Free Republic

Show availability of Iran for al Qaeda training, plotting. This week, prosecutors in New York introduced eight documents recovered in Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan as evidence in the trial of a terrorism suspect. The U.S. government accuses Abid Naseer of taking part in al Qaeda’s scheme to attack targets in Europe and New York City. The files do not support the view, promoted by some in the Obama administration, that bin Laden was in “comfortable retirement,” “sidelined,” or “a lion in winter” in the months leading up to his death. Some of the key revelations in the newly-released...

The Big Lie principle, as elaborated by Hitler and Goebbels, is that if you tell a small lie, you’ll be caught on it, but if you tell a really big, even outrageous whopper, people will tend to believe it. It’s an insight into human psychology which helps explain how those two second-stringers wound up seizing the levers of the most advanced nation in 20th Century Europe and running it into the ground, to the detriment of scores of millions worldwide. But right now, it’s making the rounds in our little world, as hired shills for foreign manufacturers lie about one...

The Battle of Kamdesh, one of the most deadly military engagements during the U.S. war in Afghanistan, turned especially bloody – leaving eight Americans dead and 22 wounded – because troops and aircraft normally tasked to support U.S. fighting men and woman were diverted to search for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. The Oct. 3, 2009 battle at Combat Outpost Keating, near the town of Kamdesh in Nuristan province, lasted more than 12 hours and earned two Army staff sergeants the Medal of Honor, the highest award for bravery the Pentagon can bestow on a warrior. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2647711/Revealed-Hunt-Bowe-Bergdahl-left-troops-unprotected-bloody-battle-left-EIGHT-U-S-soldiers-dead-22-wounded-produced-two-Medal-Honor-recipients.html#ixzz33dBfsoz2 Follow us: @MailOnline...

A U.S. military investigation says command failures left American soldiers in an indefensible position without adequate support when hundreds of insurgents attacked their remote outpost in northeastern Afghanistan with rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and guns. Eight troops died. Twenty-two others were wounded during the October 2009 attack on Combat Outpost Keating, one the deadliest battles during the nearly decade-long war. The investigation released Friday by U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Fla., recommended giving four officers letters of admonition or reprimand for putting the 53 American troops in a vulnerable position at the outpost in mountainous Nuristan province near the Pakistan border.

"Medical charity: 6 Americans among 10 killed by militants in remote area of N Afghanistan" KABUL, AFGHANISTAN SNIPPET: "KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Six Americans and two other foreigners on a medical mission were shot and killed by the Taliban who ambushed their vehicles in a remote part of northern Afghanistan, a charity said Saturday. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told The Associated Press in Pakistan that they killed the foreigners because they were "spying for the Americans" and "preaching Christianity.""

An American man has been detained in the mountains of Pakistan after local authorities found him carrying a sword, pistol and night-vision goggles on a Rambo-style solo mission to hunt down and kill Osama bin Laden. Friends and family say construction worker Gary Brooks Faulkner is a devout, good-humored Christian who often talked about building a porch or framing a house — not taking down the world's most-wanted terrorist. They had few clues to explain his 7,300-mile journey. "I'm like, 'What? They got him where?'" said Daren Paredes, a friend who met Faulkner in the northern Colorado town of Greeley....

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — An American businessman armed with a pistol, dagger and a sword has been arrested in Pakistan on suspicion of wanting to hunt down and kill Osama bin Laden, police said Tuesday. The 50-year-old from California was detained on Monday in what was apparently the first such case in Pakistan since the United States offered a bounty of 25 million dollars for the world's most-wanted man. The suspect was arrested in the northern mountains of Chitral, once a rumoured hiding place of bin Laden, near Afghanistan's Nuristan province, said police officer Mumtaz Ahmad Khan. Police identified him as...

Note: Video and photos included. "Pictures of the 'White Taliban' in Kunar" By BILL ROGGIO May 17, 2010 3:57 PM SNIPPET: "Via SpyTalk comes the report of a Western-looking man dressed in Western clothes, milling around in a group of Taliban fighters in Kunar province, Afghanistan. The video (above, for as long as it stays up) was produced by Al Emara, the Taliban's propaganda arm, and released on jihadist forums over the weekend. The video also has plenty of footage of the Taliban's assault on Combat Outpost Keating in the Kamdesh district in Kunar province. Interestingly enough, the Sunday Times...

SNIPPET: "The US military targeted a Taliban commander in eastern Afghanistan who was behind the kidnapping of a Norwegian journalist in November. The Taliban commander, who is known as Haji Mohammad Dawran Safi or Qari Dawat, was the target of a November 26 airstrike in the eastern province of Kunar. Qari Dawat "is known for attacking innocent civilians in the Kunar region, as well as international forces and bases," the US military noted in a press release on Nov. 27, one day after the strike. Qari Dawat was not named, however. An Afghan Police commander confirmed the airstrike and said...

In the wake of an attack that nearly overran a U.S. military outpost in Afghanistan’s Nuristan province, the Taliban have released a statement in the name of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan describing the attack as part of a larger campaign to drive the U.S. military out of their bases in Nuristan. The statement appeared in the October-November issue of the Taliban’s Al-Sumud magazine. An October 3 attack by some 300 Taliban and Hizb-i-Islami fighters on Combat Outpost (COP) Keating (occupied jointly by U.S. and ANA forces) left eight Americans dead and 24 wounded. The attack on COP Keating was...

