A number of Badakhshan provincial council members and civil society activists on Sunday raised concerns over the end of military operations in the province and said the move would give militants a chance to regroup and strengthen their positions.
They urged security forces to continue their operations against insurgents in the province.
"If we don't make use of this short opportunity, we will face a huge problem in the coming spring," said Jawed Mojadedi, a member of Badakhshan provincial council.
Saifuddin Sais, head of a civil society organization in the province, believes that postponing the operation will open routes for supplies to militants. "Wardooj district shares a border with Chitral area of Pakistan and it also shares a border with the volatile province of Nuristan. Once the snow has melted, the militants can receive equipment from these two areas," he said.
Meanwhile, a number of Jihadi leaders in the province said more areas will fall to the Taliban, if security forces fail to retake the areas controlled by the militants.
Nazir Mohammad Niazi, a commander of a public uprising group in Badakhshan, urged government not to stop military operations in the province.
However, security officials did not provide details about why the military operations were stopped.
"It does not mean that we are not allowed [to fight]. We are waiting. Once we pave the ground for ourselves, then were going to take action," said Sakhidad Haidari, security chief at the police headquarters.
Badakhshan police said that they will soon launch a large-scale offensive in the province to restrict militants' activities and retake areas controlled by the Taliban.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The former Afghanistan's Caped PresidentHamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... has raised questions regarding the bilateral security agreement between Kabul ...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either.... and Washington in the wake of cross-border incursions by Pakistain.
In a statement issued on the occasion of Nowruz, Afghanistan witnessed cross-border incursions by the Pak military during the last solar year as they boldly continue to their invasions on the Afghan soil.
Karzai further added that the Pak military helicopters violated the Afghan air space in estern parts of the country, criticizing the United States for remaining silent despite commitments to jointly respond to such invasions as per the bilateral security pact in place between the two nations.
He also called on the Taliban group to respond positively to the peace talks and cooperate in bring peace, stability and development in the country by joining grinding of the peace processor.
The remarks by Karzai comes as he refused to sign the bilateral security agreement between Kabul and Washington and remained firm on his demands before inking the agreement.
However, there's more than one way to stuff a chicken... the agreement was signed immediately after President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. .. succeeded Karzai as the newly-elected president of Afghanistan.
This comes as the Pak air force helicopters violated the Afghan air space by entering the Afghan soil and dropping several bombs in eastern Kunar province ... which is right down the road from Chitral. Kunar is Haqqani country..... of Afghanistan earlier this month.
The violation by the Pak air force followed two days after the Afghan and Pak forces exchanged fire along the Durand Line in Goshta district of eastern Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. province.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/21/2016 00:00 ||
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Two Al shabaab members who have been convicted of murdering a female Somali journalist have been sentenced to death by the military tribunal of Somalia on Sunday.
Liban Ali Yarow, the chief of Somali military court said evidence brought in support of the case showed that they had execution role of Hinda Hajji Mohamed, female journalist killed in car bomb on 3rd December, 2015. Hinda who worked for the state media has been killed in a bomb attached under the seat of her private car which exploded out Turkish embassy building in Mogadishu’s KM4 area.
Abdirisack Mohamed Barrow, 28, and Hassan Nur Ali Farah, 37, were sentenced to death penalty, after the court has found them guilty of all charges against them, according to Judge Yarow who announced the verdict. Four other co-conspirators have been sentenced to jail terms, two of them life in imprisonment by the Somali military tribunal for their role of the journalist murdering.
Early this month, the court has sentenced Hassan Hanafi, Al shabaab journalist to death for planning the deaths of five media workers who were killed in Mogadishu between 2007 and 2011.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/21/2016 00:00 ||
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The Æthiopian troops serving with the UN-mandated African Union mission in Somalia (AMISOM) have carried out land mine clearance operations in parts of the south western Bakool province.
The Æthiopian forces removed explosive ordnances from Garasweyn, some of them at the administrative headquarters of the village, according to the area chief Abdullahi Ali Weydow. Mr. Weydow said the explosive devices planted in the town’s HQ were aimed to kill the local administrative officials and SNA forces’ commanders by Al shabaab.
