Monthly Archives: October 2009

Predators, Taliban, and civilians

Click image to view The Long War Journal’s data related to the US air campaign in Pakistan. Peter Bergen and Katherine Tiedemann have published an analysis for the New America Foundation about US drone strikes in Pakistan. Citing previous analyses of drone strike statistics, including the recent report in The Long War Journal, Bergen and […]




Iran

IAEA officials reported that Iran agreed on a draft agreement on shipping its uranium to Russia for enrichment. The UN Security council condemned last weekend’s suicide attack that killed six senior Revolutionary Guards commanders. The death toll in the attack has been raised to 57.


Afghanistan

Central Asia: The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan undergoing dangerous transformation



Pakistan

Pak judge hearing 26/11 Mumbai case wants to quit proceedings


Iran

Jundallah: Profile of a Sunni extremist group




Why would the Taliban attack an Islamic university?

The Taliban have taken credit for yesterday’s suicide attack at the International Islamic University in Islamabad. As noted in yesterday’s report on the attack, the Taliban have no problems with striking at mosques and other religious institutions and events. I’ve received several questions as to why the Taliban would strike at an Islamic university. Dawn […]


Yemen

Saudi concern rises over Al Qaeda activity in Yemen



Pakistan

Two suicide bombers killed five students at an Islamic university in Islamabad; all schools have been closed in Pakistan. The Taliban ejected the Army from Kotkai in South Waziristan and claimed it killed 45 soldiers. The military killed six foreign fighters and three Taliban fighters in South Waziristan and three Lashkar-e-Islam fighters in Khyber, and […]





Pakistan

Pakistan seals alliance with two Taliban leaders in fights against rival tribe


United States

A court indicted Ahmad Wais Afzai, an imam in Queens, New York, for lying to the FBI during questioning about Najibullah Zazi, the al Qaeda suspect accused of plotting attacks in the US. The Supreme Court will hear an appeal by Uighurs held at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.



Somalia

The death toll of yesterday™s battle in Mogadishu between Shabaab and government forces reached 11, including a Yemeni al Qaeda fighter. The first batch of Somali troops who completed military training in the neighboring Republic of Djibouti have arrived in the capital Mogadishu.


Iraq

Insurgents killed two policemen, three civilians, and a US soldier in attacks throughout Iraq. Security forces detained 26 wanted men in Basrah, nine Islamic State of Iraq fighters in Kirkuk, five al Qaeda operatives in Karbala, Kirkuk, Baqubah, and Wasit, and four “infiltrators” from Syria.


Afghanistan

President Karzai and challenger Abdullah Abdullah will hold a runoff election on Nov. 7, after Karzai’s vote percent dropped below 50 percent in the final count by Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission. US and Afghan forces killed six Taliban fighters in Wardak and captured a Haqqani Network facilitator in Khost.



India

Intelligence reports warn of imminent attacks: Indian PM


Afghanistan: ‘Other’ reasons

Shamsia Husseini, right, was among 15 girls and women in Kandahar, Afghanistan, who were splashed with acid last November. Photo from The New York Times. The recent arguments over Afghanistan have focused on “going all in” with properly resourced counterinsurgency vs. keeping al Qaeda diminished via Predator strikes and super-secret squirrel (commando) raids. Seemingly lost […]


Italy: Imam’s marriage to a Catholic rattles Muslim hardliners



Mali

The US government has announced it will donate $5 million worth of trucks, communication devices, equipment, and clothing to the Mali government in an effort to boost the sub-Saharan government™s ability to combat Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. The US joins Libya and Algeria in aiding the Mali government™s capacity to rid the Sahel […]


Afghanistan

Held by the Taliban, part 3: ‘You have atomic bombs, but we have suicide bombers.™