Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, British Ambassador to Afghanistan
- Report on splits with Al Qaeda, as referred to below, but splits denied: Saudi King meets with Taliban leaders
- A writer from Gaza says that Tony Blair’s office has been in communication with Hamas, secretly, for over a year and that Blair was prevented from visiting Gaza this summer by Israel. But there would be no surprise if Blair visited Gaza “soon”.
- Tony Blair reaches out to “Jewish values”
- Jump to – Terror attacks (on this page)
Comment at end
16th October, 2008
This lengthy article below exposes some of the splits and myths as to the ongoing struggle in Afghanistan. What I found interesting at The Times coverage were the thoughts of the only Afghan commenting on this (my bolding):
“The brits seem determined to surrender in this war. 1st they surrendered in Iraq and they have been surrendering in Afghanistan since 2006. Fortunately America, Iraq and Afghanistan are even more determined to win. Best if brits left both Iraq and Afghanistan. As it is, they are only in the way.
Athewel, Asadabad, Afghanistan”
Extract from below: ‘The eagerness to promote reconciliation between the Taliban and the Afghan government stems from European governments looking to extract themselves from the Afghan conflict, senior sources tell The Long War Journal.’
(If this analysis is true, all may already be lost.)
And our “withdrawal to Basra airport” is described as a failure and not the success we were told at the time.
Article follows:
The Taliban have NOT split from Al Qaeda, says The Long War Journal
By , October 7, 2008 10:50 AM
- Mullah Omar, a senior Taliban leader, has not cut ties with Al Qaeda. What do you mean you didn’t know they HAD ties!?
The Taliban have not broken ranks with al Qaeda, senior US military and intelligence sources told The Long War Journal. The idea that the Taliban has severed relations is promoted by European countries who wish to back out of Afghanistan after years of bloody fighting, the sources, who wish to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the subject, said.
The reports of a split between al Qaeda and the Taliban originated with CNN after sources claimed senior Taliban leaders were in Saudi Arabia to meet with King Abdullah and several members of the Afghan government.
But sources familiar with al Qaeda and the Taliban in the Pakistan-Afghanistan region told The Long War Journal there is no evidence of a split, and the members of the so-called Taliban delegation have no influence with the senior Taliban leadership.
“There are no indications that Mullah Omar or anyone part of the Taliban’s Shura Majlis (or executive council) cut their ties with Osama bin Laden or al Qaeda,” one senior source said. “If there is a denunciation or discussion of a break with al Qaeda, I do not see it.”
Several members of the Afghan Taliban still serve on al Qaeda’s executive leadership council, and there are no indications anyone has been expelled.
“Omar sacrificed his country and his throne to protect Osama” by opposing the US in the run-up to the US invasion in 2001, a source said. “Why, after the Taliban is in ascendancy in Afghanistan in Pakistan, would they abandon al Qaeda now?”
Negotiators are Taliban outsiders
The press reports have focused on the members of the so-called Taliban peace negotiators, but have failed to review at who exactly is participating in the talks. A look at the Afghans involved shows these are men who have fallen out of favor with the Taliban high command.
“There were no senior leaders of the Taliban present in Saudi Arabia,” one senior source told The Long War Journal. “Not one member of the Taliban Shura Majlis. Not even one senior Taliban official in good standing with the leadership.”
“They are all outsiders,” the source reiterated.
Included in the Taliban negotiating team are Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, and Mullah Mohamed Tayeb Agha, according to a report in Asharq al Awsat.
- The ‘relatively moderate’ Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil – fallen out of favour with the “Taliban leaders who matter”
Mutawakil, who served as the Taliban’s foreign minister in 2001, has long fallen out of favor with the Taliban, according to sources as well as reports in the press. “He has no authority among the Taliban leaders who matter,” said one senior source.
The BBC describes Mutawakil as “the more respectable face of the Taliban” as he is considered as “articulate and relatively moderate.” He is “several rungs of power removed from the Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar.” and broke ranks after Omar refused to hand over Osama bin Laden after the Sept. 11 attacks. In 2002 he claimed he was sent to warn the US of the Sept. 11 attacks but was ignored.
