A Taliban commander with links to al Qaeda was killed while plotting to attack a polling station in the northeastern province of Kunar today. Haji Mohammad, the Taliban’s shadow governor for the district of Shigal, was killed by Coalition forces “in a precision airstrike,” the International Security Assistance Force stated.
Mohammed was described as “a key insurgent leader” in Kunar who was behind multiple attacks against US and Afghan forces. “Mohammad orchestrated attacks on Afghans who opposed his tactics, conducted illegal checkpoints intended to intimidate local Afghans, and kidnapped wealthy individuals in order to finance his activities,” ISAF said.
ISAF linked Mohammed to two attacks in June, both which killed US soldiers: the June 7 IED attack that killed five US soldiers; and the June 21 suicide attack that killed two US soldiers and wounded 18 Afghans, including eight children.
The suicide attack on June 21 was the first in Afghanistan to have been carried out by a woman. ISAF directly linked the June 21 suicide attack to Qai Zia Rahman, one of the senior most terrorist leaders in northeastern Afghanistan. Qari Zia took credit for the suicide attack.
Qari Zia Rahman is the Taliban’s top regional commander as well as a senior member of al Qaeda. He operates in Kunar and neighboring Nuristan province in Afghanistan, and he also operates across the border in Pakistan’s tribal agency of Bajaur. Earlier this year, the Pakistani government claimed they killed Qari Zia in an airstrike, but he later spoke to the media and mocked Pakistan’s interior minister for wrongly reporting his death.
Qari Zia is closely allied with Faqir Mohammed as well as with Osama bin Laden. Qari Zia’s fighters are from Chechnya, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and various Arab nations. He commands a brigade in al Qaeda’s paramilitary Shadow Army, or the Lashkar al Zil, US intelligence officials have told The Long War Journal.
The US has targeted Qari Zai in three raids over the past summer. On June 29, the US launched a battalion-sized operation in Kunar’s Marawara district. More than 150 Taliban fighters were reported killed in the operation. On July 20, US and Afghan forces launched another battalion-sized operation in Marawara to flush out Qari Zia. And on Aug. 2, combined forces conducted a raid, again in Marawara, that targeted the al Qaeda leader.
The top al Qaeda commander in Kunar province is Abu Ikhlas al Masri, an Egyptian who has spent years in Afghanistan and has intermarried with the local tribes. Abu Ikhlas is al Qaeda’s operations chief for Kunar province, having assumed command after Abu Ubaidah al Masri was promoted to take over al Qaeda’s external operations branch (Abu Ubaidah died in early 2008 of a disease).
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.
ISAF has ceded ground to al Qaeda and the Taliban over the past year when it withdrew from outposts in remote districts in Kunar and neighboring Nuristan as part of its population-centric counterinsurgency strategy. The Taliban and al Qaeda have taken advantage of these new safe havens to strike at neighboring districts and provinces.
Background on al Qaeda commanders killed or captured in Kunar
Over the past year, the US military has killed other top Taliban and al Qaeda leaders in Kunar. On Nov. 26, 2009, Dowron, the Taliban commander of the Pech River Valley, was killed in a US strike. Dowron had ties to multiple al Qaeda members and was involved in attacks on Afghan and Coalition forces and bases, as well as on Afghan civilians.
On Dec. 1, 2009, Qari Masiullah, the al Qaeda chief of security for Kunar province, was killed during another operation. Masiullah ran a training camp that taught insurgents how to use and emplace IEDs that were used in attacks on Afghan civilians and Afghan and Coalition forces throughout the provinces of Nangarhar, Nuristan, Kunar, and Laghman.
Also, on Oct. 11, 2009, US forces targeted an al Qaeda base in the mountains in Pech. The raid targeted an al Qaeda commander who is known to use the mountainside base near the village of Tantil to conduct attacks in the Pech Valley. The al Qaeda leader, who was not named, and his cadre are also known to facilitate the movement of foreign fighters from Pakistan into Afghanistan.
12 Comments
Excellent! More O2 left for the sane humans…
“and the June 21 suicide attack that killed two US soldiers and wounded 18 Afghans, including eight children.”
A web site should be put up with graphic pictures of terrorist victims. Let the whole world see the abominable crimes of these sub-humans.
Blurring the effects of these atrocious crimes only help terrorists. Maybe muslims and non-muslims watching the pictures of those dead kids will think twice before supporting jihadists all over the world.
@Rookie – Great suggestion with regard to faces of the victims of these animals –
I still do not understand why we aren’t posting on radical Islamic forums….(US Operatives)…causing disruption.
