Abdul Jabbar Qahraman, former head of the military operation for Helmand, on Sunday warned the Afghan government and security institutions against underestimating the ongoing insurgency in the volatile province.
Looking skeptical about government's counter-insurgency policy, Qahraman blasted government over what he called a lack of commitment to end the Helmand turmoil and restore peace.
New reports from the warfront in Helmand illustrates that currently up to five districts in the area are under the complete control of the Taliban. This comes as the group's efforts to extend their operations continues to threaten a further seven districts.
"To be true, the enemy has increased its operations and they launched some coordinated attacks on some districts in Helmand; the enemy had a demonic plan to take control of the majority of districts in Helmand," a defense ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri said.
Currently insurgents control Musa Qala, Nawzad, Disho, Baghran and Nawmesh districts.
Government controls only two districts - Garmsir and Khanashin - while insurgents have also tightened their grip on seven other districts including Khanashin, Kajaki, Sangeen, Nad Ali, Washir, Greshk and Marjah.
"If the government - despite having a large number of forces and alongside the presence of foreign forces - cannot curb the war, this indicates government's weakness," said Qahraman.
The number of Afghan security forces currently deployed and serving in Helmand is estimated to be between 35,000 and 40,000 soldiers; however there are rumors that a number of these soldiers are 'ghost soldiers'.
"Opponents and the Taliban exist there, they have a well-equipped force," said Abdul Rahman Sarjang, former police chief of Helmand.
[Dhaka Tribune] Islamist bandidoshard boyz prefer to die than giving information to the police during interrogation because they are brainwashed by their recruiters and given assurance of a ticket to heaven through wrong explanation of Islam, the police chief has said.
"When we ask them anything, these myrmidons, mostly youths, simply reply ’kill me, I will go to heaven,’" Inspector General of Police AKM Shahidul Hoque said yesterday. Here's a simple test of the validity of their belief: cut a nose, two ears, a lip (top or bottom) and an arm or two off. See at which point 36 virgins appear to take them into their tender care.
Shahidul stressed the need for motivation of the youths through true explanation of the Qur’an and the Hadiths by Islamic scholars and imams so that they can realise their mistakes.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
08/08/2016 00:00 ||
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[Dhaka Tribune] New photos of the Gulshan attack showing Tahmid Hasib Khan holding a pistol and an apparently calm Hasnat Reza Karim having a conversation with an armed terrorist on the roof of Holey Artisan Bakery have deepened confusion about the role of the two "hostages" in the July 1 terror assault
The pictures show attacker Rohan Imtiaz, an AK-22 rifle dangling from his neck, talking to Hasnat and Tahmid. Rohan was killed during rescue operation Thunderbolt that took place early on the morning of July 2.
The Dhaka Tribune could not independently verify the source of the images that have been widely circulated in the media.
That the body language of the two "hostages" does not display the fear one would expect in such a situation has been described by some as problematic.
Oh dear. And we've been told by that editorializing prat that the word problematic is declasse. (I would put in all the proper French accents, but they upset the current iteration of Ramtburg's word processor.) Someone should inform Bangladesh.
Moreover, Rohan Imtiaz does not appear as menacing with the pair as witnesses have described him. Witnesses have said Rohan summarily executed a foreign victim brought out of hiding, besides participating in the carnage at the restaurant, before ordering the staff to prepare a meal.
By themselves, the photos present no hard evidence that links Hasnat or Tahmid directly to the attackers.
Police initially said Hasnat and Tahmid were among the 34 hostages who survived the terror attack on the upmarket eatery in the heart of Dhaka’s diplomatic zone. The attackers released them moments before commandos broke into the restaurant to end the 11-hour siege.
Quoting witnesses, the New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... on July 8 reported that Tahmid had been forced by the attackers to carry a gun.
It reported: "At one point, the attackers directed Mr [Tahmid Hasib] Khan to carry a gun and go with them to the roof of the restaurant, the hostages said. They said Mr Khan resisted, and to persuade him to hold the weapon the attackers fired it to show him its magazine was empty. Mr Khan broke down in tears at their insistence he take the gun, one of the hostages said, but reluctantly complied."