Mutawakil surrendered to the US in February 2002 without seeking approval from the senior Taliban leadership. He was detained by the US and then placed under house arrest in Kabul. The Taliban ejected Mutawakil from the movement in 2003, saying he “does not represent our will”. Mutawakil contested the elections in 2005.
Mutawakil has been behind numerous failed attempts to promote reconciliation between the Afghan government and the Taliban. “He is probably sincere but just completely powerless,” a source told The Long War Journal.
Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, another purported representative of the Taliban in the Saudi Arabia negotiations, served as the Taliban’s ambassador to Pakistan. He was detained by the Pakistani security services in 2002 and sent to the Guantanamo Detention Facility in Cuba before he was released in 2006.
Zaeef is also seen as a “moderate” Taliban and was considered a candidate to join the interim Afghan government. “Zaeef has no standing with the current Taliban leadership,” a source said.
Mullah Mohamed Tayeb Agha was also in attendance in Saudi Arabia. While Agha is described as “the spokesman for Taliban leader Mullah Omar,” he hasn’t held this role for a decade. “That was back in the 1990s,” a source familiar with the Taliban leadership said.
The Taliban reject peace talks
Mullah Omar and the Taliban have openly rejected the idea their followers are in negotiations with the Afghan government. Omar and the Taliban issued two press releases since Sept. 28 to quell the rumors.
The first statement, issued by the Taliban on Sept 28, rejected any idea of a peace agreement. “The Shura Council of the Islamic Emriate of Afghanistan considers such baseless rumors as part of the failed efforts by our enemies to create distrust and doubts among Afghans, other nations, and the mujahideed,” the statement read. “No official member of the Taliban–now or in the past–has ever negotiated with the US or the puppet Afghan government.”
The Taliban then went out of its way to denounce those negotiating under its banner, and clearly referred to Mutawakil, Zaeef, and Agha. “A handful of former Taliban officials who are under house arrest or who have surrendered do not represent the Islamic Emirate.”
The Taliban then clearly lay out their strategy to retake power in Afghanistan. The statement is clear they do not seek accommodation, but the removal of NATO troops and the ouster of the Karzai regime. “If out fight was for control of ministries and other prominent positions in the puppet administration, then such negotiations would make sense–but this is not the case,” the statement read. “Our struggle is to implement the rules of Allah in Afghanistan by eradicating the enemies of Islam… Our struggle will continue until the departure of all foreign troops.”
In a statement signed by Mullah Omar on Sept. 30, he was clear that he believed the Taliban was close to victory and offered the US harsh terms for peace. “If you demonstrate an intention of withdrawing your forces, we once again will demonstrate our principles by giving you the right of safe passage, in order to show that we never harm anyone maliciously,” Omar said. He also went out of his way to praise the mujahideen, both Afghan and foreign, in their willingness to take the fight to the West.
Europe looking for an out
The eagerness to promote reconciliation between the Taliban and the Afghan government stems from European governments looking to extract themselves from the Afghan conflict, senior sources tell The Long War Journal.
The reports of the Saudi Arabian negotiations arose after a senior British general said victory in Afghanistan was impossible and the West should dumb down expectations on the outcome of the conflict. A British and a UN diplomat described Afghanistan as “lost.” Other European officials have been keen on opening direct negotiations with the Taliban.
US intelligence and military officials are furious over the latest attempts to conduct “misguided” negotiations. “These are the people that brought you Musa Qala and the debacle in Basrah,” one senior source said angrily. The source was referring to the Brit’s turning over of the district of Musa Qala in Helmand province to the Taliban in 2006 and the Brit’s ceding the Iraqi city of Basrah to the Mahdi Army while claiming victory in 2007. The Brits claimed Basrah was a success story and began withdrawing troops as the city fell under the spell of Iranian-backed militias.
Musa Qala had to be retaken in a bloody offensive a year later in 2007. The Iraqi Army launched an offensive six months later to retake Basrah from the Mahdi Army in the spring of 2008.
“These two events were debacles,” the source said. “Why should we trust them with current peace talks, particularly when they have no idea who they are negotiating with?”
“We had to clean up their mess twice,” another source said, again referring to Musa Qala and Basrah and fearing the negotiations would be taken seriously by Washington. “At this point, it would be better if they left Afghanistan,” the source said, frustrated with the lack of unity of command in Afghanistan and the failure of the West to present a unified front against the Taliban and allied groups.
