Monthly Archives: November 2010



Shocking: Pakistan again delays North Waziristan offensive

This month’s winner of the coveted Captain Louis Renault Award goes to Pakistan’s military, which again delayed the elusive offensive into North Waziristan. The Pakistani military claims it doesn’t have enough resources to throw at the problem, and it is miffed at President Obama’s visit to India. From The Telegraph: But Pakistan military chiefs say […]


Pakistan

Ten people were killed in violence in Karachi. Security forces killed 14 Taliban fighters in Arakzai. ISAF denied reports that its helicopters crossed the boder into Pakistan.


ISAF denies helos crossed border into Pakistan

When US helicopters under ISAF command in Afghanistan attacked Taliban positions across the border in the tribal agencies of North Waziristan and Kurram earlier this fall, some observers thought a new, more muscular approach to Pakistan had been signaled. But the strikes quickly rankled the Pakistani establishment, causing it to cut off ISAF’s supply line […]


Afghanistan

Security forces killed and captured scores of Taliban and Haqqani Network commanders and fighters in Kandahar, Zabul, Farah, Kunar, Khost, Paktia, Paktika, and Logar. The Taliban killed a civilian in Herat. A suicide bomber prematurely detonated in Nangarhar.


The Taliban

ISAF and Afghan officials negotiated with an “impostor” who claimed he was senior Taliban commander Mullah Akhtar Mohammed Mansour, one of Mullah Omar’s top two deputies who ran the Quetta Shura. ISAF reportedly met with the impostor three times and paid him a large sum of money.


US captures Haqqani Network facilitator who was previously in custody

Today ISAF announced that it recently detained a Haqqani Network commander who had been in custody earlier this year. From the ISAF press release: Afghan and coalition forces captured a Haqqani Network improvised explosive device facilitator during an operation in Khost province yesterday. The facilitator, a top target for Afghan and coalition forces, was responsible […]







Iraq

Iraq and Qatar resume air service after two decades



Iraq

Insurgents killed five civilians and an Iraqi soldier in attacks in Wasit, Baghdad, and Kirkuk. Insurgents also killed a US soldier in northern Iraq on Nov. 21. Security forces detained 16 wanted men in Basrah and two more in Mosul.


Kenya

Police arrested six Kenyans and a Nigerian holding a British passport for links to Shabaab in Somalia. The Nigerian is said to be the cell leader and was trying to send the six recruits to Somalia. The six Kenyans admitted to being recruited from a mosque in Majengo in Mombasa.


Somalia

African Union troops reportedly killed two civilians in mortar attacks in Mogadishu; several others are in critical condition. Shabaab fighters in Hiran flogged a young man and woman for eloping.


Yemen

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula killed a soldier in an IED attack in Lauder in the southern province of Abyan; fighting was reported between troops and AQAP after the blast. The UN said security is deteriorating in the north as fighting between government-backed tribes and Houthi rebels continues.




Europe

Police arrested 10 members of an “international jihadist terrorist group” plotting to conduct attacks in Belgium during sweeps in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany. The suspects are of Belgian, Dutch, Moroccan, and Chechen origins.



Iran

The Iranian parliament moved to impeach Ahmadinejad; conservative allies see him as a “liability.” Gambia cut diplomatic ties with Iran. Tehran denied that the Stuxnet virus affected its nuclear program. Police issued an arrest warrant for ex-President Rasfanjani’s son.





Iraq

Many Sunnis see Iraqi justice system as Shiite cudgel



Pakistan

The US killed five Taliban fighters in a Predator strike in North Waziristan; A Taliban commander was among nine killed in yesterday’s Predator strike strike in the tribal agency. Security forces killed two “militants” in Khyber. General Petraeus praised Pakistan’s counterinsurgency efforts in Swat and South Waziristan.