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On August 5, Baitullah Mehsud, the all-powerful and utterly ruthless commander of the Pakistani Taliban, was killed in a US missile strike in South Waziristan. At the time of the strike, he was undergoing intravenous treatment for a kidney ailment, and was lying on the roof of his father-in-law's house with his young second wife.
At about one o'clock that morning, a missile fired by an unmanned CIA drone tore through the house, splitting his body in two and killing his wife, her parents, and seven bodyguards.
His death marked the first major breakthrough in the war against extremist leaders in Pakistan since 2003, when several top al-Qaeda members based in the country were arrested or killed. Over the last few years, Mehsud's estimated 20,000 fighters gained almost total control over the seven tribal agencies that make up the Federal Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) bordering Afghanistan.
Mehsud's death plunged the Pakistani Taliban, composed of some two dozen Pashtun tribal groups, into an intense struggle over leadership, creating an opportunity for the CIA and Pakistan's Interservices Intelligence (ISI) to take action against the extremists. After ousting in April and May the militants who had seized the Swat valley—which is not in the tribal areas but north of the capital city of Islamabad—the Pakistani army is now pursuing the Pakistani Taliban with more determination: in mid-August, two of Mehsud's senior aides were arrested, one in FATA and the other in Islamabad while seeking medical treatment.
The US is anxious for Pakistan to continue its pressure by launching an offensive in Waziristan, the region in the southern part of FATA—first in South Waziristan to eliminate the Pakistani Taliban there and then in North Waziristan, where al-Qaeda and Afghan Taliban leaders are based.
Much More @ New York Review of Books
Showing posts with label the Long War. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the Long War. Show all posts
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Pakistani Comando Raid Saves 25 Hostages
This attack demonstrates a step-up in hostage
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan — Pakistani commandos raided a building inside army headquarters early Sunday and freed 25 people held hostage for more than 18 hours by Islamist fighters, a military spokesman said. Three captives and four hostage-takers were killed, while one militant was believed to be on the run.
The audacious assault on the country's military establishment showed the strength of militants allied with al-Qaida and the Taliban ahead of a planned army offensive on their heartland in South Waziristan along the Afghan border and signaled that any push there would be met with more attacks across Pakistan.
The government said the siege had steeled its resolve to go through with the South Waziristan offensive, calling it "inevitable." The United States and Pakistan's other Western allies want the country to take more action against insurgents also blamed for soaring attacks on U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan.
Explosions and gunshots rang out as commandos moved into a building in the complex just before dawn Sunday, while a helicopter hovered in the sky. Three ambulances were seen driving out of the heavily fortified base close to the capital, Islamabad.
Two hours after the raid began, two new explosions were heard. The army said it was "mopping up" the remaining insurgents.
Up to five heavily armed militants took the hostages after they and about four other assailants attacked the main gate of the army headquarters Saturday, killing six soldiers, including a brigadier and a lieutenant colonel. Four of the attackers, who were wearing army uniforms, were killed.
No group claimed responsibility, but authorities said they were sure that the Pakistani Taliban or an allied Islamist militant group were behind the strike. The city is filled with security checkpoints and police roadblocks.
Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said 20 of the hostages had been kept in a room guarded by a militant wearing a suicide vest who was shot and killed before he managed to detonate his explosives.
He said the 25 who were freed included soldiers and civilians. Three captives were killed, along with four militants, he said. "It was a very skilled rescue operation," he said.
One of the hostage-takers was believed to be on the run, and the military was searching for him, Abbas said.
Saturday's siege followed a car bombing that killed 49 on Friday in the northwestern city of Peshawar and the bombing of a U.N. aid agency earlier in the week that killed five in Islamabad. The string of attacks destroyed any remaining hope that the militants had been left a spent force by the death of Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud in a U.S. missile strike in August.
A week ago, Baitullah Mehsud's successor, Hakimullah Mehsud, told journalists summoned to a briefing in South Waziristan that the Taliban would launch more attacks on military, government and other targets in the country.
The army — which until 2001 had patronized various militant groups for use as proxiealley this year.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik said a Waziristan offensive was now "inevitable."
"We are going to come heavy on you," he warned the militants.
