Δευτέρα 24 Ιουνίου 2013
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Afghan Taliban balk at removing flag, official name from 'political office' in Qatar
Posted: 23 Jun 2013 08:31 AM PDT
The spokesman for the Taliban's "political office" in Qatar said the Gulf country had agreed to allow the al Qaeda-linked group to raise the Taliban flag and use the name "Political office of The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" for its, well, political office in Qatar. Dr. Muhammad Naeem, the "spokesman of political office of Islamic Emirate in Qatar" released a statement at Voice of Jihad, the Taliban's official website, claiming as much. The statement is reproduced in full below:
Yesterday on the 21/06/2013, Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper published a report regarding the use of the name and flag of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan on its political office in Qatar. The said report quotes the U.S Secretary of State John Kerry as saying that they had signed an agreement with the leaders of Islamic Emirate regarding the use of flag and name 'Political office of The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan' on their political office while in reality, no such agreement has been signed nor does such an agreement exist although documents have been exchanged between the Islamic Emirate and the Qatari government regarding conditions of the office.
The raising of the flag and the use of the name of Islamic Emirate were done with the agreement of the Qatari government. The statement which states that by using the name and raising the flag, the Islamic Emirate somehow violated an agreement, then this allegation is completely false while the discord which arose due to panic by the Kabul administration is not related to the Islamic Emirate.
The spokesman of political office of Islamic Emirate in Qatar
Dr. Muhammad Naeem
The Taliban has seized on the desire of the US and NATO for a negotiated settlement in Afghanistan and manipulated the negotiations process from the very beginning to achieve the goal of acquiring international legitimacy. While the US and Afghanistan have insisted that the Qatar office be used only as part of negotiations, the Taliban has used the office to serve as its de facto embassy to the world. The raising of the Taliban flag and the designation of the facility as the "Political office of The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan," the same name the Taliban used during its rule of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, show that the Taliban has every intention of presenting itself as the legitimate party in Afghanistan.
The Obama administration is apparently so desperate to achieve a negotiated settlement that it is willing to sideline the Afghan government and hold direct talks, and even release five senior al Qaeda-linked Taliban commanders in exchange for a captive US soldier. All the while, the Taliban has made it very clear it will neither denounce al Qaeda and sever ties with the group nor join an Afghan government. Instead, the Taliban continues to insist on an end to the presence of foreign troops and a return of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, ruled by the Taliban.
The sooner the West recognizes it is being played by the Taliban and wasting precious time and energy on negotiations that serve only to legitimize the Taliban, the better.
Taliban's shadow governor for Nuristan again reported killed in airstrike
Posted: 23 Jun 2013 07:48 AM PDT
Dost Mohammed, the Taliban's shadow governor for Nuristan province, being interviewed by Al Jazeera in November 2009.
Afghan officials are again reporting that Sheikh Dost Mohammed, the Taliban's shadow governor for Nuristan province, has been killed in a US drone strike in Kunar province. The report of Dost Mohammed's death is the second so far this year.
Dost Mohammed and two "guards" were supposedly killed on June 21 in a US airstrike in Kunar's Ghaziabad district, Nuristan governor Tamim Nuristani told Pajhwok Afghan News. Syed Fazlullah Wahidi, the governor of Kunar province, also claimed that Dost Mohammed was killed in an airstrike on June 21.
The International Security Assistance Force did not confirm a strike took place in Kunar, but it is possible that unmanned Predators or Repeaters operated by the CIA carried out a strike.
The Taliban have not commented on the reports of Dost Mohammed's death. An email sent to Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban's spokesman, has gone unanswered.
Dost Mohammed has previously been reported killed numerous times since 2009, and the latest report about his death should be viewed with caution. Most recently, in March, Afghan officials claimed that he was killed in a US drone strike, also in Ghaziabad.
Since abandoning several outposts in the more remote border districts of Nuristan province in October 2009, Afghan and Coalition forces have continued operations against an entrenched Taliban network spanning Kunar and Nuristan provinces. Last May, a Coalition operation killed Sheikh Jamil ur Rahman, the Taliban's deputy shadow governor for Nuristan province, as he and associate Abdul Hakim were traveling through Nuristan's Waygal district.
Background on Dost Mohammed and Nuristan
Dost Mohammed is one of the most wanted Taliban commanders in Afghanistan, and has organized massed assaults on US bases in the province. In one such attack, on Camp Keating in October 2009, Dost's fighters, backed by al Qaeda and other foreign fighters, overran a portion of the base and killed nine US soldiers.
