[ToloNews] Afghan security officials on Saturday said that the Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... used their highest strength in the past week to takeover some strategic areas in at least six provinces of the country, but security forces repelled their offensives and foiled all their planning and military agendas.
General Yasin Zia, the Afghan Chief of Army Staff and Acting Minister of Defense, said that over 1,000 Taliban fighters have been killed and maimed in encounter with the Afghan cops during this period in Kandahar, Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... , Farah, Herat ...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns... and Baghlan provinces.
Zia however did not provide any detail about the casualties among the government forces.
[ToloNews] The United States has deployed a dozen additional warplanes to protect the withdrawal of American and coalition troops from Afghanistan as Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... mounts pressure on Afghan forces, Pentagon officials said Thursday.
Military Times quoted Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, as saying that F-18 attack planes have been added to a previously announced package of air and sea power, including the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier in the North Arabian Sea and six Air Force B-52 bombers based in Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... , that can be called upon as protection for withdrawing troops.
Also part of that previously announced package are several hundred Army Rangers, according to Military Times report.
"There continue to be sustained levels of violent mostly peaceful attacks" by the Taliban against Afghan cops, Milley said, speaking alongside Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at a Pentagon news conference.
He said there have been no attacks against US or coalition forces since they began pulling out of the country on about May 1, and he described the Afghan forces as "cohesive," even as speculation swirls around Kabul’s ability to hold off the Taliban in the months ahead.
"They’re fighting for their own country now, so it’s not a foregone conclusion, in my professional military estimate, that the Taliban automatically win and Kabul falls, or any of those kinds of dire predictions," Milley said. "That’s not a foregone conclusion. There’s a significant military capability in the Afghan government. We have to see how this plays out."
He said the Pentagon is considering options for continued support of Afghan government forces after the troop withdrawal is complete, including possibly training Afghan cops in another country.
That would be in addition to urging the Congress to authorize continued financial assistance to the Afghan forces, which has been in the range of $4 billion a year for many years, and possibly providing aircraft maintenance support remotely from another country, according to Military Times.
"We haven’t figured that out 100% yet," Milley said.
Milley said Afghanistan’s air force is central to the strategy for holding off the Taliban, but the durability of those planes is in some doubt.
This comes as Taliban violence has increased following the start of the withdrawal of US and coalition forces from Afghanistan. The Defense Ministry reported Saturday that 250 Taliban fighters were killed in festivities against the Afghan forces in nine provinces over the last 24 hours.
#1
"They’re fighting for their own country now, so it’s not a foregone conclusion, in my professional military estimate, that the Taliban automatically win and Kabul falls, or any of those kinds of dire predictions," Milley said. "That’s not a foregone conclusion. There’s a significant military capability in the Afghan government. We have to see how this plays out."
...There's yer problem right there.
THEY DON'T HAVE A COUNTRY. They have a series of connected, clan/tribal ruled regions with shifting loyalties to one another and where being a cousin counts for far, far more more than what hopeless political faction you may be associated with. On top of that, they certainly never cared about utterly imaginary and arbitrary lines on a map, drawn in a room somewhere they'd never even heard of, much less cared about.
The only thing - the only God-blessed thing that would have made a difference - would have been if we'd have gone full SPQR on the place for a couple years, and then left with a warning. It would have only held until this generation died off and the next one forgot the tales of what it was like the night the Americans came, but it would have been better than the waste of lives and treasure we got.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
05/09/2021 8:02 Comments ||
Top||
#2
The source of the problem lies in Pakistan. We never went after the source.
[Garowe] Hundreds of soldiers who had rebelled against the extension of President Mohammed Abdullahi Farmajo's term have started leaving Mogadishu, the Somali capital, hours after the opposition-held a series of meetings with Prime Minister Mohammed Hussein Roble.
A report done by a committee constituted by Roble, recommended the removal of the troops from the capital, adding that they should be "repatriated" to their bases. A duration of 48 hours was given, as the government pledged to "spare" those involved in the rebellion.
