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Taliban begins to look and act like Al Qaeda
The Taliban has metamorphosed into a truly Al Qaeda clone. Analyzing a series of recent events in the ‘badlands’ of Pakistan, security specialists opine that the Taliban is ‘beginning to look and act’ more like al Qaeda. Firstly, the Taliban, which is based in the tribal belt of Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP), is executing ‘collaborators’. Warning notes are pinned to the victims saying “American spies will face the same fate”.

The “badlands “on Pakistan's side of the border is a key region for intelligence operations; that is where the Islamists and Jehadis have secure sanctuaries.
Secondly, the Taliban have embarked on a media blitz to communicate with friends and enemies alike. They have been recording videos of the executions and posting them on the Internet.

If these two developments are considered together along with other trends in Taliban working, a very interesting story begins to unfold. “The Mullahs have gone Hollywood” says Fred Burton, the Stratfor expert on global terrorism, in a tongue in cheek remark. In his view, this tactic (of publicity through video) is borrowed directly from the al Qaeda work book and it is the most striking of several other shifts in Taliban style. One of the more prominent Taliban commanders, Mullah Dadullah, has even given an interview to UK’s Channel Four. It is some thing not expected of a fundamentalist Jihadi Islamist group which traditionally considers using ‘image-making’ technology as a sin.
Posted by: Fred 2007-03-09
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=182580