Recent Appearances...

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Hello !
Recent Appearances...

Osama bin Laden	Osama bin Laden	Al-Qaeda Ansarullah	Terror Networks				20030125
	Osama bin Laden	al-Qaeda	Afghanistan/South Asia	Saudi	At Large	Supremo	20050607
	Osama bin Laden	al-Qaeda					20010913
	Osama bin Laden	International Islamic Front	Terror Networks				20020820
	Osama bin Laden	Fath-e-Islam	Afghanistan				20020830

India-Pakistan

Vikram Misri Criticises Pakistan For Giving State Honour To Terrorists, Sat Photos Released of 2 Sites India Hit Wednesday

2025-05-09

[OneIndia] Addressing the media on escalating tensions between India and Pakistain, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri slammed Pakistain for giving state-honour funerals of three terrorists. These individuals were eliminated in strikes by the Indian military as part of Operation Sindoor. Misri highlighted the unusual practice of draping coffins with Pak flags and conducting the funerals with state honors, a treatment typically reserved for civilians. This occurrence raises questions about the nature of the individuals being honored in such a manner.

During the briefing, Misri pointed out the contradiction in Pakistain's claim that the Indian military had targeted civilians in their recent operation. He underscored that the strikes on May 7 specifically targeted terrorist infrastructure, based on precise intelligence. The presence of Pakistain Army personnel at these funerals, Misri argued, sends a telling message about the identities of the dear departed. According to Misri, the practice of giving Lions of Islam state funerals seems to be a norm in Pakistain, which he finds perplexing and unjustifiable.

INDIA'S COUNTERTERRORISM EFFORTS HIGHLIGHTED
India undertook military action against nine terrorist facilities under 'Operation Sindoor' in response to a terror attack on April 22 in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir
...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it Azad (Free) Kashmir. The remainder they refer to as "Indian Occupied Kashmir". They have fought four wars with India over it, the score currently 4-0 in New Delhi's favor. After 72 years of this nonsense, India cut the Gordian knot in 2019, removing the area's special status, breaking off Ladakh as a separate state, and allowing people from other areas to settle (or in the case of the Pandits, to resettle) there....
, which resulted in the death of 26 civilians. This operation aimed to dismantle the infrastructure supporting terrorism, with India confirming the successful elimination of several terror targets. Despite Pakistain's claims that the strikes resulted in civilian casualties, India maintains that the operation was focused exclusively on combatting terrorism.

The targeted strike in Muridke, situated about 40 kilometers from Lahore, resulted in the deaths of Qari Abdul Malik, Khalid, and Mudassir. This action was part of India's broader strategy to disrupt the operations of terrorist groups. The funeral for these individuals was conducted under strict security measures and saw the attendance of not just Pakistain Army personnel but also members of the civil bureaucracy and Jamaat-ud-Dawa
...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba...
h (JuD), a banned
...the word banned seems to have a different meaning in Pakistain than it does in most other places. Or maybe it simply lacks any meaning at all...
organization led by 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....
. The ceremony, led by Hafiz Abdul Rauf, included prayers for the nation's safety and security.

Misri also addressed Pakistain's allegations that India had targeted religious sites during its operation. He categorically denied these claims, emphasizing that the operation focused solely on terrorist infrastructure and facilities linked to cross-border terrorism into India. Misri accused Pakistain of misusing religious sites to radicalize, instruct, and train terrorists, thereby endangering the region's security.

Proof From Above: Satellite Pics Show Extent of 5/7 Terror Site Damage in Operation Sindoor - Before-After Photos
[OneIndia] High-resolution satellite images released by Maxar Technologies provide clear visual confirmation of the extensive damage caused by Operation Sindoor, which targeted nine sites across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. These sites were linked to terrorist groups Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), and Hizbul Mujahideen.

The imagery offers striking before-and-after comparisons of two major targets: the Markaz Subhan Allah compound near Bahawalpur and the Markaz Taiba complex in Nangal Sadhan, Muridke. Both facilities, key ideological and operational centres for JeM and LeT, respectively, now appear severely damaged with visible craters, collapsed roofs, and scattered debris, as seen in images dated May 7.

Established in 2015, this compound functioned as JeM's central hub for operations and training. It housed the group's top leadership, including chief Masood Azhar and deputy Abdul Rauf Asghar. The centre was reportedly involved in planning multiple attacks, including the 2019 Pulwama bombing.

MARKAZ TAIBA, MURIDKE
In operation since 2000, this LeT stronghold served as a key training and radicalisation centre. It offered weapons training, religious indoctrination, and fitness programs to nearly 1,000 recruits annually. Notably, it was a training site for the 2008 Mumbai attackers, including Ajmal Kasab and David Headley. Historical intelligence suggests Osama bin Laden contributed significantly to building its mosque and guesthouse. Satellite imagery shows severe structural damage to several buildings.

Additional sites targeted in Operation Sindoor include Muzaffarabad, Kotli, Rawalakot, Chakswari, Bhimber, Neelum Valley, Jhelum, and Chakwal. Indian intelligence had been monitoring these locations for months, tracking suspicious movement patterns, satellite phone activity, and vehicular logistics consistent with terror operations.

THE OPERATION
Operation Sindoor was launched in retaliation for the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, which claimed 25 lives, including that of a Nepali tourist. India attributed the attack to LeT operatives trained across the border.

The offensive employed a mix of air-launched cruise missiles, loitering munitions (kamikaze drones), and long-range artillery. The Indian Air Force executed four strikes across the international border, while five others targeted sites within Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Defence officials clarified that no Pakistani military installations were hit, describing the operation as "measured, focused, and non-escalatory."

Meanwhile, Indian Defence Minister Rajanth Singh has said that 100 terrorists were killed in the Wednesday operation. He has reportedly said that such operation will continue.

Link

Fifth Column

Lawyer for Radical Columbia Grad Student Repped Al Qaeda Members—Including 'Close Associate' of Bin Laden

2025-03-15

[WashingtonFreeBeacon] When Hamas
Hamas

..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
-supporting Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil appeared in court on Wednesday, he was represented by, among others, Ramzi Kassem, a lawyer perhaps best known for defending al Qaeda terrorists.

The Syrian-born Khalil had his green card revoked by Immigration and Customs Enforcement over the weekend as part of the Trump administration's crackdown on foreign nationals involved in pro-terrorist demonstrations at universities.

Kassem has represented murderous Moslems including Ahmed al-Darbi, an al Qaeda member convicted in 2017 for the bombing of a French oil tanker, as well as several other Guantanamo Bay detainees, including a "close associate" of the late Osama bin Laden
...... who is no longer with us, and won't be again......
. He went on to serve as an immigration policy adviser to former president Joe The Big Guy Biden
...46th president of the U.S. This Is A Man That Does Not Seem Demented...
as a member of the White House's Domestic Policy Council.

Like his new client, Kassem was also involved in anti-Israel activism as a student at Columbia, where he lobbied to rename a sandwich called the "Israeli wrap" in the student dining hall, claiming the terminology was offensive to Moslems. He attended Columbia Law School on a fellowship funded by Paul Soros, the elder brother of Democratic megadonor George Soros
...either Ernst Stavro Blofeld or Auric Goldfinger come true. Maybe both....
His client, Khalil, who graduated from a Columbia graduate program in December, was a leader of Columbia University Apartheid Divest, which backed Hamas's "armed resistance" against Israel. He served as a lead negotiator for student activists' illegal anti-Israel encampment last spring and vowed that the group would "remain in this encampment until we achieve all of our demands," which included a boycott of Israel.

Columbia briefly suspended Khalil for his role in the encampment, but he continued to back the demonstrations on campus, which turned ~~violent~~ mostly peaceful in the spring, when students stormed and occupied campus building.

"What we will see [is] the students will continue their activism, will continue doing what they've done in conventional and unconventional ways," Khalil told The Hill in August. "So not only protests, not only encampments, kind of any—any available means necessary to push Columbia to divest from Israel."

"And we've been working all this summer on our plans, on what's next to pressure Columbia to listen to the students and to decide to be on the right side of history," Khalil went on.