There was no independent sources confirming the report that IEDs were discovered at Garasweyn admin offices in Bakool region, where Al shabaab militants have major presence.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/21/2016 00:00 ||
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Aden- Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi convened with his advisors today to discuss files presented by the U.N. special envoy, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, regarding Yemen’s future.
Two days ago, before departing to Sana’a, U.N. special envoy Ahmed had conferred on the case files with President Hadi.
President Hadi confirmed that permanent peace is what will help Yemen avoid future conflicts, based on that, everyone must work on anchoring peace and stability.
Hadi advisor, Yassin Makawi, told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that most Houthi demands revolve around the halt of air raids. Their demands are in line with preparations for launching political negotiations. On the other hand, ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh requests nothing but a secure escape route from Yemen for himself.
Former President Saleh had worked hand in hand with Houthis for insurgency to takeover and tear Yemen apart.
U.N. special envoy Ahmed had returned to Sana’a yesterday. He is missioned to look into developments for a political settlement for Yemen.
Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper was informed by sources that setting a date and for future negotiations are atop the U.N. envoy’s agenda, in addition to tracking down progress on the Saudi-Yemeni border truce.
Advisor Makawi told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that the Yemeni government, despite the insurgents’ continuous incursions, is bent on reaching peace. However, at the same time the government does require trust building measures to be accomplished before heading for negotiations.
Trust building measures include freeing political captives held by Houthis.
Makawi also confirmed that Houthis have no other option than to abide to the implementation of the U.N. resolution 2216. Putting the resolution into effect is the main gateway to a true solution in Yemen.
Yemeni political sources assert that the U.N. envoy Ahmed has taken several proposals over to Houthis and Pro-Saleh supporters (armed militants supporting ousted President Saleh).
Among the proposals brought by Ahmed are insurgents attending a new round of negotiations by the end of March, and the talks being moved from Geneva to an Arab nation.
Based on that, Makawi predicted that Kuwait would be the country Yemeni deliberations are moved to. “Because they are aimed at restricting the issue to the region, and that Kuwait had played a positive role in settling previous disputes in Yemen,” he said.
“Ould Cheikh’s efforts are to convince insurgents with implementing U.N. resolution 2216 and then go to negotiations,” Makawi added.
If the U.N. envoy’s mission is a success, Makawi predicted negotiations taking place at the end of this month
[Ynet] Salah Abdeslam never left Brussels; family, friends and petty criminals helped him evade massive manhunt for 4 months.
After the Gay Paree attacks, security forces searched far and wide for prime suspect Salah Abdeslam, who vanished after returning to Brussels, believing 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.... could have spirited him away to The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/21/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Key take-away: It's not over. There are a LOT of them.
Google in 2012 sought to help insurgents overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad, according to State Department emails receiving fresh scrutiny this week.
Messages between former secretary of state Hillary Clinton's team and one of the company's executives detailed the plan for Google to get involved in the region.
"Please keep close hold, but my team is planning to launch a tool ... that will publicly track and map the defections in Syria and which parts of the government they are coming from," Jared Cohen, the head of what was then the company's "Google Ideas" division, wrote in a July 2012 email to several top Clinton officials. Thank goodness they would never think to use that "tool" domestically.
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 ||
03/21/2016 00:00 ||
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#6
It's just a sign of things to come.
I'm sure Jared and Hillary have had the same conversation about Trump.
Reminds me of the FBI files found on a table in the White House of all Hillary's GOP political enemies.
"The Obama administration -- which pledged to be the "most transparent in history" -- has turned the Freedom of Information Act into the Freedom to Get Nothing Act. The Associated Press reported on its own investigation of 100 government agencies in 2015:"
[DAWN] Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan ...Currently the Interior Minister of Pakistain. He is the senior leader of the Pak Moslem League (N) and a close aide to Nawaz Uncle Fester Sharif. He is noted for his vocal anti-American railing in the National Assembly. However (comma) Khan told the U.S. ambassador that he was in fact pro-American but he and the PML-N would have to be critical of US actions in order to remain publicly credible. Khan cited his wife and children's US citizenship as proof, which means he's lying to one side or the other and probably both. He wears a wig, but you probably guessed that. since hair doesn't grow naturally in that shape or texture... , while criticising those protesting the exclusion of former president Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... ’s name from the exit control list, said people who once gave guard of honour to the former military ruler are now staging a political drama.
