3rd ‘Turban bomb’ attack rocks southern Helmand province
Another suicide bomber attacked a security function wearing an explosive-laden headdress. This is the third time this summer the tactic has been used.
Author Archives: Matt Dupee
Operation Badr: tracking the Taliban summer offensive in Jawzjan province
The Taliban have expanded the insurgency in northern Afghanistan.
Parwan assault latest in Taliban ‘hit campaign’ against hardened rivals
The Taliban assault against the governor of Parwan is just the latest in a string of attacks targeting former United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan and Shura-e Nazar commanders.
Howitzer recycling program comes to Afghanistan
NATO donates the first of 60 pieces of heavy artillery to the Afghan government under a “howitzer donation program.” The program seeks to bolster “the ANA’s ability to protect their nation and provide a safer and more secure future.”
Afghan forces uncover clandestine ‘military uniform-making factory’
Police raided a clandestine workshop used by criminals to produce counterfeit Afghan security uniforms. The two suspects arrested might be linked to insurgent organizations.
NDS smashes Haqqani Network plots in Kabul
Afghan intelligence arrested one of its own agents, who was facilitating a plot to attack the Defense Ministry and ISAF headquarters.
The Taliban acquisition of anti-aircraft platforms
The ZPU-1 and the ZU-23-2 (pictured) have seen a robust role in Afghan combat since the 1980s. On Oct. 28, a targeted ISAF airstrike killed Mullah Abdullah Kakar, one of the Taliban’s operational commanders in Zabul province who was responsible for a long list of attacks and IEDs in the Shah Joy district. What is […]
Afghanistan’s war on drugs: Child ‘chemists’ and counternarcotics
Poppy pods procured from Kandahar City. They were lanced six times each, indicating a slightly above average extraction of raw opium. Photo by Matt Dupee. “I’ve been in this business a long time, but it really disturbs me when I see the opium workshops in Mawand that are completely run with children labor.” This is […]
Kandahar drug bust: narco-penetration of the state
Sacks of drugs seized during Operation Alabtross II in the Spin Boldak region of Kandahar. DEA Photo. With an increased focus on the narco-insurgent linkages in Afghanistan, NATO and US forces are actively targeting drug refinement workshops (routinely and inaccurately described as “laboratories”), drug shipments, and “nexus-targets,” those involved in both insurgent activity like IEDs […]
Afghanistan’s wild-wild North
As policymakers and analysts continue to examine the ever-evolving insurgency in Afghanistan, the Taliban infiltration into northern Afghanistan is finally receiving some much needed attention. Often billed as “the stable and secure” northern areas, Afghanistan’s northern provinces have been the target of a burgeoning Taliban insurgency since 2004. When analyzing the northern conundrum it is […]
The denarcofication of Afghanistan
With an increased focus on breaking the links between insurgents and the narcotics industry in Afghanistan, the US has announced, during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing held earlier this month, its new initiatives to combat this threat. The most significant and controversial (to some NATO partners like Germany) shift in strategy is to use […]
Afghanistan
A roadside bomb killed two members of the newly created Afghan Public Protection Force in Wardak province™s Nerkh district. Counternarcotics officials destroyed 6.5 tons of confiscated illegal drugs and precursor chemicals in a ceremony south of Kabul. A roadside bomb killed three Afghan border policemen in the Ali Shir district, Khost province. Australian forces have […]
Pakistan
The launched a new offensive against the Taliban in Lower Dir. Masked Taliban fighters attacked and killed at least one Christian and injured dozens of others this past week in a Christian colony in Karachi. Pakistani law enforcement believes two suicide bombers have been dispatched to Islamabad and four others to Karachi. Some reports suggest […]
Afghanistan
Three suicide bombers attacked the Kandahar governor’s compound, killing five policemen. A joint Afghan-Coalition patrol killed between six and eight insurgents in the Chak district of Wardak province. A government official claimed 50 Taliban fighters and three commanders were killed in a large operation in Wardak. A two-day operation launched by Afghan and Coalition forces […]
Hezbollah
Investigators believe the Hezbollah cell in Egypt planned to carry out three major bombing operations in tourist areas of Egypt. The 49 suspects arrested in Egypt in connection to the cell will appear in court next week. Israel warned Israeli businessmen in Europe to return home because of the threat of a terrorist attack by […]
Somalia
Mortars fired at Somalia’s Parliament missed the building but hit a police unit inside the compound as well as a residential neighborhood, killing at least seven people. Somali pirates have seized a German ship transporting grain in the Gulf of Aden; all 17 crew members are unharmed. Two European aid workers taken hostage by gunmen […]
→
Briefing: Who are the Taliban?
Somalia
Somalia’s parliament has unanimously approved the implementation of sharia across the country. A man claiming to be a spokesman for the Somali pirate groups has vowed to retaliate against French and US warships operating in the region. Dutch commandos freed 20 Yemeni hostages and briefly detained seven pirates who had forced the Yemenis to sail […]
Al Qaeda
Iraqi Special Forces arrested a suspected senior al Qaeda member and three of his aides in the southern city of Basra. “He is a Saudi and was arrested in a house in the Abu al-Khassib district with his Iraqi assistants. They have been transferred to Baghdad by military aircraft,” an Iraqi Army official said.
Afghanistan
The US is attempting to jam unlicensed radio stations and Internet websites in Pakistan. ISAF soldiers killed one insurgent and detained two others in Khost after a UAV spotted the trio planting an IED. Coalition and Afghan forces killed three Taliban fighters in Logar province and killed “an unknown number” in Kandahar province. Two Afghan […]
Al Qaeda
One of the 12 suspects arrested by the British police over a “very big terrorist plot” linked to al-Qaeda has been released as police quizzed the remaining 11 detainees, most of them Pakistanis. Police arrested 28 suspected members of the al-Qaeda terror network during simultaneous raids Thursday (April 9th) in the central Turkish province of […]
Afghanistan
US says Afghan officials supported deadly attack
Afghanistan
Taliban lift daytime phone ban in Afghan province
Afghanistan
Canadians return to Afghan base after heavy fighting in nearby province
→
Nato denies Afghan election claim
→
Taliban orders mobile shutdown in Afghan province
→
Saudi confirms it sponsored Afghan-Taliban talks
→
Pakistan claims killing 72 militants in 3 days
→
Afghan governor, 3 others die in blast near Kabul
→
No Arab killed in US attack: Haqqani family