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| Afghanistan |
| With Sammy jugged, the focus shifts back to Binny |
| 2003-12-15 |
| The capture of Saddam Hussein could make it easier to catch the world’s other top fugitive — al-Qaida mastermind Osama bin Laden — and dampen support for the growing insurgency in Afghanistan, allied officials here said Sunday. Bin Laden is believed to be hiding in the mountainous no man’s land between Pakistan and Afghanistan, possibly feeding off the support of deeply conservative tribal villagers who share his hardline vision of Islam. That support, and the mountainous conditions, have helped him elude one of the largest dragnets in history. The one-eyed Taliban leader Mullah Omar is also on the lam, as is Hekmatyar, a former prime minister who has joined the battle against U.S. troops and the Afghan government. Saddam’s capture "is obviously good news for the people of Iraq who suffered for so long under Saddam’s tyrannical regime and it is a warning to all the other outlaws who are at large like bin Laden, Mullah Omar and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who hopefully sooner or later will be brought to justice," Omar Samad, a spokesman for the Afghan Foreign Ministry, said. Still, the minister in charge of internal security forces warned against comparing Iraq — where it took eight months to capture the ousted leader — with Afghanistan, where the top fugitives remain at large two years after the Taliban fell. "It’s totally different terrain, a different situation and a different social structure," Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali said of the reasons bin Laden has not yet been caught. "In the tribal areas, control is very weak." Still, he said, "I think eventually they will be caught. They will not wander forever." U.S. military spokesman Lt Col Bryan Hilferty insisted the arrest would be a help. "The fate of Saddam Hussein will increase the human intelligence the people here are already giving us as they help in the fight against the enemies of Afghanistan," he said from Bagram Air Base, U.S. military headquarters. Taliban rebels and their al-Qaida allies have been waging an ever-fiercer campaign against U.S. troops, the Afghan government and aid workers seeking to rebuild the country. A cascade of bloodshed in recent months has forced the United Nations to pull international staff out of huge swaths of the southeast. Security officials have said they saw signs that rebels in Afghanistan were feeding off tactics employed in Iraq, targeting U.N. workers and others seen as helping the United States. Talat Masood, a Pakistani military analyst who closely follows Afghanistan, said news of Saddam’s capture would echo loudly through al-Qaida and the Taliban’s mountain lairs. "There is a psychological synergy between the resistance in Iraq and Afghanistan, so if there is any setback in Iraq it will have a ripple effect in Afghanistan," he said. "Bin Laden and his group will be on the defensive and demoralization may set in." News of the capture rippled through the enormous Kabul tent housing a historic Afghan constitutional council, or loya jirga, with many of the 500 delegates expressing solidarity with the Iraqi people, and passing along congratulations to the United States. But on the streets of Kabul, there was a more ominous message from many ordinary Afghans. "It’s a black day," said Mohammed Sharif, a 20-year-old student from Kabul University. "Saddam was a great holy warrior in the Islamic world and a supporter of Islam." Even some of Afghanistan’s new Western-trained police said they were saddened to hear of the capture, despite the scenes of jubilant Iraqis celebrating Saddam’s downfall. "I don’t want any Muslim to be captured by infidels," said Zulfiqar Jalali, a 27-year-old officer standing outside a police station on a traffic-congested Kabul street. "Saddam is an Iraqi and has the right to live freely in his country." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #6 Afghanistan will not be free of these ambushes and murder until these NWFP areas are squeezed until they hurt. And that will not happen until Perv puts the squeeze on them. And that I do not see happening in the near future. It is too bad. Maybe his grip on power is just too tenuous to act. It is pretty disguisting. I do not like to treat things symptomatically, especially with the lives of our military personnel on the line. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-12-15 10:17:41 PM |
| #5 Heard an interesting bit of info passed by Arnaud Deborchgrave (sp?) on Fox last night. Guess he has some sat phone connections to Pakistan chieftans in the Afghan border regions. He said that he was told Mullah Omar is dejected and considering surrender to NATO forces - NOT US Forces, doesn't fancy a stay at Gitmo. |
| Posted by: Steve B 2003-12-15 10:55:15 AM |
| #4 "It’s a black day," said Mohammed Sharif, a 20-year-old student from Kabul University. "Saddam was a great holy warrior in the Islamic world and a supporter of Islam." Wait. I thought he was a devoted secular tyrant who had no connection to Islamic extremism. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2003-12-15 9:15:20 AM |
| #3 If Zulfiqar is a typical example of the Western trained "new police officer", then I don't hold out too much hope for the people of Afghanistan. "Saddam is an Iraqi and has the RIGHT to live freely..." What a f**king mind set. |
| Posted by: omvi 2003-12-15 8:40:22 AM |
| #2 We'll never get Binny. He's a smear on the wall of a caved-in bunker someplace. |
| Posted by: Chuck Simmins 2003-12-15 8:36:42 AM |
| #1 "I don’t want any Muslim to be captured by infidels," said Zulfiqar Jalali, a 27-year-old officer standing outside a police station on a traffic-congested Kabul street. "Saddam is an Iraqi and has the right to live freely in his country." I think we have found Kabul's village idiot, unless there is an inalienable right to feed fellow muslims into a plastic shreader. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2003-12-15 8:31:28 AM |