[Tolo News] A former Taliban capo has told a Chinese television that Pakistan's ISI foreign Taliban don't want peace in Afghanistan and they are a big obstacle to peace in the country.
In an interview with China's CC television, Noor-ul-Aziz a former Taliban capo who presented himself as hero of the fight against US troops, said in a short span of 48 hours, he destroyed 24 vehicles and shot down an American helicopter.
"Foreign Taliban don't want peace. They want foreign troops to stay so that they can kill many of them. They are the biggest obstacle to peace in Afghanistan," Noor-ul-Aziz said.
Noor-ul-Aziz reportedly used to command a 300-strong army in Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... province.
The former commander joined the Afghan grinding of the peace processor four months ago.
"They imprisoned our comrades and put them in detention centres, foreign troops were hunting down on us and seized our land," he said.
He said he had tough life during his fight against foreign troops in Afghanistan.
"Life was very tough. We spent days without proper food, and changed sleeping places several times every night for fear of being bombed by American drones," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/08/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Telling the Chicoms whatever they want to hear.
#2
Foreign Taliban don't want peace. They want foreign troops to stay so that they can kill many of them. They are the biggest obstacle to peace in Afghanistan," Noor-ul-Aziz said.
Thank Saudi, UAE and Pakistan for that!
Posted by: Paul ||
08/08/2011 7:49 Comments ||
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#3
I don't know... The Afghan Taliban don't exactly seem the bridge-to-peace types, either.
#4
#3 I don't know... The Afghan Taliban don't exactly seem the bridge-to-peace types, either.
If you can overlook the summary executions, stonings, blown-up girl's schools, honor killings, rape, suicide bombings in markets and mosques, and blowing up Bamiyan, they're perfect partners for peace, Infidel...
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/08/2011 18:40 Comments ||
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#5
That was a thing of beauty, Frank, lacking only the boy toys.
[Dawn] The use of roadside kabooms in Afghanistan against foreign troops and civilians has reached record highs, with US forces struggling to cut off the flow of Pak fertilizer used to build them.
Taliban gunnies battling US and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants... -led forces for nearly a decade are now using a growing number of improvised bombs (IEDs) to strike personnel or vehicles along Afghanistan's dusty roads.
The Pentagon's Joint IED Defeat Organization (JIEDDO), a specialized body tasked with putting a stop to the use of the often remote-controlled roadside kabooms, offered a bleak assessment of the situation now facing foreign forces.
"During the last 12 months, an unending supply of calcium ammonium nitrate, originating almost exclusively from Pakistain, has been used to produce IEDs in Afghanistan despite a countrywide ban" on importing the fertilizer, JIEDDO spokeswoman Irene Smith told AFP.
From April to June, 3,485 IEDs went kaboom! or were found in the war-ravaged country, according to JIEDDO -- a 14 per cent increase over the same period last year. In June, use of roadside kabooms was 25 per cent higher than average.
The volatile southern province of Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... , where the Taliban are entrenched, is the worst affected, along with Kandahar province and the country's east along the border with Pakistain.
Ground troops, who are trying to reach out to the population as part of the strategy to defeat the Taliban, are particularly vulnerable to IED attacks. Use of roadside kabooms against them surged 59 percent in the spring.
But coalition forces are not standing idly by. Nearly 1,900 weapons caches were discovered in the spring, three times more than in 2010, according to JIEDDO figures.
NATO-led troops have also seized 110 tons of homemade explosives and "removed over 300 high-value individuals" since the start of November, Major General James Terry, commander of ISAF forces in the south, told news hounds.
In 2010, IEDs -- the weapon of choice for lightly armed gunnies battling advanced militaries -- were responsible for 60 percent of coalition deaths, even if only one in 10 bombs leads to casualties.
As of August 1, 738 US soldiers had been killed and 7,857 maimed by IEDs since the start of the war in Afghanistan to oust the Taliban in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, according to Pentagon data.
Two more soldiers, aged 19 and 21, were killed Wednesday when their vehicle drove over a roadside kaboom in Wardak province, southwest of the capital Kabul -- also the scene of the deadly Chinook incident late Friday.
The IEDs have not only been used against heavily-armed foreign troops, but also against the local population, accounting for a third of all civilian deaths in Afghanistan in the first six months of 2011.
"Civilian deaths from IEDs increased 17 per cent from the same period in 2010, making IEDs the single largest killer of civilians in the first half of 2011," the United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... said in a mid-year report on the conflict.
