South Capitol Street

Knowing that “War is deceit,” and knowing the Taliban’s track record, suspicion of such an alleged U-turn in policy is only proper. But how about the poison gas attacks, the disfiguring acid attacks, and years of threats? Any second thoughts there?

No, no apology will be forthcoming, of course. In fact, if the Taliban does not deny the education minister’s claim, this gesture may yet be something to revoke in response to a grievance or alleged provocation to be named later. “Afghan Taliban ‘end’ opposition to educating girls,” from BBC News, January 14:

The Taliban are ready to drop their ban on schooling girls in Afghanistan, the country’s education minister has said.

Farooq Wardak told the UK’s Times Educational Supplement a “cultural change” meant the Taliban were “no more opposing girls’ education”.

Except on days ending with the letter “y?”

The Taliban – who are fighting the Kabul government – have made no public comment on the issue.

Afghan women were not allowed to work or get an education under the Taliban regime overthrown in 2001.

Making deals

Mr Wardak made his comments during the Education World Forum in London.

He told the TES: “What I am hearing at the very upper policy level of the Taliban is that they are no more opposing education and also girls’ education.

“I hope, Inshallah (God willing), soon there will be a peaceful negotiation, a meaningful negotiation with our own opposition and that will not compromise at all the basic human rights and basic principles which have been guiding us to provide quality and balanced education to our people,” the minister added….

Jihad Watch

Asia

• Chinese President Hu Jintao confirmed to U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates that China has completed the first test flight of its new stealth fighter.
• U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that North Korea could develop a small number of intercontinental ballistic missiles that could reach U.S. shores in five years.
• Australian officials urged citizens to leave parts of Brisbane, Australia’s third largest city, because of flooding.

Middle East

• EU envoys in the Middle East are urging the European Union to treat East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.
• Kuwaiti coast guard and Iraqi fishermen clashed near the two countries’ maritime border.
• Tunisia closed all schools and universities indefinitely amidst continuing civil unrest.

Europe

• Pope Benedict XVI appealed yesterday for the repeal of Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws.
• Lawyers for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said that he is determined to fight his extradition to Sweden in a hearing next month.
• Spanish Prime Minister José Zapatero rejected the Basque separatist group ETA’s call for a cease-fire.

Africa

• Ten south Sudanese civilians were killed near the north-south border while returning home from voting in the region’s referendum for independence.
• An official loyal to Alassane Ouattara, who international monitors recognized as the winner of Ivory Coast’s recent presidential election, suggested the possibility of a unity government.
• A Nigerian court ruled that incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan could run for the ruling party’s presidential nomination.

Americas

• The Organization of American States will recommend that the governing party’s candidate be excluded from the runoff vote in Haiti’s presidential election.
• Three former associates of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg who have accused him of stealing their idea for the social networking site are trying to get out of the settlement deal they signed.
• The death toll from an explosion at a crude oil plant in central Mexico rose to 30.

Brendan Smialowski/Getty Image

FP Passport

Coalition and Afghan special operations teams killed two leaders of the Taliban and Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) and detained another during separate raids in the northern Afghan province of Kunduz.

The two commanders who were killed were identified as Maulawi Zahir and Zabit Murchak. Both were killed during a Jan. 9 raid in Kunduz.

Zahir was the Taliban’s shadow governor of the district of Khanabad who facilitated the deployment of roadside bombs and other weapons in the area. “He maintained ties with several senior Taliban leaders who are in Pakistan,” the International Security Assistance Force stated in a press release.

Murchak served as a Taliban commander and an IMU leader in Kunduz and in neighboring Takhar province. “He is responsible for attacks on tribesmen in northern Afghanistan,” and was involved in the kidnapping of a Dutch aid worker, ISAF stated.

Murchak is the second IMU-linked leader killed in Kunduz in the past two weeks. On Dec. 30, 2010, ISAF and Afghan forces killed Bahadur, a top military commander and facilitator who maintained “close contact” with members of the IMU in Kunduz and neighboring Baghlan province.