After US forces withdrew from combat outposts in Nuristan, Al Jazeera released a video of the Talibanoccupying one of the abandoned combat outposts in Kamdish district in Nuristan. The Taliban displayed weapons, mines, and ammunition left behind by departing US and Afghan forces. In another video, released by the Taliban, Dost Mohammed, the shadow governor for Nuristan, was seen riding on an exercise bike that was left behind by US forces.
Much of Nuristan is thought to be either under Taliban control or contested. In September 2011, Governor Nuristani said that six of the eight districts in his province were effectively under Taliban control [see LWJreport, Governor: Most of Nuristan under Taliban control].
The province serves as a safe haven for al Qaeda, the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, and other regional terror groups. ISAF has launched three raids against al Qaeda's network in Nuristan so far this year. In one raid, on May 1, ISAF killed Saleh Abd Al-Aziz Hamad al-Luhayb, a Saudi national whose name appeared on Saudi Arabia's list of 47 most wanted terrorists in 2011. He was a known mortar and explosives expert, participated in attacks against security forces, served as a key liaison and trainer to local insurgent commanders, and led efforts to establish a permanent foreign fighter presence in the area, particularly "Arabs," ISAF said.
The Afghan government and the Coalition have stopped waging counterinsurgency operations in Nuristan and neighboring Kunar. The US military has withdrawn from several combat outposts in the rugged, remote provinces. Instead, conventional and special operations forces are launching periodic sweeps to cull the Taliban forces, or "mowing the grass," as a senior US general described it in April 2011.
Κυριακή 23 Ιουνίου 2013
Σάββατο 22 Ιουνίου 2013
Παρασκευή 21 Ιουνίου 2013
The Long War Journal (Site-Wide)
Salafi jihadist supporters hold 3rd public protest against Hamas in months
Posted: 20 Jun 2013 12:26 PM PDT
Supporters of Salafi jihadists in the Gaza Strip held a demonstration in Gaza City today to protest Hamas' "continued violations" against Salafi jihadists in Gaza. The latest violation, according to a statement announcing the protest, is the arrest and alleged torture of Sheikh Hussein al Jo'ayteni.
Al Jo'ayteni was arrested on June 11 by Hamas forces, according to the Ibn Taymiyyah Media Center (ITMC), a jihadist media unit tied to the Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem. In recent days, Salafi jihadist Facebook pages and media units, such as the ITMC, have alleged that al Jo'ayteni has been tortured in Hamas' prisons. According to the ITMC, Hamas is torturing al Jo'ayteni "day and night" in order to obtain information from him regarding Salafist groups in the Gaza Strip.
Those who attended today's protest called on Hamas to immediately release imprisoned Salafists. The protesters also called on Hamas to stop its campaign against Salafi jihadists. According to press reports, Hamas security forces prevented journalists from covering the event and in some cases confiscated cameras.
Thursday's protest is the third of its kind in recent months and comes two days after the ITMC released a video of jihadists in Syria demanding that Hamas end its campaign against Salafi jihadists in Gaza. Today's protest was promoted by a Facebook pagerecently opened for relatives and friends of Salafi jihadists currently imprisoned by Hamas.
On April 28, a protest against Hamas promoted by the same Facebook group was held in Gaza City. While most in attendance held handmade signs condemning Hamas and calling for the release of their family members, others were seen holding al Qaeda's black flag, which was first used by al Qaeda in Iraq but has been adopted by other al Qaeda affiliates.
On April 6, the group had organized another protest in Rafah against Hamas. According to press reports, approximately 30 people partook in the demonstration before Hamas security forces dispersed it.
Tensions between Hamas and the Salafi jihadists in Gaza have increased in recent weeks after a lull in late May. According to Abu al Ayna al Ansari, a Salafi jihadist leader in the Gaza Strip, well-known Islamic personalities from the Gulf, including Qatar and Kuwait, are mediating discussions between Hamas and Salafi jihadists.
Afghan and US Special Forces in Ghazni province
Posted: 20 Jun 2013 11:30 AM PDT
USA Today correspondent Carmen Gentile reports on Afghan and US Special Forces operations in Gardez Khala, Ghazni province Afghanistan.
Taliban want release of 5 al Qaeda-linked commanders in exchange for captured US soldier
Posted: 20 Jun 2013 12:30 PM PDT
The Taliban have again offered to exchange a US soldier who was captured in 2009 for five Taliban commanders currently held at Guantanamo Bay who are closely tied to al Qaeda. The offer comes just two days after the Taliban officially opened a political office in Qatar which is being used to legitimize the group in the international community.