Another report by Guernica magazine, which also quoted a hostage, on August 5 said the gunnies forced Tahmid to hold an unloaded gun during the night and took him upstairs with Hasnat.
"The purpose appears to have been to use [Tahmid] Khan as a human shield in case the police tried to shoot the attackers,"
it stated.
On Wednesday, police said they had locked away Book 'im, Mahmoud! Hasnat and Tahmid for their "dubious roles" during the horrific attack.
The families of the two men have repeatedly claimed that Tahmid and Hasnat had not returned home since their detention after the rescue on July 2.
Hasnat, a former North South University teacher, is a UK citizen while Tahmid, a Canadian residence permit holder, studies at the University of Toronto.
A Dhaka court on August 4 placed the two on an eight-day interrogation by Sherlocks.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/08/2016 00:00 ||
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[Dhaka Tribune] Investigating officers dealing with the Gulshan and Sholakia terror attacks have primarily identified five businesspersons for financing a new JMB group in carrying out operations and are now trying to arrest them.
They have also kept under watch some people inside the country and abroad who had funded some krazed killer groups earlier.
The forces of Evil are also collecting money themselves by conducting robbery and mugging, the law enforcers say.
"The forces of Evil have created a network of financiers inside the country. They are also receiving funds from some expatriate Bangladeshis through hundi [an illegal channel]," a highly-placed source in a law enforcement agency told the Dhaka Tribune.
The official confirmed that they had got identities of the five businesspersons, but refused to disclose the names as they are now scrutinising the evidence.
Monirul Islam, chief of Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday that they had got some crucial information and evidence regarding the Holey Artisan Bakery attack, and the specific role of some persons behind it.
Around six months back, detectives came to know about a krazed killer receiving around Tk38 lakh from one of his relatives staying abroad through hundi. The krazed killer who was later tossed in the clink Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! by the police claimed that he had been asked to give it to another person.
In investigation, it was later found that the sender was a krazed killer financier, and for this, the law enforcers have kept the family members under surveillance.
An official working with krazed killer financing for a long period said that the local forces of Evil get huge sum of money from abroad, but it does not reach the attackers or the field-level members. Those members are taught to lead a life with low financial support and asked to spend money for buying arms.
Abdul Mannan, additional deputy commissioner of the CTTC unit, said that interrogating Rakibul Hasan alias Rigan, the lone survivor in Kallyanpur raid, they had learnt that the group’s "Big Brother" used to visit the flat to give them money for buying daily commodities and supply the arms and explosives.
DB police arrested RMG owners Rahat and Azmir from Mymensingh’s Trishal in 2014. Rahat had a factory at Kallyanpur and Azmir at Satarkul of Badda in Dhaka. Moreover, Rapid Action Battalion arrested a businessman named Enamul last year from Tongi for funding a Chittagong-based krazed killer group.
Although, these krazed killer financiers are now in jail, the Sherlocks have kept an eye on their associates and relatives.
The suspected criminal mastermind behind the Gulshan and Sholakia attacks, Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury, used to stay in Canada and might have developed a network of financiers abroad before coming to Bangladesh in 2013.
Sanowar Hossain, additional deputy commissioner of the CTTC unit, said that banned krazed killer outfit Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) had been trying to raise funds by themselves for the last two years by conducting criminal activities including robbery and mugging.
"We have found that the new JMB faction has collected funds by conducting robbery at a bank in Ashulia area, and snatching away Tk65 lakh in Narayanganj and Tk37 lakh in Gaibandha. They were also involved in several snatching incidents in Chittagong," Sanowar added.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/08/2016 00:00 ||
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[AlAhram] Home Office guidance stipulates high-profile or politically active Brotherhood members and supporters, including journalists, might be at risk of persecution and thus qualify for asylum
New guidance issued by the UK’s Home Office in August states that Moslem Brüderbund members can qualify for political asylum in the United Kingdom if they are considered to be under threat of "persecution" in Egypt.
