Posted on 11/19/2011 6:59:16 AM PST by AmericanInTokyo
"Exiled Libyans with connections to Al Qaeda are racing to find ways to send people home, in hope of steering the anti-Gaddafi revolt in a radical Islamist direction, according to several senior Afghan Taliban sources in contact with Al-Qaeda.
“This rebellion is the fresh breeze they’ve been waiting years for,” says an Afghan Taliban operative who helps facilitate the movement of Al Qaeda militants between the tribal area and Pakistani cities. “Some say they are ready to go back at this critical moment.” The operative, who has just returned from Pakistan’s lawless tribal area on the Afghanistan border, adds: “They realize that if they don’t use this opportunity, it could be the end of their chances to turn Libya toward a real Islamic state, as Afghanistan once was.”....(snip)...
Several Libyans have held top roles in Al Qaeda’s leadership. Some traveled to Afghanistan in the 1980s to fight the Soviets and stayed, eventually teaming up with bin Laden after his return from Sudan in 1996. Taliban sources estimate there were some 200 Libyans with bin Laden in Afghanistan at the time of the 9/11 attacks. Since then some of bin Laden’s senior-most operational aides have been Libyans. One was Abu Faraj al-Libi, who was captured by Pakistan forces in 2005 and is now a prisoner in Guantanamo Bay; another was Abu Lais al-Libi, his replacement as Al Qaeda’s third in command, who died in a U.S. Predator attack in 2008. Apart from his hard-line sermons and jihadist exhortations that are widely distributed on DVD and posted on jihadist Website, Yahya may be be best known for his daring escape along with four [make that three other] other Al Qaeda prisoners from the high-security lockup at the American airbase at Bagram in July 2005.Yahya, who is believed to be in his late 40s, is smarter, more charismatic, a more articulate speaker and a more learned Islamic scholar than either Faraj or Lais, according to Afghan Taliban sources.
Now he’s said to be eager to go home, like most other Libyans in the Afghan borderlands. “They desperately want to at least get a foothold in the new Libya,” the Taliban facilitator says. The long, dangerous trip from Pakistan’s tribal areas to Libya—via Afghanistan, Iran, Iraqi Kurdestan and Turkey—can take weeks if not months. Nevertheless, at least one Taliban source says Yahya made the trip two years ago and returned safely, although no one else seems able to confirm that story. And even if he or other Al Qaedea Libyans manage to get home again, the Taliban facilitator says they know they’ll have a tough time influencing the largely prodemocracy uprising. “They know they must tread cautiously, and not push too hard, for too much, too soon,” he says. Instead, he says, they expect to take a moderate line at first, while quietly trying to persuade rebel leaders that the preservation of Libyan sovereignty against Western “colonialists” depends on taking an anti-Israeli, anti-American line. Any move toward imposing Islamic sharia law, Yahya’s specialty, will have to come later.
Still, Taliban sources say, if Yahya is successful in reaching rebel-held territory inside Libya, at least he’ll be able to operate with relative freedom, without worrying about Gaddafi’s secret police. There’s one question: will bin Laden grant leave to Al Qaeda’s senior operations man for Afghanistan to undertake such a hazardous journey? The betting among the Taliban is that he will—and he may already have a replacement in mind. “Al Qaeda will not leave this place empty,” says the facilitator.
Sami Yousafzai is Newsweek's correspondent in Pakistan and Afghanistan, where he has covered militancy, Al Qaeda and the Taliban for the magazine since 9/11. He was born in Afghanistan but moved to Pakistan with his family after the Russian invasion in 1979. He began his career as a sports journalist but switched to war reporting in 1997.
Ron Moreau is Newsweek’s Afghanistan and Pakistan correspondent and has been covering the region for the magazine the past 10 years. Since he first joined Newsweek during the Vietnam War, he has reported extensively from Asia, the Middle East and Latin America.
Ping.
Ping
I use the term “Taliban” as a generic term myself.
I have people combing al Jazeera or al Arabiya in Arabic, for any further evidence of movement by Afghan Taliban to and from Libya in an effort to fight with the Libyan Resistance against Muammar Qaddafi. I am not sure if AJ or AA would want to let this be known, but sometimes they unwittingly interview various combatants who love the TV cameras, and one can see from their talk, ethnic dress, characteristics mannerisms and message, if they are (Afghan) Taliban or Libyan AQ who had come back into the Misrata, Benghazi, Sirte and other battles in the last few months. Indications I am getting is that yes, Taliban in fact were involved in Libya, even though of course they are primarily two strains active in Afghanistan and Pakistan (Waziristan/Frontier areas). The media and other pilers on may have to eat crow here depending on what we come up with.