In its brazenness and sophistication, Saturday's assault resembled attacks in March in the eastern city of Lahore by teams of militants against the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team and a police training center, which the insurgents took over for eight hours before security forces retook it.
The attack began shortly before noon when the gunmen attacked the main gate with assault rifles and grenades after bundling out of a white van that reportedly had army license plates.
"There was fierce firing, and then there was a blast," said Khan Bahadur, a shuttle van driver who was standing outside the gate. "Soldiers were running here and there," he said. "The firing continued for about a half-hour. There was smoke everywhere. Then there was a break, and then firing again."
After a 45-minute gunfight, four of the attackers were killed, said Abbas, who initially told the Geo television news channel that the assault was over and the situation "under full control."
But more than an hour later, gunshots rang out from the headquarters compound, and Abbas then confirmed that other gunmen had eluded security forces and slipped into the compound.
A police intelligence report obtained by The Associated Press on Saturday had warned in July that members of the Taliban along with Jaish-e-Mohammed, a militant group based in the country's Punjab province, were planning to attack army headquarters after disguising themselves as soldiers. The report was given to the AP by an official in the home affairs ministry in Punjab's home department.
Officials said Saturday that they had raided a house in the capital where the attackers were believed to have stayed. They found military uniforms and bomb-making equipment.
Militants regularly attack army bases across the country and bombed a checkpoint outside the army compound in Rawalpindi two years ago — one of several major bombings to hit the garrison city in recent years. But rarely have the Taliban mounted an armed assault in the city involving multiple fighters.
Associated Press writers Chris Brummitt and Asif Shahzad contributed to this report from Islamabad.
The Rest @ The AP
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan — Pakistani commandos raided a building inside army headquarters early Sunday and freed 25 people held hostage for more than 18 hours by Islamist fighters, a military spokesman said. Three captives and four hostage-takers were killed, while one militant was believed to be on the run.
The audacious assault on the country's military establishment showed the strength of militants allied with al-Qaida and the Taliban ahead of a planned army offensive on their heartland in South Waziristan along the Afghan border and signaled that any push there would be met with more attacks across Pakistan.
The government said the siege had steeled its resolve to go through with the South Waziristan offensive, calling it "inevitable." The United States and Pakistan's other Western allies want the country to take more action against insurgents also blamed for soaring attacks on U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan.
Explosions and gunshots rang out as commandos moved into a building in the complex just before dawn Sunday, while a helicopter hovered in the sky. Three ambulances were seen driving out of the heavily fortified base close to the capital, Islamabad.
Two hours after the raid began, two new explosions were heard. The army said it was "mopping up" the remaining insurgents.
Up to five heavily armed militants took the hostages after they and about four other assailants attacked the main gate of the army headquarters Saturday, killing six soldiers, including a brigadier and a lieutenant colonel. Four of the attackers, who were wearing army uniforms, were killed.
No group claimed responsibility, but authorities said they were sure that the Pakistani Taliban or an allied Islamist militant group were behind the strike. The city is filled with security checkpoints and police roadblocks.
Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said 20 of the hostages had been kept in a room guarded by a militant wearing a suicide vest who was shot and killed before he managed to detonate his explosives.
He said the 25 who were freed included soldiers and civilians. Three captives were killed, along with four militants, he said. "It was a very skilled rescue operation," he said.
One of the hostage-takers was believed to be on the run, and the military was searching for him, Abbas said.
Saturday's siege followed a car bombing that killed 49 on Friday in the northwestern city of Peshawar and the bombing of a U.N. aid agency earlier in the week that killed five in Islamabad. The string of attacks destroyed any remaining hope that the militants had been left a spent force by the death of Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud in a U.S. missile strike in August.
A week ago, Baitullah Mehsud's successor, Hakimullah Mehsud, told journalists summoned to a briefing in South Waziristan that the Taliban would launch more attacks on military, government and other targets in the country.
The army — which until 2001 had patronized various militant groups for use as proxiealley this year.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik said a Waziristan offensive was now "inevitable."
"We are going to come heavy on you," he warned the militants.
In its brazenness and sophistication, Saturday's assault resembled attacks in March in the eastern city of Lahore by teams of militants against the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team and a police training center, which the insurgents took over for eight hours before security forces retook it.