On July 29, 18 Afghans were killed when a roadside kaboom destroyed their minivan in Helmand province.
Most of the roadside kabooms are set to explode when a person or vehicle presses down on them.
"Most of the pressure plate IEDs used in Afghanistan contain approximately 20 kilos of explosive, more than twice that of a standard anti-tank mine -- yet have the trigger weight of an anti-personnel mine," the United Nations said.
JIEDDO says an overwhelming 84 per cent of IEDs used in Afghanistan are made from calcium ammonium nitrate, developed by fertilizer manufacturers as an alternative to pure ammonium nitrate that could not be detonated.
Smith explained that the substance is "reprocessed by gunnies and then used as a homemade explosive main charge."
Better cooperation with Pakistain, whose relations with the United States have been tense, is seen as essential to ending the flow of fertilizer into Afghanistan.
Except that Pakistan wants the fertilizer to flow, so better relations will change nothing until Pakistan gives up on the idea of owning Afghanistan... or at least the Pushtun bits.
"Unless we neutralize this network, through a whole-of-government approach, we will never defeat the IED threat confronting our troops in Afghanistan," Smith said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/08/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Is Afghanistan worth the life of ONE nineteen year old kid from West Virginia?
I'd say not, not the whole country.
We have to find a solution to this cancer.
DUBAI - Two former lawmakers from Bahrains opposition say they have been released from jail pending trial. mJawad Fairooz and Matar Matar said they were released on Sunday afternoon. They were arrested in May and were being held on anti-state charges.
Both are members of Wefaq, the kingdoms largest opposition party. They were members of parliament until they resigned with the rest of the Wefaq bloc in February following a crackdown on protests. The official Bahrain News Agency confirmed that the attorney general had ordered the release of the former lawmakers and a number of other detainees, but didnt identify them by name.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/08/2011 00:00 ||
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Snipped for length
For weeks, congressional leaders have grilled officials with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives about an operation in Arizona called "Fast and Furious." Now, some of those pointed questions are focusing on a gun trafficking investigation conducted by the ATF's Houston office.
"The ATF agents encouraged them to go through with the sales," said Houston attorney Dick DeGuerin, who represents Carter's Country, the largest independent gun retailer in our region.
DeGuerin said starting in 2006, Houston ATF agents asked Carter's Country for help by alerting agents when a suspicious gun buyer tried to purchase multiple weapons. DeGuerin referred to this effort as a "stall and call."
"Stall the purchaser, call the ATF, let an ATF agent come out and watch the sale so they could follow it," DeGuerin said.
"Did the ATF always show up?" asked Local 2 Investigator Robert Arnold.
"No, they didn't," DeGuerin said.
DeGuerin claimed there were at least six instances when agents did not show up when store employees alerted the ATF to a suspicious gun buyer. Yet, DeGuerin said the ATF still told employees to let the sales go through.
"So they went through with the sale, reported it and who knows what happened," said DeGuerin.
Officials with the ATF's Houston Office declined Local 2's request for an on-camera interview. However, during a face-to-face meeting with Arnold, an ATF spokesperson denied agreeing to such an arrangement, citing a lack of manpower to respond to every call about a suspicious gun buyer.
An ATF spokesperson also told Local 2 the Bureau has always asked for the cooperation of firearms dealers.
"They're one of our best sources of information on suspicious gun purchases," the spokesperson said. However, ATF officials conceded Carter's Country may have "misconstrued" the bureau's request for help in reporting suspicious sales as a request to allow suspicious sales to go through so the ATF could track the buyer later. ATF officials said they never asked anyone to perform a "stall and call."
"They did (the sales) because they were asked to do so by the ATF," DeGuerin argued.
The Houston operation led to the arrest and conviction of more than 20 so-called "straw buyers" purchasing weapons for the drug cartels.
DeGuerin said Carter's Country continued calling ATF agents with reports of suspicious gun buyers until 2010.
"They got notified they were under investigation, and that's what pulled the plug," said DeGuerin, referring to a federal grand jury investigation launched by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Houston.
DeGuerin said despite years of supplying tips to the ATF, Carter's Country employees were accused of "being in league with, in other words, conspiring with the straw purchasers and it simply wasn't true."
DeGuerin prepared a chart that responded to investigators' questions about 16 specific gun sales that took place during the ATF's Houston operation.
"On each and every one of them, we had the date and time and the manner in which the ATF had been notified," said DeGuerin, who allowed Local 2 to view the chart. DeGuerin declined to allow Local 2 to copy the chart, citing personal information of Carter's Country employees.
