[ToloNews] One of the top 15 prisoners whose release was demanded by the Taliban ...Arabic for students... , named Lailuddin, was identified by a senior government official as part of a network responsible for major attacks in Kabul, including the German embassy bombing, the American University of Afghanistan (AUAF) attack, attack of former MP Mir Wali and the bombing of the funeral ceremony of Izadyar’s son.
Lailuddin, son of Gulbuddin, is originally from Musahi district of Kabul province and was arrested in Kabul city, according to the source.
Documents seen by TOLOnews show that Lailuddin was trained in Quetta, Pakistain for two-and-a-half months before deploying to Pashtun-infested Logar and then Kabul.
Each of the attacks left scores of civilians dead and maimed, at a time when Kabul was witnessing almost one attack every day.
The release of the Taliban prisoners is part of the US-Taliban deal signed in Doha late in February. The Afghan government has so far agreed to release 1,500 Taliban prisoners, instead of the 5,000 prisoners mentioned in the agreement.
The prisoner release has posed a major obstacle to the already fraught grinding of the peace processor.
The National Security Advisor Hamdullah Mohib on Tuesday said five of the 15 prisoners that the Taliban insisted should be freed were involved in major "terrorist attacks," and, based on the country’s laws, Mohib said, the government does not have the authority to release them.
The five prisoners were identified after investigations by the Attorney General’s Office and the National Directorate of Security ...the Afghan national intel agency... , Mohib added.
A former Taliban commander, Sayed Akbar Agha, said the Taliban believes that the government is "making excuses" by not agreeing to release the five prisoners.
"The Taliban does not believe that the problem is only the release of the five individuals; they say that the government is making excuses," he added.
Sources close to the Taliban say that the increase in violence around the country is related to the delays in the prisoner release.
"The delay in the prisoner release has intensified the conflicts and has delayed the intra-Afghan negotiations," said Khalil Safi, former head of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, an international crisis group.
The government has so far released 361 Taliban prisoners, but the Taliban has said they are "unidentified."
The Taliban has also released 60 prisoners, but the government says only 19 of them are members of the security forces, and the rest are civilians.
[Sudan Tribune] A Juba 4-star hotel has requested the National Pre-Transitional Committee (NPTC) tasked with the oversight of the pre-transitional period to evacuate its 38 rooms as the government failed to pay their accommodation bill for one year.
In a letter sent to the NPTC head Tut Gatluak Manime who is also a close aide to President Salva Kiir on 21 April, the Palm Africa Hotel management said the government did not honour the nearly $2 million bill of the 38 Committee’s guests despite their repeated demands.
"The outstanding hotel accommodation bill of 38 NPTC members for 12 months now amounts to USD 1,999,580 (one million nine hundred ninety-nine thousand five hundred eighty USD), covering the period till April 21, 2020," said the letter, seen by Sudan Tribune.
The hotel’s management pointed out they are no longer in a position to sustain the 38 NPTC guests due to low business volume and the poor condition of rooms.
"Therefore, we request the 32 guests reallocated to another destination by the 30th April 2020. We can only be able to accommodate 6 (Six) rooms only due to their critical duties to the government".
Another hotel in Juba, Crown Hotel, had a similar experience with the NPTC last year.
In a June 29, 2019 notice to the government, Crown Hotel management threatened to close the rooms of the NPTC delegates if bills were not paid.
South Sudanese government had to extend the pre-transitional period for nearly a year because it failed to ensure the needed money to implement the security arrangements and to resolve the number of states issue.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/22/2020 00:00 ||
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[Libya Observer] A group of civil activists has filed a lawsuit against the Mayor of al-Shwerif Municipality, Hussein Ali al-Qadaffy, for his alleged involvement in cutting off water supplies to the city of Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... and other cities of the western region.
In the lawsuit, the activists said "This act is a crime against humanity".
The representative of the group, Muhammad Obaid, who handed the lawsuit to the Public Prosecutor's Office, said the lawsuit was filed by 20 citizens and was submitted on Sunday.
According to Obaid, the Public Prosecutor has issued an arrest warrant against Hussein al-Qadaffy, confirming that it had been circulated to all state outlets.
The activists insisted that their move comes to emphasize the right to prosecute the perpetrators of such crimes and to send a message that they cannot evade justice.
On April 6, an gang from the Shwerif Municipality -reported to be loyal to Haftar- deliberately cut off water supplies to more than two million people in Tripoli, in addition to other surrounding areas. Mayor Hussein al-Qadaffy is said to be the leader of the group.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/22/2020 00:00 ||
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[DailyBeast] Former President Bill Clinton has talked openly about how he could have killed Osama bin Laden;but passed.
"I nearly got him. And I could have killed him, but I would have to destroy a little town called Kandahar in Afghanistan and kill 300 innocent women and children, and then I would have been no better than him. And so I just didn't do it," Clinton confessed to an Australian audience just 10 hours before two planes struck the World Trade Center.
