A former Guantanamo detainee named Fahd Saleh Suleiman al Jutayli has reportedly been killed in a shootout in Yemen. Prior to his repatriation to Saudi Arabia, Jutayli was accused of having fought at Tora Bora.
The US conducted its third airstrike inside Pakistan’s Taliban-controlled tribal areas in the past 24 hours. Hakeemullah Mehsud’s brother was reported killed an assault on a military base in Ramzak, while the Taliban released a video of Baitullah’s corpse.
General Ashfaq Kiyani, Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff, has weighed in on the debate over the potential for the US air campaign against the Taliban and al Qaeda to expand into Baluchistan province, according to the Daily Times. During a meeting of the Tripartite Commission, Kiyani reportedly warned the US against conducting strikes in the […]
The Haqqani Network was targeted in North Waziristan while a compound operated by local Taliban commander Ifran Mehsud was hit in South Waziristan.
On Sept. 24, the government submitted a memorandum of law supporting its motion for a permanent order of detention against Najibullah Zazi pending the outcome of his trial. The memorandum contends that Zazi should be detained because he poses a flight risk and a danger to the community. The memorandum represents the government’s most complete […]
The Taliban launched a rocket and ground assault on a military base in Ramzak as the government ponders an operation in Waziristan.
Ayman al Zawahiri, al Qaeda’s second in command, eulogized former Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud on a videotape produced by As Sahab and released on jihadi forums. Zawahiri said Baitullah challenged the Pakistani state and exposed the Pakistani Army as being a corrupt and un-Islamic institution.
Over at the Institute for the Study of War, Jeffrey Dressler published a good overview of the situation in Helmand province. The report is well worth the read. This section highlights the foreign fighter [al Qaeda] involvement in Helmand. For those thinking that al Qaeda wouldn’t be welcome in Afghanistan if the Taliban took control […]
Ayman al Zawahiri, al Qaeda’s second in command, has sung the praises of former Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud on a videotape produced by As Sahab and distributed on jihadi forums. Zawahiri used Baitullah’s death to praise the Taliban’s fight against NATO and the US in Afghanistan. But Zawahiri especially focused on Baitullah’s role in […]
Members of the pro-Taliban Jamiat ulema-i-Islam party protest in Quetta on Thursday, May 28, 2009, against the military offensive against Taliban in Swat. AP Photo. According to the Telegraph, the US has threatened to expand the airstrike campaign to include the Quetta Shura, the Afghan Taliban’s governing council led by Mullah Omar: State department and […]
Pakistan discovers ‘village’ of white German al-Qaeda insurgents
Scores of children train to become suicide bombers at a camp run by Qair Hussain in Spinkai, South Waziristan. Image courtesy of AfPax Insider. Qari Hussain Mehsud, the cousin of slain Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, popped up from hiding and conducted an interview with the Associated Press. Qari Hussain is the Taliban leader who is […]
Eight people have been reported killed in the latest US strike in Pakistan’s tribal areas. The attack targeted a compound run by Ahmad Haqqani, one of Jalaluddin Haqqani’s sons.
Five Taliban fighters were killed and 15 more were wounded in an airstrike in Kandahar. Afghan and Coalition forces detained “several” Taliban fighters during operations in Helmand, Kandahar, Kunduz, and Wardak provinces. A pro-government former mujahedeen leader was killed in Baghlan. Farah province’s intelligence chief escaped an assassination attempt. Hundreds of Taliban fighters have moved […]
One of the more striking aspects of the McChrystal report on Afghanistan is the US military’s assessment of the Taliban’s shadow government: The [Quetta Shura Taliban: QST] has a governing structure in Afghanistan under the rubric of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. They appoint shadow governors for most provinces, review their performance, and replace them […]
Taliban widen Afghan attacks from base in Pakistan
US military and intelligence officials warn that al Qaeda maintains a robust network in northwestern Pakistan despite two years of targeted strikes.
Over at The Weekly Standard, I noted that the proposal to rely on counterterrorism techniques, specifically Predator/Reaper strikes, to take out al Qaeda’s senior leadership in Pakistan in lieu of a counterinsurgency program to defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan, is seriously flawed. The proponents of this strategy make the assumption that al Qaeda and the […]
Najibullah Zazi. AP photo Over the weekend, three men were arrested and charged in the ongoing terror probe centered around New York and Colorado. The three men are Najibullah Zazi, 24; his father Mohammed Wali Zazi, 53; and Ahmad Wais Afzali, 37. Though all three were charged with making false statements to authorities, terrorism charges […]
The Washington Post has leaked an unclassified version of General Stanley McChrystal’s long-awaited report on Afghanistan. The full report, all 66 pages, can be found here. The Washington Post provides a good roundup of the report. In short, and it should come as no surprise, McChrystal calls for a change in strategy by ISAF, which […]
Hafiz Saeed is placed under house arrest in Lahore for the second time in 10 months. Police filed charges against Saeed for preaching jihad and raising funds for terror activities just days ago.
The FBI said it found hand-written notes by Najibullah Zazi that described how to make bombs. His fingerprints were also found on bomb-making materiel. Zazi, who admitted to receiving explosives training in Pakistan, is one of three Muslims detained by the FBI. His father and Ahmad Wais Afzali, an imam at a mosque in Queens, […]
Banner announcing Bekkay Harrach latest release, “O Allah, I Love You (Part 1).” Less than a day after Bekkay Harrach, alias Al Hafidh Abu Talha al Almani, appeared in a video threatening Germany with attacks, he appeared in another video posted Saturday on the militant forums associated with al Qaeda and allied movements. The video, […]
Pakistan’s security gains contrast Afghan turmoil
Bekkay Harrach, alias Al Hafidh Abu Talha al Almani, warned that Germany would be attacked is Chancellor Merkel is re-elected and the country does not withdraw from Afghanistan.
Najibullah Zazi is said to have admitted to receiving explosives training at an al Qaeda camp in Pakistan and may plead guilty as part of a deal to cooperate with the government. Zazi was the subject of FBI raids in New York City and Denver earlier this week.
Click to view slide show of the Haqqani Network. Pictured is a composite image of Siraj Haqqani. The Asia Times’ Syed Saleem Shahzad reports that the Taliban supremos in North and South Waziristan recently held a meeting in Khost province in Afghanistan. The meeting was called and chaired by Siraj Haqqani, the son of Jalaluddin […]
Ilyas Kashmiri and Najmuddin Jalolov are said to have been killed during the Sept. 14 airstrike in the village of Turikhel near the town of Mir Ali in Taliban-controlled North Waziristan. The report is unconfirmed.
Nabhan fires a rifle in a videotape produced by al Qaeda’s media arm. Image by Nick Grace. Click to view. Daniele Raineri, an Italian journalist who writes for Il Foglio and a friend of The Long War Journal, passed along a tip about the commando raid that resulted in the death of Saleh Ali Saleh […]
Diversion of funds: US sends team to Pakistan