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India-Pakistan

Jammu And Kashmir Police Arrests Five Jaish-e-Mohammad Over Ground Workers For Awantipora Attacks

2018-02-06

[MUMBAIMIRROR.INDIATIMES] Jammu and Kashmire Police have placed in durance vile Please don't kill me! five over ground workers of Jaish-e-Mohammad ...literally Army of Mohammad, a Pak-based Deobandi terror group founded by Maulana Masood Azhar in 2000, after he split with the Harkat-ul-Mujaheddin. In 2002 the government of Pervez Musharraf banned the group, which changed its name to Khaddam ul-Islam and continued doing what it had been doing before without missing a beat... outfit from Awantipora area of South Kashmire. SP Awantipora Mohammad Zahid Malik said that acting on a specific input a joint team of police, 110 bn CRPF and 50 RR arrested one Sajad Ahmad Bhat son of Ali Mohd Bhat resident of Hergam Wuyan (Pak trained ex holy warrior). "During questioning Sajad disclosed that he along with other OGWs of JeM outfit were involved in the grenade throwing incidents in Pampore and Khrew area," said SP Awantipora He said that upon his disclosure four of his associates were held accordingly. SP identified the other OGWs as Umar Gani Sheikh (26) son of Abdul Gani Sheikh of Drangbal Pampore, Jan Mohammad Khanday (30) son of Abdul Rashid Khanday of Meech Pampore, Owais Ahmad Bhat (23) son of Abdul Rashid of Danak Mohallah Khrew and Muzaffar Hussain Bhat (30) son of Ghulam Mohd of Tulibagh Pampore.

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India-Pakistan

JUI-F against joining far-away civil war

2015-04-07

[DAWN] The Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam ...a pak religious party. It is usually part of the govt, never part of the solution... (JUI-F) has said it will attend the joint session of parliament called to discuss the Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... crisis on Monday and give its point of view on the matter. "Since we don't know about the government's policy and the way it wants to deal with the situation, our party has decided to first listen to it and then give our opinion on the matter," JUI-F spokesperson Jan Mohammad Khan Achakzai told Dawn after a consultative meeting of the party held at the official residence of its chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman Deobandi holy man, known as Mullah Diesel during the war against the Soviets, his sympathies for the Taliban have never been tempered by honesty ... here on Sunday to discuss the Yemen crisis.

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India-Pakistan

Truckers want Nato supplies stopped permanently

2011-12-01

[Dawn] The owners of oil tankers and public transport vehicles blocked G.T. Road here on Tuesday to protest attack by NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... forces on a border post in Mohmand ... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot. In Pakistain, the Mohmands infest their eponymous Agency, metastasizing as far as the plains of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mardan. Mohmands are also scattered throughout Pakistan in urban areas including Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In Afghanistan they are mainly found in Nangarhar and Kunar... tribal region. The provincial chapter of All Pakistain Oil Tankers Owners Association (APOTOA) and Sarhad Transport Owners Association held separate protest demonstrations, asking the government to stop NATO supplies on permanent basis. The owners of oil tankers blocked the road at Taru Jabba while the public transport operators held demonstration near General Bus Stand. The protesting transporters were carrying banners and placards inscribed with anti-Us and anti-NATO slogans. They also held a sit-in on road and demanded of the government to stop supply of oil and other containers to NATO forces in Afghanistan permanently. The oil tanker owners marched from their main office near Pakistain State Oil depot in Taru Jaba and blocked G.T. Road to all kinds of traffic to express their anger against the US-led forces. Talking to journalists, APOTOA president Nasir Ali Khan appreciated the government`s decision of suspending supply of goods to NATO troops in Afghanistan. He assured the government that they would fully support it in that regard. "We can`t tolerate US hegemony any more in this part of the region and its notorious act," he said. He condemned the unprovoked NATO air strikes on military checkposts. He said that it was not the first incident of its kind wherein security forces were targeted but several such attacks had been carried out in the recent past. Mr Khan termed the attack against the illusory sovereignty and integrity of the country and open aggression by the US-led troops. APOTOA general secretary Jan Mohammad Khan and central secretary information Dost Mohammad also spoke on the occasion. Later, the protester offered fateha for the departed souls and prayed for integrity and solidarity of the country.