Since then, pro-Hamas activists at Columbia have disrupted classes to distribute anti-Semitic flyers, ~~violent~~ mostly peacefully seized campus buildings, and physically assaulted university employees. The chaos led the Trump administration last week to cut off $400 million in federal grants to the university, citing the school's "continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students."

Khalil is expected to remain in the country after a federal judge, Jesse Furman, intervened on Wednesday to block his immediate deportation. Furman, of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, is a prolific Democratic donor who once threw out a terrorism lawsuit against the Paleostine Liberation Organization.

Furman, who has served as a judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York since he was nominated in 2011 by President Barack Obama
My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you'll join with me as we try to change it...
, has a long history of involvement with liberal political causes. The brother of Obama’s former economic advisor Jason Furman, Jesse Furman has donated over $20,000 to Democrats
...every time you hear the phrase white people, white supremacy, white anything but paint, you're listening to a Democrat. Ask him/her/it to reimagine something for you; they do that a lot, though not well. They can hear a dog whistle a mile or two away. They invented the spoils system and Tammany Hall, and inspired the addition of the word (Thomas) Nasty to the English language. They want to stop continental drift and repeal the law of unintended side effects...
, including Obama, Crooked Hillary Clinton
...former first lady, former secretary of state, former presidential candidate, Conqueror of Benghazi, Heroine of Tuzla, formerly described by her supporters as the smartest woman in the world, usually described by the rest of us as The Thing That Wouldn't Go Away. Politix is not one of her talents, but it's something she keeps trying to do...
, and the Democratic National Committee.

Furman also served as the treasurer of his family’s charity, the Furman Foundation, which has donated to Media Matters, the Alliance for Justice, and People for the American Way, according to his Senate confirmation questionnaire.

The Khalil ruling isn’t the first time Furman has staked out a controversial position on a case involving Israel. In 2018, Furman dismissed a terrorism lawsuit against the Paleostine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Paleostinian leadership in the West Bank, citing a lack of jurisdiction.

The lawsuit was filed by the family of Ari Fuld, an American-Israeli citizen who was stabbed to death by a Paleostinian terrorist outside an Israeli shopping center in 2018. The plaintiffs argued that the PLO and Paleostinian Authority were liable in Fuld’s murder under the Anti-Terrorism Act, because the Paleostinian government paid the terrorist’s family following the attack. Critics say this payment system, known as the "pay-to-slay" program, incentivizes terrorism.

Furman tossed the suit, arguing that the court didn’t have jurisdiction over the PLO and the Paleostinian Authority. But Fuld’s family and other victims of Paleostinian terrorism have appealed the issue, and the Supreme Court agreed to take up the question of jurisdiction in December.

In Khalil’s case, the government is challenging the Southern District’s jurisdiction over the case, arguing that Khalil's lawyers should have filed it in either New Jersey or Louisiana, where Khalil was detained at the time.

Ted Frank, the director of the Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute, told the Washington Free Beacon that there is a strong argument for challenging the jurisdiction and that he would be "surprised if the motion isn't granted."

Khalil's lawyers countered that there is legal standing to file his case in the place where he was arrested, if there is evidence that the government transferred him to prevent him from speaking with legal counsel.

"There is a two-track process here: habeas corpus (in federal court) and deportation (before an immigration judge)," Andrew McCarthy, a former prosecutor in the Southern District and columnist for National Review, told the Free Beacon. "The issue in the habeas case is whether Khalil's arrest and detention violate the Constitution."

Link

Home Front: WoT

Did Team Trump Get the Wrong Abbey Gate Bad Guy?

2025-03-07

[PJMedia] During President Trump's speech to a joint session of Congress, he announced that with the help of American intelligence agencies and Pakistain, the planner of the Abbey Gate terrorist attack in Afghanistan was being brought to America at that moment to "face the swift sword of American justice."

It was an exhilarating moment. The news may have prompted a small feeling of "closure" among the families of the 13 American service members who died in that Afghanistan calamity on Joe The Big Guy Biden
Joe <q>The Big Guy</q> Biden

...46th president of the U.S. I'm not working for you. Don't be such a horse's ass....
's watch.

But the Paks may have handed over the wrong guy. They say that Mohammad Sharifullah is "a commander of the ISIS (ISIS) affiliate in Khorasan Province (ISKP) [and was] an Afghan national captured in an operation conducted in the Pakistain-Afghanistan border
...also known as Pashtunistan, home of ignorance, poverty, and automatic weapons...
region." The Pak Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif thanked Trump in a statement for "appreciating Pakistain’s role and support in counterterrorism efforts across the region."

But, could it be that the Paks, who hid Osama bin Laden'>the late Osama bin Laden
...... who has left the building......
from the Americans for years, engaged in yet another subterfuge to stick it to us? Of course the Paks could have done that.

A former CIA "targeter" whose job was to find bad guys in Afghanistan says whoever told the Trump team that this Mohammad guy was the shot-caller for the Taliban
...Arabic for students...
is lying to them.

Someone is lying to you @realDonaldTrump

Here are the names responsible below for Abbey Gate. The attack had two joint Masterminds, Sirajuddin Haqqani and Sanaullah Ghafari.

This is like when we picked up a fake mastermind for the 2012 Benghazi attacks, Ahmed Abu Khatallah.… https://t.co/qfEGAuMaO6 pic.twitter.com/W5sgFU3I4e
— Sarah Adams (@TPASarah) March 5, 2025

Adams, who now works for the Defense Department, uses open source materials and sometimes calls her old contacts in Afghanistan to run down leads while looking for bad guys and connecting the dots for articles and books.

She thinks a different person was the actual shot-caller for a suicide kaboom at Abbey Gate at the Kabul Airport in those frantic days before the U.S. ignominiously bugged out.

The man who helped plan the attack, Adams believes, is Hafiz Haqqani, of the notorious Haqqani terror network, and who has connections to Al Qaeda's one-time number-two bad guy, Ayman Al Zawahiri
...Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area assuming he's not dead like Mullah Omar. He lost major face when he ordered the nascent Islamic State to cease and desist and merge with the orthodox al-Qaeda spring, al-Nusra...>
. In fact, Adams believes the man who told the boom jacket-wearing terrorist the precise place to detonate his bomb for maximum U.S. casualties is Zawahiri's son-in-law.

Here’s a hard truth:

Hafiz Haqqani—the terrorist on the ground at Abbey Gate who told the suicide bomber he was in the best position to kill the most U.S. soldiers and to detonate—is the son-in-law of Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Yes, you read that right. He’s a Zawahiri and a…
— Sarah Adams (@TPASarah) March 5, 2025

First, you have to understand what Adams believes is the leadership apparatus of the Taliban. She believes the Taliban is wholly infused by Al Qaeda. Adams says the families have intermarried. She says three of the top leaders of the Taliban have the last name of Bin Laden.

Adams is the first to point out that the United States bankrolls the Taliban — and by extension Al Qaeda and the Bin Laden family — $40 to $80 million per week.

As I reported previously, USAID money was used for a lot of the payoff to the terrorists.

Adams's claims were verified in a February congressional hearing.

Adams isn't new to finding ~~bandidos~~ Death Eaters who try to hide. She's written a recent work about the Abbey Gate terror plot called "HKIA: Know Thy Enemy."

She also found all the planners of the Benghazi terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2012, and wrote about them in her book, "Benghazi: Know Thy Enemy."

Remember that Secretary of State Crooked Hillary Clinton
...former first lady, former secretary of state, former presidential candidate, Conqueror of Benghazi, Heroine of Tuzla, formerly described by her supporters as the smartest woman in the world, usually described by the rest of us as The Thing That Wouldn't Go Away. Politix is not one of her talents, but it's something she keeps trying to do...
, Jake Sullivan, and Obama aide Susan Rice told Americans that the Benghazi attack was a misunderstanding that grew out of a movie no one watched — for which the movie maker was tossed in the calaboose
Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages!
in America by President Obama. But Adams wouldn't rest until she tracked down every one of the ~~bandidos~~ Death Eaters who killed her CIA compatriots and America's Ambassador to Libya.

After last night's announcement, FBI Director Kash Patel posted on X.com that the FBI and American intelligence worked to get their hands on the planner.

