer, Imam met regularly with Afghan Taliban's reclusive leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar. Imam was known to have kept contact with leading Taliban in hiding in Pakistain since the US-led coalition ousted them from power in Afghanistan in 2001.

Mehsud's group had held Imam for 10 months. The killing confounded Pak military officials. They had long believed the Haqqanis held sway over the myriad of groups -- including forces of Evil from Uzbekistan, Chechnya and the Middle East -- operating in North Waziristan.

"We always thought that the Afghan Taliban had a sway over these groups, but Col. Imam's killing shows that no one is in control of anyone there," he said. "His death was a shock for us."

Taliban members who spoke to The News Agency that Dare Not be Named on condition of anonymity because they feared being tossed in the calaboose said Mullah Omar made a personal plea for Imam's life. Also requesting that Imam's life be spared was Sirajuddin Haqqani, a key leader of the Haqqani group.

The senior military official said Mehsud defied Mullah Omar and Sirajuddin Haqqani and went ahead with the execution after the government and army refused his demands to free several of his imprisoned men.

Not only that, Mehsud boasted on a jihadi website about the killing, according to the SITE Intelligence Group. The same website carried an Urdu language condemnation of Mehsud's organisation, calling those behind the execution "beasts" and "ignoble killers," SITE said.

The divisions that Imam's death revealed among the bad turban groups could provide an opportunity for the army to hit hard at beturbanned goons in the North Waziristan town of Mir Ali, where Mehsud set up bases after fleeing last year's military assault on his headquarters in neighbouring South Waziristan, according to Mahmood Shah, a retired army brigadier and former security point-man for the government in the tribal regions.

Mir Ali is about 20 miles from the town of Miramshah, where the Haqqanis are based.

Tribal elders from North Waziristan, all of whom were too afraid to talk on the record, fearing retribution from bad turbans, said the landscape in their home region has undergone massive upheavals since the army operation in South Waziristan.

They said Mehsud and his men were among the most troublesome of the bad turbans, largely because of their affiliation with criminal gangs.

Mehsud and his followers are also among the richest, having accumulated wealth through kidnappings for ransom, thefts and extortion, said a tribal elder from Shawal district of North Waziristan.

Mehsud's close affiliation with Lashkar-i-Janghvi, a

Punjab-based Sunni Mohammedan bad turban group blamed for dozens of attacks against minority Shia Mohammedans, has also provided him with a reservoir of jacket wallahs. They have carried out dozens of attacks throughout Pakistain and in Afghanistan.

US officials who did not want to be identified because of the sensitivity of the subject said the Jordanian suicide bomber who killed six CIA operatives in Afghanistan's Khost province
... across the border from Miranshah, within commuting distance of Haqqani hangouts such as Datta Khel and probably within sight of Mordor. Khost is populated by six different tribes of Pashtuns, the largest probably being the Khostwal, from which it takes its name...
in December 2009 was trained by Lashkar-i-Janghvi's Qari Hussain, who was also a member of Mehsud's group. Hussain was killed in a drone attack but was quickly replaced by a cousin and fellow primitive of Mehsud's.

Mehsud has overseen the Pak Taliban ever since his predecessor, Baitullah Mehsud, was killed in a CIA missile strike on August 5, 2009. Hakimullah Mehsud is affiliated with the Taliban's most violent factions and has survived US and Pak attempts on his life.

In recent years the United States has identified Mir Ali as the site of a reconstituted al Qaeda. Also on the run in Mir Ali is Ilyas Kashmirei, a confidante of Mehsud's. The United States this month put a $5 million bounty on Kashmirei's head.

Link

Afghanistan

Taliban Repeating Pattern of Zarqawi's Al Q in Iraq?

2011-02-27

I'd feel better about this if it was in something other than Newsweak.
The Taliban has lost its swagger. Eighteen months ago they were stronger than ever in eastern Afghanistan and their home provinces in the south, and they were growing fast in the formerly secure north and west.

But fighters on the front lines are far less cocky.
The USMC can do that to you.
They freely admit that defections, desertions, and battlefield losses are undermining their military effectiveness. Worse, the defectors have given valuable intelligence to the Americans.

One of their biggest concerns is the lack of real leadership at the top.
Opening for #3 - submit your application, hurry, hurry.
The movement's founder, Mullah Mohammed Omar, has been unseen and silent since he fled Afghanistan in late 2001, and his right-hand man, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, has been held for the past year by Pakistani security forces. The two senior commanders who nominally run the war in the south now--Abdul Qayum Zakir and Akhtar Mohammad Mansoor--inspire little confidence in the ranks.

Kidnappings, indiscriminate IED and suicide-bomb attacks, abuses of power, and outright banditry are alienating formerly sympathetic villagers.
Cuz it worked so well for Zarqawi.

Link

Afghanistan

Suicide Blast Kills One, Wounds 26 in Afghanistan

2011-02-25

[An Nahar] A suicide car kaboom killed an intelligence agent and maimed 26 other people in an Afghan town on the Pakistain border Thursday, officials said, in the latest in a wave of blasts.

The explosives-packed vehicle with two bombers inside blew up in Spin Boldak after intelligence agents acting on a tip-off opened fire in a bid to stop it, Lutfullah Mashal, a front man for Afghanistan's national spy agency, said.

"We had intelligence that it was coming. The car was located, there were two jacket wallahs in it. Our officers shot at it and killed one of the bombers after it did not heed their order to stop," he told Agence La Belle France Presse.

"The second bomber was injured and he detonated his boom jacket, also setting off his friend's vest and the bombs in the vehicle."

Mashal added that one of the agents involved in the hunt in Kandahar province was killed and several other security officials were maimed in the blast.

Kandahar's provincial governor, Toryalai Wesa, confirmed the death and said 26 people including intelligence agents, police and civilians were maimed.

In the last three weeks, more than 100 people including many bystanders have died in six large blasts.

On Saturday, the country witnessed its worst attack since June when 38 people died in a suicide kaboom on a bank in Jalalabad, eastern Afghanistan.

Southern Afghanistan is seen as the focal point of the war between the Taliban and international and government forces, which has now been running for nearly 10 years.

Kandahar province is the birthplace of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar and the militia's spiritual home. It borders Pakistain, where the hard boy Islamists are suspected to have rear bases.

Earlier this month, 19 people including 15 police and an intelligence agent were killed in a string of attacks focused on police headquarters in Kandahar city claimed by the Taliban.

And in January, 17 people including a police officer died in Spin Boldak in a blast at a public bath.

On Wednesday, the outgoing U.N. deputy special representative of the Secretary General for Afghanistan said security in Afghanistan was "at its lowest level" since the Taliban were ousted from power by a U.S.-led invasion in 2001.

Elsewhere in Afghanistan Thursday, a police commander said he had opened an investigation into possible civilian deaths after an air raid killed five gunnies on a mountains northeast of the capital Kabul.

The probe was launched after villagers alleged the men were civilians hunting in the mountains of Alasai district in Kapisa province, provincial police chief Abdul Hamid Arkin told AFP.

"Five people have been killed. They were observed from the air to be carrying weapons on the mountains. They were targeted and killed," he said.

"Now our intelligence agencies are investigating to find out whether they were civilians or armed members of the Taliban."

A front man for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said they were looking into what had happened.

President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai alleged this week that international forces had killed more than 50 civilians in air strikes in Kunar, east Afghanistan. ISAF denies the charges and says it is investigating the claims.

On Tuesday, Afghan officials said the force killed another six civilians in a raid on faceless myrmidons in the neighboring province of Nangarhar. ISAF is investigating that incident too.

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