Just hours after Roble finished supervising the reopening of various streets, dozens of vehicles and trucks carrying the troops were sighted in the suburbs of Mogadishu, an indication that the agreement was welcomed by the troops.
A number of them who addressed the media said "we are on our way to our bases" but did not indicate their exact stations. However, some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them... a review done by Garowe Online indicates most of them left Lower Shabelle and Middle Shabelle bases for the capital.
The troops, most of who are allied to the opposition, protested against President Mohammed Abdullahi Farmajo's term extension, which has since been rescinded. They engaged in a fierce shootout with forces loyal to the incumbent president.
Armed with tankers and other sophisticated weapons, the soldiers had taken strategic positions within Mogadishu, leading to high tensions. They reportedly insisted that the current administration should pave way for free and fair elections.
Roble, who has now been given tasks of holding timely elections, was one of the leading crusaders of the demilitarization of Mogadishu, something which ought to have informed his decision to supervise unblocking of strategic entry points to the city.
"I commend all the efforts to demilitarize Mogadishu and see an amicable end to the conflict. This is a good step towards peace and stability. We must all work towards achieving this goal. This would bring us closer to our major goal of conducting peaceful, free, and fair elections," he had said.
Already, the African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... Commission has appointed former Ghanaian President John Mahama as the Special Envoy to Somalia. Mahama, who is believed to be a Democrat, has been asked to unite the opposition and government for the sake of timely elections.
[ENGLISH.AAWSAT] A bigwig at Libya's new Presidential Council denied on Saturday that groups who entered a hotel where the body meets had been armed or used force, playing down an incident that had appeared to illustrate the risks facing the unity government.
Earlier, the Council's spokeswoman had said gangs had stormed the Corinthia Hotel on Friday, though she also said nobody from the body had been in the building at the time.
"There was no kidnapping, gunfire, or an attack on me or the hotel," the head of the Presidential Council's office, Mohammed al-Mabrouk said in a social media video, adding that he had been in the hotel at the time of the incident.
Mabrouk said the head of the Presidential Council, which functions as Libya's head of state for now, would meet with the groups involved.
“Nyah, nyah, ya missed me! Now ya gotta kiss me!” he added.
The Presidential Council was chosen through a United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... -facilitated process that also selected a new Government of National Unity (GNU) that took office in March, replacing rival administrations in east and west.
Armed groups based in western Libya have voiced anger at the GNU Foreign Minister, Najla al-Manqoush.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2021 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Arab Spring
[ENGLISH.AAWSAT] Ottoman Turkish President His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First ...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important... has said that talks with Egypt would continue until the normalization of relations between the two countries.
In remarks on Friday, Erdogan said The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... was seeking to restore "unity of historical roots with the people of Egypt," emphasizing a new phase of relations.
Asked to comment about the recent talks which were hosted by Cairo at the level of deputy foreign ministers, the Ottoman Turkish president said: "We seek to restore this unity of historical roots with the people of Egypt and to maintain it again as brotherly friends and not as brothers-enemies."
He continued: "Seeing the Egyptian people compelled to side with the Greek people against Turkey is something that saddens Ankara."
Former Egyptian Deputy Foreign Minister for African Affairs, Ambassador Ali al-Hefni, said that the Ottoman Turkish president was hinging on the first round of talks between the two countries to build on them and open new horizons for further dialogue and consultations.
In comments to Asharq al-Awsat, Hefni stated that addressing Syria, Iraq and Libya during the first round of the talks that took place in Cairo is a "positive" matter.
He pointed to a change in Ottoman Turkish policy towards official relations with Egypt.
"Turkey’s tendency to change its policy towards Egypt and open a dialogue with Cairo is something that we must build on during the coming period to hold other rounds of dialogue and consultations and lay the foundations for sound relations in the next stage," he remarked.
Ottoman Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that two-days of talks with Egypt on Wednesday took place in a positive atmosphere, adding that discussions would continue on future steps to normalize relations.