In a statement issued on Sunday, Nisar took a jibe at Pakistain People’s Party -- accusing it of having double standards -- saying "during its five-year-rule the party maintained friendly ties with Musharraf, but now it is protesting over him travelling abroad".
The interior minister said the investigating committee in 2009 had pointed out towards Musharraf’s alleged involvement in Benazir Bhutto ... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in... ’s murder, however, the then PPP government didn’t bother to pursue any case against the former military ruler.
"Is this some kind of a joke or what, that the party which presented guard of honour to Musharraf is now staging a political drama," Nisar maintained.
"Musharraf’s name was excluded from ECL following the decision of the apex court," said Nisar.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/21/2016 00:00 ||
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[Rudaw] The United States Marine who was killed in an 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) rocket attack on Saturday was part of an American fire-base which had been set up near Makhmour.
The Marine was killed when ISIS fired two rockets from their positions 15km away, one of which hit the base and killed him. His fellow Marines immediately returned fire hitting the ISIS position with artillery fire.
The fire-base is home for a "couple of hundred" Marines who are living in tents on the front-line. There they have set up howitzer artillery guns which will defend Iraqi and Kurdish troops during the upcoming liberation of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... . Currently it serves as protection for the nearby base where Americans are training 5,000 Iraqi soldiers who are readying for the long anticipated operation.
This is according to CNN which has learned, through a US defense official, that the Marines moved into the area around a fortnight ago having previously been based on the USS Kearsarge amphibious assault ship.
The US coalition also announced on Sunday that in coordination with the Iraqi government they "assigned a detachment of US Marines from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit to the support of the Iraqi Security Forces and coalition ground operations. The detachment from the 26th MEU will add to the Marines and sailors currently in Iraq."
The Marines have nicknamed their front-line base "Fire Base Bell".
#3
. Currently it serves as protection for the nearby base where Americans are training 5,000 Iraqi soldiers who are readying for the long anticipated operation.
And who is responsible for protecting the Marine fire base? Have we not been here before? Have we learned nothing since 1968 ?
#4
Perhaps this is why the Army didn't get the job:
Forward observer
The 13F MOS was the only field artillery job that hadn't been opened to women.
Officials wanted to make a decision about the 13F MOS alongside the infantry and armor specialties because forward observers often are embedded with infantry and armor units.
#6
And who is responsible for protecting the Marine fire base?
Probably threw it to the locals.
Have we not been here before? Have we learned nothing since 1968 ?
Couple of small differences. The arty unit was likely detailed off the Kearsarge as a temporary measure. No doubt national leadership decided it was 'inconvenient' to provide a security force, especially since the Misguided Children tend to be a bit... proactive... when guarding their own.
(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – The leader within al-Hashd al-Shaabi Jabbar al-Mamouri said on Sunday, that ISIS has prohibited the spring celebrations in its strongholds, while vowed to punish anyone celebrating these feasts with 20 lashes.
Mamouri said in a press statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “ISIS prohibited spring festivals celebrations in its strongholds, and considered these celebrations as violations to its principles,” pointing out that, “ISIS threatened to punish the violators with 20 lashes.”
Mamouri added, “ISIS prohibited all forms of celebrations in its strongholds,” indicating that, “ISIS deployed the so-called Islamic police to monitor the implementation of the prohibition decrees.”
Posted by: badanov ||
03/21/2016 00:00 ||
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during the cabinet meeting on Sunday that efforts by Breaking the Silence activists to get former IDF soldiers to reveal classified military information "is insufferable, and is being dealt with by the relevant authorities." Democracy is not a suicide pact
#1
you know, if the Israelis were even 10% the monsters they are made out to be, these activists would be all mysteriously dead by various unpleasant means by now.
[An Nahar] Jordan said on Sunday it will set up security cameras around Jerusalem's flashpoint al-Aqsa mosque compound in the coming days to monitor any Israeli "violations."
In October, U.S. Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... endorsed a plan to install cameras at the site in a bid to calm repeated disturbances, after talks with Jordan's King Abdullah II and Paleostinian leader the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... . Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed.