The 22-page document, entitled "Country Information and Guidance Egypt: Moslem Brüderbund," read that asylum can be applied for over "a fear of persecution or serious harm by the state because of the person’s actual or perceived involvement with the Moslem Brüderbund."
The guidance states that high-profile or politically active Brotherhood members in Egypt "may be able to show that they are at risk of persecution, including of being held in detention, where they may be at risk of ill-treatment, trial also without due process and disproportionate punishment."
The document added that "high-profile supporters" or those deemed "MB supporters," including journalists, may also be similarly at risk of "persecution," stating that in such cases a grant of asylum would be appropriate.
However, if you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning... the Home Office said that low-key, inactive members who are not "generally targeted" and would be unable to show "a real risk or persecution" may not be granted asylum, concluding that each case will be reviewed on an individual basis.
In December 2013, Egypt's interim authorities designated the Brotherhood a terrorist organization and froze the assets of many of its members and all affiliated NGOs.
A court in 2014 banned all activities by the group, from which ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi hails, and ordered the confiscation of the group's assets via a state committee.
Assets of hundreds of Brotherhood members have since been confiscated by the state-led committee and alleged members have been prosecuted in mass trials over violence and terrorism-related charges.
The new UK Home Office guidance comes less than one year after a British government review concluded that membership or ties to the Brotherhood should be considered a possible indicator of extremism, but that the group should not be banned on UK soil.
Britannia’s then-Prime Minister David Cameron ... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ... said at the time that Britannia would continue to refuse visas to members and associates of the group who have expressed "extremist" views, as well as intensify scrutiny of the activities Moslem Brüderbund members, associates and affiliates.
Egypt welcomed the British 2015 report at the time, saying that it was clear that the international community should support Egypt in confronting terrorism and Death Eater ideology.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
08/08/2016 00:00 ||
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[Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News] German anti-terror police stormed a restaurant after a blood-soaked man barricaded himself inside - only to find him asleep in the basement.
Specially trained officers were called to the 'Dubrovnik' restaurant in the western German city of Saarbruecken amid reports an armed man was inside. But after entering the building, they found him asleep and unarmed before making an arrest.
Wiesbaden police also said the 43-year-old man, who was not identified, was a relative of the restaurant owner. He had initially entered the place, screamed at security staff and sent them outside.
Police said he was probably a nut suffering from psychological problems.
Drunk is another possibility. Such things have been known to happen.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/08/2016 00:00 ||
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[RUDAW.NET] Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... announced his plans and actions to clean The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... of all Gulenists ... the Turkish version of the Boogie Man, who set fire to the Turkish Reichsstag... and their influence, adding that if the people decide to change the country’s political system to a presidential one, he is willing to do so.
"The government will take the necessary steps to completely clean up the army of the Gulen terrorist group that attempted to carry out the coup. We want to build an army that protects its people not kills them, and we will take necessary procedures to clean the army properly," said Erdogan in an interview with Al Jazeera on Saturday.
He announced that the process of cleaning up the army will be completed by August 31.
And in addition to removing all Gulen elements from the army, they will be eradicated from the education system as well.
"We need to build a state starting from scratch. We have to do vertical and horizontal cleaning in the meantime. And we will change the curriculum and teachers at the military schools in the interest of Turkey, and the schools and colleges will be open for all Turks," the president said.
"We won’t allow any putschists in state institutions and we will not tolerate them," Erdogan added. "There is no difference between terrorism and a coup."
He hailed the unity and strength of the nation in the wake of the attempted coup, declaring that at a rally on Sunday afternoon, "[W]e will be one country, one nation, one flag and one state."
The rally on Sunday brings together leaders of three of the four main political parties. The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party has been excluded from the rally and meetings of the party leaders in which they have discussed constitutional reform.
Erdogan described the failed coup attempt as an earthquake and affirmed that his current job is to prevent any aftershocks. He commended the Turkish people who confronted the putschists on the streets, saying "The Turkish people are more powerful than a weapon and no one can conquer them."
He pointed out that Gulen’s ambitions go beyond Turkey’s borders, saying they want to expand their influence to countries in Africa but warned they should be treated as a terrorist group.