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Afghanistan

Afghan Forces Take Security Lead in Helmand

2011-07-21

[Tolo News] Afghan forces on Wednesday officially took over security responsibilities of Lashkargah, the capital of Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... province, from British troop based on security transition initiative. Helmand governor warned that full security transition to Afghan lead would be impossible as long as security is not maintained in border regions of the province. Governor Gulab Mangal said: "We hope security is ensured in borders so that terrorist cross-border activities, including enemy infiltration and drug smuggling are prevented; otherwise, it wouldn't be possible to have the transition done in all Helmand districts." "I want to announce that $765 will be spent in Helmand for an improvement in security in the next three years which will be unprecedented in the history," Security Transition Chief Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai told news hounds. Afghan forces have already taken over security responsibility in the relatively peaceful province of Bamyan province and Mehtarlam, capital of Laghman province. After Lashkargah, foreign forces will hand over security responsibility of Kabul, Panjshir, Herat city and Mazar-e- Sharif city to Afghan forces as part of the first phase of security transition. The hand over is seen as a critical step in a transition of security lead before foreign troops end combat operations in 2014. Afghan forces will take full security responsibilities by the end of 2014 when foreign forces will leave the country. Britannia has around 10,000 troops in Afghanistan most of them based in Helmand province. During a recent visit to Afghanistan David Cameron ... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ... , British Prime Minister announced that 1,000 British troops would be pulled out by the end of 2012. With the security transition to Afghan forces, violence has also increased in some parts of the country and Taliban have attacked some Afghan key officials. Recently Ahmad Wali Karzai, President Karzai's younger brother and head of Kandahar provincial council, Jan Mohammad Khan, advisor to President Karzai and former governor of Oruzgan and Mohammad Hashim Watanwal, a member of parliament have been killed in attacks claimed by the Taliban.

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Afghanistan

Karzai Aide Assassins Had Contacts with Pakistan: Interior Minister

2011-07-20

[Tolo News] Assassins of a close advisor to President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... were having phone contacts with some inside the country and Pakistain, Interior Minister to parliament on Tuesday. Interior Minister General Besmellah Mohammadi said Islamic fascisti are making efforts to kill high-ranking and influential officials. On Tuesday Interior Ministry and Deputy Director of Intelligence organization were called over to the House of Representatives to provide answers about the latest killings of senior Afghan officials, including Jan Mohammad Khan, a close aide of Karzai and Mohammad Hashim Watanwal, an MP who represented Oruzgan in the house. Jan Mohammad Khan was rubbed out by Dost Mohammad Khan an assailant who was 22- year-old and at the same time Mohammad Hashim Watanwal was killed by another attacker, General Besmellah Mohammadi said. "We have obtained their cell phones and the last calls they received were from Pakistain and some other provinces inside the country," Interior Ministers told MPs. Jan Mohammad Khan and Mr Watanwal were killed a late-night thug attack on his home on Sunday this week. The Taliban grabbed credit for the attack. The deaths came more than a week after President Karzai's brother, Ahmad Wali Karzai, liquidation by one of his bodyguards at his home. On Monday President Karzai's Spokesperson told a news conference that targeted and serial killings of high-profile Afghan officials wouldn't go without Dire Revenge™. Some politicians also expressed concern about increasingly growing province at a time as Afghan cops have begun to take security lead in some of the handover regions. "The incident has caused widespread concern among the parliamentarians," Speaker of the House Abdul Raouf Ibrahimi said. Some MPs representing Bamyan, the province now under the lead of Afghan cops, voiced concern about possible security threats. Fakour Beheshti, an MP representing Bamyan province, said: "There are 800 Afghan forces stationed in Bamyan. It should be doubled. Bamyan is one of the stable areas in Afghanistan and has occasionally been vulnerable from Baghlan province."

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Afghanistan

Afghan Targeted Killings Couldn't Go without Dire Revenge™: Govt

2011-07-19

Afghan government would avenge the serial and assassinations of high-ranking Afghan officials and tribal elders, President Karzai's Spokesman said on Sunday. Oh, noze! Not a Cycle of Violence™! Speaking at a presser, Karzai's Spokesperson Waheed Omar said the liquidation of our national figures and tribal elders is part of a big plot by the enemies of Afghanistan. Mr Omar said the Taliban and their affiliates want to disrupt the security transition process, but the process will continue despite all challenges. "The Taliban and their supporters who are the cause of the presence of international forces in Afghanistan are making efforts to prevent Afghans from taking the security lead," Mr Omar said. Just a couple of days after the liquidation of President Karzai's younger brother, Ahmad Wali Karzai, a close advisor of President Karzai, Jan Mohammad Khan and Mohammad Hashim Watanwal, who represented Oruzgan province in the parliament, were killed in a late-night attack on Sunday as part of the Taliban's assassination campaign. Karzai's Spokesman described the murdered figures as the servants of the people of Afghanistan, saying the government is committed to talks with the Taliban, but soon killers of Afghan national figures will have to pay back. "We are committed to fight against those who carry out this sort of cowardly actions, so that Dire Revenge™ of the death of elders and protectors of Afghanistan is taken," he said. "But again we want peace and stability in Afghanistan and we won't turn back on the way to peace in the country." Meanwhile, ...back at the hoedown, Bob finally got to dance with Sally... officials in the ministry of interior affairs said despite growing security challenges security handover process will be implemented. A spokesperson for Interior Affairs Ministry, Sediq Sediqi, said: "Police forces are prepared to undertake the responsibilities. And Afghan police forces are committed to prove they are capable enough to take this big responsibility." Once again Karzai's Office called on the United States to step up efforts to neutralise and dismantle krazed killers' safe havens on the other side of Afghan border. "If tomorrow the United States can eliminate krazed killer safe havens and prevent snuffies to infiltrate into Afghan territory, the hostilities will lose soul and Afghan people know at best how to deal with them without tanks and planes," Mr Omar said. The remarks came as Bamyan became the first province to be handed over to Afghan forces. Meanwhile, ...back at the hoedown, Bob finally got to dance with Sally... some Afghan politicians see the liquidation of senior government officials controversial. Concerned about the new wave of assassinations over the past weeks, parliamentarians urged investigation into the incidents.