But the Jordanian-run trust or "Waqf" that administers the site -- which houses the famed golden Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa mosque -- then complained that Israeli police had blocked them from installing the cameras.
A "control center" will be set up to monitor round-the-clock video surveillance of the compound, Jordan's Islamic Affairs Minister Hayel Daoud said.
The footage will be broadcast online to "document all Israeli violations and aggressions," he said in a statement, adding that no cameras would be installed inside mosques.
Clashes between Paleostinian youths and Israeli security forces erupted at the compound in September amid fears among Muslims that Israel was planning to change rules governing the site in annexed east Jerusalem.
The Israeli prime minister has said repeatedly there are no such plans.
The al-Aqsa festivities preceded a wave of violence that has killed 198 Paleostinians, 28 Israelis, two Americans, an Eritrea ...is run by the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), with about the amounts of democracy and justice you'd expect from a party with that name. National elections have been periodically scheduled and cancelled; none have ever been held in the country. The president, Isaias Afewerki, has been in office since independence in 1993 and will probably die there of old age... n and a Sudanese since October 1, according to an AFP count.
The mosque is the third-holiest site in Islam after the Grand Mosque in Mecca and the Prophet's Mosque in Medina.
It is also revered by Jews as the site of their First and Second Temples and is Judaism's holy site.
Under longstanding rules, Jews are allowed to visit, but not pray in, the compound.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/21/2016 00:00 ||
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Israel has warned against travel to Turkey as the bodies of three of its nationals killed in a suicide bombing in Istanbul on Saturday were airlifted home.
Israel’s counter-terrorism bureau urged its citizens to rule out any travel to Turkey after a suicide bombing tore through Istiklal Street, a shopping precinct in central Istanbul, leaving the three Israelis, an Iranian and the bomber dead and another 36 wounded.
The advice was upgraded from a level four warning of potential attacks to a level two warning of concrete attacks.
A statement from the prime minister’s office noted that there had been a rise in the threat level of attacks in Turkey in the past two months, with the number of suicide bombings carried out by the Kurdish PKK and Islamic State on the rise.
On Saturday night, an Israeli military rescue mission landed in Istanbul. On board were members of the air force, military and medical corps, together with an emergency room and operating theatre. Eleven of the 36 wounded were Israelis.
The families of Jonathan Shor, 40, Simha Damari, 60 and Avraham Goldman, 69, were flown to Istanbul to identify their bodies. In an emotional video in Istanbul, family members stood beside Israeli military personnel in salute as the caskets of the three Israelis killed in the blast were placed on board the Hercules on Sunday.
As the Hercules touched down at Ben Gurion airport on Sunday afternoon, Israeli military personnel lifted the three coffins, each draped in the Israeli star of David flag, from the aircraft.
Five other Israelis wounded in the same attack arrived back in Israel on Sunday afternoon. Another five wounded Israelis, including one woman in a critical condition, remained in hospitals in Istanbul where Israeli medical staff from Magen David Adom (the Israeli Red Cross) were to monitor their care.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/21/2016 00:00 ||
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] President Barack Obama If I had a son he'd look like Trayvon... said the benefits of the Iranian nuclear deal are "undeniable" although it may still take time for people to begin enjoying them.
Obama said the deal makes it possible for Iran to rejoin the global economy through increased trade and investment, creating jobs and opportunities for Iranians to sell their goods around the world.
The president added that the U.S. still has "profound differences" with Iran, but said the fact that the countries are talking regularly for the first time in decades could help solve them.
Obama addressed the Iranian people in his annual video message marking Nowruz, the Persian New Year. Citing his trip Sunday to Cuba, he said it's possible for old adversaries to start down a new path after decades of mistrust.
Gulf Arab states have previously said they required further assurances that the U.S. would help them counter increasing Iranian regional influence.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/21/2016 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.
Two Al shabaab members who have been convicted of murdering a female Somali journalist have been sentenced to death by the military tribunal of Somalia on Sunday.
It's that time again. 
Currently the Interior Minister of Pakistain. He is the senior leader of the Pak Moslem League (N) and a close aide to Nawaz 
Pervez 
. Currently it serves as protection for the nearby base where Americans are training 5,000 Iraqi soldiers who are readying for the long anticipated operation.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] President 