The Daily Mail has photos from the Sunday rally, reporting more than one million attended in Istanbul. The Turkish Anadolu news agency claimed as many as five million were there.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/08/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
It was like Ascot Opening Day, showing up is is important.
What's left of the press so dear is here,
But you won't find any queers to near.
Generals gleaming, Yippie steaming
Any second the Generals have to run,
Heart beats, Speed up,
I have never been so keyed up.
#2
I'll give Erdogan credit for confining his purges to the public sector - he has fired generals, policemen, teachers (including full professors all the way to kindergarden teachers), but he has apparently left the private sector alone.
Posted by: lord garth ||
08/08/2016 5:46 Comments ||
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#3
but he has apparently left the private sector alone.
The attacks on businesses and busimess owners and employees just aren't as much announced, lord garth. But Gulen-linked private schools were closed, and all the teachers lost their licences. Gulen-linked newspapers were confiscated, Gulen-linked businesses have been raided and people arrested -- accused of smuggling and organized crime, according to a report a few days ago -- and over $17.5 million seized. And on Thursday President Erdogan promised to cut off the revenues of Gulen-linked businesses because, he said, that is where the Gulenists are strongest.
#4
Long odds but Recip is in a race to the bottom with Maduro of Venezeula.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/08/2016 10:50 Comments ||
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#5
Yet another tinhorn steps up to the plate:
"We will once again make this nation great!
"These losses you are sensing,
"Will respond to a cleansing,
"As we build our pure Islamic State!"
[AA.TR] A former advertising executive of Zaman daily was remanded in jug Saturday as part of a probe into a controversial commercial allegedly hinting at an impending coup bid some nine months before the July 15 events played out.
Zaman daily is affiliated with the U.S.-based preacher, Fetullah Gulen, who is accused by the Turkish government of being the criminal mastermind of the defeated coup.
Two people, including the ex-advertising executive, Yakup Simsek, and owner of the advertisement agency that made the commercial, identified as T.M.S., were detained and presented before a court in Istanbul, according to a judicial source.
While the court remanded Simsek in jug, the agency owner was released under judicial control, the source said.
The source, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on talking to the media, said: "The advertisement in question was made on the orders of Zaman Editor-in-Chief Ekrem Dumanli...it was a message to the organization’s army wing."
The court also previously issued an arrest warrant for the runaway, Dumanli, who is also accused of "attempting by force to abolish the constitutional order of the Republic of The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... , replace it with another order or block its de facto implementation."
The controversial commercial, which is available on YouTube, begins with sirens wailing across an aerial shot of a city that then abruptly cuts to a giggling baby in the end.
On July 27, Istanbul prosecutors ordered the detention of 47 former Zaman staff. Following the court order, 21 suspects were held; 18 have been remanded in jug since then.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/08/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
commercial allegedly hinting at an impending coup bid some nine months before
Fast work, guys! Maybe the Gulenskis were not a 'credible threat' until July 15?
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/08/2016 13:10 Comments ||
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The US government has released a once-secret policy document once dubbed "the playbook" that shows how officials select drone targets in areas outside war zones and the key role the president has in the process.
The 18-page Presidential Policy Guidance (PPG), published Saturday by the American Civil Liberties Union, provides more details than the government had previously revealed on how drone strikes are approved.
"Actions, including lethal action against designated terrorist targets, shall be as discriminating and precise as reasonably possible," the PPG states.
President Barack Obama It’s very rare that I come to an event where I’m like the fifth- or sixth-most interesting person.... typically must personally sign off on plans to strike terror suspects who are located outside war zones in which America is officially fighting. Such zones include Pakistain, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.
Strikes in combat theaters such as Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan are controlled by the military.
Each case for action is subjected to legal review before it goes to the National Security Council and then the president.
The policy document says that "absent extraordinary circumstances," a drone strike on a high-value target will only be taken if there is "near certainty" no civilians will be killed, and says the United States should respect another nation's illusory sovereignty in weighing drone strikes.
The partially redacted document was released as a result of a lawsuit brought by the ACLU, which has long sparred with the government over America's secretive drone program.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/08/2016 00:00 ||
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I liked this part - sort of like getting nominated for Class President.