The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan is an al Qaeda-affiliated group whose leadership cadre is based primarily in Pakistan’s Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan. The leader of the IMU is a member of al Qaeda’s Shura Majlis, or executive council. The IMU operates primarily along the Afghan-Pakistani border and in northern Afghanistan. According to one estimate, more than 3,000 Uzbeks and other Central Asian fighters are sheltering in North Waziristan.

Coalition and Afghan forces have killed and captured several senior-level IMU commanders during raids in the north, where the IMU has integrated its operations with the Taliban and some of IMU’s leaders also fill top-level positions in the shadow governments.

In a separate raid, on Jan. 8, ISAF captured “a Taliban facilitator involved in the planning and execution” of a suicide assault on an Army recruiting center in Kunduz on Dec. 19, 2010. Eight Afghan soldiers were killed in that attack, and five more soldiers were killed in an identical attack in Kabul that same day.

The facilitator, who was not named, “was directly associated with the Kunduz Taliban shadow governor and deputy shadow governor and maintains contact with other Taliban insurgents throughout Afghanistan,” according to ISAF.

Kunduz province is a known haven for al Qaeda, the IMU, and allied terror groups. The presence of terror cells has been detected in the districts of Aliabad, Chahar Darah, Khanabad, and Kunduz; or four of Kunduz’s seven districts, according to an investigation by The Long War Journal.

1 The Long War Journal

ABC News’ Karen Travers reports: Vice President Biden said today that the coalition forces in Afghanistan have “largely arrested the Taliban momentum” in key areas there. But he acknowledged that the gains are “fragile and reversible.” Biden’s comments came after…













Political Punch

Coalition and Afghan troops captured a senior Taliban leader who is associated with Iran’s Qods Force during a raid yesterday in western Afghanistan.

The Taliban leader, who was not named, “is definitely associated with Qods Force,” an International Security Assistance Force official told The Long War Journal.

“That is based on his acceptance of large sum of money and his facilitation of attacks against ISAF and Afghan forces,” the ISAF official said.

“It is not certain he is a member of Qods Force,” the official continued.

ISAF and Afghan forces captured the Taliban commander along with several fighters during a raid in the Gulistan district of Farah province, ISAF stated in a press release.

The Taliban leader was described as “the senior Taliban leader for Bakwah district” who “receives large sums of money from foreign fighter insurgent groups,” the ISAF press release continued. ISAF often uses the term ” foreign fighters” to describe al Qaeda and affiliated terror groups from outside Afghanistan.

In the past month, ISAF and Afghan forces have captured two Taliban commanders and targeted another linked to Iran’s Qods Force during raids the Afghan south. On Dec. 18, 2010, a Qods Force-linked Taliban leader was captured in the Zhari district of Kandahar. ISAF told The Long War Journal the Taliban leader was a member of Qods Force, but retracted the claim two days later. ISAF would neither confirm nor deny that the Taliban commander was linked to Qods Force in follow up inquiries.

But senior US intelligence official contacted by The Long War Journal said the Taliban commander detained in Zhari is linked to Qods Force and receives aid in shipping and transporting weapons from Iran to Afghanistan.

On Jan. 2, Coalition and Afghan forces targeted a Taliban leader “involved with the facilitation of suicide bombers into Afghanistan and leads subordinate Taliban insurgents operating in the Gulistan and Bakwa districts of Farah province” during a raid in Nimroz. Several US military and intelligence officials told The Long War Journal that the commander was linked to Qods Force, but ISAF would not comment on his status.

Farah province is an hub for al Qaeda’s operation in the west

A Qods Force-supported Taliban and al Qaeda network is currently operating in the western province of Farah, according to an investigation by The Long War Journal.

Farah province is a known haven for al Qaeda and allied terror groups, and is a main transit point for foreign fighters and Iranian aid flowing into Afghanistan. The presence of al Qaeda cells has been detected in the districts of Bakwah, Balu Barak, Farah, Gulistan, and Pusht-e Rod; or five of Farah’s 11 districts.