In a telephone conversation today from their Qatar office with the Associated Press, the Taliban said they would exchange Bowe Bergdahl, who went missing in eastern Afghanistan in the summer of 2009, for five notorious and dangerous Taliban leaders who are currently in custody at Guantanamo. Those five leaders have previously been identified by The Long War Journal as Abdul Haq Wasiq (former Taliban deputy minister of intelligence); Mullah Norullah Noori (a former Taliban governor and military commander); Mullah Mohammed Fazl (the Taliban army's chief of staff); Mullah Khairullah Khairkhwa (the former Taliban governor of Herat province); and Mohammad Nabi (a commander with ties to numerous terror groups).
Relying on declassified and leaked Joint Task Force-Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) documents authored by US intelligence officials, The Long War Journal has previously profiled these five senior Taliban leaders. [See LWJ reports, Taliban seek freedom for dangerous Guantanamo detainees, Afghan peace council reportedly seeks talks with Taliban commanders held at Gitmo, and Afghan Taliban announces new 'political office' in Qatar.]
All five Taliban leaders have extensive ties to al Qaeda, according to intelligence reports cited by JTF-GTMO.
The US is willing to release the five prisoners without the condition that the Taliban denounce al Qaeda. The Taliban have refused to denounce al Qaeda or even sever ties with the group since the US invasion of Afghanistan in the fall of 2001.
The US has discussed making the same exchange in the past, but the Taliban suspended negotiations in March 2012 after claiming the US misrepresented the purpose of the political office established in Qatar. The Taliban had also claimed that the office was to be used for "preliminary talks with the occupying enemy over the exchange of prisoners" as well as to communicate the Taliban's intent to fight NATO forces until they withdraw from Afghanistan.
But the Taliban have now somewhat altered their rhetoric on the nature of the office, intimating that it would be used to conduct negotiations with the US and "Afghans," but not the Afghan government. The opening of the Taliban's office in Qatar was announced in a statement on the group's Voice of Jihad website on June 18.
First and foremost, the Taliban assert that the purpose of the office is to legitimize the group and communicate its messages to the international community. Although the Taliban have long maintained that the Qatar office was to be used primarily for advancing the group's political interests, not for conducting negotiations [see LWJ report, Taliban suspend 'dialogue' with US], the point is now made explicit.
In the Taliban's June 18 statement, the first reason given for the creation of the office is "to talk and improve relations with the international community through mutual understanding," while the fifth reason is to "give political statements to the media on the ongoing political situation." The fourth reason offered is to "establish contact with the United Nations, international and regional organizations and non-governmental institutions."
Reasons two and three are vague references to negotiations. The second reason put forth for the creation of the office is to "back such a political and peaceful solution which ends the occupation of Afghanistan, establishes an independent Islamic government and brings true security." The third is to "have meetings with Afghans in due appropriate time." The Taliban do not say they are willing to negotiate with the Afghan government.
In the June 18 announcement, the group also claims that it "does not wish to harm other countries from its soil and neither will it allow others use Afghan soil to pose a threat to the security of other nations!" This statement is strongly contradicted by the reality on the ground in Afghanistan.
The Afghan Taliban continue to conduct operations with and host international terror groups, such as al Qaeda, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, and the Turkistan Islamic Party. Additionally, the Haqqani Network, a Taliban subgroup that operates in both Afghanistan and Pakistan and whose top leaders sit on the Taliban's executive councils, has facilitated international attacks. And classified documents found at Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, purportedly show that bin Laden and Zawahiri were in direct communication with Taliban emir Mullah Omar and that the three leaders plotted strategy and tactics.
The Taliban's announcement of the creation of the political office has incensed many senior Afghan politicians, including President Hamid Karzai. Yesterday, Karzai suspended talks with the US on an agreement to base US forces in Afghanistan after 2014.
Karzai accused the US of sidelining the Afghan government by conducting direct negotiations with the Taliban, and said that the office in Qatar is being used mainly for political purposes.
The Taliban's press conference announcing the creation of the office was certainly intended as a propaganda stunt to bolster the group's political profile. The Taliban displayed its white flag, and used the name "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan," which the group used when it controlled Afghanistan from 1996 to the end of 2001. Additionally, Qatari officials appeared in the background while the Taliban spokesman thanked Qatari emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani for sponsoring the office.
The news of the office's opening also overshadowed the nationwide transfer of security responsibility from the International Security Assistance Force to the Afghan National Security Forces. Reports of the official security transfer on June 18 were dwarfed by the Taliban's announcement.
The US's willingness to negotiate with the Taliban to exchange Bergdahl for the five Taliban leaders also highlights the group's ongoing links to al Qaeda and its support for foreign fighters in Afghanistan.