Why are we openly challenging AQ HVTs, calling them out….Using the age old valuable tool of “pride” to make them show themselves more.
We should be openly and routinely dropping flyers calling them out for being cowards. Directly attacking their manhood to the women and children within the Pak border regions and Stan…
@Rookie and @TMP: Cognitive dissonance, much? Posting pictures of the ‘victims’ presumes a shared ethic between he who posts and he who views that probably does not exist. By posting photos, you’d be providing propaganda source material to the attackers, as well as an information feedback loop on the efficacy of their targeting efforts and explosive devices. All in all, probably a bad idea.
As for “calling them out for being cowards”, such a statement reveals shocking ignorance about Afghan history, insurgency and the Pashtun ideation of warrior culture. What seems more courageous to you: well-fed foreign troops with body armor and boots who arrive at night by helicopter with massive close air and artillery support, and arrest every male in a household or village… or barefoot, underfed guerrillas who claim to be defending your religion and culture, who ceaselessly attack a foreign invader with little/no heavy weapons support, then beat-feet over a 13,000 foot mountain while the foreign troops are hunkered down waiting for XCAS to arrive on-station?
If the ‘well-fed foreign troops’ seems more courageous to you, you clearly don’t get it.
And that whole ‘goading’ them into fighting idea? Been tried before…was a bad idea then, is a bad idea now.
http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=18205
For the record, before anyone gets their Ranger panties in a twist, I’m not criticizing the use of overwhelming air and artillery support, nor suggesting that our guys huddle in fear inside the COPs when attacked – I’m stating what the Taliban/AQ propaganda claims happens when they attack, oh, idk take your pick: COP Vegas, PB Wilson, etc.
Bad day, “shahid”? Your belt malfunctioned? Taliban lovers like you and those “barefoot, underfed guerrillas” who heroically behead opponents, kill kids and rape women to convince them to become suicide bombers will be hunted to the last one.
It seems that “foreign invaders” are welcomed in Afghanistan if they are murderous jihadis, as the Taliban is mostly a foreign enterprise.
Of course those US troops and their allies are the heroic ones, make sure to check this site and see how many more jihadis went to your pornographic heaven.
@Rookie
1) We’re fighting on the same side. Difference is, I’m pretty sure that I know what I’m talking about. In the off-chance that you are in-country (Afghanistan) or going there in a professional capacity, see if you can get some training on Afghan history and the tactical application of current COIN strategy from the COIN Training Center of Excellence or the folks at Ft. Leavenworth. Trying to ‘goad’ the Taliban into fighting by calling them “sissy-boys” (which, btw, is EXACTLY what they were called by the PSYOPS team up in Northern K-har in that ill-advised ad-hoc PSYOP mission I linked you to) or attacking their manhood is not going to earn us the respect of the locals, it’s just going to offend the culture of the local population. And the respect of the locals is FAR more important in long-term success than a few more dead Talibs.
2) Interesting choice of words using ‘enterprise’. You might have something there, from the business/finance side of things. Nevertheless,
the Taliban is, as anyone here can tell you, a Pashtun-dominanted, externally-supported insurgency movement. The AQ nexus is important, but hardly defining.
3) Respect your enemy. An enemy that is willing to hump barefoot over a mountain or run through irrigation ditches to attack a defended position
and then withdraw over the same mountain range or exfil through the same canals is an enemy worthy of respect. Overconfidence is a killer. Beware it.
4) As for the murderous, beheading, etc…Compare what the Taliban do with the recent cold-blooded murder of civilians by members of 5th Stryker BCT
in K-har. I’m aware of the difference in frequency and scale, but consider: Both sides in this conflict can be painted with the ‘murderer’ brush, just as both sides can be painted with the ‘hero’ brush, and
frequently are by opposing sides of the propaganda divide. Looking for moral absolutes in a long-running insurgency is not tremendously helpful, and is usually the sign of someone who either has zero practical experience or no capacity to translate that experience into strategic comprehension.
Trololololollllll…
@AShahid – To even suggest (and yes, you did suggest) that one compare a moral equivalence between the Taliban and the US/Nato forces is beyond even the notion of trying to be intellectually honest here….. You are not.
Furthermore, your notion of a shocking ignorance on my part regarding Afgan history….That is a history that has been told and passed down by men only. Loser type men who do not allow their women to have a voice….Who tell great tales when reality is their tails are between their legs more often than not when confronted by someone who will stand and fight them back.
Hell, if there is ever sustained action within Stan 9 out of 10 times it is because Chechens or Uzbeks have been encountered…NOT Pucktoons!