DeGuerin said at his insistence, the U.S. Attorney's Office and an ATF agent involved in the investigation met with him and Carter's Country's owners.
DeGuerin said during the meeting, he presented the chart of information regarding the 16 suspicious gun sales. DeGuerin said "pretty promptly" after that meeting he received a letter from the U.S. Attorney's Office stating the investigation into Carter's Country was being dropped.
DeGuerin said this was not the end of the questions. DeGuerin said he and Carter's Country owner, Bill Carter, traveled to Washington, D.C., at the request of congressional staffers and attorneys looking into the Fast and Furious operation.
DeGuerin said Carter recounted his relationship with the ATF during the Houston investigation. DeGuerin said he also gave attorneys for the "minority and majority" a copy of the same chart he shared with the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Elite troops of Navy Seals and its Seal Team 6 has lost 25 men. Urdu newspapers in Pakistan rejoice over the death of the commandos who killed Bin Laden
Around forty soldiers most of them belonging to the feared US Seal 6 team and the rest to another top Afghan commandos were killed while on a mission in central Afghanistan. America is in the mourning while some in its most important and most hated ally Pakistan are celebrating the loss.
I have been able to see two leading Pakistani newspapers since the morning and both have their top headlines about the Navy Seal loss. By the way one of the two papers belong to the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami Party and the other is a long and trusted partner for the US government in Pakistan MQM whose boss Altaf Hussain lives in the UK.
A banner headline in Daily Jang, that is very close to MQM said 20 of the sailors killed in Chinook crash took part in Usama killing. Another headline in a fundamentalist newspaper Jasarat also published from the Pakistani port city of Karachi said, 25 sailors who martyred Usama killed. A small headline in the same newspaper read, Afghan Mujahidin (holy Warrior) down a US helicopter.
The Navy Seals are among the most feared commandos not just in the US but anywhere in the world and they were praised for the US incursion and the killing of Usama Bin laden in Pakistani garrison city of Abotabad.
It is but natural for the fundamentalists in Pakistan and anywhere in the world to rejoice the loss of so many men belonging to an elite force that could have conducted similar operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan in the future.
Now the demand from common citizen in the US to pull out of Iraq will intensify even further. A reader says, This war is so out of control we should have been out years ago. After 10 years why are we losing more men now? Because we do not know how to effectively fight non uniform, non organized terrorists with our military effectively. Where are the Politicians with common sense to get us out of Afghanistan and stop fighting a never ending war! Make the Afghans fight for themselves!
Posted by: john frum ||
08/08/2011 07:03 ||
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#1
The Taliban has more support in Pakistan than Afghanistan shown again!
Posted by: Paul ||
08/08/2011 7:53 Comments ||
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#2
They wouldn't have even known about Seal Team 6 if Joe Biden hadn't flapped his stupid gums. That and the rest of the Obamanauts trying to make the "gutsy call" imagery for political gain. Assholes
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/08/2011 10:42 Comments ||
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#3
That and the rest of the Obamanauts trying to make the "gutsy call" imagery for political gain. Assholes
Or, which would be worse, to appease the Pak. Assholes indeed!
#4
Oh what the hell. Congress can vote them another $54 billion (BILLION) in aid, as they did last month. Maybe that will stop the rejoicing.
Interestingly, there has been a very sudden surge in Landing Zone/Pick-up Zone security awareness by the top leadership here with regard to INFIL/EXFIL procedures. Perhaps someone at the Center for Lessons Learned (CAL) at Fort Leavenweorth should dust off some SE Asia chapters.
#5
I wish to associate myself the gentleman's remarks in #2, but with more spittle and cursing. Next time, just shut up! Or even better, lie and said we did it with the full and complete cooperation of the Pak military. Wouldn't that make heads explode!
The Israel Air Force was closely following reports regarding the apparent downing of a United States Army helicopter over the weekend that killed 38 people, including 30 elite American troops.
The Chinook helicopter appears to have been shot down by a shoulder-launched missile, possibly a rocket propelled grenade. NATO has launched an investigation to try to determine the cause of the disaster, which constituted the largest loss of life suffered by foreign forces in a single incident in 10 years of war.
In recent years and in the face of a similar threats, the IAF has changed the way it flies over the Gaza Strip and southern Lebanon due to intelligence reports that both Hamas and Hezbollah have obtained a significant number of shoulder- to-air missiles.