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Afghanistan

General Petraeus steps down in Afghanistan

2011-07-19

[Dawn] General David Petraeus, the US commander in Afghanistan and most celebrated military leader of his generation, stepped down on Monday after a checkered year at the helm of what is America's longest war. At a ceremony in Kabul Petraeus passed the baton to John Allen, a former subordinate who made his name in Iraq by striking tribal alliances considered integral in reversing Al-Qaeda's momentum after years of appalling violence. Petraeus oversaw a surge of tens of thousands of troops into Afghanistan in a last-ditch bid to reverse a nearly 10-year Taliban insurgency and although he has claimed some progress, violence remains at record highs. He is leaving to head up the CIA, after a week in which Afghanistan's Caped President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... saw his younger brother and a key aide assassinated at their homes, and as NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants... began transitioning areas of the country to Afghan control. Washington has now started to draw down troop numbers under a controversial timetable, which Petraeus has admitted he did not recommend, that has attracted widespread criticism for being too fast to hold onto tentative gains. Celebrated in Washington for turning around the war in Iraq, Petraeus' legacy in Afghanistan, however, has been less clear. Despite the surge, UN statistics released last week show that 1,462 civilians died in the first six months of 2011, an increase of 15 percent, and putting this year on track to be the deadliest in a decade. Last Tuesday's killing of Ahmed Wali Karzai, probably the most powerful man in southern Afghanistan and younger half-brother of the Afghan president, has also been considered a threat to US gains against the Taliban in Kandahar. Last night's killing of his senior adviser Jan Mohammad Khan, a former governor of southern Uruzgan province, in a raid on his Kabul home, has also been seen as another loss for the president. The Taliban grabbed credit for both the killings. Petraeus took charge in Afghanistan in extraordinary circumstances after US President Barack B.O. Obama sacked his predecessor, Stanley McChrystal, over scathing remarks made to Rolling Stone magazine about the White House administration. He oversaw his trademark counter-insurgency teachings, which were deemed to have been so successful in Iraq, backed by a buildup of more than 30,000 extra American troops, now due to go home by the end of 2012. But although the military is seen to have inflicted heavy casualties among the Taliban, particularly in the south, it has struggled to harness a tribal "awakening" of the type so instrumental in Iraq. One day before Petraeus stepped down, a ceremony was held in central Bamyan province marking the start of a security transition from NATO to Afghan forces, a process that will see the departure of all foreign troops by 2014. Analysts have already warned that the killing of Wali Karzai may trigger a pie fight for control of the critical southern heartland that could embolden the Taliban and reverse NATO gains. The killings -- and a Taliban attack on the Intercontinental hotel in the heart of Kabul last month that left 21 dead -- have fuelled doubts about the readiness of Afghans to manage national security. After nearly 10 years of war, there are still around 150,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, including nearly 100,000 from the United States.

