Abdul Hai Motma’in, the former chief of the Taliban’s Culture and Information department, is said to have been captured in Ghazni province. The Taliban denied the report, and US officials would not confirm it.
The videoclip shows Shahzad and Hakeemullah hugging and shaking hands. Shahzad is heard saying he has carried out the attack under the orders of Hakeemullah, who reports to Mullah Omar.
Nasiruddin Haqqani, Siraj’s brother; Gul Agha Ishakzai, the Taliban’s top financial officer; and Amir Abdullah, Mullah Baradar’s treasurer, have been designated as global terrorists.
The Algerian government has denied reports that it is mistreating Abdul Aziz Naji, a former Guantanamo detainee. Naji was a member of Lashkar-e-Taiba and an expert in improvised explosive devices prior to his detention at Gitmo. His transfer was supposed to entail “security measures,” but an Algerian official claims Naji was outright released.
Iran continues to back the League of the Righteous, the Mahdi Army spin-off Promise Day Brigade, and the Hezbollah Brigades.
Last week’s Shabaab bombing attacks in Uganda were designed to undermine that country’s support for the African Union Mission in Somalia. Ugandan support or not, AMISOM is underfunded and there are significant questions about whether peacekeeping is suitable for Somalia.
Qari Zia Rahman has allegiance to both the Taliban and al Qaeda. ISAF said he maintained a safe haven in the district of Marawara until a recent operation to secure the region.
The Defense Department announced the transfer of two Gitmo detainees today. One of the detainees is an IED expert who was a member of Lashkar-e-Taiba and trained al Qaeda operatives. The other allegedly fought at Tora Bora alongside his son, who was also detained at Gitmo.
More than 700 Pakistani and Afghan Taliban are assaulting the district center of Barg-e-Matal. The eastern district has switched hands two times this year.
Attacks at headquarters in Baghdad and Al Qaim killed 41 Iraqis. Another Awakening leader was killed in an IED attack in Abu Ghraib.
Opium looms large in the insurgency in northern Helmand, further complicating counterinsurgency efforts. Part 3 in the series on Musa Qala.
Awlaki “has involved himself in every aspect of the supply chain of terrorism — fundraising for terrorist groups, recruiting and training operatives, and planning and ordering attacks on innocents.”
Mullah Akhtar and an undisclosed number of Taliban fighters were killed during a combined special operations raid on a training camp used by foreign fighters in Farah. Akhtar is one of several Taliban leaders linked to Iran’s Qods Force.
A pair of suicide bombers struck at a mosque in Zahedan during Revolutionary Guard Day.
The Salah Ali Nabhan Brigade carried out the double suicide attack in Kampala. “There will be more bombings in Kampala and Bujumbura” if African Union troops are not withdrawn from Somalia, said Sheikh Muktar Abdelrahman Abu Zubeyr, Shabaab’s spiritual leader.
The strike is the first in 16 days.
Marines from the 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment wage a counterinsurgency in Musa Qala after months of fighting on the peripheries of the district center.
Shahzad said jihad is a “pillar” of Islam and that the “Muslims’ war has just started.”
Five civilians were also killed while defending a headquarters for the Afghan National Civil Order Police in Kandahar City from a Taliban assault.
Hezbollah Brigades has imposed an “increased threat” over the past several weeks, the US’ top commander in Iraq said. The terror group remains tied to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Coalition forces have struggled to gain control of the district in northern Helmand province for four years. US Marines have now taken over from the British, who have come under fire for their handling of the district. Part 1 of a three-part series.
The al Qaeda affiliate has carried out its first terror attack outside the borders of Somalia. The Somali suicide bombers attacked soccer fans as they watched the World Cup final in Kampala.
Last week, German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière said that his country has agreed to accept two Gitmo detainees. One of the two was recruited by Hamas, trained in an al Qaeda camp, and allegedly wanted to conduct a suicide operation. The other allegedly traveled to Afghanistan to wage jihad after the September 11 attacks.
In an interview with The Long War Journal, Musa Qala Deputy District Governor Mohammad Akbar Khan discusses the Taliban, governance, reconstruction, and Coalition support in the Helmand district.
In a shift from the past, the US military is beginning to identify Pakistan-based terrorists, including the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Chechen and Arab fighters, as being directly associated with the Afghan Taliban.
Six Pakistani soldiers were killed in Taliban attacks on security posts in the Mehsud tribal areas. The military said 38 Taliban fighters were killed in counterstrikes. Just 10 days ago, the military claimed that South Waziristan was cleared of the Taliban.
The Taliban claimed the attack in the lawless tribal agency of Mohmand.
In an interview with The Long War Journal, Musa Qala District Police Chief Haji Abdul Wali discusses the Taliban problem and the need for NATO forces to remain in Afghanistan.
Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al Qosi, a Sudanese detainee held at Guantanamo, pled guilty to charges of conspiracy and material support for terrorism before a military commission today. Al Qosi served the Taliban and al Qaeda in a variety of roles beginning in 1990.
Sheikh Fateh al Masri, an Egyptian, has been named al Qaeda’s emir for Afghanistan. He replaced Mustafa Abu Yazid, who was killed in a US Predator strike in North Waziristan in May.