OTHER NEWS ITEMS
TERRORISM ARREST/TRIALS/INVESTIGATIONS GOING ON RIGHT NOW AROUND THE WORLD – COLLATED WITHIN THE LAST 24 HOURS
1. Terrorism suspects arrested in Germany: Police in Germany have arrested three Islamic militants suspected of planning major terrorist attacks on Frankfurt’s airport and the United States military base at Ramstein.
The suspects – two German citizens and a Turkish resident of Germany — were within days of carrying out bombing attacks, said a German security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Germany’s defense minister, Franz Josef Jung, said on state television, “There was an imminent security threat.”
2. Iraqi forces arrest 7 Syrian terrorists: Iraqi forces arrested seven Syrian “terrorist” suspects at a checkpoint on Thursday near the city of Baqouba, a hub of Al-Qaeda fighters, the Defense Ministry said. The suspects were seized in Jalawlaa, 90 kilometers east of Baqouba city, the capital of the restive Diyala Province.
The region is a well-known hub of Al-Qaeda fighters. US commanders have claimed, without offering any proof, that Syria is the main transit point for foreign fighters crossing into Iraq. US military officers have acknowledged that the majority of foreign insurgents are from US allies like Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Tunisia. Washington has blamed Damascus for turning a blind to the alleged problem.
3. Eight Moroccans arrested over Madrid train bombings: Spanish police are tonight questioning a number of suspected Muslim extremists. They were picked up in raids in Catalonia, Madrid and Andalucia. The eight people arrested are all of Moroccan origin, and believed to be linked to the Madrid train bombings. The Spanish authorities say they have dismantled an Islamic terrorist cell supporting al-Qaeda members.
Jihad Watch on arrest of 8 suspects over Madrid train bombing This site draws attention, perhaps as a warning, to the close proximity to an election of the attack in Spain. It describes how Spain was bullied into voting for withdrawal from Iraq by the train bombing. As for the 4th November American election, for what it’s worth, I believe we will have to await until AFTER the result before an attack on America or its close allies. WHY? Because it is clear Al Qaeda do not want McCain to win, and an attack prior to the election would boost his chances. Still, it’s nice to know that Osama bin-Laden is full of love. He has no other reason to attack us than that Muslims are being attacked by us. Another bedtime story, children?
Quote from here (the OBL and love post): As to the relationship between Muslims and infidels, this is summarized by the Most High’s Word: “We renounce you. Enmity and hate shall forever reign between us—till you believe in Allah alone” [Qur’an 60:4]. So there is an enmity, evidenced by fierce hostility from the heart. And this fierce hostility—that is, battle—ceases only if the infidel submits to the authority of Islam, or if his blood is forbidden from being shed [i.e., a dhimmi], or if Muslims are at that point in time weak and incapable [in which case, bin Laden later clarifies, they should dissemble (taqiyya) before the infidels by, say, insisting the conflict is about “foreign policy,” nothing more]. But if the hate at any time extinguishes from the heart, this is great apostasy!… Such, then, is the basis and foundation of the relationship between the infidel and the Muslim. Battle, animosity, and hatred—directed from the Muslim to the infidel—is the foundation of our religion. Note that, contrary to Scheuer’s assurances, at no time does bin Laden indicate that U.S. foreign policy is behind such animus; it is entirely a theological argument—transcending time, space, and circumstance.
4. Britain: Terrorists Use Hardcore Porn No arrests yet but only because the Police have been inundated with terror cases.
5. Turkey’s anti-terrorsim strategy under revision: Another rash of clashes between the Turkish army and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) on Thursday (October 16th) left five soldiers dead and 15 wounded. According to the General Staff, five members of the terrorist group also died. The latest attacks follow closely on the heels of other fatal incidents this month. An attack on a Turkish army outpost left 17 soldiers dead on October 3rd, and an ambush of a bus carrying police in Diyarbakir killed five police officers on October 8th, generating huge public pressure on the government and military. The recent spate of deadly terrorist raids has forced Turkey’s political and military leaders to start revising the country’s anti-terrorism strategy.