But Patel need only remember his own frustrations as a DOJ investigator involved for a time in the Benghazi prosecution to inform this latest case. In his book, "Government Gangsters," Patel was frustrated that "when it came to Benghazi, the B.O. regime, the F.B.I. and the D.O.J. wanted to seem tough on terrorism, so they kept minimal prosecutions open and brought up big-sounding charges that we couldn’t support."

And before he became the nominee to head the FBI, Patel told the Shawn Ryan show that the top brass "went and got basically the wrong guy [involved in Benghazi]. And then we prosecuted that wrong guy. Not that he wasn’t a part of it. He just wasn’t like the top tier of guys I would have gone after. And they screwed up the prosecution because they didn’t listen to us."

🚨BREAKING NEWS: The masterminds behind the Abbey Gate attack are Sirajuddin Haqqani and Sanaullah Ghafari. So why was a fake mastermind detained and extradited to the U.S.—and who is telling our American President @realdonaldtrump it was someone else?

If you haven’t read our… pic.twitter.com/JCM8nOi0Z6
— Sarah Adams (@TPASarah) March 5, 2025

Patel, more than most, understands that he'd better get the right guy targeted and act accordingly.

Link

Government Corruption

Biden's USAID Paid Terrorists, and Here's HOW They Did It

2025-02-17

[PJMedia] Readers were shocked when we reported that USAID had paid Taliban
...the once and current oppressors of Afghanistan...
and Al Qaeda terrorists. Now we've found out how they moved the money.

In the story "USAID Pays the Terrorists Who Kill Us," I wrote:

The U.S. State Department and USAID pay millions of dollars per week to the Taliban, the bin Laden family leading the group, and the Haqqani terror network. Remember those guys? Didn't we wage a 20-year-long war to get rid of them ...???

...We left Afghanistan, left behind billions of dollars in equipment, the strategically important Bagram Air Base, and all the biometric data of our Afghani supporters who put their lives on the line to help our efforts to get the Taliban and the murderous Moslems they were hiding from us. So, of course, when Joe The Big Guy Biden
Joe <q>The Big Guy</q> Biden

...46th president of the U.S. We hold these truths to be self-evident. All men and women created ... by the — you know — you know, the thing...
, Tony Blinken, and Jake Sullivan had us bug out in disgrace, they left the Taliban a ready-made kill list of our allies.

Former CIA targeter and DoD employee Sarah Adams has reported that the bin Laden, Mullah Mohammad Blinky Omar

...a minor Pashtun commander in the war against the Soviets who made good as leader of the Taliban. As ruler of Afghanistan, he took the title Leader of the Faithful. The imposition of Pashtunkhwa on the nation institutionalized ignorance and brutality in a country already notable for its own fair share of ignorance and brutality. Died of an unspecified ailment in a Pak hospital...
, and Taliban families have intermarried. Paying the Taliban is paying al-Qaeda. That wasn't the plan when U.S. troops went into Afghanistan 20 years ago to get the late Osama bin Laden
...... who is now sometimes referred to as Mister Bones......
and his al-Qaeda terror cell, which brought down the World Trade Center Towers.

After the Biden administration left Afghanistan in shame on Aug. 30, 2021, somehow, inexplicably, the U.S. government, through USAID, began to pay off the same people who tried to kill us.

According to the Horowitz Freedom Center's Daniel Greenfield, USAID laundered $1.7 billion to the Taliban through a series of banks, accounts, shell organizations, and other entities. USAID says it had no idea. You make the call after you see how Greenfield connected the banking dots.

The UN flew the currency to Afghanistan and deposited it in an unnamed 'private' bank.

Then it paid NGOs on the ground who converted the money into the Taliban's Afghani currency at an exchange rate set by the Taliban.

The Taliban bank then 'auctioned' off the dollars
3/ pic.twitter.com/UNdhfuNoLP
— Daniel Greenfield - "Hang Together or Separately" (@Sultanknish) February 13, 2025

In November 2022, the bag men for the Afghanistan Bank crowed over the stacks of cash that fell off the back of a plane.

There was $40 million in this shipment, according to Google Translate.

Greenfield reported at Front Page Magazine that the $40 million "on the tarmac was part of a much larger scheme under which USAID and the State Department provided over $1.7 billion in funding to the U.N., which then shipped $2.9 billion in cash to Afghanistan."

Greenfield reports the money from USAID was laundered through the U.N., turned into hundreds of dollar bills at a New York bank that kept the Afghanistan bank accounts, and then put in shrink-wrapped bags on pallets and sent to the terrorists. That money, in turn, was put into private Afghanistan banks since, at the time, normal banking with the Taliban was operational. That money was then doled out to USAID-approved NGOs.

The money was to go to humanitarian causes, according to an Inspector General's report, but as we've since learned, the Taliban, and by extension, al-Qaeda, sit on the boards of all the NGOs in Afghanistan, so "humanitarian aid

" is funneled to terror training camps and other non-humanitarian needs, according to Adams. I'll just bet they'll rebuild the schools for girls they destroyed any minute now.

"USAID claimed it didn't send money to the Taliban because it put the money in UN accounts it didn't control," Greenfield reported. "UN claimed it didn't send the cash to the Taliban, just put it in a private bank and the NGOs did business with the Taliban when they converted dollars to Afghani," he says. Greenfield reported that the Biden administration "sent both dollars and Afghanis to the Taliban."

The conclusion is that this was no mistake and no misunderstanding. This was an intentional act by the Biden administration to funnel money to the Taliban.

And here's the dirty payoff. "The Biden admin funded the entire Taliban economy by not only printing money for them, but sending them the dollars to exchange for Afghanis that the Taliban used to make the Afghani into a top currency. The dollars gave the Taliban control over Afghanistan," he writes.

Not only did we cede the country, but we also paid the Taliban off to take it over, and we bugged out in shame.

This sounds similar to how Biden hid his millions of shakedown dollars from Russia ($3.5 mil), Ukraine ($6.5 mil), Romania ($3 mil), China ($8 mil), and Kazakhstan ($142,300 for Hunter to buy a car). It makes you wonder if Biden got a Taliban kickback, doesn't it?

Link

-Short Attention Span Theater-

CNN confused Obama with Osama bin Laden in embarrassing on-air mix-up

2025-02-09

[FoxNews] CNN's most recent on-air flub goes viral on social media after viewers caught the surprising name mix-up

CNN mixed up the names of former President Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden in an embarrassing on-air gaffe on Friday night.

During a segment on the Guantanamo Bay detention camp on "CNN News Central," a graphic appeared behind anchor Boris Sanchez that read, "OBAMA BIN LADEN ASSOCIATE: ABU ZUBAYDAH."

Abu Zubaydah – the suspected Palestinian terrorist whose real name is Zayn al-Abidin Muhammad Husayn – is currently being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, while authorities are investigating the circumstances surrounding his apprehension and detention.

Link

Southeast Asia

Jakarta accepting that key Bali bombing suspect is Indonesian marks a reversal

2025-01-28

[BenarNews] Southeast Asian nation is considering seeking repatriation of Hambali – detained at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay since 2006 – whose case remains resolved.

Indonesia’s new government is considering seeking a key Bali bombing suspect’s return from Guantanamo Bay because, its law minister said, Jakarta is as concerned about its citizens imprisoned abroad as it is in repatriating some foreign convicts.

Jakarta’s acknowledgement that Hambali

...real name Riduan Isamuddin, close personal friend of Osama bin Laden, one of the founders of Jemaah Islamiyah and the planner of the 2002 Bali bombings. He was captured with the help of a mid-Eastern intel service, shipped to Guantanamo to rot but he'll likely be released eventually because that was a long time ago and we were all so much younger then...
, the suspect in jug at the U.S. military base in Cuba, is Indonesian marks a reversal. Analysts say the change may be linked to his bully boy group Jemaah Islamiyah disbanding or President Prabowo Subianto’s historical concern for the rights of citizens abroad.

The reason given by Yusril Ihza Mahendra, Indonesia’s law minister, referred to Jakarta’s repatriation last month of a Filipina and five Australian drug convicts.

"Our primary concern is ensuring the protection and legal assistance for all Indonesian nationals abroad, regardless of their actions," Yusril told news hounds in Jakarta on Tuesday.

"This demonstrates to the public that the government is not only concerned with foreign prisoners in Indonesia but also cares for Indonesian citizens detained abroad," he had told news hounds last week, state news agency Antara reported.