The attack began shortly before noon when the gunmen attacked the main gate with assault rifles and grenades after bundling out of a white van that reportedly had army license plates.
"There was fierce firing, and then there was a blast," said Khan Bahadur, a shuttle van driver who was standing outside the gate. "Soldiers were running here and there," he said. "The firing continued for about a half-hour. There was smoke everywhere. Then there was a break, and then firing again."
After a 45-minute gunfight, four of the attackers were killed, said Abbas, who initially told the Geo television news channel that the assault was over and the situation "under full control."
But more than an hour later, gunshots rang out from the headquarters compound, and Abbas then confirmed that other gunmen had eluded security forces and slipped into the compound.
A police intelligence report obtained by The Associated Press on Saturday had warned in July that members of the Taliban along with Jaish-e-Mohammed, a militant group based in the country's Punjab province, were planning to attack army headquarters after disguising themselves as soldiers. The report was given to the AP by an official in the home affairs ministry in Punjab's home department.
Officials said Saturday that they had raided a house in the capital where the attackers were believed to have stayed. They found military uniforms and bomb-making equipment.
Militants regularly attack army bases across the country and bombed a checkpoint outside the army compound in Rawalpindi two years ago — one of several major bombings to hit the garrison city in recent years. But rarely have the Taliban mounted an armed assault in the city involving multiple fighters.
Associated Press writers Chris Brummitt and Asif Shahzad contributed to this report from Islamabad.
The Rest @ The AP
Friday, May 01, 2009
Mahdi's Sadr Show up in Turkey
-AFP1 May 2009
Iraq's Shiite radical leader Moqtada al-Sadr -- not seen in public for nearly two years -- held face-to-face talks Friday with Turkey's top two leaders, Anatolia news agency reported.The anti-US cleric met with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan first for talks on "security in Iraq and the promotion of links between the parties," according to a Turkish diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity.He was then entertained by President
Abdullah Gul at the president's residence, the agency added, with the Turkish foreign ministry's special Iraq envoy, Murat Ozcelik, also in attendance, but no statements were made.Turkey's leaders regularly host the leaders of diverse political groupings from its close neighbour state.
"He is going from Iran to Turkey to meet a delegation from (the Iraqi shrine city of) Najaf and to hold discussions with the Turkish side about the situation in Iraq and its future," senior Sadr aide Haidar al-Turfi earlier told AFP.Turfi is the first senior official from Sadr's movement to say directly that Sadr has been in Iran.
His followers have always said he was in hiding in Iraq, while the US military has long said he was living in Iran.Sadr was to travel with several senior figures from his movement, after an earlier delegation went to Ankara six months ago to lay the groundwork for the trip, Turfi added.
On Thursday, Anatolia cited unnamed diplomatic sources as saying that Sadr's visit was aimed at
Iraq's Shiite radical leader Moqtada al-Sadr -- not seen in public for nearly two years -- held face-to-face talks Friday with Turkey's top two leaders, Anatolia news agency reported.The anti-US cleric met with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan first for talks on "security in Iraq and the promotion of links between the parties," according to a Turkish diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity.He was then entertained by President
Abdullah Gul at the president's residence, the agency added, with the Turkish foreign ministry's special Iraq envoy, Murat Ozcelik, also in attendance, but no statements were made.Turkey's leaders regularly host the leaders of diverse political groupings from its close neighbour state.
"He is going from Iran to Turkey to meet a delegation from (the Iraqi shrine city of) Najaf and to hold discussions with the Turkish side about the situation in Iraq and its future," senior Sadr aide Haidar al-Turfi earlier told AFP.Turfi is the first senior official from Sadr's movement to say directly that Sadr has been in Iran.
His followers have always said he was in hiding in Iraq, while the US military has long said he was living in Iran.Sadr was to travel with several senior figures from his movement, after an earlier delegation went to Ankara six months ago to lay the groundwork for the trip, Turfi added.
On Thursday, Anatolia cited unnamed diplomatic sources as saying that Sadr's visit was aimed at
- "holding consultations on the political process in Iraq."
