September 26th, 2009
admin
From HuffingtonPost.com
CAIRO — Osama bin Laden demanded that European countries pull their troops out of Afghanistan in a new audiotape Friday, warning of “retaliation” against them for their alliance with the United States in the war.
An image made from video with an audio-message, provided by IntelCenter on Friday, Sept 25. 2009, al-Qaeda’s as-Sahab released a 4′47″ video featuring an audio statement from Osama bin Laden entitled, “A Message from Sheikh Osama bin Laden to the People of Europe”. Osama bin Laden demanded that European countries pull their troops out of Afganistan in a new audiotape Friday, warning of “retaliation” against them for their alliance with the United States in the war. The message is in Arabic and was released in both an English and German subtitled version. On-screen text reads, �Say to those who disbelieve: if they desist, that which has passed will be forgiven them; but if they return [to their misdeeds], then the example of previous peoples has already passed before them. (AP Photo/IntelCenter)
September 16th, 2009
admin
From The Guardian UK:
Al-Qaeda has called on the Taliban to kidnap more foreign civilians in Afghanistan so they can be used in prisoner swap deals.
By Bonnie Malkin in Sydney, Ben Farmer in Kabul and Dean Nelson in New Delhi
Published: 3:06PM BST 16 Sep 2009
Terrorist leaders say a concerted campaign of abductions targeting thousands of expatriates including Britons was justified by the detention of Muslims in prisons such as Guantánamo Bay.
The call from Mustafa Hamid, also known as Abu Walid al Masri, has just emerged but was made in July, just weeks before a British journalist, Stephen Farrell, was kidnapped in Kunduz province.
Western sources in Kabul said the order would be seen as a message to criminal kidnap gangs to “let the games begin”, and pass on captives to the Taliban.
The article on a jihadist website, entitled “The US Soldier in Afghanistan – the first step for the release of all prisoners of the war on terror”, said the capture of a US paratrooper in June should mark a precedent for abducting Western civilians.
Masri argued that the US had “changed the rules of the game” by not distinguishing between civilians and combatants and by torturing inmates.
READ FULL STORY
September 10th, 2009
admin
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – The Taliban have a significant presence in almost every corner of Afghanistan, data from a policy think tank showed on Thursday, as the country lurches into political uncertainty after a disputed presidential election.
A political standoff has deepened since the August 20 poll, with President Hamid Karzai defending the ballot as honest but a U.N.-backed election watchdog invalidating some votes and ordering a partial recount amid widespread accusations of fraud.
The uncertainty coincides with the most violent period since the Taliban were toppled by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in 2001, with record military and civilian deaths testing the resolve of U.S. and European leaders.
The election, initially hailed a success after the Taliban failed to disrupt it, has since become a major headache for Washington and a test of President Barack Obama’s new regional strategy to defeat the militants and stabilize Afghanistan.
A security map by policy research group the International Council on Security and Development (ICOS) however showed a deepening security crisis with substantial Taliban activity in at least 97 percent of the country.
READ FULL STORY
DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (AP) — A militant commander who is holding a U.S. soldier abducted in Afghanistan said Sunday that Taliban leader Mullah Omar’s council is waiting for a response to its demands before deciding the American’s fate.
It was the first news of Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl, 23, made public since a Taliban video was released July 18.
Maulvi Sangin, an insurgent commander for eastern Afghanistan, said the Taliban’s governing body was awaiting a response to demands it made to the U.S. for his return.
“The American’s fate is in the hand of (leadership), which is waiting until a response from the Americans to its demands,” Sangin told The Associated Press.
Sangin would not elaborate on the demands or say if any deadline had been given. A spokesman for Sangin had previously said the soldier would be killed unless the U.S. stops airstrikes in two areas of eastern Afghanistan.
Bergdahl, of Hailey, Idaho, was serving with an Alaska-based infantry regiment when he disappeared June 30, just five months after arriving in Afghanistan. He was serving at an eastern base near the border with Pakistan. The circumstances of his capture weren’t clear. Details of such incidents are routinely withheld by the military to avoid giving away any information to captors.
READ FULL STORY
Al Qaeda recruits say they received training in how to handle rockets, explosives and bombs.
(CNN) — The interrogations of two accused Westerners who say they trained and fought with al Qaeda in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region provide an inside view of the terror group’s organizational structures.
Arguably, they shed more light on the state of al Qaeda than any material previously released into the public domain.
The documents reveal training programs and the protective measures the terrorist organization has taken against increasingly effective U.S. missile strikes.
Bryant Vinas — a U.S. citizen who says he traveled to Pakistan in September 2007 to fight against Americans in Afghanistan — stated that between March and July 2008 he attended three al Qaeda training courses, which focused on weapons, explosives, and rocket-based or -propelled weaponry.
READ FULL STORY