2.A Nomination Process
Any department or agency participating in the Deputies Committee review in Section 2.D may identify an individual for consideration, but only an operating agency or DOJ (“nominating agencies·· for purposes of Section 2 of this PPG) may formally request that a suspect be considered for capture or custody by U.S. personnel. Additionally, a department or agency that has captured a suspect, or that plans to capture or otherwise take custody of a suspect, shall, whenever practicable, propose a long-term disposition for such individual. Prior to requesting that an individual be considered for capture or custody by the United States, the nominating agency must confirm with its General Counsel that the operation can be conducted lawfully, but it is not necessary to have resolved the long-term disposition plan prior to proposing a capture operation.
I suppose that's before you seek agreement to whack 'em. It looks like the original .pdf was Top Secret, before it was redacted.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/08/2016 7:59 Comments ||
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Long piece at Voice of America. Just a few paragraphs here:
After years of undercover work, the U.S. is starting to pull back the veil on what appear to be loose-knit, perhaps deeply rooted networks of would-be terrorists who support each other even as many prepare to act alone.
Heightening the concern, these complex webs of connections and support seem to span several years and often cut across the ideological lines that delineate one terror group from another.
“Increasingly, the FBI’s had a lot of these,” according to a law enforcement official familiar with one of the more recent cases. “I think it is going on nationally.”
The official also said it was clear that “a lot of this predated ISIL,” using an acronym for the Islamic State terror group.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/08/2016 00:00 ||
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#2
The predilection for political correctness rampant through the government and the failure to recognize the linkages between Islam and terror does not help stem the terror networks.
#5
I heard about some 'jihadi weapons training camps' here in the states somewhere around 2006, so ~10 years ago. Supposedly training with RPGs, mortars, explosives and the like at some remote areas of the country.
I'm not in a national security service, so I haven't been monitoring them. Our industry group is concerned about 'infrastructure destabilization', so some of our folks do keep up on the readings.
Apparently no one in national/state authority cares too much, though. Maybe 'giving them space' or something.
Let the group be 'Christian' or 'Survivalist', with a couple old rifles (and maybe an icky handgun), and the Feds are all over them.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
08/08/2016 9:46 Comments ||
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#6
#4 Whatever happens, the perpetrators will no doubt be reported as having been 'under previous FBI monitoring.' Posted by Besoeker Ditto. Under previous monitoring...why no, they aren't not one of our CIs...unsure of their motivations...on the darker side - need time to mask the true motivation to keep the truth from us unwashed masses since we may incite some type of retaliation...
#7
Mullah Richard: Islambergs. There are about a dozen, and the org behind them is big into prison converts. They're also very secretive.
Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy...
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
08/08/2016 13:18 Comments ||
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#8
The US is at risk of winning or stalemating in its war agz Radical Islamism only to succumb to Secular-n-Progressive led domestic pressures to adopt Islamist insituions.
* IIRC FNC TOM SULLIVAN RADIO SHOW > Both Repub + Demcrat call-ins = claim that they feel they are being given no choice but either Socialism, or Vioent Anarchy in this POTUS election between Trump + Hillary.
* SAME > ANTI-TRUMP GOP Analysts-Pundits are warning a Trump Presidency would likely be a disaster, or at least problematic, as a matter of foreign policy.
> CHINA VS JAPAN = struggle for OWG Co-Superpower "US-style", "US-par" overseas Milbases espec for the Chinese PLA.
> IRAN VS KSA for nuclear, geopol dominance of Islamic World.
ESPEC AS PER CHINA VS JAPAN BECAUSE CHINA IS NOT GOING TO GIVE UP ON ITS PERCEIVED MANIFEST DESTINY TO DOMINATE IN EAST ASIA-WESTPAC.
lastly, I'm interpreting the above GOP Analysts' fears of a Trump Presidency as AFFIRMATION that the Years Jan-2017 thru 2025 will be troubled or dangerous for the US as per the US-led Anti-US OWG-NWO Globalist agenda, + that our National two-Party [GOP-Dem] Establishment knows it. DITTO AS PER A POTUS HILLARY ADMIN.