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Afghanistan

Taliban claim murder of senior Karzai adviser

2011-07-19

[Dawn] The Taliban on Monday claimed the overnight killing of one of Afghanistan's Caped President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai's ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... key advisers, who died along with a politician in an attack on his home in Kabul. Jan Mohammad Khan, the former governor of southern Uruzgan province and a key ally of the embattled president, was killed along with an MP for Uruzgan. "We killed Jan Mohammad Khan. We made him pay for his deeds," Taliban's front man, Zabihullah Mujahed, told AFP by telephone from Qazi's guesthouse an undisclosed location. "We dunnit and we're glad! Glad, I tells yez!" Khan, a long-standing Karzai ally and key tribal chieftain, was killed in the attack that the interior ministry said was carried out by two assailants. The gunnies targeted the house late Sunday and a standoff lasted until the early hours of Monday. One police officer and the two assailants were also killed, the interior ministry said. The liquidation comes less than a week after the president's half-brother Ahmed Wali Karzai was rubbed out by a close friend at his home in the southern province of Kandahar, in an attack also claimed by the Taliban. A senior government official speaking anonymously told AFP that Khan's death was a major blow for the US-backed leader. "He was very close to the president. His death is as important as Ahmad Wali Karzai's death," the official said. Just hours before Sunday's attack, a ceremony was held in central Bamyan province marking the start of the transition of security duties from NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants... forces to Afghans, a process aimed at leaving the country free of foreign troops by 2014. Sunday was also the last day in Afghanistan for top US commander General David Petraeus. Experts say Khan had a reputation for brutality and double-dealing with tribal rivals, falsely accusing some of being Taliban, and Dutch forces taking over Uruzgan operations in 2006 insisted on his removal as governor. According to the independent website afghan-bios.info, Khan's nephew runs a 3,000-strong militia in Uruzgan that he had inherited from his uncle. Khan beat feet a previous liquidation attempt on August 4 when a cycle of violence bomb went kaboom! by his convoy in the southern province.

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Afghanistan

Senior adviser to Afghan president Hamid Karzai, murdered in Kabul

2011-07-17

Jan Mohammad Khan, former governor of southern Uruzgan province and a key ally of the embattled president, was killed in the attack. The killing comes less than a week after the president's half-brother Ahmed Wali Karzai was assassinated by a close friend at his home in the southern province of Kandahar, birthplace of the Taliban, on Tuesday. "He (Khan) was very close to Karzai. He was as important as AWK (Ahmed Wali Karzai)," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. Like Karzai, Khan hailed from a powerful family from the Popalzai tribe in Afghanistan's restive south. According to the independent website afghan-bios.info, Khan's nephew runs a 3,000-strong militia in Uruzgan. His death will further inflame the volatile politics of the southern region, where the Taliban are battling US-led troops for control of the area. Analysts have already warned that Tuesday's killing of Wali Karzai may trigger a turf war for control of the critical southern heartland that could embolden the Taliban and reverse Nato gains. The deaths come at a critical juncture, just days after 3,000 Canadian troops ended their combat mission in Kandahar and in the same week that Washington started troop drawdowns, a gradual process due to end in late 2014.

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Afghanistan

Afghan car bomb attack kills 10

2006-01-06

Ten people have died in a suicide car bomb attack aimed at the headquarters of a provincial governor in central Afghanistan. Provincial spokesman Abdullah Jan says there are civilians and police in the area of the blast in Tirin Kot, the capital of Uruzgan province. However, it is not known how many of each have been killed. "Some 500 metres from the provincial headquarters a suicide car bomb explosion killed at least 10 people," Mr Jan said. "We don't have the breakdown of civilian and police casualties at this moment nor do we know of the number of wounded people." The Governor, Jan Mohammad Khan, was not in the building at the time because he has gone to Mecca for the Hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage.

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Afghanistan

4 policemen, three Taliban killed in Afghan attacks

2005-12-19

Four policemen and three suspected Taliban fighters were killed and an Afghan interpreter wounded in attacks in volatile southern Afghanistan, police and an official said on Sunday. About a dozen suspected insurgents stormed a police check post on a main highway late on Saturday, sparking a fierce gun battle in which three policeman and an attacker were killed, highway police commander Mohammad Nabi Allahyar said. Another policeman and two militants were killed in a clash after a suspected Taliban ambush in neighbouring Uruzgan province the same night, provincial governor Jan Mohammad Khan said. An Afghan interpreter working with private US security firm USPI was meanwhile wounded on Sunday when Taliban attacked his vehicle in southwest Helmand p The attacks occurred two days before the first sitting of the war-ravaged country’s legislature due on Monday (today) after more than three decades of conflict.

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Afghanistan/South Asia

14 insurgents killed in fighting, Taliban leader surrounded

2005-09-24

This is the ten deaders from yesterday, plus a few more... US and Afghan forces have surrounded a Taliban commander in a central province, an Afghan official said on Friday, after fighting in which the US military said 14 insurgents and an Afghan soldier were killed. Uruzgan Governor Jan Mohammad Khan said Afghan and US forces launched an operation on Thursday after learning that senior Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah was in the area. “We have information that Dadullah is here. Fighting is going on,” Khan said. The US military said 14 Taliban had been killed in the fighting in Uruzgan province. An Afghan soldier was killed and a US soldier wounded. But a US spokesman said he had no information about a Taliban commander being surrounded.

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