- Sadr, said to be aged in his 30s, gained wide popularity among Shiites in Iraq in the months after the US-led invasion of 2003 and in 2004 his Mahdi Army militia battled US troops in two bloody revolts.
- But he disappeared after a public appearance at an Iraqi mosque in June 2007 and has since issued statements through senior aides and spokesmen.
- In August 2008, he suspended the activities of his Mahdi Army, which once numbered in the tens of thousands, following major US and Iraqi assaults on its strongholds in Baghdad and southern Iraq in the spring of that year.
Posted by David Barouski
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
World Politics Review
In this set of WPR analyses, the agenda seems to be, "let us try another framework to understand what is happening, since a global war is more than we can conceive of at this time"
Nathan Field especially proposes that al Qaeda's recruiting ability is really fed by the Poor, the Hungry, the disenfranchised and that the war on terror will not ever address these issues.
For those who keep trying this line of discussion,
Consider these three and frequently overlooked concepts when you write again:
The Editors 28 Oct 2008World Politics Review Exclusive
Ten years after al-Qaida declared war against the U.S., and seven years after the U.S. followed suit, much of what we know about the group is filtered through the lens of the Global War on Terror, a rubric that hides and distorts as much as it reveals. But in reducing al-Qaida to a terrorist organization, we have ignored the broader socio-cultural movement it represents.
The result has been to overlook the range of its activities on the one hand, while exaggerating its strategic outlook on the other.To formulate a sound strategic response to al-Qaida, we must first have a clear understanding of just what kind of enemy it is.
To provide a fuller picture of the group's origins and goals, its future prospects, as well as the conventional component of its activities, WPR examines the Al-Qaida We Don't Know.
In The 055 Brigade, Brian Glyn Williams of the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth and an expert witness in the military commission hearing of Salim Hamdan, discusses the little-known history of al-Qaida's conventional fighting force.
In AQIM, the North African Franchise, Joseph Kirschke examines the potential threat posed by local al-Qaida franchises, as well as the challenges they face.
In The Limits of the Counterterrorism Approach, Nathan Field examines the historical origins and socio-economic context of al-Qaida to determine its strategic outlook.
The Rest @ World Politics Review
Nathan Field especially proposes that al Qaeda's recruiting ability is really fed by the Poor, the Hungry, the disenfranchised and that the war on terror will not ever address these issues.
For those who keep trying this line of discussion,
Consider these three and frequently overlooked concepts when you write again:
- Understand the concept of the Da'wa of Taqiyya as it relates to al Qaeda and Muslim Brotherhood
- Understand the organization of the Musim Brotherhood, their written goals and objectives
- Understand that this is a matter of faith. There are many who, when given perfect economic opportunity, perfect opportunity for enlightened engagement, when highly educated in the West seek, destruction of the west out of faith and principle.
Your sound reasoning will not prevail in such a place in time and space. The West and those that believe in such a way, are at war. Whether the West started it or not, wants it or not, or believes it or not.
-Shimron Issachar
WPR Feature: The Al-Qaida We Don't KnowThe Editors 28 Oct 2008World Politics Review Exclusive
Ten years after al-Qaida declared war against the U.S., and seven years after the U.S. followed suit, much of what we know about the group is filtered through the lens of the Global War on Terror, a rubric that hides and distorts as much as it reveals. But in reducing al-Qaida to a terrorist organization, we have ignored the broader socio-cultural movement it represents.
The result has been to overlook the range of its activities on the one hand, while exaggerating its strategic outlook on the other.To formulate a sound strategic response to al-Qaida, we must first have a clear understanding of just what kind of enemy it is.
To provide a fuller picture of the group's origins and goals, its future prospects, as well as the conventional component of its activities, WPR examines the Al-Qaida We Don't Know.
In The 055 Brigade, Brian Glyn Williams of the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth and an expert witness in the military commission hearing of Salim Hamdan, discusses the little-known history of al-Qaida's conventional fighting force.
In AQIM, the North African Franchise, Joseph Kirschke examines the potential threat posed by local al-Qaida franchises, as well as the challenges they face.
In The Limits of the Counterterrorism Approach, Nathan Field examines the historical origins and socio-economic context of al-Qaida to determine its strategic outlook.
The Rest @ World Politics Review
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