[Washington Examiner] Hillary Clinton recklessly discussed, in emails hosted on her private server, an Iranian nuclear scientist who was executed by Iran for treason, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said Sunday.
"I'm not going to comment on what he may or may not have done for the United States government, but in the emails that were on Hillary Clinton's private server, there were conversations among her senior advisors about this gentleman," he said on "Face the Nation." Cotton was speaking about Shahram Amiri, who gave information to the U.S. about Iran's nuclear program.
The senator said this lapse proves she is not capable of keeping the country safe.
"That goes to show just how reckless and careless her decision was to put that kind of highly classified information on a private server. And I think her judgment is not suited to keep this country safe," he said.
One would think Mr. Trump would mention this very fact in the first debate. He'd make the point, one way or another, that the email hack of Ms. Clinton's ill-advised and illegal server led to this man's death. Let the poodle press in charge of the debate try to shut that down.
#1
This fellow, Shahram Amiri seems to be something of a loose canon and probably would have been executed by Iran sooner or later even w/o the email.
Posted by: lord garth ||
08/08/2016 0:12 Comments ||
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#2
If released, technical information provided by Mr. Amiri could have potentially damaging effect on the Obama-Iran Deal. Extremely high profile Mr. Amiri's return to Iran essentially ended his usefulness as a future source. Sharing sensitive source information with the Hildebeest, her team, and homebrew server network may have enabled project termination.
[DAWN] Pakistain and Iran agreed on Saturday to forge close counterterrorism cooperation to deal with the bully boyIslamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (IS) group and other security threats.
This was agreed at the ninth round of bilateral political consultations held in Tehran. Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry led the Pak delegation, whereas the Iranian side was headed by the Deputy Foreign Minister for Asia and Pacific, Ebrahim Rahimpour.
This was the second senior-level engagement between the two countries in a fortnight. National Security Adviser retired Lt Gen Nasser Khan Janjua visited Iran for a meeting with his counterpart in the last week of July, during which both sides emphasised the importance of addressing security issues, particularly problems with border security.
"It was agreed that close cooperation was needed in countering extremism and terrorism, especially the threat" posed by organizations such as the IS, a statement issued by the Foreign Office after the political consultations said.
Both sides also discussed cooperation in trade and economy and agreed to enhance it.
"Regional situation as well as opportunities offered by enhanced connectivity for transit trade was also discussed," it said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/08/2016 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] As military forces continue a relentless campaign of oppression in India-held Kashmire, Pakistain expressed its desire to help the victims of state-aggression in the restive valley.
In a statement on Saturday, 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... called upon the international community to call on India to allow Pakistain to arrange for the medical treatment of Kashmiris who had been injured or maimed during the ongoing violence in the region.
PM Sharif said Pakistain wants to provide medical treatment to the injured, particularly those who had been hit by the deadly pellet guns being used by security forces in the area.
Are deadly pellet guns anything like a whiff of grapeshot?
The prime minister said Pakistain wanted to get the best possible medical facilities available anywhere in the world for the Kashmiri people, on an immediate basis.
The statement comes just days after a war of words erupted between the Indian home minister and his Pak counterpart over Kashmire, prompting the Indian minister to leave a Saarc summit in Islamabad halfway through.
"The magnitude of the humanitarian crisis in India-held Kashmire has compelled us to immediately pool our material and human resources for the victims’ [treatment]," the prime minister was quoted as saying.
"Even more gruesome is that healthcare providers in India-held Kashmire have not been allowed to treat victims properly. Indian security forces have also been targeting hospitals and ambulances providing healthcare to the peaceful and defenceless protesters," he noted.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/08/2016 00:00 ||
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Camps for displaced civilians in Iraq’s north are overflowing as Iraqi forces push toward ISIS-held city of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... , forcing thousands to flee.
Just southeast of Mosul, the Dibaga camp for Iraqis displaced from Nineveh province ISIS steadily expanding. In the camp’s center, crowds of angry young men swarm administrative offices demanding proper shelter or permission to leave the camp entirely. In one section separated from the rest of the camp, families call through chain link fences in search of loved ones partitioned by a lengthy interrogation process.