"The cases of Libya, Syria, Iraq and the eastern Mediterranean are important to all of us... and Egypt will also benefit from the cooperation that we achieve in this regard," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2021 00:00 ||
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[7 views]
Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
— Asharq Al-Awsat English (@aawsat_eng) May 8, 2021
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2021 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran Proxies
#1
Quote: The militias are taking advantage of..., the collapse of ISIS’..., “caliphate” to begin building security, social, political and economic structures to dominate the area, the US Newlines Institute report said. “The militias’ infiltration into police and security forces has allowed them to control Iraqi citizens’ movements, trade, occupation and other aspects of their private life,” Some factions threaten journalists, block roads to important commercial areas to hamper business and even take scores of residents from villages to unknown locations. Militants also use threats and acts of violence to get their preferred academics put in charge of some of the more important colleges in provinces where the militias are flourishing.
[JPost] "Can you hear me now? Look up"
Israel gave the US access to multiple cellphone numbers for former top Iranian official Qasem Soleimani to help enable his assassination in January 2020, Yahoo News reported on Saturday night. Soleimani was the former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ elite Quds Force chief.
He was. Now he is merely the memory of a red mist.
The Jerusalem Post has previously reported that Israel’s role in the assassination was far greater than had been revealed.
For example, according to foreign reports, Israel was instrumental in keeping the idea of removing Soleimani from the playing board despite resistance by some of the US defense establishment as well as tactical assistance. Internal US debates are described in the Yahoo article.
Soleimani’s vehicle and a second accompanying vehicle were destroyed by US drones after he flew into Iraq from Damascus.
According to Yahoo News, "in the six hours before Soleimani boarded his flight from Damascus, the Iranian general switched cellphones three times, according to a US military official."
"In Tel Aviv, US Joint Special Operations Command liaisons worked with their Israeli counterparts to help track Soleimani’s cellphone patterns. The Israelis, who had access to Soleimani’s numbers, passed them off to the Americans, who traced Soleimani and his current phone to Baghdad," said the report.
In addition, at an earlier date, "Israeli intelligence at one point tipped off the CIA about a courier for Soleimani who would travel outside Iran to pick up clean phones for the Quds Force leader and his inner circle, recalled a former intelligence official.
Mossad sees you when you’re sleeping. They know when you’re awake. They know if you’ve been bad or good...
The CIA got wind that the courier would visit a specific market in a Gulf country to procure these devices, and sprang into action. The agency executed a complex supply chain compromise, installing spyware on a set of phones that were seeded into the marketplace used by Soleimani’s courier," said the report.
Just like in the movies. I’m impressed.
Further, "The gambit worked, said the former official, and the courier purchased at least one bugged phone that was then used by someone who was often in the same room as Soleimani. But because Soleimani and other Iranian leadership would often rotate their devices, and employ other measures to avoid being surveilled, successes of this sort were fleeting, said former officials," stated Yahoo.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/09/2021 00:00 ||
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[6 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Mossad sees you when you’re sleeping. They know when you’re awake. They know if you’ve been bad or good...
#2
Sometimes they tell us things about our west coast before we know them. It came in through the usual channel that there was a money laundering op based in Gujarat serving some moslem interests that were linked to Iran. When the requisite agencies tried to follow it up they were met with a wall of pol traitors, lawyers and accountants. When Tel Aviv saw no news of sneaky Iranians caught running a racket in India for weeks, a briefcase full of files was sent anonymously to the Liaison guy. It contained all the evidence needed to prosecute some shell cos, chartered accountant firms and dirt needed to bury two revenue service officials.
Unfortunately, the government still did not do much and instead began to beat about the diplomatic bush with Iran [showing our Israeli friends we just didn't deserve this kind of help]. But how they must have got hard copies of the firms' ledgers, account numbers, transactions, the dirt on the officials etc is still talked about in some circles.
#4
Israel gave the US access to multiple cellphone numbers for former top Iranian official Qasem Soleimani to help enable his assassination in January 2020
So much bullshi*. Signals and vehicular tracking of High Profile Targets (HPT) in Iraq at that time required no external assistance. If you have a bank or lending institution, you can take it there.
