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| Afghanistan |
| Secret Army of Doom Vows To Attack U.S. Troops |
| 2002-09-03 |
| A group that purports to be a new ``Secret Army of Anything new on these previously-unheard of goobers? Any additional info? Although similar pamphlets have appeared from time to time since the United States went to war in Afghanistan, this one is unusual because it is written in Arabic. That suggests the document could have been written for the several thousand Arabs, most of them suspected Al Qaeda members, who may still be hiding in the remote mountains of the east. The authors of the rambling six-page The same old fanatical Islamist blather... At the U.S. military headquarters in Bagram, north of the Afghan capital of Kabul, U.S. spokesman Col. Roger King said he was unaware of the group and refused to discuss threats, if any, which American forces have received. Of course he's never heard of it. It's a Secret Army of Doom. If it was a Public Army of Doom, he'd have heard of it... The circular, which Arabic speakers said was written by someone with a good command of classical Arabic, described Afghan President Hamid Karzai as an American "slave" because of Washington's support for the urbane leader, who won an 18-month term during a meeting of Afghans held in Kabul in June. "There is no peace or stability in Afghanistan," said the leaflet, translated by The Associated Press. "Hamid Karzai is sitting in Kabul like a puppet." Last month, Karzai's Afghan bodyguards were dismissed and replaced by U.S. special forces out of concern for his safety. In a country where there are multiple Secret Armies of Doom running around, that's probably a good idea. That's why there's no peace or stability... Its authors claimed to have carried out 21 separate attacks against the U.S. military in Afghanistan between June 1 and Aug. 31. However, few could be verified and some clearly did not take place. U.S. forces in Afghanistan have frequently come under fire from an unspecified origin. There also have been a number of bombings in Kabul recently targeting installations such as the Telecommunications Ministry and the United Nations guesthouse. A British peacekeeper was slightly hurt when a bomb exploded Sunday in west Kabul, killing two Afghans and injuring two other people. "Yeah. It was us Doomsters. We did that. We did lotsa stuff. You just don't read about it in the papers..." "Jihad against American forces is compulsory and jihad against American puppets is also compulsory," the pamphlet said. "Jihad is in our blood! Jihad and disco is our life!" The leaflets appeared at a time when the Taliban is reportedly attempting to regroup in northeastern Kunar province and other areas where the central government has difficulty asserting its authority. Afghans with contacts among disaffected groups say some Taliban figures, along with Al Qaeda fugitives, are trying to forge an alliance with former prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who maintained close ties to the Arabs even after he moved his headquarters to Iran during the Taliban's rule. Hekmatyar, who speaks fluent Arabic, left Iran this year after the United States demanded his expulsion. He is now believed to be hiding in Kunar, where U.S. special forces and their Afghan allies have been conducting searches and limited air strikes against suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda targets. Afghan officials have speculated that some, if not all, of the recent bombings in Kabul may have been the work of Hekmatyar's followers. "He has met Taliban leaders in Afghanistan and in Pakistan," said Qasi Amin Waqat, a former Hekmatyar deputy who split with his organization. First suspect I'd think of, too... A security chief in Khost province of eastern Afghanistan, Sur Gul, said he had reports that Hekmatyar was trying to arrange meetings with Taliban members in the east. Earlier this summer, Hekmatyar sent a handwritten message to Pakistani newspapers condemning a missile attack by the U.S. forces against a convoy near Kabul in which he was suspected to be travelling. He vowed to fight the United States and called on all anti-American forces to unite. They always call for that. One day it might happen. They won't like what happens next. We'll be very sorry afterward. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #2 Tried it a few months ago and missed, dammit. |
| Posted by: Fred 2002-09-03 12:13:10 |
| #1 Why can't Hekmatyar have a nasty accident? Something large scale, like accidentally being in the same room as a JDAM when it goes off. Or get one of those Canadian snipers to evacuate the contents of his skull with a .50 cal rifle. |
| Posted by: David Gillies 2002-09-03 12:02:42 |