Reality is the women of Afghanistan see American / Nato males more and more with longing eyes. With wishes their men could be such….We should throw this out at these animals of both AQ and Taliban. My notion of using pride would work much better than you suspect in terms of dealing with these animals on a basic level.
@TMP – Do not try to put words in my mouth. What I said was “Both sides in this conflict can be painted with the ‘murderer’ brush, just as both sides can be painted with the ‘hero’ brush, and frequently are by opposing sides of the propaganda divide.” If you take issue with that statement, you’re willfully ignoring facts. It’s not an argument. Like I said, stop looking for moral absolutes: counterterrorism and counterinsurgency operations live in a world of grays. You need to be very careful about reducing your enemy to ‘animals’, as you run the risk of underestimating their capabilities.
I’m very familiar with Taliban tactics vis a vis length of engagement. Your “9 times out of 10” related to sustained action is a WILDLY overblown, invented statistic that you cannot back up with any form of legitimate analysis. I might give you 40%. Furthermore, “shoot and scoot” is a classic precept of guerrilla warfare: avoid decisive engagement until you have a clear tactical advantage. Making morally-indignant, self-righteous statements about their courage ignores the strategy the enemy is employing. And if you don’t bother to understand the strategy the Taliban/AQ is employing, you have no chance of devising an effective counter to it on any level of operational command.
“…looking with longing eyes…” Really? Really? And you base this on what, exactly? I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt, but please provide some support for such an unorthodox statement. Please be specific.
Again, the issue of trying to “hurt their pride” by making fun of or criticizing their tactics ignores that guerrilla warfare is, in the Afghan culture, a historically and culturally resonant mode of conflict. When you attack the morality of guerrilla warfare, you essentially attack the morality of the anti-Soviet mujahideen, which is the only part of recent Afghan history that Afghans are truly, unequivocally proud of. On a practical level, how would you go about criticizing only the ‘barbaric’ tactics without offending the honored traditions of guerrilla warfare?
@AShahid – I’ve delt with such mind types plenty. Both at home and DR….Where one is trying to come off as the smartest guy in the room, or
to at least be, one of the guys, in such a group…..who like to participate in constant debate over why any and all actions can’t be taken….
I do not need COIN explained to me, I’ve been part of the kinetic solution aspect of it…
It is you, I would suggest, that is targeting the wrong audience here with what I am suggesting…. You seem to think we need to convince 10 to 80 year old women living in BC / stone-age conditions for the most part of their lives…with relatively the same BC / stone-age levels of education about
the complexities of COIN.
No. All we need to convince them of is that their men are cowards….and trust me they will believe their eyes more than the notion of their lying
eyes …We also than need to even more eaisly
convince these AQ/Taliban men that this is what their women think of them…
Your idea is to fight on their terms…At the places of their choosing…That is what shoot and scooting allows for in and of itself….Unless you bring pride into the equation.
Then you have added another element…..and we should be seeking to add more and more elements into the equation on the ground in Astan that makes things better for our trigger pullers.
And no, I am not wrong. 9 out of 10 times if there is sustained contact it is not a fully and wholly run Pucktoon Op. It is not. There are Chechens
and Uzbeks or other foreign elements involved.
*blink*
This is so incoherent I’m not sure I can even respond to it.
What happened to providing support or evidence for your arguments? Hell, I’ll settle for responding in coherent English.
When did I suggest that we try to educate Afghan women on COIN? And when did I suggest that we try to ‘fight on their terms’? Frankly, I’d much prefer the mobile Strike Operations approach with sustained contact and heavy use of light INF to find/fix and helo-borne IRFs to finish, but the stated strategy is ‘protect the population’ and I follow orders.
When we (US mil, NATO, whatever) burned bodies in northern K-har and broadcast how the Taliban were weenies, did they come charging from the hills to defend their pride? No. They avoided contact. Because that’s what guerrillas do. So the boss says we protect the population and yes, unfortunately, it means that we have to wait til the guerrillas make tactical errors and show themselves.
Oh, and congrats on being part of the kinetic solution. Maybe we can drop trou and compare who’s bigger sometime.
@TMP and AShahid: Interesting thread gentlemen… As a contextual point of reference, would you please elaborate on where you have gained your knowledge, experience and viewpoints on the conflict? I.E. What theater and time frame? Thanks!
@Tig – Sorry to be Mr. Mysterioso, but I can’t be too specific. I like being able to comment here anonymously without worrying about getting fired if I go off the directed line.
I can tell you that I have several years between the theaters.
AShahid: Thank you for the clarification. It’s good to see a perspective relevant to actual conditions and doctrine.