ISAF and Afghan special operations teams have been active in the remote province of Farah since early October. There have been seven reported raids in Farah, and one in Nimroz targeting a commander who operates in Farah, since the beginning of October, and 13 raids total since March 2010. In the course of the 13 raids, ISAF has killed three al Qaeda-linked commanders; Mullah Aktar, Sabayer Saheb, and Mullah Janan, and captured three more leaders, all who have not been named. All of these commanders have been linked to Iran’s Ansar Corps.

ISAF has been hesitant to comment on the scope of this network. “Due to operation security concerns we are not able to go into further detail at this time,” an ISAF public affairs official told The Long War Journal at the end of November 2010. In a follow up inquiry today, ISAF again would not comment.

Background on Iran’s covert support for the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan

The Qods Force has tasked the Ansar Corps, a subcommand, with aiding the Taliban and other terror groups in Afghanistan. Based in Mashad in northeastern Iran, the Ansar Corps operates much like the Ramazan Corps, which supports and directs Shia terror groups in Iraq. [See LWJ report, Iran’s Ramazan Corps and the ratlines into Iraq.]

On Aug. 6, 2010, General Hossein Musavi, the commander of the Ansar Corps, was one of two Qods Force commanders added to the US Treasury’s list of specially designated global terrorists, for directly providing support to the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan.

ISAF and Afghan forces have targeted several Taliban commanders with known links to Iran’s Qods Force – Ansar Corps. [See LWJ report, Taliban commander linked to Iran, al Qaeda targeted in western Afghanistan.]

In addition to Taliban fighters entering from Iran, Al Qaeda is known to facilitate travel for its operatives moving into Afghanistan from Mashad. Al Qaeda additionally uses the eastern cities of Tayyebat and Zahedan to move its operatives into Afghanistan. [See LWJ report, Return to Jihad.]

For years, ISAF has stated that the Qods Force has helped Taliban fighters conduct training inside Iran. As recently as May 30, 2010, former ISAF commander General Stanley McChrystal said that Iran is training Taliban fighters and providing them with weapons.

“The training that we have seen occurs inside Iran with fighters moving inside Iran,” McChrystal said at a press conference. “The weapons that we have received come from Iran into Afghanistan.”

In March of 2010, General David Petraeus, then the CENTCOM commander and now the ISAF commander, discussed al Qaeda’s presence in Iran in written testimony delivered to the Senate Armed Services Committee. Al Qaeda “continues to use Iran as a key facilitation hub, where facilitators connect al Qaeda’s senior leadership to regional affiliates,” Petraeus explained. “And although Iranian authorities do periodically disrupt this network by detaining select al Qaeda facilitators and operational planners, Tehran’s policy in this regard is often unpredictable.”

Iran has recently released several top al Qaeda leaders from protective custody, including Saif al Adel, al Qaeda’s top military commander and strategist; Sa’ad bin Laden, Osama’s son; and Sulaiman Abu Gaith, a top al Qaeda spokesman. [See LWJ report, Osama bin Laden’s spokesman freed by Iran.]

In March 2010, a Taliban commander admitted that Iran has been training teams of Taliban fighters in small unit tactics. “Our religions and our histories are different, but our target is the same – we both want to kill Americans,” the commander told The Sunday Times, rebutting the common analysis that Shia Iran and Sunni al Qaeda could not cooperate due to ideological differences.

1 The Long War Journal

Taliban and al Qaeda leader Qari Zia Rahman, and a map of northeastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. Map from the Asia Times; click to view.

Coalition and Afghan special operations forces targeted two al Qaeda-linked Taliban commanders in the eastern provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar during raids over the past several days.

On Jan. 7, Coalition aircraft launched an attack against an “al Qaeda-associated Taliban leader” in a remote region in the Pech district in Kunar province, the International Security Assistance Forces stated in a press release.