...Last month, The Jerusalem Post revealed that the IAF is looking into the possibility of installing an active protection system aboard its helicopters that would intercept enemy missiles like a similar system recently proven in combat on IDF tanks.
The requirement for such a system was recently issued by the IAFs Helicopter Air Directorate in light of the success of the Trophy active protection system developed by Rafael which intercepted a rocket propelled grenade fired at a Merkava Mk 4 tank deployed along Israels border with the Gaza Strip in March.
The Trophy system, which weighs 800 kg., would not be applicable for helicopters since it fires off a cloud of countermeasures that could potentially damage the helicopters rotor. The Trophy consists of a radar which detects threats and activates one of two launchers, which discharges a cloud of hard-kill countermeasures to intercept the incoming threat.
#2
As of this AM, its still not clear at this time iff the SEALS Helo was shot down trying to land or take off, + also trying to do so in a "HOT/INSECURE LZ" = SUCCESSFULLY PENETRATED BY AN ARMED ENEMY.
It infers that the US Troops' ground position was in serious danger of being quickly overrun; or else a lapse in command judgement occurred in allowing the loaded Helo attempting to land or takeoff while the LZ was partially = wholly insecure.
* ION DRUDGEREPORT > [Yahoo News] US HELICOPTER CRASHED [shot down]IN [intentional] TALIBAN TRAP: AFGHAN OFFICIAL.
versus
* PEOPLE'S DAILY FORUM > TALIBAN SHOT THAT BROUGHT DOWN CHINOOK WAS "LUCKY": US CRASH OFFICIALS.
* SAME > IN AFGHANISTAN, MORE + MORE ROADSIDE BOMBS.
* NEWS KERALA > US COPTER CRASH: AFGHANS NOW GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR WILL BE PROLONGED.
ARTIC = TRIBAL ELDER told Christian Science Monitor [CSM]that shootdown of SEALS Chopper shows the Taliban are becoming more capable.
* SAME > FOUR PAK NATIONALS HELPED TALIBAN SHOOTDOWN US HELICOPTER:AFGHAN OFFICIAL.
ARTIC > AFGHAN GOVT-INTEL = believe that TALIBAN COMMANDER QARI TAHIR was the Mastermind behind the SEALS Chopper shootdownm, espec as REVENGE FOR OSAMA???
* SAME > [Police]MILITANTS SPREADING THEIR TENTACLES IN ISLAMABAD. New area settlements devol into HAVENS/BASES FOR TERRORISTS + CRIMINALS.
* SAME > MCCAIN: ISI HELPING OF HAQQANI'S, TALIBAN MAKING [US = US-NATO, Allied]WINNING OF WAR OF TERROR IMPOSSIBLE.
* PEOPLE'S DAILY FORUM > CHINA COULD FILL AFPAK VACUUM LEFT BY US [2014 US-NATO withdrawal].
The US Department of Defence is offering $42m (£25m) to fund research into monitoring social networks to track the formation, development and spread of ideas, and identify misinformation and attempts to foment unrest. The move by DARPA, the defence advanced research projects agency, comes in the wake of use of social networks by insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq and by home-grown threats such as Anonymous.
DARPA is also seeking to identify people involved in such activity, what their intentions are and the impact of online campaigns to shape opinions or gather support on an issue, according to a document presented at the offices of the military contractor System Planning Corporation.
DARPA did not respond to requests for comment from the NYT.
If Tom Friedman wrote the requests, they probably couldn't comprehend them.
#1
"home-grown threats such as Anonymous" Boy that guy gets around. I can see them going after the Tea party now. Oops! that's probably a hot button with this administration. Maybe that's why the old media behaves as it does. We will see. "what their intentions are" sounds like a visit or at least tag along. Muscle move on easy pickins.
#2
Unless they've changed or amended the laws, the 'Puzzle Place' is prohibited from domestic intel gathering. A little left over gift from the Vietnam era, that restrict the function to the FBI and other agencies. Though nothing prohibits DARPA from doing a tech eval for other agencies uses.
#3
would be useful to identify the flash mobs of "youts" who connect via FB or Twitter before they riot/steal/assault.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/08/2011 10:46 Comments ||
Top||
#4
I didn't think of that "flash mobs of "youts".
With so many "youts" unemployed and adults it would be a good tool. Well it should be available should the need arise.
[An Nahar] Jordan said on Sunday the bloody crackdown on the opposition in Syria is "worrisome," and called for dialogue and reforms to end the crisis in the neighboring country.
