General John Allen submitted plans for a US troop presence in Afghanistan after 2014 with three options: 6,000; 10,000; and 20,000 troops. A federal judge reluctantly ruled that the Justice Department need not make public a legal memorandum justifying the targeting of US citizen and al Qaeda ideologue Anwar al Awlaki.
Afghan War Commander Gives Options for After ’14
Twenty Taliban fighters were released from Bagram prison as part of “peace” efforts. The Taliban killed an ISAF soldier in an IED attack in the south. Security forces killed and captured several Taliban commanders and fighters.
An al Qaeda in Iraq suicide bomber killed 27 Shia pilgrims in an attack at a bus station in Mussayab. Security forces detained six al Qaeda members during a raid in Karbala.
US drones killed Mukbel Abbad, a local al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula commander, and two fighters in a strike in Rada’a in Al Baydah province. Two soldiers were wounded in a grenade attack in Shabwa province.
The National Security and Intelligence Agency claimed it arrested 15 al Qaeda operatives who were trained by Shabaab to carry out attacks in Ethiopia. Security forces also found weapons, jihadist propaganda, and training manuals during the raid.
Algerian security forces killed seven more al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb fighters during a raid in the Oued Bahara area of Boumerdes. The AQIM fighters were members of the El-Feth brigade.
Heavy fighting raged around Taftanaz military airport in northwest Syria. Hundreds of rebels attempted to storm the base but were repelled. Aleppo’s international airport remained under siege. Government forces attacked the rebel stronghold of Daraya in Damascus.
Afghanistan Faces Uncertain Future
A local al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula leader and two fighters were killed in the third strike in Rada’a in Al Baydah province since Dec. 24, 2012.
Morocco’s interior minister said that an Ansar al Sharia cell in Morocco “was seeking to obtain financial and military support” from al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
Suspected Boko Haram militants killed a soldier, a policeman, an old woman, and her grandchild at the police and municipal headquarters in Song in Adamawa state; they also burned the buildings. Similar attacks took place last week in Maiha, Hong, and Fufore, also in Adamawa state, which borders Cameroon.
Gunmen from a militant Islamist group kidnapped Abdulsalam al Mihdawi, the acting head of criminal investigation in Benghazi. The militants attacked al Mihdawi and two colleagues in his car as it waited at a stoplight in the city. Over a dozen security officials have been assassinated in Benghazi in recent months.
Nazir, who has professed his alligiance to al Qaeda, was killed along with several deputies in one of three strikes in North and South Waziristan over the past 24 hours. A separate strike killed Faisal Khan, a Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan commander, and two Uzbeks.
Abid Naseer, 26, who is wanted by the US on terror charges relating to an al Qaeda plot to bomb New York subways, was extradited to the US. Naseer, a Pakistani, was arrested in 2009 along with 11 other mostly Pakistani members of an al Qaeda cell that also planned attacks in Manchester and Norway. […]
Al Jazeera buys US channel Current TV
Pakistan – New doctrine: Army identifies ‘homegrown militancy’ as biggest threat
US drones killed five “militants” in South Waziristan. “Gunmen” kidnapped seven soldiers in Jand as they were returning from leave in Rawalpindi. Security forces killed two “terrorists” during an operation in Miramshah in North Waziristan.
Egypt – Shura Council’s new legislative powers are worrying for many
Head of Libya’s Copts speaks out on Misrata killing
Obama’s pivot to Asia? Middle East will still demand attention in 2013
Afghanistan Sets Preconditions for Accepting Taliban’s Qatar Office
Taliban and al Qaeda ally Gulbuddin Hekmatyar said that Britain’s Prince Harry is in Afghanistan “to kill innocent Afghans while he is drunk,” and said he hid when the Taliban assaulted Camp Bastion last summer. ISAF captured several Taliban commanders and fighters.
The remotely piloted Predators or Reapers fired four missiles at a compound in Mullah Nazir’s territory. The strike is the first in 2013.
The Muslim Brotherhood claimed that the recent arrest of some of its members in the United Arab Emirates was unwarranted. Egypt’s opposition liberal and secular groups prepared to create a new political party to contest upcoming parliamentary elections. A senior Muslim Brotherhood official said that Israel would cease to exist within a decade.
Pakistani Government Offers To Insure Foreign Businessmen
Wealthy London residents clash with millionaire Arab boy racers
Exclusive report from a Central African Republic city conquered by rebels
The UN reported that 60,000 people have been killed in the 22-month-long conflict, a sharp increase from previous reports; the UN also said more than 500,000 have fled the country including 84,000 in December alone. The Philippine-based operator for the port of Tartus pulled its workers out of Syria.
The US announced that it would scrap a fleet of 16 planes provided to the Afghan National Air Force. This is just the beginning.