Last week, Rich and I discussed the horrific Taliban attack in remote Nuristan province (near the Af/Pak border) in which 8 American soldiers were killed. (See here, here and here.) About 200 Taliban raided a combat outpost near Kamdesh. The initial reporting from the Washington Post (here) indicated our troops were sitting ducks: In inadequate numbers, they were left in an intolerably perilous and tactically useless situation due to (a) the desire to accommodate the political needs of the Karzai government we are trying to prop up, (b) equipment shortages, and (c) the study of the overall Afghan mission then being undertaken by...

U.S. Army Spc. Zackery Cely provides security from a tower at Forward Operating Base Lane in the Zabul province of Afghanistan Oct. 5, 2009. Cely is from Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment. (DoD photo by Spc. Tia P. Sokimson, U.S. Army)Last weekend, two military outposts came under siege, resulting in the deaths of 8 U.S. soldiers, 7 Afghan soldiers. The U.S. military destroyed both Camp Keating and Camp Fritsche 4 days later (56 soldiers who evacuated from there apparently lost everything except the clothes on their backs), giving the Taliban a victory claim (nevermind their loss of 100...

Raw Video: Camp Keating Interviews -- from the soldiers who were there, and the pilots who flew in. Interview by ISAF Media. NATOs main role in Afghanistan is to assist the Afghan Government in exercising and extending its authority and influence across the country, paving the way for reconstruction and effective governance. It does this predominately through its UN-mandated International Security Assistance Force. Since NATO took command of ISAF in 2003, the Alliance has gradually expanded the reach of its mission, originally limited to Kabul, to cover Afghanistans whole territory. The number of ISAF troops has grown accordingly from the...

American troops have abandoned an isolated firebase where eight U.S. soldiers were killed in a fierce assault by insurgents last weekend, military officials said today. The departure from the base in the Kamdesh district of Nuristan province, in northeastern Afghanistan, was part of a previously planned "repositioning" of troops, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said in a statement. The Taliban, in its own statement, alleged it had driven the Americans out.

SNIPPET: "The US military now claims that more than 100 enemy fighters were killed during the Oct. 3 assault on two joint Afghan and US outposts in Nuristan province." SNIPPET: "The US military has also backtracked from its initial statement that the assault was carried out by a "Nuristani tribal militia" and that "the sources of the conflict in the area involve complex tribal, religious and economic dynamics." "Additionally, ISAF now believes that while the attack was conducted by local anti-Afghan forces, ... local Taliban and elements of Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin may have helped facilitate the attack," the US military...

Eight American soldiers and two Afghans have been killed in an attack on two outposts in remote eastern Afghanistan, the U.S. military said on Sunday. A tribal militia launched the attack from a mosque and a nearby village in Nuristan, one of the most dangerous regions of Afghanistan, the U.S. military said in a statement. The Americans and Afghans repelled the attack and "inflicted heavy enemy casualties," the statement said. In the U.S. statement, Col. Randy George described it as "a complex attack in a difficult area." The Taliban claimed responsibility.

WASHINGTON, April 7, 2008 – Afghan and coalition security forces operating in Afghanistan’s Nuristan province cleared Kendal and Shok villages of insurgents and captured several suspects yesterday, military officials reported, while coalition troops and Afghan police seized two militants in operations in Khowst province. The combined Afghan-U.S. force repelled the attack with accurate small-arms fire and crew-served weapons. During the long battle, the insurgents reinforced their positions in several compounds with large groups of fighters. Close-air support was called upon to dislodge the heavily armed insurgents from their reinforced defensive positions. After neutralizing the threat, the combined force detained numerous...

Afghanistan says it has arrested a Pakistani intelligence agent who acted as a key link with al-Qaeda leaders. Presidential spokesman Karim Rahimi said the agent had been detained in eastern Kunar province carrying documents which proved his guilt. The news came a day after intelligence officials said an Afghan general had been arrested for spying for Pakistan. Afghanistan has long blamed Pakistan for cross-border attacks by the Taleban. Islamabad denies the charges. 'Bin Laden escort' Mr Karimi named the man arrested as Sayed Akbar, who he said worked for Pakistan's controversial Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency. A Pakistani national currently working...

In the small rural community of Kamdesh, Nuristan province, US troops recently constructed a base that houses hundreds of troops, making it the first such outpost of its kind to be built in one of the most untamed areas of Afghanistan. The base at Kamdesh is dug into a rugged mountain side that backs up to a sheer mountain side; prime real estate in the insurgent saturated northeast. Serving as an extension of forward operating base Naray, which lies due south in Kunar province, Kamdesh aims to reach further into the northern areas, namely Nuristan, to help the locals with...

KABUL, Afghanistan - Coalition soldiers tracked a group of militants to an eastern Afghanistan safe house and killed 14 in an attack on the compound, the military said. The insurgents were seen carrying AK-47 submachine guns and rocket-propelled grenades to a compound in the Kamdesh district of Nuristan province, a coalition statement said. "The extremists were observed hiding and then coalition forces attacked them once they reached their safe house, destroying two buildings in the compound," the statement said. The statement said soldiers discovered the bodies of 14 fighters inside the compound. The coalition gave no details on the nationality...