Canada
A judge freed Abdullah Khadr from jail after refusing to extradite him to the US. The US wanted Khadr for providing weapons to al Qaeda. Khadr’s brother, Omar, is held at Guantanamo Bay.
Monthly Archives: August 2010
Pakistan
US Army begins relief missions in Pakistan
Iran
Iran claimed to have purchased four S-300 surface-to-air missile systems: two from Belarus and two from an unspecified nation. Belarus rejected the report. China dismissed US concerns that it would not fully comply with sanctions.
Al Qaeda
Lahore, the Taliban’s new target; Ahmed Rashid losing faith in Pakistan’s future
Al Qaeda in Iraq
Lawyers seeking terror suspect™s case sue US
United Nations
UN supports Israeli account of border clash
US indicts 14 people for supporting Shabaab
Just one day after a Chicago man was arrested for attempting to travel to Somalia to assist the al Qaeda-aligned terror group Shabaab, the FBI has unsealed four indictments announcing arrests and charges against more than a dozen Somali-Americans for raising funds for the group. Among those arrested are two women, Amina Farah and Hawo […]
Pakistan
Spreading Pakistan floods affect 4m people, says UN
Pakistan
More die as violence and arson continue in Karachi
Taliban suicide bomber strikes Afghan police in Kunduz
The Taliban claimed the attack that killed seven policemen in the contested northern province.
Philippines
Army rangers arrested a Moro Islamic Liberation Front commander in Casoon village, Monkayo town. Earlier reports of the suspect, Giovanni de Ocampo, identified him as a Jemaah Islamiyah operative but were later disproven. Numerous weapons and bombs were captured after a shootout.
Al Qaeda
Pakistan in peril of succumbing to Iran-style Islamic revolution: Study
Afghanistan
Karzai calls for probe of US-backed anti-corruption task force
Taliban: Dutch withdrawal makes it easier for others to go
Shortly after the Netherlands started pulling its troops out of Uruzgan Province in Afghanistan, a Dutch media outlet published a story [Google English translation here] quoting a Taliban spokesperson offering the Dutch government and people “heartfelt congratulations on their courage in making this independent decision”. There’s even some concern that other allies, such as Canada, […]
Afghanistan
Tactical directive stresses Coalition, Afghan partnership
Pakistan
Floods ravage Pakistan’s heartland, threaten south
Pakistan
A suicide bomber killed the commandant of the Frontier Constabulary and four bodyguards in an attack in Peshawar. Police killed a terror suspect during a raid in Islamabad. Six people were wounded in a grenade attack on a mosque in Karachi.
Former Gitmo detainee turned Taliban leader threatens Afghan elders
Abdul Rauf Khadim, a former Gitmo detainee, sent a handwritten note threatening Afghan tribal elders who cooperate with Coalition forces and the Afghan government. Khadim is one of two former Gitmo detainees who are part of Mullah Omar’s inner circle.
United States
A 26-year-old Chicago man has been charged with intending to use a weapon of mass destruction and aiding a terrorist group. Shaker Masri told an FBI informant of his plot to travel to Somalia to fight with al Qaeda. Masri asked for money to buy arms once in Somalia and said he hoped to become […]
Afghanistan and Monday morning quarterbacking
This article from David Sanger in last weekend’s New York Times is a must read for those who believe that there were simple solutions to Afghanistan and ‘if we only had done this back in 2002 then everything would be fine.’ From the opening: If only we had been smart enough, the arguments went, the […]
Iraq
Security forces arrested three men involved in yesterday’s car bomb attack in Al Kut, five insurgents in Tal Afar, and members of an “armed cell” behind the assassination of clerics and attacks on mosques in Anbar. The UN Security Council held a special session on the situation in Iraq.
US government still sending mixed messages on Afghanistan
Has the Obama administration finally settled on whether the US should wage a counterinsurgency or a counterterrorism mission in Afghanistan? If you read this piece at The New York Times, administration officials are saying it’s the latter, despite President Obama’s settling on the former last December. Is the US going to begin pulling out of […]
Afghanistan
General Petraeus issued an update to the military’s rules of engagement. Security forces killed 20 Taliban fighters in Laghman province and seven more in Kandahar, and detained Taliban leaders and fighters in Baghlan and Kandahar. The Taliban killed five civilians in Zabul, the bodyguard of one of President Karzai’s advisers in Uruzgan, and a New […]
Pakistan
Pakistani Taliban claims responsibility for death of paramilitary force chief
Somalia
Leaders blast US for soft stance on Somalia
Suicide bomber kills commander of Pakistan’s Frontier Constabulary
Commandant Siffwat Ghayur and four members of his security detail were killed after a suicide bomber rammed into his car in Peshawar.
Iran
A grenade detonated near President Ahmedinejad’s convoy as it moved through the western city of Hamedan. Officials denied Ahmedinejad was the target of an attack, and claimed it was a “firecracker.” The US added 21 entities, including banking, insurance and investment, mining, and engineering industries, to a list of companies owned by Iran and targeted […]
Russia
Doku Umarov retracted his resignation, which he issued just four days ago. Doku released a video on the web where he announced he would remain the emir of the Caucasus Emirate “as long as Allah gives me life on this earth” and said his previous statement was “completely fabricated.”
Al Qaeda
The Abdullah Azzam Brigade claimed it carried out an attack that damaged a Japanese tanker off the coast of Oman. The claim is not confirmed and it is unclear if a bomb damaged the tanker. The group is linked to al Qaeda and is named after one of its co-founders.
Caucasus Emirate leader Doku Umarov retracts resignation
Umarov announced he would remain the emir of the Caucasus Emirate “as long as Allah gives me life on this earth” and said his previous statement was “completely fabricated.”