As many as 3,000 people have arrived here in just the last week, according to the camp’s administration. The more than 28,000 people living here are sheltering in a patchwork of tents, prefab containers, makeshift shelters and municipal buildings, or just sleeping out in the open.
As the first stages of the operation to retake Mosul from ISIS progresses, up to a million more people are expected to be forced from their homes by violence, according to the United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... and the International Committee of the Red Thingy. But local officials and aid groups are already struggling to cope with the current, much smaller-scale influx.
Poor planning and limited resources during the operation to push ISIS out of Fallujah this summer left tens of thousands of civilians stuck in the Anbar Province desert with no shelter and little food and water. As Iraq’s military slowly pushes up toward Mosul from the recently secured Qayyarah airbase west of the Tigris River, Iraqi commanders say they are trying to mitigate the humanitarian fallout by encouraging some families not to flee.
"The situation for the displaced inside the camps is terrible," said Iraqi army Col. Faris Bashir al-Dulaimy of the Nineveh operations command in Makhmour. "Our forces are having more people staying inside their houses as we advance," he said explaining that there isn’t sufficient infrastructure to accommodate repeated large influxes of people in need of aid.
Previous operations against the ISIS group entirely emptied cities and villages of civilians in an effort to remove them from harm’s way. But encouraging people to stay could expose civilians to is counter attacks that commonly follow the "liberation" of territory from the krazed killer group.
Abdullah Ahmed and his young family walked through the desert for two days to reach safety after fleeing the village of Qayyarah that was previously under ISIS control. Their youngest son almost died during the journey. Ibrahim, seven months old, fainted from dehydration and had to be revived by an Iraqi military medic.
Once at Dibaga camp, the family was only able to find flattened cardboard boxes to sleep on in an open courtyard beside the camp’s administrative offices.
"No matter the conditions we are happy to be here," Ahmed said. He described his family’s last days in their hometown as terrifying. As Iraqi forces closed in on Qayyarah, he said, ISIS fighters began carrying out mass executions in public view.
"If you went there right now you would still see the bodies filling all the main traffic circles," Ahmed said.
But others at the camp balked at the harsh conditions and strict screening process imposed by Iraq’s Kurdistan region that requires most men to be interrogated for a week or more and their identity cards to be seized in an effort to control individual movement. A group of young men yelled at armed guards and aid workers through a gate to one of the camp’s administrative buildings.
"This is like a slow death," one man yelled. Behind him the crowd kicked up clouds of fine dust into the oppressive midday heat.
"When we were liberated from ISIS we thought we would get our freedom, but now we’re just in prison," said Haytham Fatwi, 20 years old, referring to ISIS by its Arabic acronym.
Dressed in sweat pants, plastic sandals and a neon-bright T-shirt, Fatwi, like hundreds of other men and boys, says he’s been forced to sleep on the floor of a modest mosque in the center of the camp.
"If we knew it would be like this, we would have never fled," Fatwi said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/08/2016 00:00 ||
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[RUDAW.NET] The Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS) stronghold of Hawija, southwest of Kirkuk, ... a thick stew of Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds, and probably Antarcticans, all of them mutually hostile most of the time... is virtually a desolate city as thousands of residents have fled the town over the past week fearing an imminent offensive by US-led coalition forces to drive out holy warriors, according to refugees from the area.
At least 2000 local people from Hawija and surrounding towns of Riyadh and Rashad left their areas in the past week and sought refuge in Kirkuk where patrolling Peshmerga units received them after routine inspections.
"It's a daily thing now with people coming in various numbers," said Colonel Safar Besari of the 11th Peshmerga Brigade in Kirkuk.
"When they arrive the intelligence office questions them and after inspections they will be assisted to other locations in Kirkuk," he said.
With just over 400,000 inhabitants, predominantly Sunni Arabs, Hawija district has been at the center of insurgency since 2004.
When the Iraqi army withdrew from the area in June 2014, tribal fighters affiliated with ISIS took charge of the city.