BenarNews contacted Yusril’s office, which confirmed his comments to the media.

Hambali, whose real name is Encep Nurjaman, has been detained without trial for 18 years at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, with his case still unresolved.

The three bombs that targeted Bali nightclubs on Oct. 12, 2002, killed 202 people. The attacks were blamed on Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), a Southeast Asian bully boy network linked to al-Qaeda — Hambali was a big shot.

Now 60 years old, Hambali was first arraigned before a U.S. military judge only in 2021. Another pre-trial hearing in the case is scheduled next week, from Jan. 27 until Jan. 31.

The latest developments in Indonesia related to the Hambali case follow the quiet repatriation last month of two Malaysian accomplices in the 2002 Bali bombings.

Yusril said that recent efforts through the previous Indonesian government to establish communication with Hambali through the Foreign Ministry had failed.

"We also asked the United States to expedite his trial, but that has not happened. In earlier discussions, repatriation for trial in Indonesia was considered," Yusril said.

Sidney Jones, senior advisor at the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict, said that bringing Hambali back home was "the right thing to do."

"Nothing justifies the treatment Hambali has endured, including reported torture and indefinite detention," Jones told BenarNews.

"If he had been tried in Indonesia after his 2003 arrest, he might have received a life sentence."

The country’s counterterrorism unit, Detachment 88, though, is capable of monitoring him effectively, Jones said.

A front man for the National Counter-Terrorism Agency (BNPT) declined to comment about why the government had reversed its position on Hambali.

As recently as 2021, the government denied that Hambali was an Indonesian citizen, citing his ownership of a foreign passport, and rejected any consideration of bringing him back.

Guantanamo Bay, a facility criticized globally for holding suspects indefinitely without trial, has long been a symbol of the post-9/11 war on terror, noted Al Chaidar, a terrorism analyst from Malikussaleh University in Lhokseumawe.

"This is the United States’ greatest failure — claiming to uphold democracy but disregarding the rule of law," he said.

"Hambali has been detained for more than 20 years without resolution."

Adlini Ilma Ghaisany Sjah, a terrorism researcher at Nanyang Technological University, told BenarNews "it’s possible" that this Indonesian government’s shift is related to the end of JI.

"The Indonesian police have also announced plans to repatriate 16 former JI members from Syria and 10 from the Philippines, which could indicate a broader shift in policy," said Adlini, from the Singapore university’s Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research.

Besides, Prabowo has in the past championed the rights of Indonesian nationals abroad.

For instance, Prabowo himself advocated for the eventually successful return in 2021 of an Indonesian domestic worker on death row in Malaysia.

It is possible that if Jakarta requested Hambali’s repatriation, it may face resistance from the new U.S. administration under Donald Trump

...His ancestors didn't own any slaves...
, Ian Wilson from Murdoch University in Australia told BenarNews.

"Considering Trump’s support for keeping the Guantanamo internment camp in operation, it would seem unlikely he’d be receptive to the idea of repatriation," said Wilson, a lecturer in politics and security studies.

"[That is] unless it was part of a deal seen as having clear benefits for his administration."

Wilson was referring to Trump’s earlier term as president, when he signed an executive order in 2018 to keep Guantanamo open.

Meanwhile,
...back at the revival hall, Buford bit the snake and Eloise began speaking in tongues...
one of Hambali’s younger brothers, Kankan Abdulkodir, told BenarNews that he had heard of talk regarding the potential repatriation and expressed hope for the best.

Kankan said the family last spoke to Hambali via video call last December, during which he told them he was in good health, but they were not allowed to discuss his legal case.

"If it is his fate to be released, then I hope it will happen," Kankan said.

"But if he has to stay at Guantanamo Bay, then so be it."

Link

Afghanistan

Rubio Threatens Bounties On Taliban Leaders Over Detained Americans

2025-01-27

[VOAnews] U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio

…who is clearly relishing his new role in the Trump administration…

on Saturday threatened bounties on the heads of Afghanistan's Taliban leaders, sharply escalating the tone as he said more Americans may be detained in the country than previously thought.

The threat comes days after the Afghan Taliban government and the United States swapped prisoners in one of the final acts of former U.S. President Joe Biden.

The new top U.S. diplomat issued the harsh warning via social media, in a rhetorical style strikingly similar to his boss, President Donald Trump.

"Just hearing the Taliban is holding more American hostages than has been reported," Rubio wrote on X.

"If this is true, we will have to immediately place a VERY BIG bounty on their top leaders, maybe even bigger than the one we had on bin Laden," he said, referring to the al-Qaida leader killed by U.S. forces in 2011.

Rubio did not describe who the other Americans may be, but there have long been accounts of missing Americans whose cases were not formally taken up by the U.S. government as wrongful detentions.

In the deal with the Biden administration, the Taliban freed the best-known American detained in Afghanistan, Ryan Corbett, who had been living with his family in the country and was seized in August 2022.

Also freed was William McKenty, an American about whom little information has been released.

The United States in turn freed Khan Mohammed, who was serving a life sentence in a California prison.

Mohammed was convicted of trafficking heroin and opium into the United States and was accused of seeking rockets to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

The United States offered a bounty of $25 million for information leading to the capture or killing of Osama bin Laden shortly after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, with Congress later authorizing the secretary of state to offer up to $50 million.

No one is believed to have collected the bounty for bin Laden, who was killed in a U.S. raid in Pakistan.

HARDER LINE ON TALIBAN?
Trump is known for brandishing threats in his speeches and on social media. But he is also a critic of U.S. military interventions overseas and in his second inaugural address Monday said he aspired to be a "peacemaker."

In his first term, the Trump administration broke a then-taboo and negotiated directly with the Taliban -- with Trump even proposing a summit with the then-insurgents at the Camp David presidential retreat -- as he brokered a deal to pull U.S. troops and end America's longest war.

Biden carried out the agreement, with the Western-backed government swiftly collapsing and the Taliban retaking power in August 2021 just after U.S. troops left.

The scenes of chaos in Kabul brought strong criticism of Biden, especially when 13 American troops and scores of Afghans died in a suicide bombing at the city's airport.

The Biden administration had low-level contacts with Taliban government representatives but made little headway.

Some members of Trump's Republican Party criticized even the limited U.S. engagements with the Taliban government and especially the humanitarian assistance authorized by the Biden administration, which insisted the money was for urgent needs in the impoverished country and never routed through the Taliban.

Rubio on Friday froze nearly all U.S. aid around the world.

No country has officially recognized the Taliban government, which has imposed severe restrictions on women and girls under its ultra-conservative interpretation of Islam.

The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor on Thursday said he was seeking arrest warrants for senior Taliban leaders over the persecution of women.

Link

Southeast Asia

Malaysians guilty of roles in 2002 Bali bombings released from Guantanamo

2024-12-25

2024-12-18
[BenarNews] The families of Mohammed Nazir bin Lep and Mohammed Farik bin Amin celebrated news of their return home.

Two Malaysians who pleaded guilty for their roles in the 2002 Bali bombings were in their government’s custody after the United States announced their repatriation from the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, where they were locked up for 18 years.

The duo, Mohammed Farik bin Amin and Mohammed Nazir bin Lep, were turned over to Malaysian authorities, according to a statement from the home ministry in Kuala Lumpur.

"The unity government has received from the United States government the two Malaysian nationals, Mohammed Farik bin Amin and Mohammed Nazir bin Lep, who were in prison since 2006 at the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp on the principle of human rights
One man's rights are another man's existential threat.
and support for universal justice," the ministry said in a statement Wednesday.

However,
if you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning...
it did not mention whether the two would be sent to a Malaysian prison upon being repatriated from the U.S. naval base in Cuba.

In January, a U.S. military judge at Guantanamo Bay sentenced bin Amin and bin Lep to five more years in prison after they pleaded guilty to five charges connected to their supporting roles in twin bombings that killed 202 people in October 2002 — Indonesia’s deadliest-ever terror attack.

Their repatriation this week was made in secret and information was released to their lawyers at the last minute.

Lawyer Brian Bouffard said his client, bin Lep, was a changed man and ready to be reunited with his family. Their repatriation this week was made in secret and information was released to their lawyers at the last minute.