ISAF said “several” Taliban fighters were killed, but did not indicate if the commander, who was not identifed, was among them. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Noor TV that five Taliban fighters were killed in the airstrike, while National Afghanistan TV claimed the Taliban’s shadow governor was killed.

The Kunar Taliban commander “is an active attack planner who leads at least 25 fighters,” and carries out attacks along the Pech Valley Road, ISAF stated.

“The commander maintains close contact with al Qaeda leaders and facilitators.”

Kunar province is a known sanctuary for al Qaeda and allied terror groups. The presence of al Qaeda cells has been detected in the districts of Pech, Shaikal Shate, Sarkani, Dangam, Asmar, Asadabad, Shigal, and Marawana; or eight of Kunar’s 15 districts, according to an investigation by The Long War Journal.

Qari Zia Rahman, the dual-hatted Taliban and al Qaeda commander who operates on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistani border, directs operations in the region. Abu Ikhlas al Masri, an Egyptian who has spent years in Afghanistan and has intermarried with the local tribes, is al Qaeda’s operations chief in Kunar. Al Qaeda has established training camps for female suicide bombers in Kunar as well as in Pakistan.

Raid in Nangarhar targets al Qaeda-linked Taliban leader

On Jan. 8, a combined Coalition and Afghan special operations team targeted another “al Qaeda-associated Taliban leader” during a raid in the Chaparhar district in Nangarhar province, ISAF stated. One suspected Taliban fighter was detained during the operation.

The Taliban commander is the shadow governor for the Pachir wa Agam district. The commander “facilitates fighters and suicide bombers to attack coalition forces and Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in Jalalabad, Behsud and Pachir wa Agam districts” and “was coordinating an attack on a provincial reconstruction team in the province.”

Al Qaeda and the Lashkar-e-Taiba, a dangerous terror group based in Pakistan and supported by that country’s military and intelligence services, maintain a strong presence in Nangarhar, according to an investigation by The Long War Journal. The presence of al Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba cells has been detected in the districts of Achin, Bati Kowt, Behsud, Chaparhar, Dara Noor, Deh Bala, Jalalabad, Khogyani, Pachir wa Agam, Sherzad, and Shinwar, or 11 of Nangarhar’s 22 districts.

Other Taliban-like groups based in Pakistan also operate in Nangarhar. On Dec. 18, 2010, ISAF targeted the Lashkar-e-Islam, a Pakistani terror group based in the Khyber tribal agency, during a raid in Nangarhar. The Lashkar-e-Islam has established its own Taliban-like government in large areas of the tribal agency, including in Bara, Jamrud, and the Tirah Valley. The group provides recruits to battle US and Afghan forces across the border, and attacks NATO’s vital supply line moving through Khyber.

1 The Long War Journal

Joe Klein tries to get a handle on it. Klein dined with Richard Holbrooke just before he died:

Holbrooke believed tensions could not be reduced without a diplomatic solution. He wanted to cap his long career with a final haggle — this one with the Taliban themselves, leading to a peace conference celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Bonn accord, which established the Karzai government in December 2001. He was at odds with Petraeus about that. The general was looking for something closer to a surrender than a negotiation from the Taliban, and his remains the default position in the Obama Administration. Holbrooke was also skeptical about the efficacy of maintaining a large U.S. force in Afghanistan, although he was curious about what sort of progress I'd find when I visited the Taliban heartland in December. (He collapsed before I could talk to him, on the morning I returned.) But Holbrooke and Petraeus did agree on one aspect of the war: cold storage. Both were convinced that there would never be real stability in Afghanistan until a strong agricultural economy returned. Having lost his faith in the Karzai administration, Holbrooke hoped a credible government could emerge from the bottom up, from local shuras like the one in Zhari that Eikenberry met with, from a rural populace that had moved on from poppies — a funding source for both the Taliban and Karzai's friends — to pomegranates and wheat.

The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

Map of Afghanistan’s provinces. Click map to view larger image.