Bergdahl is currently thought to be held by Mullah Sangeen Zadran, a Haqqani Network commander who serves as a senior lieutenant to Sirajuddin Haqqani and as the Taliban's shadow governor for Paktika province in Afghanistan. Mullah Sangeen was added to the list of designated terrorists on Aug. 16, 2011.
US military officials have told The Long War Journal that Sangeen is considered to be one of the most dangerous operational commanders in eastern Afghanistan. Sangeen has organized numerous assaults on US and Afghan combat outposts in the region. Sangeen has professed his support for al Qaeda and recently called on Turkish and Kurdish jihadists to join the fight in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Operation 38 Eagle in Sangin
Posted: 20 Jun 2013 06:17 AM PDT
[click on photo for larger image]
Via ISAF:
An Afghan National Army soldier fires a SPG-9, a Russian-made recoilless rifle, at known Taliban positions from a rooftop on a patrol base in the green zone in Sangin District, Helmand Province, Afghanistan, May 29. Afghan National Army Brigadier General Wasea, the 2nd Brigade, 215th Corps commanding general, and his Afghan National Security Forces counterparts planned and launched Operation Aoqad Se Hasht [38 Eagle] to push Taliban fighters out of Sangin. Photo by Sgt. Bryan A. Peterson
Τετάρτη 19 Ιουνίου 2013
NEWS DAY
Hall monitor
Posted: 18 Jun 2013 11:34 AM PDT
[click on photo for larger image]
US Army Sergeant Oscar Lagunas provides security and keeps watch on a road during a logistics inspection in Tarin Kot, Uruzgan province, Afghanistan, June 4, 2013. Lagunas is assigned to the Security Force Assistance Team, 56th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. US Army photo by Sergeant Jessi Ann McCormick.
Son of Jund Ansar Allah leader reportedly arrested
Posted: 18 Jun 2013 09:26 AM PDT
The Ibn Taymiyyah Media Center (ITMC), a jihadist media unit tied to the Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem (MSC), issued a statement today alleging that Hamas forces recently arrested the son of Khalid Banat (Abu Abdullah al Suri), a former leader in Jund Ansar Allah.
According to the statement, Abdel Raqib Khalid Banat, 20, was arrested on June 11. On the same day, according to the ITMC, Hamas forces arrested Sheikh Hussein al Jo'ayteni.
In recent days, Salafi jihadist groups have issued a number of statements denouncing the arrest of al Jo'ayteni, who is purportedly being tortured in Hamas' prisons. According to the ITMC, Hamas is torturing al Jo'ayteni "day and night" in order to obtain information from him regarding Salafist groups in the Gaza Strip.
Although Jund Ansar Allah was created in 2008, it lasted only about a year before Hamas forcefully brought its existence to an end. The group was led by Sheikh Abdel Latif Moussa, who had headed a Salafi organization in Gaza since the 1980s, and Khalid Banat (Abu Abdullah Suri), who claimed to have fought with leading al Qaeda figures including Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab al Zarqawi.
According to the International Crisis Group, Banat's ability to recruit was pivotal in Jund Ansar Allah's rapid growth. Banat, who originally trained Hamas members, used his connections to appeal to "low-level Qassam members, who upon joining [Jund Ansar Allah] would acquire new and important-sounding titles." Banat, according to the MSC, had also worked with Hithem Ziad Ibrahim Masshal, a well-known jihadist in the Gaza Strip who was killed in an airstrike by the Israeli Air Force on April 30.
While Hamas officials at first did not view Jund Ansar Allah as a major threat, sporadic clashes between the two groups eventually increased, especially when the Salafi jihadist group intensified its criticism of Hamas in public communiqués. Following a failed attempt to arrest Banat, Jund Ansar Allah declared Hamas to be impotent, and in early August 2009 Sheikh Musa declared an Islamic emirate in the Gaza Strip, a move that greatly upset Hamas.
Shortly after the declaration, Hamas forces clashed with Jund Ansar Allah fighters at Rafah's Ibn Taymiyyah Mosque. Numerous people from both Hamas and Jund Ansar Allah were killed in the fighting including Musa and Banat. Al Qaeda in Iraqdenounced Hamas following the incident as it called on Allah "to avenge the blood of the murdered men and to destroy the Hamas state." Condemnations by other Salafi jihadist groups were not enough to keep Jund Ansar Allah going as the deaths of its leadership all but brought the organization to an end.
Swedish intelligence concerned about Syrian jihadists
Posted: 18 Jun 2013 08:50 AM PDT
As the two-year Syrian civil war grinds on, Sweden has joined the ranks of countries concerned about the increasing number of Syria-bound jihadists who may cause problems when they return home. Like many of its European neighbors, Sweden is finding itself unable to control the flow of jihadist fighters between their home country and Syria.