Iraqi forces have pushed back the murderous Moslems in several areas near Hawija which is regarded a strategic city at the crossroads between Kirkuk and Nineveh provinces.
Hawija's northern borders are within the reach of Peshmerga fire power and the Iraqi army's southern offensive has nearly paralysed ISIS movements outside the city.
"We left our homes at 11 pm and took a huge risk," said Hamdan Khalaf a resident from Hawija who fled the city together with several other families on Friday night. "We arrived here at around 5 in the morning, the next day, it was a difficult trip for the children especially," Khalaf told Rudaw.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/08/2016 00:00 ||
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A Paleostinian representative of US based Christian charity World Vision denies Israeli allegations "No, no! Certainly not!"
that he funneled millions of dollars in aid money to the Islamist hard boy group Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,, his lawyer said on Sunday.
"The money must have moved itself," he added. "When Allah wills, all things are possible."
Mohammad El Halabi, World Vision’s manager of operations in the Gazoo Strip, was incarcerated Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! by Israel on June 15 while crossing into the enclave, which is under the de facto rule of Hamas, a group on the Israeli and US terrorism blacklists.
Briefing news hounds on Thursday, a senior Israeli security official said Halabi, who has run the group’s Gazoo operations since 2010, had been under surveillance.
The Israeli official said Halabi confessed to siphoning off some $7.2 million a year, about 60 percent of World Vision’s Gazoo funding, to pay Hamas fighters, buy arms, pay for other activities and build fortifications.
"Mohammad El Halabi denies all these accusations. He denied it all," Jerusalem-based lawyer Mohammad Mahmoud, who was assigned to represent El Halabi by the charity group, told Rooters by phone on Sunday.
Mahmoud said he met his client during a court session last week, and these were his first comments made publicly.
World Vision had already said it was "shocked" by Israel’s allegations, and while it had no reason to believe them to be true, it would review the evidence. Hamas has denied any connection to Halabi.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/08/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
I gave it to a guy who gave it to a guy and somehow it ended up in a Hamas account.
Posted by: lord garth ||
08/08/2016 11:39 Comments ||
Top||
[Iraq Sun] Australians fighting for the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... turban group in the Middle East face "almost certain" death as coalition forces in the area begin to take control of key battlegrounds, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull warned on Saturday.
Turnbull said Australians who were thinking of joining the IS in Iraq and Syria should strongly reconsider as any IS "myth of invincibility" would soon be destroyed, Xinhua news agency reported.
"The IS has not yet been defeated in Syria and Iraq but it is being rolled back. We have not just halted IS's momentum, it has been turned back," Turnbull said.
The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation has said that up to 110 Australians are fighting in the Middle East, while 40 have died since the conflict began in 2014.
Turnbull said information given to him indicates that the IS has lost "half of its territory" in Iraq since initiating fighting.
"In June, IS suffered its highest net territorial losses in over a year, including key ground near the Turkish border and the last city it controlled in Iraq's Anbar and Fallujah."
While Australian soldiers are not engaging in combat against the IS forces, Australian Defence Force personnel are training local soldiers and police near IS-held areas, while the nation's air force in conjunction with the US is conducting missions over the Middle East.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/08/2016 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.
[Dhaka Tribune] Islamist 
David Cameron
[RUDAW.NET] Turkish President 
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The US government has released a once-secret policy document once dubbed "the playbook" that shows how officials select drone targets in areas outside war zones and the key role the president has in the process.
[Washington Examiner] Hillary Clinton recklessly discussed, in emails hosted on her private server, an Iranian nuclear scientist who was executed by Iran for treason, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said Sunday.
If released, technical information provided by Mr. Amiri could have potentially damaging effect on the Obama-Iran Deal. Extremely high profile Mr. Amiri's return to Iran essentially ended his usefulness as a future source. Sharing sensitive source information with the Hildebeest, her team, and homebrew server network may have enabled project termination. 
[DAWN] As military forces continue a relentless campaign of oppression in India-held 
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Camps for displaced civilians in Iraq’s north are overflowing as Iraqi forces push toward ISIS-held city of 
