Mafia and terror kingpin Dawood Ibrahim. The Congressional Research Service has issued a solid report on the nexus between criminal syndicates and terrorist groups. Entitled “International Terrorism and Transnational Crime: Security Threats, U.S. Policy, and Considerations for Congress,” the report has a section devoted to Dawood Ibrahim, the criminal don of South Asia. The report […]
Mustafa Abu Yazid, al Qaeda’s leader in Afghanistan, confirmed that Abdullah Said al Libi was killed in a US airstrike. Yazid confirmed this in a tape praising the suicide attack on the CIA base in Khost.
A suicide bomber killed three soldiers in an attack on an Army base in Tararrkhal region in Pakistan-held Kashmir. An Indian policeman was killed and eight more were wounded in a suicide attack and gunbattle in Srinagar in Indian-held Kashmir.
ISAF said 23 “key insurgent leaders” were killed in eastern Afghanistan between mid-November and December 2009.
Aircraft twice hit a Taliban training camp in Datta Khel. Two “foreigners” are reported to have been killed in the third strike this year.
After days of rumors swirling around the identity of the suicide bomber who killed seven CIA agents and a Jordanian intelligence official on Combat Outpost Chapman in Khost province on Dec. 30, the mystery seems to have been solved. The Jordanian intelligence agent recruited a Jordanian doctor who was a known jihadist. The bomber provided […]
The Taliban and the government continue to battle for control of the tribal area. Anti-Taliban tribal militias have been hit hard.
A graphic from The New York Times pithily compares statistical progress on the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Iraq’s numbers are heartening, with dramatic year-over-year reductions in civilian deaths, Iraqi Security Force deaths, and US troop deaths in November 2009. An update on one statistic is even more positive: In December, there were only […]
Al Sahwa (one of my favorite blogs on issues related to the war and counterinsurgency) points us to a presentation by Colonel Andrea Thompson on the state of the Afghan insurgency as viewed by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). Al Sahwa has a good rundown on the important points, so head over there to […]
Haji Omar Khan, a long-time ally of Taliban leader Mullah Omar, was killed in the attack in Machi Khel, according to his family.
An Afghan official said an ISAF airstrike killed seven civilians and two Taliban fighters in Helmand province. The Taliban killed a driver of a NATO supply truck and his helper in Zabul and kidnapped two French journalists. Pakistani Taliban commander Qari Hussain Mehsud took credit for the suicide attack at the CIA base in Khost.
The US hit a vehicle as it traveled in the Taliban-controlled tribal agency. The attack is the second in the Mir Ali region in 24 hours.
The attack in the Mir Ali region is the 52nd recorded cross-border strike by the US in 2009.
According to The Washington Post, the suicide attack at Combat Outpost Chapman hit a base used by the CIA to target Taliban and al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan and Afghanistan: The attack represented an audacious blow to intelligence operatives at the vanguard of U.S. counterterrorism operations in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, killing officials whose job […]
A suicide bomber apparently penetrated security at a US combat outpost in Khost province and detonated inside a facility on the base; CNN reported the attack took place at either a chow hall or a gym at Combat Outpost Chapman: A suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest attacked Forward Operating Base Chapman near the district […]
A former Gitmo detainee, Hani Abdo Shaalan, was killed in Yemen as he was reportedly preparing to participate in an attack on the British embassy and other Western targets. At Gitmo, Shaalan admitted that he worked for the Taliban yet downplayed his role, but evidence indicates he was recruited and trained by the Taliban.
Haqqani network challenges US-Pakistan relations
The attack is the latest against Shia worshippers during a religious festival. The al Qaeda-linked Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which has regrouped in Karachi, is the prime suspect.
A suicide bomber killed 15 Shia mourners and wounded 100 more in an attack on a procession in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-held Kashmir. Two policemen were among those killed. This was the third suicide attack in Pakistan-held Kashmir this year.
The anti-Taliban tribal leader is the sixth who has been assassinated in Bajaur since Oct. 3.
Unmanned US strike aircraft hit a safe house in Saidgai in Pakistan’s Taliban-controlled tribal agency.
Anwar al Awlaki, the cleric who provided advice to the Ft. Hood shooter, survived Thursday’s airstrike in Yemen’s Shabwa province.
Private First Class Bowe Bergdahl, the US soldier who was captured by the Haqqani Network in June 2009 in Paktika province, is seen in fatigues and sunglasses.
The government is claiming that Nasir al Wuhayshi, the leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, his deputy Said al Shihri, and radical US-Yemeni cleric Anwar al Awlaki may have been killed in an airstrike that killed more than 30 al Qaeda operatives. The reports are unconfirmed.
Afghanistan war: Marines move in to stop Taliban from Pakistan
Al Qaeda’s sights on Pakistan, and beyond
Hakeemullah Mehsud (left), the new leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, is photographed with Waliur Rehman, the new leader of the Taliban in South Waziristan (right), during their meeting with the media in Sararogha in South Waziristan. AP photo.APP Photo. Waliur Rehman Mehsud, the leader of the Movement of the Taliban in […]
Mullah Sher Malang is known to organize suicide attacks and roadside bombings in western Afghanistan. He is a deputy of Mullah Abdullah Zakir, the Taliban’s chief of military operations in southern Afghanistan.
US soldiers from the the 3rd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, on patrol in Shurta in Baghdad, September 2007. Photo by Bill Roggio. The Long War Journal received a very flattering compliment from US soldiers deployed in Afghanistan. Sean Naylor from The Army Times reported that the intelligence shop from the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry […]
Afghan and Coalition forces killed eight Taliban fighters in Helmand, seven in Kunduz, and six more in Ghazni. Four Taliban fighters were killed after they stormed a police building in the city of Gardez in Paktia province. The Taliban destroyed an Afghan Army base near the Pakistani border in Paktia.