During a recent raid in the northern Afghan province of Kunduz, Coalition and Afghan special operations teams killed the Taliban’s deputy shadow governor who had “direct ties” to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.

Bahadur, the deputy shadow governor who was also a senior military commander, was killed during a Dec. 30, 2010 raid in Kunduz. In a press release issued today, ISAF confirmed that Bahadur had been killed. Previous reports from Afghan officials had stated that Bahadur was killed, but claimed he was the shadow governor of Kunduz.

Bahadur was described by ISAF as a top military commander and facilitator who “conducted attacks and provided operational guidance to senior Taliban leaders in the province” and “provided funding, weapons and supplies to Taliban leaders and fighters.” He also “arranged the distribution of improvised explosive devices to Taliban groups operating in Kunduz and Balkh provinces.”

He maintained close ties to a senior Taliban commander in neighboring Baghlan province and also stayed in close contact with “members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan terrorist group.”

The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan is an al Qaeda-affiliated group whose leadership cadre is based primarily in Pakistan’s Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan. The terror group operates primarily along the Afghan-Pakistani border and in northern Afghanistan. According to one estimate, more than 3,000 Uzbeks and other Central Asian fighters are sheltering in North Waziristan.

Kunduz province is a known haven for al Qaeda, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, and allied terror groups. The presence of terror cells has been detected in the districts of Aliabad, Chahar Darah, and Kunduz; or three of Kunduz’s seven districts, according to an investigation by The Long War Journal.

Coalition and Afghan forces have killed and captured several senior level Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan commanders during raids in the north, where the IMU has integrated its operations with the Taliban and some of IMU’s leaders also fill top-level positions in the shadow governments. [For more information on senior IMU leaders killed or captured in the Afghan north, see LWJ report, ISAF continues to target IMU leaders in the Afghan north.]

The Taliban establish shadow or parallel governments in the regions they control or where the Afghan government is weak. These shadow governments fill the void by dispensing sharia justice; mediating tribal and land disputes; collecting taxes; and recruiting, arming, and training fighters.

ISAF and Afghan forces have had success in targeting the Taliban’s shadow government in the north. Since September 2010, combined special operations teams have killed Mohammed Amin, a senior commander of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan who also served as the Taliban’s deputy shadow governor of Takhar; Qari Ziauddin, the shadow governor of Faryab; and Mullah Ismail, the Taliban’s shadow governor of Badghis.

1 The Long War Journal

A tough sell.
American Thinker Blog

File this one under, you have got to be “friggin” kidding me …

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano visits Afghanistan in an attempt to find new ways to establish a border security and customs system to counter terrorism while allowing legitimate travel and trade. WHAT!!! This from the same person who refuses to secure the US – Mexican border? Are you joking,  this is like a bad SNL skit.

I will secure the Afghan border just like I have done with the US-Mexican one

Question, what will Napolitano call the terrorist that sneak across the Afghan-Pakistan border … undocumented Jihadists? How can any one take this serious? Napolitano and her cronies are supposed to affect Afghan border security when right under her very nose in the United States she has failed miderably to secure let alone address the issue of the border.  Just ask the  family of deceased border agent Brian Terry whether Napolitano is doing a good job at securing the border? We have an Obama Administration that is more concerned with going after Arizona and their efforts to protect their citizens than they do securing the border. Now they are going to show their expertise in Afghanistan. I feel confident. Unconfirmed reports states that terrorist in Pakistan were wetting them self with laughter.

Six Department of Homeland Security (DHS) customs and border security officials will accompany Napolitano on the weeklong trip, which will include stops in Qatar, Israel and Belgium.

Napolitano spent Friday morning touring Afghanistan’s Torkham Border Crossing with Pakistan and meeting with Afghan an U.S. border security and customs officials to find new ways to establish a border-security and customs system to counter terrorism while allowing legitimate travel and trade.

Following her visit to the Afghan-Pakistan border, Secretary Napolitano joined a group of U.S. and allied troops for lunch and thanked them for their service.