"It is now more than two decades since Nazir was taken. He has grown in that time, and is today a man of peace who will live the remainder of his life in peace. We are grateful to everyone, in Malaysia and in the U.S., who understood that it was time to bring Nazir home," Bouffard said in a text message to BenarNews.

In its own statement, the U.S. Defense Department said both men had provided testimony before their departure against Indonesian Encep Nurjaman (Hambali

...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and whatever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th and 47th President of the United States...
’s inauguration on Jan. 20.

"There has been concern following Trump’s victory in the U.S. election. But we leave it to the government and the authority to work on it. Our hope is for him to be released soon," the source said.

WE LOVE HIM
Relatives of bin Lep were elated that he is back in Malaysia.

Professing his love for his younger brother, Najib Lep, 60, said he had already made plans to reintegrate him back into the society.

"We love him. We will take care of him and his welfare when he returns to us," Najib told BenarNews.

"For now, we have yet to receive any information from the Malaysian authorities. What we’ve got so far is just details from the media. Nevertheless, we cannot be more happy and grateful to Allah."

A source, who requested anonymity to ensure the safety of bin Amin’s family, said they were ready to welcome him home.

"Mohammed Farik has expressed his desire to care for his ailing parents upon return. His siblings have prepared a place for him to stay and will provide other necessary assistance for him. It will take time to readjust as he has been away from home for more than 20 years.

"The family is not ready to speak to the press and is waiting for clearance to meet Mohammed Farik," the source told BenarNews.

Bin Amin’s parents, ages 82 and 88, had been made aware of his return.

Lawyer Christine Funk said she and other members of bin Amin’s legal team were overjoyed by the prospect of their client being back in Malaysia.

"Mr. bin Amin said it best at his sentencing, when he told the Commission, the prosecution, the victim family members, and the observers, ’Instead of trying to change the world, I can only change myself. And over the past 20 years, I have changed. I am not an angry young man anymore. I am a reformed man,’" Funk said in a statement to BenarNews, adding he planned to "go forward as a good and peaceful Moslem."

Funk said the other members are confident that bin Amin will succeed.

Malaysian National Police Chief Razarudin Husain said the pair were to be evaluated and rehabilitated before being reintegrated into society, adding "everyone deserves a second chance."

"Both individuals are in good and healthy condition and feel blessed that they are able to return home and finally reunite with their family," he said in a statement about bin Amin and bin Lep.

"Both showed a positive attitude and openness toward the evaluation process and rehabilitation and have expressed their high commitment to become progressive members of society."

CONGRESS NOTIFIED LAST MONTH
Leading up to their release, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin notified Congress on Nov. 14 "of his intent to repatriate" the Malaysians "and, in consultation with our partners in Malaysia, we completed the requirements for responsible transfer," the statement from the Pentagon said. A 30-day notice must be filed before such transfers can occur.

The Malaysians had been linked to Hambali until their cases were separated from his in 2023 ahead of their plea deal.

Court documents state that beginning at the end of 2001, "including the periods before, during, and after the October 12, 2002, Bali bombings," bin Lep and bin Amin helped Hambali "transfer money for operations, and obtain and store items such as fraudulent identification documents, weapons and instructions on how to make bombs."

With the transfer, the number of detainees at Guantanamo Bay has been reduced to 27, the Pentagon said.

Link

Home Front: WoT

Virginia man charged with planning 'mass casualty' attack at NYC Israeli consulate

2024-12-20

[FoxNews] Abdullah Azz al-Din Taha Muhammad Hassan, an Egyptian citizen, was slated to be deported

An Egyptian man living in Virginia who was slated to be deported has been charged with planning an attack on the Israeli consulate in New York City.

Abdullah Azz al-Din Taha Muhammad Hassan allegedly provided bomb-making instructions and plans on how to attack the Manhattan consulate to an undercover FBI source, according to court documents. He was arrested Tuesday, the FBI told Fox News Digital.

Another vicious idiot whose very bestest BFF turns out to be an FBI informant. Send him home to trouble the Egyptian government.

Hassan is charged with distribution of information relating to explosives, destructive devices and weapons of mass destruction in furtherance of the commission of a federal crime.

"The FBI’s New York Office wants to reassure our Jewish community here in New York that our office — along with our law enforcement partners — remains vigilant in our efforts to identify, investigate and disrupt potential threats to our community, using every tool at our disposal to do so. As always, we urge all community members to report suspicious activity to law enforcement and call 911 in cases of imminent violence or threats to life," the FBI said in a statement.

"We will continue working to ensure our communities remain safe places for all, and we thank the public for their continued trust and partnership."

Hassan caught the FBI's attention after the Fairfax County Police Department informed federal authorities that a tipster alerted police about his social media posts on X. The tipster said the account engaged in "radical and terrorist-leaning behavior."

In several posts, Hassan praised the Islamic State terror group and other radical figures, federal prosecutors said. In August, he began messaging with an FBI confidential source whom he believed he recruited to conduct a "mass casualty attack," authorities said.

Over several weeks, Hassan directed the informant on how to make a bomb, acquire weapons and how to make a "martyrdom video," authorities said. In November, he allegedly selected the Consulate General of Israel as the target of the attack, saying it would be easier to commit an attack using small arms and be "martyred" by the police.

He believed New York would be "a gold mine of targets" for an attack, prosecutors said. As the pair planned the attack, Hassan also allegedly told him to book flights to countries without extradition agreements with the United States. During the attack, Hassan said the source could either murder people at the consulate with an assault rifle or detonate an explosive vest while standing in a group of targets, court documents state.

Hassan also asked for the source to livestream the attack so he could watch it in real time, authorities said.

In a statement, Jonathan Harounoff, the international spokesperson for Israel's Permanent Mission to the United Nations, said the Jewish state "will not cower to terror."

"We will not be silent in the face of hate and violence," he said. "We will not stop in our pursuit of justice and peace. We will continue in our fight to return all 100 of our hostages still being held in Hamas terror tunnels in Gaza."

Ofir Akunis, Israel's consul general in New York, expressed gratitude to authorities for thwarting the alleged attack.

"This attempted attack by terror organizations is an attack on the sovereign soil of the State of Israel in its entirety," he wrote on X. "It's proof that terror knows no boundaries and that we must fight it everywhere and every time. The threat it poses to the western world and its values must be fought together by all western democracies alike. Together we will prevail."

Red State adds:

The FBI "Affidavit in Support of a Criminal Complaint and Arrest Warrant" noted that Hassan is an Egyptian national living in Falls Church, Virginia, and — surprise — is apparently in the country illegally, as the affidavit notes that he is currently in removal proceedings with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The affidavit also described social media posts made by Hassan threatening attacks, "Praying for an ISIS masterclass," and "revering" Osama bin Laden and Ayman Al Zawahiri.

The FBI affidavit that led to Hassan's arrest may be viewed here.

What information is available as of this writing — the affidavit alone contains quite a lot — paints quite a vivid picture of a committed Islamic terrorist, willing and able to carry out terror attacks on American soil and who, by the way, has no business being in the country. What isn't clear is how he came to be here in the first place, although the affidavit mentions a Verizon account belonging to Hassan's father, whose whereabouts are not mentioned.

More from the Times of Israel:

The suspect, Abdullah Ezzeldin Taha Mohamed Hassan, an 18-year-old Egyptian national living in Falls Church, Virginia, instructed an FBI informant to carry out the attack, according to a criminal complaint filed on Monday. He was later confirmed by the Washington Post to be a freshman at George Mason University.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

'The Army of Tatars and Mongols.' Ghosts of the Distant Past Return to Syria

2024-12-15

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.

by Artemy Sharapov
After the immediate collapse of the Syrian Arab Republic, ruled by the Assad dynasty, the country, which was stitched together in the 20th century from a multitude of ethnic, clan-territorial and religious “patches”, began to fall into the past. And not only into the pre-Assad past, but also into the era before the Turkish invasion of the 16th century.

Before the Ottomans brought their Levantine vilayets (provinces) into submission with an iron fist, this part of the eastern Mediterranean and northern Mesopotamia was the scene of a war of all against all. And interesting ghosts have begun to emerge from that past.