"What is happening in Syria now is worrisome, unfortunate and sad," Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh told the state-run Petra news agency in an interview.
"We hope that dialogue is restored and reforms are achieved in order to get Syria out of this impasse."
Judeh also said Jordan does not interfere in Syria's internal affairs.
"For Jordan, Syria's unity and security are a red line," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/08/2011 00:00 ||
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Syrian troops fired on mourners at a funeral and raided an eastern city, killing at least 50 people as Arab and international pressure against the intensifying government crackdown grew.
The king of Saudi Arabia harshly criticised the Syrian government and said he was recalling his ambassador in Damascus for consultations.
"What is happening in Syria is not acceptable for Saudi Arabia," King Abdullah said in a written statement on Monday.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
08/08/2011 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour stressed on Sunday Lebanon's rejection of all attempts to meddle in Syria's internal affairs.
He said after holding talks in Damascus with Syrian President Bashar 'Pencilneck' Assad: "Lebanon's stability is linked to Syria's stability."
"The two countries are not only bound together because they are neighbors, but they are bound by historic, cultural, and fraternal ties," he added.
For his part, Assad stated that Syria is steadily implementing reform. Furthermore, he said: "The state is obligated to protect the lives and security of its citizens against outlaws who are blocking roads, closing down cities, and terrorizing the people."
The meeting was attended by Syrian Foreign Minister Walid a-Muallem, Assad's advisor Buthaina Shaaban, Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul Karim Ali, and Lebanese Ambassador to Syria Michel Khoury.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/08/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Would our government, challenged with revolution, act much differently?
I just read an article about a portion of our armed forces being reallocated for "civil unrest".
I wonder how far our own military would go against us?
How many of our military are foreign nationals?
How many come from disaffected social ranks?
How well do the follow orders?
[An Nahar] Hizbullah on Sunday denied a French media report accusing the party of being involved in the killing of Syrian soldiers who had refused to shoot at anti-regime protesters.
"Wudn't us!"
Radio La Belle France has quoted a report that will allegedly be issued by a United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) committee as saying that Iran and Hizbullah were involved in the killing of Syrian soldiers who had refused to obey orders to shoot at demonstrators.
"Hizbullah had already released several statements denying the accusations launched by some Syrian dissidents and some other parties about Hizbullah's involvement in the events taking place in Syria, and its statements had always stressed its keenness on Syria and its leadership, people and institutions and its wishes on reaching solutions that meet the aspirations of all Syrians regarding reform and stability," the party said in a statement.
"Hizbullah's response to the claims circulated by these dissidents stems from its keenness on clarifying the picture and preventing the Arab and international public opinion from being misled by some individuals who are seeking to gain the support of the international conspiracy against the forces of resistance and defiance in the region in order to achieve their own, narrow-minded goals at the expense of the Syrian people's blood," the party added.
"These false, baseless accusations prove that some international organizations are part of the conspiracy against the forces opposing the Zionist-American scheme in the region," Hizbullah noted.
It also called on the United Nations and its institutions to "seek accuracy and credibility when issuing statements and reports to avoid playing the role of a party provoking strife and unrest instead of being a party dedicated to spreading security and peace in the world."
Radio La Belle France had quoted the UNHCR committee as saying that Syrian soldiers who had refused to shoot at protesters were killed after being jugged by Hizbullah members or Iran's Revolutionary Guards, "who are now present in Syria to help the regime repress protesters."
Iran and Hizbullah have repeatedly refused the accusations.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/08/2011 00:00 ||
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CAIRO - The Arab League on Sunday called on the Syrian authorities to immediately stop the violence that has rocked the country since mid-March, in the pan-Arab bodys first official statement on the unrest.
League Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi calls on the Syrian authorities to bring an end immediately to acts of violence and campaigns by the security forces against civilians, the statement said.
Okay then, the Arab League is on record!
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/08/2011 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.
The US Department of Defence is offering $42m (£25m) to fund research into monitoring social networks to track the formation, development and spread of ideas, and identify misinformation and attempts to foment unrest. The move by DARPA, the defence advanced research projects agency, comes in the wake of use of social networks by insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq and by home-grown threats such as Anonymous. 
[An Nahar] Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour stressed on Sunday Lebanon's rejection of all attempts to meddle in Syria's internal affairs.
Hizbullah on Sunday denied a French media report accusing the party of being involved in the killing of Syrian soldiers who had refused to shoot at anti-regime protesters.