Cain 4 Media/RINOS 0 :)
Doesn’t matter! Cain is stupid, can’t talk, has a bad memory, has no political experience, isn’t ready to lead, blah blah blah... s/
Like I asked on another thread, Where was the Gaff? :) Just like before Cain was right and the media hyperbole was wrong.
I also use the term taliban generically for all the muslim crazies. It’s the political elite that want us to believe there’s any difference between one muslim crazy group and another.
The only reason you don’t see the Muslim Brotherhood In Egypt or the Libyan rebels acting as savage as the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan is because the Egyptian/Libyan types haven’t broken down the society to the point that Afghanistan or the lawless regions of Pakistan have been broken down.
In 20-30 years when the populace is effectively brainwashed to accept total sharia law and western education/artistry/culture has been stripped away, you’ll see them executing women in football stadiums and outlawing photography and mandating facial hair. Many of the dictators like Mubarak or Gadafi, although thugs in their own right, built up their countries to some level of international respectability. They can’t be removed overnight.
There’s already been stories of the Egyptian MoBros targetting the Library of Alexandria and its western-influenced education in the arts.
FYI: the rebellion in Libya started when a muslim fanatic blew himself up outside a Libyan army barracks. This was even reported on the liberal networks. The terrorist was however called a martyr.
Yeah, maybe. But he didn't know it.
That's the key. Did Cain do some serious reading on this topic before giving his opinion, or did he just guess?
I have a lot of admiration for Cain, but I'm beginning to think he's just guessing. And that's not a good thing.
The Current FReepathon Pays For The Current Quarters Expenses?
"Guest Blog: A former Afghanistan jihadi in Libya's revolution posted: 29-03-2011 / by: Christoph Reuter Our guest blogger Christoph Reuter(*) has met a former Afghanistan fighter in the liberated city of Darnah and found that Libya's Islamists do not need a jihadi valve anymore. They even do not attempt to hijack the Libyan revolution - which is secular in character, like the ones in Egypt and Tunisia. When about a month ago the city of Tobruk in eastern Libya was liberated from Colonel Qaddafi’s rule after short fighting and basically the whole city taking the side of the revolution, the newly formed city committee met in the townhall. Lawyers, former government employees, businessmen and a calm, long-bearded IT expert with a prayer cap discussed how to run the city’s infrastructure. Before the foreign journalist left, the bearded man wanted to make one thing clear: You see, I am a pious man. But this is my private affair. You, the west, should not be afraid. We all want the same now: dignity, freedom, democracy. We want the same you want!“ What sounded like a surprising personal message was to be heard in all liberated cities in Libya, but also in Egypt and Tunisia: that this is an uprising for freedom and the rule of law supported equally by religious and secular people and that no militant Islamists are intending to hijack the revolt simply because they realise that the idea of the political Islam has rapidly lost its appeal. Even in the Libyan port town of Darnah, formerly known as ‚conservative‘ and, according to a WikeLeaks cable, a 'wellspring for foreign fighters in Iraq', clerics, secular leaders and Islamists stressed their unity. 'Freedom, dignity and national unity“, read one banner hanging from the local Sahaba Mosque. People here have been cheering the US attacks against Qaddafi’s forces. This included the men of Abdul Hakim al-Hasidi – who himself had fought against US troops in Afghanistan for five years until he was captured 2002 in Peshawar, turned over to the Americans, then jailed in Libya and finally released in 2008(**). Now he is organizing the defenses of Darnah and the logistics to send fighters to the frontline. He was singled out by Qaddafi’s government to claim that the Libyan rebellion „came from al-Qaeda“. When confronted by a New York Times reporter with the charge, al-Hasidi laughed. 'We don’t need an Islamic state. If I had extremist thoughts, then people wouldn’t have sided with me.'"
I’ll take an honest guess over the knowing lies of the perpetual politicians any day of the week.
I am going to find a Taliban presence within the Libyan Resistance, it is just a matter of time. Take that to the bank.
Actually that is what exactly what makes for good business success. It is called reading the tea leaves for getting an idea of the market direction. It is a skill that would actually translate fairly well to international affairs and for big corporations is utilized. A company operating on foreign soils needs more than just capitalism to survive. They need to be able to read the cultural and political environment and then make an educated guess in many circumstances.
تاريخ نشر التعليق: 2011/11/13، على الساعة: 17:00 Abu Ahmad: Arabs are doing what the European used to do in the mid-centuries, I.E , we thought that rebels in Libya are just an excellent fighters for freedom, we made a mistake, they are form the same shame group of Al Qathafi, I will not be surprised to see Taliban rebels are reallocated in Libya. Shame on Arabs to restrict Arabs from entering to their countries, I think the end of those Libyan rebels has started , ela jahanm wa beasa al masseer , تاريخ نشر التعليق: 2011/11/14، على الساعة: 19:3
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