[DAWN] The United States urged the Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... on Tuesday to speak with the Afghan government first if they want to hold peace talks with Washington.
"We have seen the Taliban statement. We will know the Taliban are serious about peaceful dialogue when they are willing to speak with the elected government of Afghanistan and end their brutal campaign of violence," a State Department spokesperson told Dawn.
In an unexpected statement earlier this week, the Taliban reached out to the American people asking them to pressure President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... and "war-mongering" congressmen to end the near 17-year-old "occupation."
The Afghan government, however, rejected the Taliban overture for peace insisting that the Death Eater group needs to show its sincerity to peace by ceasing its attacks first.
The Taliban, who have influence over nearly half the country, launched a series of deadly attacks in Kabul in last month that killed and maimed hundreds.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/23/2018 00:00 ||
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#1
"and end their brutal campaign of violence,"
Now, if they didn't do that violence, they would be Islamic Apostates
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/23/2018 20:16 Comments ||
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[TheLongWarJournal] The Afghan Taliban issued a “Letter of the Islamic Emirate to the American people” on Feb. 14, which was reported as an appeal for negotiations between the Taliban and the United States. Instead, the Taliban demanded that the US and the West withdraw from Afghanistan so the Taliban can establish its government.
The lengthy “letter” is reproduced in full, below. Throughout the letter, the Taliban said the only acceptable outcome is for the US to quit so it can return to power. The following two paragraphs neatly summarized the Taliban’s position. First, the Taliban referred to itself: “we” and the “the Islamic Emirate” were used interchangeably. Then note how the Taliban considered itself, not the Afghan government, as the “representative of its people” [emphasis ours]:
After the Taliban established that only it can represent the Afghan people, it lays out its terms for “peace.” And that is US withdrawal and a return of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan:
#2
Despite the posturing (by Kissinger et alii) and the Nobel "Peace" Prize that is basically what Vo Nguyen Giap wanted and got in Vietnam... So their negotiating stance has recent historical precedent.
#3
Despite the posturing (by Kissinger et alii) and the Nobel "Peace" Prize that is basically what Vo Nguyen Giap wanted and got in Vietnam... So their negotiating stance has recent historical precedent.
So what follows, a secession of bombing, a democratic cut-off of all funding, followed by a pull out ?
#4
The caravan passed. All was silent,
Afghanistan no longer violent.
"May your she-camels starve
As we Taliban carve
Up our peaceful Mohammedan island!"
#6
very difficult people. They don't give up easily. Lady Sale, one of the very few British survivors of the First Afghan War, wrote this about the Afghan noble Jan Fishan Khan, who sided with the British:
"He had one wife with him in Cabul [i.e. Kabul] when the insurrection broke out, and urged her to fly to Paghman [his family estate outside the capital] for safety; the old chief told me, her reply was worth a lakh (150,000) of rupees,
'I will not leave you ; if you fall, we die together; and if you are victorious, we will rejoice together!'"
[SmallWarsJournal and Voice of America] Afghanistan Unveils Plans for Controversial Militia Force
Afghanistan’s ministry of defense has announced the creation of a new militia force comprising about 36,000 men to defend areas that military-led operations have cleared of Taliban insurgents.
The move comes despite long-running accusations of rights abuses against the existing Afghan Local Police, which consists of local militias trained and paid by the U.S. military.
Defense Ministry spokesman, Dawlat Waziri, said in a brief statement the new force will consist of 7,500 officers of the Afghan National Army, or ANA, and 28,500 other personnel. The recruitments will be made from Afghan government-controlled areas where they ultimately will be deployed after undergoing military training to keep insurgents from staging a comeback.
He emphasized that the new Afghan militia force being raised will work under the direct command and control of the defense ministry. Waziri did not say when the recruiting process will begin.
Patricia Gossman, senior Afghanistan researcher at Human Rights Watch, has swiftly criticized the announcement, saying accountability of forces operating outside the normal ANA structure has been a persistent problem.
“What remains unclear is whether these recruits would come from existing militia forces, and if so, how the [Afghan] ministry would ensure that they would be held accountable,” noted Gossman told VOA.
The New York-based watchdog has been closely monitoring and documenting past allegations of rights violations against Afghan militias.
[Ynet] Large delegation of Hamas, one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbung millipede, officials, including leader Ismail Haniyeh, in the Egyptian capital to discuss reconciliation with Fatah, humanitarian crisis in the strip, and possible prisoner exchange deal with Israel; visit is unusually long.
A large delegation of senior Hamas officials from Gazoo and abroad, including leader Ismail Haniyeh ...became Prime Minister after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas festivities, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continues as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintains a separate PM in the West Bank... , has been in Cairo for the past two weeks for talks with top Egyptian intelligence officials and for internal discussions.