Jonathan Peste, the chief analyst at Säpo, the Swedish intelligence agency, said today that "[w]e can rarely stop" Swedish jihadists from traveling to Syria, according to The Local. Once in Syria, he said, they acquire more training and experience, and are "dangerous" and have even attacked civilians.
Among those jihadists known to have gone to Syria are some who planned attacks in Sweden and "have been part of this violence-endorsing Islamist, or al Qaeda-inspired, environment for quite some time," he stated. At least 30 fighters have traveled to Syria, he said, and "many return to Sweden."
When asked what Sweden does to discourage this process, Peste said simply: "We look them up and try to talk to them. We tell them it is dangerous to go and that we cannot help them if someone catches them. But then they don't have to meet with us if they don't want to."
Sweden is not alone in this quandary, but the government has recently recognized that Sweden lags "far behind" some of its European counterparts in addressing militant Islamism [see Threat Matrix report, Danish jihadist killed while fighting for Muhajireen Brigade in Syria]. Professor Magnus Ranstorp of Sweden's National Defence College observed that while Germany has a program for ex-jihadists, not a single person in Sweden had defected from jihadism, so far as he knew.
In early April, Agence France-Presse reported on a study by the UK-based International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) at King's College London, which found that between early 2011 and the spring of 2012, as many as 600 European jihadists had traveled to Syria, from 14 countries. According to AFP, some there were 134 fighters from Britain, up to 107 from the Netherlands, 92 from France, 85 from Belgium, and others from "Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Finland, Spain, Sweden, Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, and Kosovo." Many of these fighters have joined the "Muhajireen Brigade" ("Emigrants Brigade"), which is linked to the Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria [see LWJ report, Swedish jihadist killed in Syria while fighting for the Muhajireen Brigade].
European countries with somewhat more advanced programs to counter Islamist terrorism at home, such as the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, are nonetheless at a loss as to how to deal with the flow of jihadists to and from Syria. In early March, a top French antiterrorism judge remarked that "no one is stopping them" from going to Syria because the French government officially supports the Syrian rebels. And the same is true for Britain, where a senior official stated that more British jihadists are going to Syria than to all the other areas of conflict combined, and warned that Syria could become "the crucible of trans-national terrorism." [SeeThreat Matrix report, Syrian conflict tests European policy on violent jihad.]
In mid-May, German Interior Minister Hans Peter Friedrich estimated that most of the roughly 700 Europeans fighting the Assad regime in Syria are militant Islamists, and warned that they could return as "homegrown terrorists," The Guardian reported. Security forces were unable to prevent the fighters from leaving Germany because it was impossible to prove they were headed for Syria. Friedrich planned to ask the European Union to consider adopting a two-year re-entry ban to the EU for suspected Islamists, but even that legislation if adopted could be difficult to put into practice.
Although a number of foreign jihadists have died in Syria, the number of fighters flocking to the battlefields there continues to rise. In fact, jihad in Syria has been such a popular draw that Islamist groups in North Africa have begged jihadists to stay in their home countries. In mid-March, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb released a message on jihadist Internet forums telling aspiring jihadists to avoid unnecessary emigration so as to not "clear the field for secularists," according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which obtained and translated the statement.
AQIM declared: "The front of the Islamic Maghreb today is in direst need of the support of the sons of Tunisia, Morocco, Libya, and Mauritania, to thwart the attack of Crusader France and defeat its agents in the region, and empower the Islamic project. Emigration and jihad are more important in this front, due to the aggression on their land and the need of this front for these people."
A recent report in The Daily Beast on European jihadists in Syria notes that some are fighting in alliance with the Al Nusrah Front, and that some of them claim to have raped and murdered while in Syria. According to the article, the Dutch government is investigating the issue of jihadists traveling to Syria, and is considering confiscating their passports.
Last week, European Union justice ministers met to discuss the problem of jihadists returning from conflict zones such as Syria.According to The Copenhagen Post, strategies discussed included stressing the tough conditions of combat and offering social support to returning fighters.
As the Daily Beast article notes, "[d]etailed information about the young European men is often scarce." But it is perfectly clear that this conflict is producing a growing cadre of battle-hardened jihadists with Western credentials and connections.
Τρίτη 18 Ιουνίου 2013
Κυριακή 16 Ιουνίου 2013
Σάββατο 15 Ιουνίου 2013
Παρασκευή 14 Ιουνίου 2013
Πέμπτη 13 Ιουνίου 2013
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