Pakistan’s support of the Taliban
“The Taliban will always remain in Afghanistan, and Pakistan will always support them.”
- Gen. Hameed Gul, former Director of Pakistan’s ISI intelligence service
In: Geopolitics, In Their Own Words · Tagged with: ISI, Pakistan, Taliban
Just how evil is the Taliban?
This account is from Meena, a 13 year-old Pakistani girl who grew up around the Taliban. While you read this (and it would behoove you to read the entire piece), remember that Barack Obama seeks to pay off the same Taliban with your tax dollars.
From a BBC interview (emphasis mine):
My brother used to tell me that the place for a woman is either at home or in the grave. I was always restricted to home.
He said: “If you leave the house I’ll cut off your head and put it on your chest.”
My brother had been to the local school and beaten the girls and the teachers.
Taliban commanders used to come to our house. There was an underground bunker beside the house, with electricity.
It was concrete and very strong. Cars would drive on top but no-one would realise what was underneath. In that hideout they used to train suicide bombers.
Most were children of my age or younger than me. They were used for these activities because they were too young to know any better.
If U.S. Marines were training Afghani children to be suicide bombers, then I would join with other countries in portraying us as war criminals. But these barbarians get a pass? What kind of no-load, puss-nut asshole uses children to fight for them?
I used to see these children getting on a vehicle to go for their missions. They used loud Islamic CDs to motivate them.
And I would think, “My God, more Muslims are going to be buried”. Then the news would come that more Muslims were wiped out.
The vast majority of Taliban and al Qaeda victims are Muslims, not Westerners.
My brother used to prepare bombs and my sister-in-law did too. He told me that he would teach me this. I told him no. I would not even look at what they were doing.
My father and brother told me to carry out a suicide attack. They were pressuring me to do this.
They told me: “If you do it you will go to paradise long before us.” I replied: “Why don’t you tell me I will go to hell long before you?”
Every day they used to tell me this. Every day. I was very young when they started telling me this. I said to them: “What about all the people I will kill? They are all Muslims.”
They started beating me when I refused. They beat me non-stop. They made my life hell. I never had a single moment of happiness. They did everything other than kill me.
And if she dishonored her family by becoming pregnant (from her father and brother’s ‘punishment’), they could restore their family’s honor by killing her – nonpunishable according to Islamic Shariah law.
They said: “The bomb will be connected with a button, or something like the remote control of a TV. We will give you this kind of remote, and you will go to the place.
“We will also give you a mobile, and we will ring that phone, and press the remote, and you will be blown up with this bomb.”
They told me they would use such a large amount of explosives that no-one would even know if it was a man or a woman.
They told me that I had to do it.
There was a kind of medicine they used to give to the bombers that made them go around smiling, in a trance.
They said they would give me that medicine, and then I would go running to die – with a smile. I was so scared I decided to prepare my own tea, and my own food.
I was afraid they would mix that medicine with my food.
Sister’s story
They attached a bomb to my sister Nahida. They tied rectangular pieces to both her arms, and a black strip was wrapped around both her legs.
Then they connected the whole thing. She told my brother the bomb was heavy and she could not walk.
He said she would be comfortable once she was sitting down in the car.
They gave her medicine. But she was crying very loud for my mother. She kept going to her and hugging her. When my sister looked down at the bomb, she shivered.
Then my brother and my father started beating my mother, and they were shouting: “Why you are distracting the girl from her mission?”
I heard my sister saying: “Where is Meena? I want to see her.” But I didn’t have the strength. My heart couldn’t take it.
My mother fainted when they put her in the car. My brother said my sister’s attack was in Afghanistan.
I always think about my sister. She was healthy and a very nice girl. She was younger than me, but she was wiser. My mother used to tell me that I was an idiot, but she was very wise.
How does one put bombs on their children, and beat them for not wanting to go off to die? What kind of sick f— does something like that?
The Taliban slaughter other people’s children. They turn women into widows. They should be made to suffer too.
I want these Taliban to be burned alive.
In: Geopolitics, Religion · Tagged with: Afghanistan, Islam, Pakistan, Shariah law, Taliban
Iraqi Insurgents Hacking Drone Video
A fully armed MQ-9 Reaper taxis down a runway in Southwest Asia. The Reaper's primary mission is as a persistent hunter-killer against emerging targets. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Brian Ferguson)
Iranian-backed Shiite fighters in Iraq have been hacking the live video feeds from U.S. unmanned drones according to senior defense officials. The Wall Street Journal reports that the insurgents are using a Russian-made, off-the-shelf program called SkyGrabber to view the non-encrypted information coming from the drones.
Officials say that there have been no reports of insurgents interfering with the flights, and also assure that no harm has come to our troops and that no missions have been compromised as a result of the security breach.
“That may be true today, but may not be the case in future conflicts,” remarks Bill Roggio of LongWarJournal.
Roggio speculates:
Don’t be surprised if you read a story in the next few days or weeks saying that elements within Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency have been monitoring US Predator and Reaper feeds, and relaying targeting information to al Qaeda and Taliban leaders. I have heard far too many stories about how senior al Qaeda and Taliban leaders miraculously avoided attacks and left the target sites just minutes before the strikes. The officials repeatedly told me that they believed the anti-US elements in the ISI were tipping off the terrorist commanders before the strikes.