An initial delegation, led by Haniyeh, left Gazoo in early February without prior notice and has since been joined by additional members of the organization's leadership for an unusually long visit.
Haniyeh was joined by Khalil al-Hayya, Rohi Mushtaha and Fathi Hamad. Several days ago, Mousa Abu Marzouk, Izzat al-Rishiq and Mohammed Nasser also arrived in Cairo.
Hamas claimed the visit was meant to discuss ways to ease the suffering of Gazoo residents amidst the humanitarian crisis in the strip, but it appears this is not the main or only reason for the trip.
Reports from different sources indicated Marwan Issa, the deputy Hamas military leader, joined the talks in Cairo along with other bigwigs in the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigade.
Sources in the Gazoo Strip told Ynet that the arrival of the delegation from Hamas's military wing had to do with talks over a possible prisoner exchange deal between Hamas and Israel, but there has been no significant development on the matter so far.
However, women are made to be loved, not understood... it is believed the main reason for the Hamas delegation's extended stay in Cairo has to do mostly with the crisis in the reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah, after having reached a stalemate yet again. It is unlikely any progress will be achieved, due to the deep disagreements and the fact each side remains entrenched in its positions.
The Hamas delegation has been discussing several alternatives for the current situation, in which the Paleostinian Authority has some level of civilian control in the strip, but not enough to manage daily lives.
One such option is to establish a "national rescue government" in the Gazoo Strip only, which will in effect remove the national unity government from the strip and run it instead. This new government would be no different to the administrative committee that operated like a government before the signing of the reconciliation agreement four months ago.
This option could lead Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... to increase his sanctions on the Gazoo Strip in an effort to further pressure Hamas and egg the local population to rebel against the terror group.
Another possibility being discussed is establishing an administrative body for the strip with Abbas's rival, former Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan. This possibility was raised even before the reconciliation, and some say it pushed Abbas to sign the reconciliation agreement to prevent his sworn enemy from taking over the Gazoo Strip.
[Jpost] Egyptian authorities closed the Rafah crossing, the sole pedestrian passageway between Egypt and the Gazoo Strip, earlier than planned late Wednesday evening, the Paleostinian Embassy in Cairo said, according to the official Paleostinian Authority news site Wafa.
On Monday, Egypt announced Rafah would be open from early Wednesday morning until Saturday for Paleostinians to enter and exit the Gazoo Strip.
The Paleostinian Embassy in the Egyptian capital did not say why the crossing was closed early.
Since the ousting of Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi in July 2013, Cairo has seldom opened Rafah. The crossing was open for 42 days in 2016 and for 36 days in 2017, according to Gisha ‐ the Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, an Israeli NGO that tracks human rights ...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... issues related to Gazoo.
Some 30,000 Gazooks including students, business people and ill persons are on a waiting list to travel from Gazoo to Egypt through Rafah.
Paleostinian officials have said Egypt frequently keeps the crossing closed because of the unstable security situation in the Sinai Peninsula.
[DAWN] The PML-N's top brass on Thursday decided to get MNA Kulsoom Nawaz elected as the next party chief, a source privy to the development told DawnNews.
Ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf, then by the courts... held a meeting at Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots.... House for consultations on the new leader of the party a day after he was removed as PML-N head following a Supreme Court judgement that also nullified all official party decisions taken by Sharif since his disqualification in July last year.
The participants of the meeting agreed to get Sharif's wife Kulsoom ‐ who is undergoing treatment for cancer in London ‐ elected as the party's new president, the source told DawnNews.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/23/2018 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government on Wednesday moved the Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. High Court (PHC) against the Mashal Khan verdict, challenging the acquittal of 26 people in the case.
An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Haripur had announced its verdict in the lynching case on February 7, handing one person two death sentences, five persons multiple terms of life imprisonment, and 25 others jail sentences, and acquitting 26 others for want of sufficient evidence.
Mashal Khan, 23, a student of Mass Communications at Mardan's Abdul Wali Khan University, was beaten and shot to death by an angry mob on April 13, 2017, after he was accused of blasphemy.
Of the total 61 suspected of involvement in the lynching ─ the majority of them were students and university employees and a tehsil councillor belonging to the Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... (PTI) ─ charged in the first information report, 57 had been locked away Please don't kill me! within a few days of the incident. A 58th suspect who was arrested in Jan 2018 has yet to be charged.
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02/23/2018 00:00 ||
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[Ynet] Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... i Ambassador says some $800 million in assistance to Gazoo since Protective Edge is 'keeping peace for both nations,' adding 'If we are helping Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",, do you think the Israelis would allow us to go inside Gazoo and come out? It's impossible. They know we are not helping Hamas.'
Since coming under an embargo last year by its US-allied Gulf Arab neighbors, Qatar has made its aid to the Gazoo Strip‐and the coordination with Israel needed for disbursement‐a focus of its diplomatic contacts with the Trump administration.
Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... , the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic and commercial ties with Qatar in June for allegedly supporting terror groups such as Hamas, meddling in their internal affairs and backing regional foe Iran's agenda.
Qatar denies all the accusations, and pushed back with outreach to the United States‐including several leaders of its pro-Israel Jewish community.
Responding to Israeli and US requests, Qatar ceased hosting Saleh al-Arouri, the Hamas deputy leader, al-Emadi said. He added that "every single penny" of Qatari money given to Gazoo was monitored to ensure it is spent on humanitarian needs.
Al-Emadi said he has visited Israel 20 times since 2014. The trips were previously kept under wraps, but the envoy has been increasingly visible in recent months.
[Ynet] Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... has left hospital after routine checks in the United States and is fine, a senior Paleostinian official told Rooters on Thursday.
He told Rooters that Abbas had left the hospital in the US city of Baltimore and would be returning home to Ramallah in the West Bank on Friday.
[DAWN] Justice officials asked a court on Wednesday to formally designate the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People's Army, as terrorist groups in a move that could further damage chances of a resumption of stalled peace talks.
In a petition before a Manila regional court, the Department of Justice cited deadly attacks and violence committed by the Death Eaters, including bloody internal purges of suspected military spies, in seeking the proscription of the groups behind one of Asia's longest-raging communist insurgency.
President Rodrigo Duterte resumed peace talks with the guerrillas after he rose to power in 2016. He granted concessions by appointing three left-wing activists to his Cabinet, but the cordial relations rapidly deteriorated when he protested continuing rebel assaults on troops and coppers.
Last year, he cancelled Norwegian-brokered talks with the guerrillas and signed an order declaring the rebel groups as terrorist organizations in a prelude to his government's formal move on Wednesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/23/2018 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Residents of Syria’s eastern Ghouta district said they were waiting their "turn to die" on Wednesday, amid one of the most intense bombardments of the war by pro-government forces on the besieged, rebel-held enclave near Damascus.
At least 38 people died on Wednesday. At least 310 people have been killed in the district since Sunday night and more than 1,550 injured, the Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said.
The eastern Ghouta, a densely populated agricultural district on the Damascus outskirts, is the last major area near the capital still under rebel control. Home to 400,000 people, it has been besieged by government forces for years.
A massive escalation in bombardment, including rocket fire, shelling, air strikes and helicopter-dropped barrel bombs, since Sunday has become one of the deadliest of the Syrian civil war, now entering its eighth year.
The Syrian government and its ally Russia, which has backed Assad with air power since 2015, say they do not target civilians and point to rebel mortar fire on Damascus.
[AA.TR] The Doha-based International Union of Moslem Scholars (IUMS) on Thursday condemned the ongoing bombardment of Syria’s Eastern Ghouta district, a besieged suburb of Damascus, calling it a "massacre".
At least 250 civilians were reportedly killed there within the last three days.
"We call on the Arab and Islam countries and international community to take imminent actions to stop mass killings and save the innocent civilians in eastern Ghouta," according to a statement issued by the IUMS.
The IUMS condemned the "massacre of Assad Regime backed by Russia with weapons against which the [Syrian] people cannot counter."
Since Tuesday, regime forces have stepped up attacks on Eastern Ghouta using barrel bombs, artillery fire and other types of weapons, according to an Anadolu Agency correspondent based in the area.
Over a three-day period, the regime has reportedly carried out 260 separate attacks in Eastern Ghouta, killing more than 250 civilian residents of the district.
At peace talks held in the Kazakh capital Astana in May of last year, The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... , Russia and Iran designated Eastern Ghouta as a "de-escalation zone" in which acts of aggression would be expressly prohibited.
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02/23/2018 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[TheLongWarJournal] The Afghan Taliban issued a “Letter of the Islamic Emirate to the American people” on Feb. 14, which was reported as an appeal for negotiations between the Taliban and the United States. Instead, the Taliban demanded that the US and the West withdraw from Afghanistan so the Taliban can establish its government.
[SmallWarsJournal and Voice of America] Afghanistan Unveils Plans for Controversial Militia Force
...became Prime Minister after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas festivities, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continues as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintains a separate PM in the West Bank...
[Jpost] Egyptian authorities closed the Rafah crossing, the sole pedestrian passageway between Egypt and the 
[DAWN] The PML-N's top brass on Thursday decided to get MNA Kulsoom Nawaz elected as the next party chief, a source privy to the development told DawnNews.
[DAWN] The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government on Wednesday moved the 
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
[DAWN] Justice officials asked a court on Wednesday to formally designate the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People's Army, as terrorist groups in a move that could further damage chances of a resumption of stalled peace talks.