6. Forty seven people convicted in Morocco terror trial
More indications that “moderate” Morocco is not deserving of that epithet. “47 people convicted in Morocco terror trial,” by Hassan Alaoui for the Associated Press, October 17:
RABAT, Morocco (AP) — A Moroccan court convicted 47 people and sentenced them to up to 30 years in prison over a suicide bombing last year at a Casablanca Internet cafe, a lawyer said Friday.
7. New Zealand: 17 to stand trial over NZ anti-terrorism raids Surprised to see this? So was I. I haven’t got the whole story right now, but it seems to be centred around Maori and environmental groups. Terrorism is terrorism, and has to be clamped down upon heavily, before we accept it as a deserved result of OUR wrondgoing. Terrorism is NEVER acceptable.
8. PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR BILL WARNER has obtained a video recording of the Al-Shabaab Terrorist group in Somalia featuring footage of a combined Al-Qaeda & Al-Shabaab jihad training campThe video includes scenes of Al-Shabaab recruits practicing using RPG’s, automatic weapons and hand all under the instruction of Al-Shabaab military chief ShaykhMukhtarRobow. The video also shows recruits receiving PT training and advanced urban warfare and assault tactics.
And see here following a British Government minister’s announcement of imminent terror attacks. Whether it was wise to say this is another matter. But I believe, in fact I know, that the Police are looking at several threats right now in the United Kingdom. The Times too has something on this, as does Jihad Watch.
9. Chinese hostage escapes from Taliban in N.E. Pakistan – another recaptured.
This reports the Muslim Brotherhood Website’ “Jihad Against Non-Muslims Is Obligator”: On a website devoted to Ramadhan, the Muslim Brotherhood posted a series of articles by Dr. Ahmad ‘Abd Al-Khaleq about Al-Walaa Wa’l-Baraa, an Islamic doctrine which, in its fundamentalist interpretation, stipulates absolute allegiance to the community of Muslims and total rejection of non-Muslims and of Muslims who have strayed from the path of Islam. In his articles, the writer argues that according to this principle, a Muslim can come closer to Allah by hating all non-Muslims – Christians, Jews, atheists, or polytheists – and by waging jihad against them in every possible manner.
Good luck Mr Blair, in your quest to bring religions together.
10. And of course there’s always the “conspiracy” theories, from those who blame the west for everything, including, presumably, the above 9 other examples. I DO wish they’d grow up!
Author David Horowitz speaks on Islamo-Fascism: He spoke at length about what he views as the threat posed by Islamic terrorists, and condemned middle eastern groups that publicize their hatred for the Jewish faith.
Pakistani Canadian (Tarek Fatah) and his case against radical Islam
It should also be said that Fatah still considers himself a believing Muslim. He wants to live in a state of Islam, not in an Islamic state, as he puts it.
Islamists get easy pass, Fatah says
Fatah’s hope is for a modern, progressive form of Islam to take hold. He believes in the equality of men and women. He is in favour of gay rights. And he does not believe that Muslims should live under Sharia law, or bring it into Canada.
Underpinning Fatah’s progressive creed is his belief in the separation of church (mosque) and state. This is one of the Western Enlightenment’s gifts to the world. Rather than reject this separation of religion and politics, Muslims should embrace it, says Fatah.
The Islam that has turned into Islamism is a political creed that is dangerous, he warns. Islamism wants to curb freedoms in the name of some divine sanctions dictated by clerics.
From the International Military Forums:
BAGHDAD — U.S. and Iraqi authorities have gathered physical evidence and eyewitness statements linking three alleged al-Qaida in Iraq members to the 2006 kidnapping, torture and execution of two American soldiers, American officials close to the case said Wednesday.
Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston and Pfc. Thomas Tucker, 25, of Madras, Ore., were captured after a firefight near Baghdad on June 16, 2006. Searchers found their badly mutilated bodies three days later. A third soldier, Spc. David Babineau, 25, of Springfield, Mass., died during the gunbattle.
In the months after the killings, U.S. forces arrested three alleged al-Qaida in Iraq members, who later were charged with murdering the soldiers under Iraq’s civilian anti-terrorism law. The three are set to stand trial in two weeks.