#6
But how they must have got hard copies of the firms' ledgers, account numbers, transactions, the dirt on the officials etc is still talked about in some circles.
Remember when Israel literally emptied the Tehran warehouse containing the records of Iran’s nuclear bomb program, getting clean away before Iran noticed they were there? They were so slick that one might suspect they’d done such things before...
[ENGLISH.AAWSAT] A former official of Iran's Revolutionary Guards who has thrown his hat into the ring for Iran's June 18 presidential election pledged Saturday to initiate change and build a "powerful" government.
Saeed Mohammad, 53, headed the Guards' construction and engineering arm for over two years before announcing his resignation in early March to run in the poll.
Registration at the interior ministry to contest the poll runs from Tuesday to Saturday, with names to be handed to the conservative-dominated Guardian Council for vetting before being allowed to run.
"I decided to run since... the supreme leader (Ali Khamenei ...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini... ) has asked for change and a transformation in the managerial generation," Mohammad told a news conference in Tehran.
Mohammad, who holds the rank of second brigadier general, stressed his campaign was "not associated with any movement, party or faction".
"I am strongly against polarization... the talk of the left and the right, reformist and conservative," he added.
The presidential hopeful now serves as an advisor to Guards commander Major General Hossein Salami.
Mohammad brushed off a question on whether Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... needs a military president, calling on the media to focus on his "capabilities, achievements and track record".
"The people are tired. Not of the (system), but of mismanagement, empty words, inaction," he said. "We need order, a powerful government".
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2021 00:00 ||
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[14 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
"...My slogan: 'A Death to America in every pot!' "
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
05/09/2021 8:08 Comments ||
Top||
#2
^ So, he's a Democrat?
Posted by: Matt ||
05/09/2021 11:45 Comments ||
Top||
[ENGLISH.AAWSAT] It is difficult to find a country other than Leb ...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... whose leaders are subjected to the insults directed at them by the French government, while they continue to open their doors and arms to every official coming from Gay Paree to visit them.
They hope France will give them money and fix their problems. France won’t do either, because fixing Lebanon’s problems would first require emasculating Hezbollah. Also, France doesn’t seem to have money to spare these days, just like everyone else.
In other countries, where officials respect the dignity of their country and their citizens, the answer is supposed to be to such insults: This is our country and you are not allowed to interfere in our affairs.
#3
A 'snark' denotes humor, irony, or possibly both. Here there is no humor. What Unolulet Flavising has aptly described is the tragic collapse of civilization.
#5
...The Leb politicians grew up when there was a saying there - "Truly France is our benevolent mother."
Things change.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
05/09/2021 7:34 Comments ||
Top||
#6
"..The problem is that the Lebanese are dispersed between different religious affiliations and sects ... and they have no time to save their country!"
No. The problem is that one of the sects is Hezbollah.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
05/09/2021 8:47 Comments ||
Top||
#7
ithas lost any right to continue representing its people after the crimes it had managed to "accomplish" in every field: financial, social and political.
They could be talking about America's political class. Consider the mendacity incompetence corruption and rank criminality of
.. the Bidens
.. Cuomo
.. Hillary
.. Comey, Brennan, McCabe, Strzok
.. Schiff and Pelosi
.. the "Squad"
.. Newsom, Whitmer, Lightfoot, the Soros DAs
Poster #1 above is right. We need to be rescued from our own bastards who are destroying this country
..
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 Pashtun equivalent of men...
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
[Garowe] Hundreds of soldiers who had rebelled against the extension of President Mohammed Abdullahi Farmajo's term have started leaving Mogadishu, the Somali capital, hours after the opposition-held a series of meetings with Prime Minister Mohammed Hussein Roble.
...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important...
[JPost] 
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for 
...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
A 'snark' denotes humor, irony, or possibly both. Here there is no humor. What Unolulet Flavising has aptly described is the tragic collapse of civilization. 