Many observers have noticed that when the so-called "independent" Syrian militants now threaten war against their "colleagues" who are directly supported by Turkey, they use the word "Mongol", which is offensive to any Arab, meaning "irreconcilable enemy" and "stranger". The phrase from the press release of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham* militants during the capture of Aleppo, when the victors immediately began civil strife, looked completely unexpected: "You are an army of Tatars and Mongols, we will not spare any of you."

For a person even well acquainted with the history of the Middle Ages, the invasion of the Tatar-Mongols is associated first of all with the Battle of Kalka and the enslavement of Russia, with the devastation of Central Asia by the hordes of Genghis Khan, at most - with the Battle of Liegnitz, when the Polish knights, Templars and Hospitallers stopped the rush of the noyons - the "generals" of the Great Khan "to the last sea". But the Middle East?

However, it is here that the "almkol" - the Mongols - left perhaps a greater and more tenacious memory than in Russia and the Eurasian steppe. To understand many of the events currently taking place in the disintegrated Syria, we should recall the events of 800 years ago.

Yellow Crusade to the West
By the end of 1224 AD, or 621 AH according to the Islamic calendar, the Mongols had completed their conquest of Central Asia. Having caused terrible devastation and destroyed dozens of cities, many of which were never rebuilt, Genghis Khan created a new ulus on the captured lands and returned to the steppes. Genghis's successors temporarily halted their expansion to the west, concentrating on the final subjugation of Rus', the countries of Southeast Asia, and the Indian kingdoms.

In 1253, a kurultai was held at the headquarters of the Great Khan, where the grandson and successor of the great Genghis Khan, Mongke, gave orders to his younger brother Hulagu : to prepare a campaign to Persia and further - to Jerusalem itself. Hulagu was given a large-scale task: to subjugate the Arab states and all the territories lying between Persia and the Mediterranean Sea to the Horde. But it is interesting that part of the Mongolian army also had religious motives for the campaign to the West.

By the middle of the 13th century, most Mongols still retained their ancestors' faith in the Eternal Sky - Tengri and the spirits subordinate to him and, despite all their religious tolerance, were distrustful of the preaching of Islam among their own. However, part of the horde had professed Nestorian Christianity since ancient times.

The teaching itself, named after its founder, Archbishop Nestorius of Constantinople, was banned in Byzantium by the Second Ecumenical Council back in 431. However, followers of Nestorianism settled outside the empire - in the Middle East, Armenia, Iran, and reached modern China and Mongolia. One of the main companions of Genghis Khan, Wang Khan, the leader of the Kerait tribe, belonged to the Nestorian faith. In subsequent years, the Nestorians played an important role in the politics of the Horde.

This is most likely where the legend that has long been current in Europe comes from, that in the east, beyond the lands of the “wicked Hagarenes” – Muslims, there is a Christian kingdom of the sovereign-presbyter John, who is ready to come to the aid of his brothers in Christ.

Although Hulagu, who was entrusted with leading the campaign to the Middle East, was not a Christian, his wife, Van Khan's granddaughter Dokuz Khatun, and many of his confidants adhered to this religion. The future ruler of the empire patronized the Nestorians and made rich donations to churches and monasteries. The Christian part of the horde was in favor of going to the Holy Land and, no more and no less, liberating the Holy Sepulcher from the hands of the Arabs. When speaking about the Mongol conquest of the Middle East, a number of historians often use the term "Yellow Crusade".

Hulagu and Dokuz Khatun. Manuscript of Jami at-tawarikh, 14th century
The legend of Prester John probably had a direct reason. According to a number of sources, before the start of the campaign, the Mongols entered into an agreement with the King of France Louis IX, who was preparing the Seventh Crusade at that time to recapture Jerusalem. The rulers of Georgia and Armenia and representatives of other Christian communities also joined Hulagu's army. A huge army of several tens of thousands of people set out from Mongolia to the west, but it only reached the borders of Persia in 1256.

It is also interesting that the campaign that destroyed Persia and the Middle East began… partly at the request of Middle Eastern rulers. And also partly for religious reasons.

Assassins Creed
The Baghdad Caliphs, the rulers of the Abbasid dynasty, traditionally considered Persia and Central Asia to be part of the great Caliphate. But by the 12th–13th centuries, the Abbasid Empire, a state of scholars and artists, celebrated in the tales of the Thousand and One Nights, was in decline. Present-day Syria, Iraq, the lands of the Kurds and Turks were a conglomerate of warring emirates that had yet to dislodge the “Franks” — the Crusaders — who held Palestine.

And in the east, in Iran, a new threat was brewing. Here, a new radical Shiite movement was gaining popularity: the Ismaili Nizari. Back in 1090, the sheikh of one of the Nizari sects, Hasan ibn Sabbah, with a group of fanatically devoted followers, captured the mountain fortress of Alamut in northern Iran.

It is believed that Ibn Sabbah, nicknamed the Old Man of the Mountain, reinforced his sermons by distributing a narcotic potion based on hashish to his students, making them more suggestible. This is where the name "hashishins" - hashish smokers - came from. This word entered European culture in a slightly altered form - "assassins". The order of assassins from the Alamut castle is still remembered today - it is enough to recall the popular series of games Assassin's Creed - "Assassin's Creed". And for a political murder or terrorist act in English there is still a learned word - assassination.

The credo of the followers of the Mountain Elder consisted of renouncing their personality for the sake of a higher goal, unquestioning obedience to the sheikh - and, as a consequence, a willingness to participate in “targeted liquidations” of those whom the Elder called the enemy of the teaching.

The heirs of Ibn Sabbah who ruled in Alamut captured another dozen fortresses in today's Iran, Iraq and Syria, mostly in hard-to-reach mountain valleys. The network of fortified castles became a stronghold of the sect. And the feuding Middle Eastern rulers did not skimp on offerings to the rulers of Alamut in order to eliminate their competitors - who could always be visited by a ruthless fanatical "liquidator". Thus the shadow of the "elders of the mountain" covered the entire Middle East.

The Assassins, who had settled in the mountains around the modern Iranian city of Qazvin, were harassing the new Persian subjects of the Horde with their raids. And then the ruler of Qazvin turned to Khan Mongke with a request to send troops to protect against - as they would say today - terrorist threats.

Baghdad was told not to joke about war
By the time of the Yellow Crusade, the golden age of the Assassins had long since passed. The Mongols were not particularly intimidated by the sinister reputation of the sect, they guarded their commanders zealously, and they did not stand on ceremony with the mountain fortresses of the Assassins - they consistently and effectively razed them to the ground. The sinister castle of Alamut was no exception, of which only the foundation remained, excavated by archaeologists.

The road to Baghdad was open to Hulagu. And – as with the American invasion of Iraq in 2003 and their attempts to “enter” Syria in the 2010s – the fight against terrorism was just a cover for plans to establish dominance in the Middle East.

Moreover, the chaos that reigned there made the task easier. The Arab caliphs submitted to the power of the Turkish Seljuks and Egyptian Mamelukes, but for now they retained the nominal title of leaders of the Muslim world. The capital of the caliphate, Baghdad, remained the center of sciences and arts. The Abbasids still, albeit nominally, claimed supreme power in a huge region from Tibet to Spain. Which categorically did not suit the Mongols, who believed that the only source of power was the Great Khan.

Having finished destroying Alamut, Hulagu founded a new ulus on the captured lands, after which he addressed a message to the Caliph of Baghdad, al-Mustazim, demanding that he recognize the authority of the Horde. According to legend, the commander of the faithful responded arrogantly to the message of the Mongols, believing that hordes of infidel nomads from somewhere on the edge of the world could not give orders to the descendant of the Prophet. Of course, this was a fatal mistake.

From conquered Persia, the Mongol army moved south and reached Baghdad in 1258. Hulagu decided to split the army and sent some warriors across the Tigris River to besiege Baghdad from both sides at the same time. The Caliph's troops managed to inflict several defeats on the army that had crossed, but then the Mongols used a military trick: they lured the enemy into a narrow valley, after which they opened one of the dams on the Tigris. The Arab army was washed away by the raging stream of water and destroyed. Baghdad was left without protection.