“Today, I arrived in Kabul with six additional border security and customs officers who will join our ongoing efforts to advise and assist our Afghan counterparts on customs and border control,” she said in a statement. “It is an honor to meet with our dedicated military and civilian men and women who are helping to bring peace and stability to Afghanistan, and I thank them for their continued efforts and sacrifices here to make the American homeland safer and more secure.”

Napolitano stated that a picture was worth a thousand words. Hey Janet why don’t you take a look see on the Mexico – US border? Good grief.

“Seeing is worth a thousand words,” Napolitano said after the tour, to which Fox News was granted exclusive access. “This all involves safety and security in this part of the world. And that is something that has direct connection as well to the United States.”

She described her department’s role in war-torn Afghanistan as a “complement” to the military operations there.

EXIT QUESTION:Why does Napolitano feel the need for border security in Afghanistan when she is for open borders in the US? Aren’t the terrorist from Pakistan just trying to find a a better country to get a jihad job? Aren’t the terrorist originally Taliban from Afghanistan? Wasn’t it their country first like the Native Americans and the Mexicans?

Share This

Scared Monkeys

Coalition and Afghan special operations forces are continuing to hunt for leaders and associates of the al Qaeda-linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan who operate in the Afghan north.

Yesterday, special operations teams carried out a raid in the northern province of Kunduz for a Taliban commander with “direct ties” to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.

“The Taliban leader has direct ties to the Baghlan province Taliban network and Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan in Kunduz and Pakistan,” the International Security Assistance Force reported in a press release. The commander “teaches affiliates how to build improvised explosive devices and also purchases and distributes IED materials. He works in the province with autonomy, reporting directly to the Taliban shadow governor.”

The Taliban commander was not captured, but “several suspected insurgents” were taken into custody.

Within the past month, ISAF has reported on two other raids in the Afghan north that targeted the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan’s network. A Nov. 30 raid targeted a “high-ranking Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan senior leader in Kunduz” based in the Chahar Darah district who “facilitates suicide bombers from Pakistan for attacks in the province and acts as a liaison for Taliban in the area.”

A Dec. 10 clearing operation near Mang Tappeh village in Chahar Darah targeted “enemy safe havens, where Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan leaders use villages throughout the area to conduct operational planning with Taliban fighters and facilitate their attacks.”

Kunduz province is a known haven for al Qaeda, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, and allied terror groups. The presence of terror cells has been detected in the districts of Aliabad, Chahar Darah, and Kunduz; or three of Kunduz’s seven districts, according to an investigation by The Long War Journal.

Coalition and Afghan forces have killed and captured several senior level Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan commanders during raids in the north, where the IMU has integrated its operations with the Taliban, and some of IMU’s leaders also fill top-level positions in the shadow governments. The Taliban establish shadow or parallel governments in the regions they control or where the Afghan government is weak. These shadow governments fill the void by dispensing sharia justice; mediating tribal and land disputes; collecting taxes; and recruiting, arming, and training fighters.

Some senior-level Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan commanders killed in the Afghan north include:

• Abu Baqir, “a dual-hatted Taliban sub-commander and al Qaeda group leader,” who also was a member of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. He was killed in August.
• Mohammed Amin, a senior commander of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan who also served as the Taliban’s shadow governor in the northern province of Takhar. He was killed in an ISAF airstrike in September.
• Qari Mahmad Umar, a senior Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan commander who doubled as Taliban shadow district governor in the northern province of Takhar. He was killed in October.
• Saifullah, the IMU-linked shadow district governor of Chahar Darah. He was captured in October.

The Taliban in the north receive orders from the Peshawar Shura, one of the Taliban’s four major regional commands for Afghanistan. All four of the Afghan Taliban’s regional shuras are named after and based in Pakistani cities in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa or Baluchistan.