But in The Longest War, a new documentary from director Greg Barker (Manhunt) and executive producer Alex Gansa (Homeland), former CIA agents reveal that they had another opportunity to take out Osama bin Laden with little collateral damage.
Look at the view counts. YouTumor is shadow banning the video
"The CIA had a so-called ’lethal finding’ [bill] that had been signed by President Clinton that said that we could engage in ’lethal activity’ against bin Laden, but the purpose of our attack against bin Laden couldn’t be to kill him," Grenier explains in the film. "We were being asked to remove this threat to the United States essentially with one hand tied behind our backs."
According to director Greg Barker, "It’s hard to believe now, but back in the late ’90s, most of the Washington national security establishment;including President Clinton, the State Department, the Department of Defense; simply did not view Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda as a serious threat. The handful of U.S. officials who saw the looming threat clearly;and there were some, mostly mid-level officers at the CIA's bin Laden unit and the counter-terrorism branch at the FBI tried in vain to raise alarm bells at the highest levels, but were often ignored and even ridiculed."
#1
The Longest War. Not Even Close to being the longest. Say (for the sake of argument) it is. What does that have to do with it? Is this a war that has to be fought? That is the question.
Posted by: Sonny Black ||
04/22/2020 7:55 Comments ||
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#2
People forget that Sudan offered Bin Laden on a silver platter in 1995. But the offer was refused (by Rice and Clinton).
[IsraelTimes] Washington offers $10 million reward for information on Muhammad Kawtharani, whom it charges has taken over part of the role of assassinated Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani .
Months after the United States killed a top Iranian general in Baghdad, it has offered millions for any details on the mysterious man filling his boots — Hezbollah power broker Muhammad Kawtharani.
[USNews.com] A new Department of Defense (DOD) report revealed that U.S. troops stationed in Iraq held their posts at Al Assad and Erbil air bases earlier this year, despite being warned of an impending Iranian missile attack.
The U.S. Air Force Central Command (AFCENT) compiled a 36-page dossier of firsthand accounts from around 80 airmen who stayed behind on the night of Jan. 8.
An intelligence warning gave base leaders only several hours to prepare. Both bases were hit with 12 ballistic missiles that night, but no members of the military were killed, according to the report.
Lt. Col. Staci Coleman, commander of Al Assad airbase, said she told her flight commanders to select who would stay behind, based on ability.
"My flight commanders were responsible for compiling the lists of personnel, and I explained it needed to be divided by combat capability and then by those they believed were emotionally equipped to endure remaining behind for a possible missile attack," she said.
MSgt. Anthony Chacin, superintendent at Erbil airbase, said he ordered all of his "personnel out of their rooms and into their defensive fighting positions."
"The Base Defense Operations Command confirmed rockets were impacting the base," he added. "This was not a drill. For the next four hours, most of my airmen maintained their positions. ... We may be under attack, but we still had a responsibility to maintain operations on the airfield. I couldn’t be prouder of my team that night."
Many of the troops expressed fear at the surprise attack and said they were forced to come to grips with their own mortality.
"I wasn’t ready to die," MSgt. Janet Liliu from Al Assad airbase said. "But I tried to prepare myself with every announcement of an incoming missile. I had to. We all had to."
More than 100 service members were later diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injuries due to the attack, which was said to be revenge for the U.S. drone strike that killed Maj. Gen. Quasem Soleimani.
#6
1) The U.S. Air Force Central Command (AFCENT) compiled a men36-page dossier of firsthand accounts from around 80 air who stayed behind on the night of Jan. 8.
They were told to provide first hand accounts which most always includes personal feelings. We don't send mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters out to die hoping for grief and a lifetime of loss for their families.
But lazy, fat assed, elderly keyboard colonels who have nothing to loose.
The base commander came out of an attack of a dozen ballistic Iranian missiles raining down on her position with no KIA, much to the disgust of leftist dead beats here who clearly hate our young people in uniform.
#7
Maybe we aren't Zoomies, Farts.
Maybe you came into this as an agitator with a hard-on.
Maybe USNews pitched the softside for it's readership. We won't know until it's out.
For certain, in some experience, this is not how senior enlisted act under fire, nor Base Commanders.
Maybe a project manager running an airport would ask for a grooming list. A battlefield commander has and has exercised action plans which are explicit in roles, duty stations and timing.
No KIA, GREAT!
Bet they closed the field because everybody had concussion headaches and dirty shorts.
The #Iraqi Council of Representatives will delay a vote of confidence in PM-designate Mustafa al-Kadhmi's cabinet due to political disputes among the parties, a lawmaker revealed #BaghdadPosthttps://t.co/H8GXZJul2L
Image: New propaganda distributed by hardline Iraqi Shiite militia Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba emblazoned with the photo of slain Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force chief Qasem Soleimani: "We will crush the USA under our feet." pic.twitter.com/LK9DQlyMFi
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.
...Arabic for 
[USNews.com] A new Department of Defense (DOD) report revealed that U.S. troops stationed in Iraq held their posts at Al Assad and Erbil air bases earlier this year, despite being warned of an impending Iranian missile attack.