Chinese technology decided the fate of the caliphate
By the end of January 1258, Chinese military advisers and "technical specialists" in Hulagu's army had completed the construction of siege engines, after which the Mongols launched an assault. Gradually, the conquerors managed to capture several city towers, after which the caliph decided to surrender the city. The capitulation, however, did not save the Abbasid capital.

On Hulagu's orders, the city was subjected to brutal devastation. Arab and Persian historians testify to hundreds of thousands killed and enslaved. The Mongols burned famous libraries and educational institutions, so that the Tigris River was "black with washed-off ink and red with the blood of murdered scholars." Palaces and mosques were razed to the ground, city fortifications were razed, and the surviving inhabitants were enslaved. However, the greatest damage was done to the region's economy.

The Fall of Baghdad. Illustration to Rashid ad-Din's Jami' at-tawarikh
The Mongols swept across Mesopotamia, destroying the unique canal system that had been built over thousands of years. The territory of modern Iraq was turned into a desert unsuitable for agriculture. The conquest of Baghdad ended the imperial Arab state.

But despite the successes achieved, the main goal of the Yellow Crusade was never achieved.

Having destroyed Baghdad and rolled through Mesopotamia, burning everything in its path, Hulagu's horde reached the northern borders of modern Israel. Here the Mongols learned of the collapse of the Seventh Crusade and the capture of the French King Louis. Without the help of Western allies, the march on Jerusalem could have turned into a disaster for the Mongol army, which had already broken away far from its "rear". As a result, the conquerors returned to the conquered Persian lands, where one of the uluses of the Great Horde existed for a long time under the rule of Hulagu's descendants.

Elder Hasan and his disciples
For the Arab world, this campaign of the Turco-Mongol army had almost the same consequences as the invasion of Batu for Rus'. Since then, the "army of the Tatars and Mongols" has become a synonym for barbarism.

The Arabs who survived the invasion were subjugated by the Turks, once again reverting to the tribal system. Therefore, when the Arabs call someone a Mongol, they are talking about an eternal enemy with whom it is impossible to negotiate - only to fight.

With Syria's current collapse into archaism, this attitude towards armed "political opponents" will only increase.

And the war zone that the former Syrian Arab Republic has become, alas, could become a breeding ground for terrorism, a phenomenon that appeared in the East long before the Muslim Brotherhood* and, even more so, Al-Qaeda*. Osama bin Laden or the ISIS* “caliph” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi were merely good students of Hassan ibn Sabbah.

Related: All Things Medieval: Medieval Islam:Origins by Ruth Johnston

Link

Afghanistan

The removal of the Taliban from the list of terrorists does not suit everyone

2024-12-14

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Kirill Semenov

[REGNUM] At a meeting on Tuesday, December 10, the State Duma adopted in the first reading a bill that provides for the possibility of excluding the Taliban movement (an organization under UN sanctions for terrorist activity) from the list of organizations banned in Russia.

The authors of the draft law (No. 778 284-8) were a group of parliamentarians, including senators Andrei Klishas, Andrei Yatskin and Yuri Fedorov, as well as deputies Vasily Piskarev, Andrei Lugovoy and Dmitry Vyalkin.

According to the draft law, “the ban on the activities of an organization included in the single federal list of organizations, including foreign and international organizations recognized as terrorist in accordance with Russian legislation, may be temporarily suspended by a decision of a Russian court based on an application by the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation or his deputy, if there is factual information that such an organization, after being included in the said list, has ceased carrying out activities aimed at promoting, justifying and supporting terrorism.”

Earlier, on November 25, the Afghan portal "Alemara" reported on the negotiations between the Secretary of the Russian Security Council Sergei Shoigu in Afghanistan with the Afghan Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Ghani Baradar Akhund. Shoigu emphasized Russia's readiness to develop bilateral cooperation with Afghanistan, pointing to plans to exclude the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) from Russia's blacklist in order to strengthen political and economic ties.

Akhund, who oversees economic issues in the Taliban-formed government, noted that Afghanistan intends to “play a key role in strengthening the North-South Economic Corridor, as well as economic ties in the region.”

At the moment, it has become obvious that all concerns about the hypothetical expansion of the Taliban into neighboring countries have remained at the level of conjecture and speculation. The Taliban movement has demonstrated in practice that it intends to build good-neighborly relations with all its neighbors.

In addition, the Taliban have demonstrated that they are willing to take into account the interests of the minorities living in the country. This is especially noticeable with regard to the local Shia Hazaras, who have been given the opportunity to openly practice their version of Islam, build mosques and hold holidays, including in Kabul, while representatives of the Hazaras have received various positions in the IEA administration.

For Moscow, the positive attitude of the Afghan government towards Russia itself and its approaches to international affairs, including its approach to the CIS, certainly plays a role.

Afghans look with hope at the confrontation between Russia and the collective West, with the hope that Russia “ will be able to withstand this onslaught, this pressure, and will be able to achieve a revision of this unipolar world order.”

Therefore, it can be said that the Taliban have passed the probationary period that Moscow set for them regarding their exclusion from the terrorist lists.

The Taliban's continued "terrorist" status has slowed down the development of bilateral contacts between Moscow and Kabul. This has an impact on trade relations and makes it difficult for entrepreneurs who want to do business with Afghanistan to do so, due to concerns, even if hypothetical, of being prosecuted for justifying or financing terrorism.

ATTACK ON HAQQANI AMID RUSSIAN INITIATIVES
However, it is obvious that the prospect of removing the Taliban from the terrorist list and their rapprochement with Russia does not suit everyone.

This also applies to external forces hostile to Afghanistan and Russia, which have tried to show that the IAE's merits in the fight against terrorism are exaggerated, and that the Taliban are not fulfilling their obligations to suppress the activities of the ISIS (an organization whose activities are prohibited in the Russian Federation) Khorasan Velayat (ISIS-Kh) (an organization whose activities are prohibited in the Russian Federation).

It was precisely the achievements in the fight against this cell that were noted as an important indicator that the Taliban itself is not a terrorist force, but rather a counter-terrorist force.

But on Wednesday, the day after the Duma vote, a suicide bombing in Kabul killed Khalil Haqqani, the Taliban's acting minister for refugees and repatriation. He was a high-ranking member of the influential Haqqani family.

The incident marked the first killing of a serving minister since the Taliban returned to power in Kabul in August 2021. Experts say the attack is a "declaration of war" by ISIS-K against the Haqqani family, but both external and internal opponents may be behind it.

This attack on the Haqqani family, against the backdrop of Russian initiatives, can also be seen as a challenge to the reformist wing of the Taliban led by this clan, which is behind many of the initiatives to get closer to Moscow.

The family's most influential representative, Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, also held talks with Sergei Shoigu at the end of November.

Initially the most radical in the Taliban movement in matters of war and resorting to prohibited methods of waging it, Haqqani after its end turned out to be the most moderate in terms of state-building. It is with him that hopes are associated for a change in the internal policy of the Taliban.

It was Haqqani who was behind the amnesty of many members of the previous administration and tried to prevent reprisals.

His supporters also opposed the ban on female education.

In fact, because of Haqqani's position, a compromise system has essentially emerged in the country, where the so-called "Kandahar clique" from Emir Akhunzada's entourage is pushing forward more and more restrictive laws, but which, due to Haqqani's opposition to them, end up not being laws, but rather some kind of non-binding recommendations. Or loopholes appear in each of them, as in the issues of female education and employment, when in fact women can study in private schools for a fee or in religious schools for free, but the latter also provide for secular education.

Finally, the Haqqanists, unlike the Kandaharis, adhere to a more global agenda and, as noted by Russian observers who have been in contact with them, “like to talk” about multipolarity, which is why they more openly express their hopes for Russia’s success in the SVO.

SUCCESSES IN THE FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM
However, despite the ongoing terrorist attacks, the Taliban's success in the fight against terrorism is hard to doubt. In fact, this became an important factor in the recognition of the Taliban and the removal of terrorist labels from the movement.

It is significant that the Americans, who spent 20 years trying to eradicate Osama bin Laden's brainchild in Afghanistan, were forced to acknowledge this success. But as soon as they left, the Taliban themselves solved this problem.

In particular, as Christie Abizaid, director of the US National Counterterrorism Center, stated on September 11, 2023, is in its historical decline in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and its revival is unlikely.”