The Peshawar Shura is based out of the Pakistani city of Peshawar, which is the provincial capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. The Peshawar Shura is thought to be led by Taliban commander Abdul Latif Mansur, who replaced Maulvi Abdul Kabir. Reports have claimed that Kabir is involved with negotiations with the Afghan government, but Kabir released a statement on the Taliban’s website, Voice of Jihad, denouncing the talks as “meaningless and futile.”

Background on the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan in the region

The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan’s leadership cadre is based in Pakistan’s Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan, and operates primarily along the Afghan-Pakistani border and in northern Afghanistan. According to one estimate, more than 3,000 Uzbeks and other Central Asian fighters are sheltering in North Waziristan.

Since Sept. 1, the US has ramped up airstrikes against the terror groups in North Waziristan, with 50 strikes Predator strikes in the area. Many of the strikes targeted cells run by the Islamic Jihad Group, an IMU offshoot, which were plotting to conduct Mumbai-styled terror assaults in Europe. A Sept. 8 strike killed an IJU commander known as Qureshi, who specialized in training Germans to conduct attacks in their home country.

The IMU’s former leader, Tahir Yuldashev, was killed in a US Predator airstrike in South Waziristan in September 2009. Yuldashev sat on al Qaeda’s top council, the Shura Majlis. He has been replaced by Abu Usman Adil.

Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan fighters often serve as bodyguards for top Pakistani Taliban and al Qaeda leaders. The IMU fights alongside the Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and has stepped up attacks in Central Asian countries as well.

Tajikistan has seen an uptick in attacks from Islamist terror groups since the summer of 2009. [See LWJ report, Al Qaeda-linked IMU claims deadly ambush on Tajik troops.] In late spring of that year, NATO opened a supply line from Tajikistan into northern Afghanistan after the Taliban and allied groups heavily targeted the main NATO route from Pakistan.

1 The Long War Journal

BLACKFIVE

The UN assessment matches a Pentagon study released 2 months ago.
American Thinker Blog

The Karzai government in Afghanistan is supposed to be pro-American, although Karzai himself has threatened to join the Taliban. And now one of the chief enemies of the United States says that he “fully supports” the Karzai government, and the Afghan ambassador responds, “Afghanistan is seeking to utilize all potential to further increase relations with Iran.”

This is the fruit of the U.S. Government’s unshakable resolve to ignore the jihad doctrine and political Islam in general.

What Are We Fighting For Update: “Ahmadinejad receives new Afghan ambassador’s credentials,” from the Tehran Times, December 23:

TEHRAN — President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad received on Wednesday credentials of Afghanistan’s new ambassador to Tehran.

Ahmadinejad told the ambassador that the Islamic Republic of Iran fully supports the Afghan government.

“The Iranian and Afghan nations share deep-rooted cultural and religious affinities and have common friends and enemies. Therefore, promoting the level of bilateral and regional cooperation will benefit both nations as well as the region,” Ahmadinejad stated.

He added that the enemies do not wish that the prudent people of Afghanistan bring prosperity to their country through reliance on their own capabilities.

However, the Afghan people are strong and history has proven that they are able to defeat their enemies, the president stated.

“Tehran sees no limitation for the development of economic, cultural, and trade cooperation with Kabul and is ready to transfer its experiences to the resistant people of Afghanistan in the spheres of industry, construction, investment, and health.”

The ambassador, for his part, said, “Afghanistan is seeking to utilize all potential to further increase relations with Iran.”

Jihad Watch

By David Boaz

This simple chart dramatizes something that I don’t think most Americans realize: the tripling of U.S. troops in Afghanistan by President Obama.

Now it’s true that when candidate Barack Obama vowed, “I will bring this war to an end in 2009,” he was talking about Iraq. In July 2008 he suggested that he would send two more brigades — about 8000 troops — to Afghanistan. He has far exceeded that, and we can only wonder whether the voters who responded to his antiwar message anticipated that he would increase the number of troops in Afghanistan by almost as much as he reduced the number in Iraq.

The Incredible Expanding Afghan War is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog

Cato @ Liberty