Secrets about Kashmir (“cleansing”) – leading to nuclear confrontation between India & Pakistan?
FOR years, internal situation in Pakistan has been getting from bad to worse. With the bombing of Marriott Hotel in Islamabad on 13 Sept 2008, there is now serious concern about the long-term viability of the state of Pakistan itself. Is it going to be another Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan or Somalia is the question. The worry is many times more because Pakistan happens to be a nuclear-armed state. Any nuclear weapon or fissile material falling in the hands of the terrorists will have disastrous consequence.
WHOSE HUMAN RIGHTS?
The British Enemy Within are STILL not happy, even after defeating the 42 Days’ Bill:
“The fight against the Counter-Terrorism Bill must not end with the Government’s humiliating climbdown over the 42 days proposals. There’s still loads of nasties left in the Bill, not least the powers to confiscate a “terrorist’s” property – including their bank accounts, vehicles, computers or even their house – without trial and potentially on the basis of secret evidence.”
(Oh, titchy too! How NAUGHTY of our security people. Whatever next? )
Saudi Human Rights (an oxymoron, surely) association says – death penalty is Lawful
Women about to be hanged in Saudi Arabia. I expect they still kept their veils on till the end. Just in case!!!
Saudi unhappy with Human Rights criticism of their high number of death sentences. It’s alright. It’s the (Sharia) law here, they say!
Group spokesman criticises a report by Amnesty International, which says that capital punishment is unfairly imposed; defends rules, stressing that Sharia is the law of the land. Last year 158 people were killed this way.
Riyadh (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The death penalty in the kingdom is not carried out until after “an exhaustive examination of the relevant” evidence with “enough guarantees for the defendant” and especially in accordance with Sharia or Islamic Law, Zuhayr al-Harithi, the Saudi Human Rights Association spokesman, said in response to criticism from Amnesty International which in its annual report slammed “the process in which the death penalty is taken and implemented [because it] is harsh, secret, and largely unfair.”The London-based human rights association said that Saudi Arabia is “executing convicted persons at an average of more than two a week and that around half of them are foreigners from poor countries.”
For Al-Harithi international organisations are unable to understand that “each country has its own penal system and judicial rulings which should be respected.”
Saudi Arabia applies the rules of Sharia law which imposes the death penalty in cases of murder, sexual violence, drug trafficking and witchcraft.”
But for Al-Harithi the death penalty in the kingdom is not carried out until after an “exhaustive examination of the relevant” evidence is conducted by 13 judges before it is endorsed by “the highest authority in the kingdom, the king.”
I wonder if we can export Shami Chakrabarti and her crowd of foolish civil righters to Saudi to sort out some REAL political criminals? Then again they would be unlikely to get out of there alive.
Hmmm…. flight donations anyway, anyone? One way only.
Export them, before they import this medieval Sharia law wholesale into Britain.
- Rice to miss Abu Dhabi meeting: this move will deepen concerns surrounding the Bush administration’s ‘Broader Middle East and North Africa’ (BMENA) Initiative.
- Al Qaeda has funds despite economic woes – via the DRUG trade in Afghanistan and sympathisers in the oil-rich Gulf states. Al Qaeda and other Islamic terrorists have been forced to avoid using banks, relying instead on less-efficient ways to move their cash around the world, including hand-carrying money and using informal transfer networks called hawalas.
- Jail for British couple’s sex on the beach – but locals on Dubai almost got away with gang-raping a 15 year-old French boy.
- The killing of apostates, according to Muhammad
- Pardon? What does THIS mean? Especially the last three lines.
Dubai - a popular tourist spot for westerners. Two recent sex cases have highlighted worrying attitudes.
If it hadn’t been for the boy’s journalist and well-connected mother, these suspects might have got away with it. They are due to appear in court next week.
“The men could scarcely have expected what has unfolded since — an international incident involving President Nicolas Sarkozy and the United Arab Emirates leader Sheikh Zayid bin Sultan al-Nahyan. Last week, Alexandre’s mother launched a website called “Boycott Dubai,” hoping to hit at the economic heart of a city-state that has spent billions turning itself into one of the world’s top financial centers and a Western-friendly resort spot.”
Tony Blair 