The Taliban, despite the ongoing terrorist threat and isolated attacks, have been able to suppress ISIS-K activity in Afghanistan. After a significant increase in its activity due to the security vacuum created in parts of the country by the US withdrawal, the Taliban have changed this dynamic by denying the terrorists control over certain territories they were able to acquire by following the Americans fleeing the country.

Their activities were hit and their activity significantly reduced, which was noted in the relevant reports of international structures.

It is emphasized that the Taliban were able to conduct a successful campaign against ISIS-K and eliminated most of the sleeper cells that were ready to continue terrorist attacks in Afghan cities. After a surge in terrorist attacks in the first months after the Taliban came to power, their number is beginning to decline as a result of counter-terrorism measures by the IEA security structures.

In particular, in 2022–2023, the number of terrorist attacks and other attacks by ISIS-K has significantly decreased. If in the first year of the Taliban rule (2021–2022) there were 314 attacks and assaults, then in 2022–2023 there were only 69, that is, fewer than during any period of the group’s activity in Afghanistan since its emergence.

The Taliban's fight against ISIS is systemic and consistent, Khorasan itself is turning into a virtual province, and its connection with Afghanistan and the territory of Greater Khorasan is becoming more conditional, as stated in the UN report of January 2024.

As ISIS* researcher Aaron Zelin notes : “ Unlike most past cases of jihadist external operations, where basing was critical, a paradox occurred in which the Taliban’s Islamic Emirate effectively undermined much of the local capacity of the Khorasan Province in Afghanistan.”

At the same time, the main threat of ISIS-K now comes not from Afghans, but from citizens of Tajikistan. Rather, the reverse process of Tajiks moving to Afghanistan to participate in terrorist activities there is observed. Other citizens of the republic are drawn into ISIS-K activities through its cells in Iran and Turkey.

FIGHT AGAINST DRUG TRAFFICKING
Countering drug trafficking is another area where the Taliban have demonstrated success in their activities, which has also become an argument for removing the terrorist label from the movement.

The Taliban have already imposed a total ban on drug production and use in Afghanistan. They continue their campaign against the illegal drug industry, arresting drug addicts and drug dealers, and destroying opium poppy and cannabis fields. This has already led to a significant drop in production, but it also has a downside, hitting poor rural residents particularly hard.

In particular, the UN estimates that the cessation of opium poppy cultivation has affected the lives of almost seven million people.

According to a 2023 UN report, poppy cultivation in southern Afghanistan has declined by more than 80% as a result of Taliban campaigns to stop its use in opium production. For example, poppy cultivation in Helmand province has declined by 99%.

In November 2023, a UN report showed that poppy cultivation had declined by more than 95% across Afghanistan, stripping the country of its status as the world's largest opium producer.

Many farmers have switched to growing wheat or cotton, but they struggle to make ends meet. Developing agriculture will require more irrigation systems, cold storage facilities, and better roads. The Taliban does not have the budget to develop such infrastructure. Perhaps establishing economic ties with neighbors after sanctions are lifted will help to partially solve this problem.

Overall, the Taliban have managed to stabilize the economy somewhat. Afghanistan's foreign trade has fallen since they seized power. However, despite the decline in imports, most of the country's income now comes from taxes.

As experts note, the Afghan economy is no longer in a state of free fall and appears to be frozen in a precarious equilibrium, albeit at its lowest level.

Modest positive trends include lower inflation, exchange rate stability, some recovery in imports, more than a doubling of exports, stability or a slight increase in labor demand, and stable wages.

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-Great Cultural Revolution

'Macron's Requiem': Why the Pope Refused to Attend the Opening of Notre Dame

2024-12-11

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Olesya Orlenko

[REGNUM] The fire at Notre Dame Cathedral on April 19, 2019, was one of the most shocking events of the year for the entire world. The fear of losing the famous architectural monument, which is not just a symbol of France, but has invaluable universal, historical and cultural significance, caused a storm of emotions.

French President Emmanuel Macron solemnly promised that the cathedral would be restored in time for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Despite everything, he kept his word. But the ceremony to return the masterpiece to the public was perceived as a fiasco for the French president instead of a triumph.

"THEY TOOK IT TO HEART"
The fire in the cathedral started in the evening, around 7:15 p.m. The nearby streets were filled with onlookers - tourists and Parisians, the firefighters worked until 4 a.m. Social networks were full of comments.

Many, including Donald Trump, criticized the firefighters' actions. Experts of varying levels of expertise offered theories about the cause of the fire, suspecting, among others, atheists, "leftists" and migrants.

However, as time has passed, experts agree that the fire was extinguished correctly, taking into account that it was necessary not only to eliminate the flames, but also to save the building from even greater destruction.

A government agency was quickly created to coordinate the restoration of the monument. The restoration work was carried out in several stages. Until 2021, the task was to preserve the structure and strengthen the walls. Then, for more than three years, the actual restoration of the cathedral's appearance was carried out.

After much debate, it was decided to return the building to the appearance it had received after its restoration in the 19th century, when it was led by the famous architect and art historian Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc. The restoration of Notre Dame's interior is planned to be completed in 2027.

The unfortunate fire brought to light an internal problem related to the state's attitude to historical heritage. The cost of restoration work at Notre Dame Cathedral has already exceeded 700 million euros. They were made possible by organizing a collection of donations for the restoration of the monument.

To date, people from almost all over the world have already transferred 843 million euros. About half of this amount was given by representatives of French big business.

For example, the owner of the LVMH group, Bernard Arnault, who, according to him, took this tragedy to heart when he saw his 17-year-old daughter watching the fire in tears on live television.

Meanwhile, the budget for maintaining all monuments in the country, including churches, museums, secular historical buildings, etc., was only 326 million euros in 2019. And, apparently, the situation has not changed for the better now.

In 2024, a number of architectural monuments in France had to be closed to tourists because it was simply unsafe. The country has about five thousand churches classified as national heritage sites that are in a state of disrepair.

The authorities tried to repeat the Notre Dame experience and announce a collection for the maintenance of other cultural sites, hoping to receive 200 million euros. However, this topic did not find a response in the souls of people, so it was not possible to collect even 17 million.

Rachida Dati, who recently headed the Ministry of Culture, proposed transferring some of the funds sent to Notre Dame Cathedral to finance urgent work elsewhere.

But this idea met with a wave of disapproval, particularly from the Catholic clergy.

"SPLENDOR AND MISERY"
But the cathedral in Paris was lucky, and on December 7, its grand opening ceremony took place. The whole world was watching the event.

For many, the event was more important than the recent Olympic Games. Not to mention that the event itself received far more positive reviews than the scandalous opening of the summer sports competitions.

Representatives of the political elite of other countries came to the capital of France. In particular, the elected US President Donald Trump, for whom this visit was the first foreign trip after winning the election.

But the inexorable world press is in no hurry to describe what happened in rosy tones. And analysts see a large number of facts that darken the solemn mood.

Journalists note that the event was marked not only by the presence of important guests, but also by the absence of two iconic figures. Firstly, the Pope, who refused to attend the opening despite Macron's personal invitation, but is planning to visit Corsica on December 15.

The Pontiff explained his refusal by his reluctance to draw attention to himself, which on this day should be addressed only to the council.

However, behind the scenes, it is assumed that he rather does not want his person to be used as an argument in the rhetoric on the Ukrainian issue in the context of Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit.

The second absent guest is the current Prime Minister of France. Absent because there is still no one in that position.

Emmanuel Macron positions the restoration of Notre Dame as a symbol of France, capable even in a difficult situation of mobilizing resources and talents to save its heritage. But the world media wrote more about his kind of servility to the American president.

The Germans wrote that for Trump, Macron is “just an unpopular president in an ungovernable country on a continent drifting at sea.” The Italian La Stampa calls the ceremony “glitz and misery,” when “Paris shines again, but the nightmare of the crisis remains.” And the Spanish El Pais even dubbed the whole event “Macron’s requiem.”

And indeed, this time many are noticing the harsh reality that even such a truly grandiose event as the resurrection from the ashes of Notre Dame Cathedral cannot overshadow.

But even with his help, Macron will not be able to earn the glory of a creator, since not long before this he plunged the country into a crisis that is still far from resolved.

Link

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