Many hours – even days – worth of recorded drone video feeds have been found on captured insurgent computers operating in Iraq, and sources say that feeds have also been intercepted by enemies operating in Afghanistan. According to WSJ‘s sources, the Pentagon has known of the encryption vulnerability since the Bosnia campaign during the 1990′s, but assumed that our enemies would not have the wherewithal to intercept the signals.
If the Pentagon is going to assume anything, they should be assuming that our enemies will compromise our communications, and design systems with that possibility in mind.
In: Military · Tagged with: al Qaeda, Bill Roggio, drones, Inter-Services Intelligence, Iraq, ISI, MQ-1 Predator, MQ-9 Reaper, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Pakistan, Taliban
Are we even TRYING to catch bin Laden anymore?
The search for Osama bin Laden has been farmed out to Pashtun spies run by the ISI – the Pakistani intel service that created the Taliban. Conflict of interest? Instead of actually accomplishing anything, the ISI handlers keep our spooks prison-like conditions staring at computer monitors.
I don’t think our politicians are willing to do anything but to just have a presence overseas. Killing bin Laden may not bring about the end of al Qaeda, but it sure as heck would be a great propaganda victory for the U.S. – something neither of the last two administrations seem willing to do.
From the Times of London:
When a senior al-Qaeda figure was identified and located — Mr Keller said that it would take weeks, often months, to build a case for an airstrike by a US Predator drone — and even if the go-ahead was finally given by CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, the Pakistanis still had to approve. “Since 9/11, with 99 per cent of these strikes, the Pakistanis were consulted and they have to approve them,” he said.
99% of air strikes are given with approval from a government that is doing its best to keep this guy hidden. Why do you think that Pakistan waits for months to give approval for air strikes? Because the target is long gone. What Mickey Mouse political appointee makes these decisions? This is BS! No wonder why Michael Scheuer is pissed off.
In: Geopolitics · Tagged with: al Qaeda, CIA, Osama bin Laden, Pakistan
Senior Taliban commander killed in Helmand
Afghan troops have killed a senior Taliban commander in the battleground province of Helmand. The raid by members of the Afghanistan National Security Force killed Mullah Salam Noorzai.
Bill Roggio writes at Long War Journal:
Noorzai had a long history in the Taliban. He served as the IV Corps commander in Herat province for several years during the reign of the Taliban government until its fall in 2001. He “was instrumental in the reconstitution of the insurgent effort following the regime’s demise” and served as a senior commander in the northern and central regions of Helmand province.
The force also killed one Noorzai aide and captured another, and several weapons – including RPGs – were destroyed. The raid was aimed at a compound just north of the contested Now Zad district, where Roggio writes:
The Taliban have conducted infantry-styled assaults and built fortifications in the region, and have conducted complex ambushes, according to an after-action report from a US Marine officer that was obtained by The Long War Journal. The US Marines have established a combat outpost in Now Zad in an effort to drive out the Taliban.
Noorzai also was one of the few leaders who had strong links to insurgent leaders who were directing the insurgency from the safety of Pakistan. Noorzai also had ties to Abdullah Gullam Rasoul – the Taliban’s “spring offensive” commander in Southern Afghanistan. Rasoul was released from Guantanamo by the Bush Administration in 2007.
“The death of Mullah Salam Noorzai, the latest in a series of prominent senior insurgents and IED-facilitators, signals another serious blow to the insurgency,” said Lieutenant Colonel Nick Richardson, Task Force Helmand.
No women or children were harmed in the operation, as ANSF and ISAF troops made safety a top priority.
In: Military · Tagged with: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Taliban
UAV Attacks in Pakistan
On Monday’s Unto the Breach program, I discussed the increase in UAV attacks in Pakistan’s tribal areas, as well as the cross-border raid by special operations in early September. The map below shows where the attacks have occurred.
There have been 18 attacks since the beginning of August, compared to only 7 from January through July. (more…)
In: Media, terrorism · Tagged with: NWFP, Pakistan
UPDATE: Al Qaeda’s Afghanistan Leader Not Killed in July Airstrike
Despite reports from Pakistan, al Qaeda’s Afghanistan commander Sheik Mustafa Abu al-Yazid (a.k.a. Sheik Saeed, Abu Saeed al-Masri) was apparently not killed in a strike by Pakistan security forces. The intelligence community had been skeptical of the reports from the beginning.
Not only was Al-Yazid not eulogized, as AQ usually does, his signature was found on a eulogy from Ayman al-Zawahiri for two top commanders, Abu Khabab al-Masri (a.k.a. Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar) and Abu Abdullah al-Shami, who were recently killed. (more…)
In: terrorism · Tagged with: Afghanistan, al Qaeda, Pakistan
Senior al Qaeda Leader Killed in Pakistan?
Pakistani television is reporting that senior al Qaeda (AQ) Aleader Mustafa Abu al-Yazid has been killed in heavy fighting in the Bajaur tribal region. Pakistan has stepped up its attacks on the region bordering Afghanistan which has become a stronghold for AQ and Taliban terrorists.
Al-Yazid is the top AQ commander in Afghanistan, and also goes by the names Sheikh Saeed and Abu Saeed al-Masri. It is believed that he was the third-most senior leader in al-Qaeda behind Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri.
These reports are unconfirmed at this time, and it is unknown whether al-Yazid and al-Masri are the same individual.
In: terrorism · Tagged with: Afghanistan, al Qaeda, Pakistan, Taliban
