Free Republic

NOW ZAD, Afghanistan I Signs of rebirth are growing in this former Taliban stronghold in Helmand province just days after U.S. Marines stormed it in a ground-and-airborne assault that caught its Taliban occupiers by surprise. In the once deserted bazaar area in the western portion of town, hundreds of men from nearby villages defy Taliban threats and clear debris from fighting in exchange for pay from U.S. troops. In the district center next to the main U.S. military base, more than 100 children attend ad hoc classes in reading and writing. The classes, initially started by Afghan-American interpreters working with...

KABUL, Dec. 23, 2009 – Afghan and international forces in Afghanistan killed or detained numerous militants today in various operations, military officials reported. In an operation led by the Afghan general directorate of special operations, several known instigators of a kidnapping group were detained. The Afghan force, supported by International Security Assistance Force troops, detained the men after a search in Police District 5 of the Afghan capital. The suspects are linked to kidnappings in and around the city. In other operations, a combined Afghan-international force in Paktia killed several militants, including a Taliban commander responsible for several bombing attacks....

Blog: "Report: Taliban, Not Government, Collecting Payments For Electricity Bills From Consumers In Helmand Province" SNIPPET: "The Taliban militants, not the Afghan government, are collecting payments from consumers of electricity generated from the Kajaki hydroelectric power project in the country’s southern Helmand province, according to an Afghan news website." SNIPPET: "Haji Mullah Sharafuddin, the administrative head of the Kajaki district, the Taliban have been usurping the state’s right to receive income from the huge dam in the form of bills in the Kajaki, Sangin and Zamindar districts." SNIPPET: "The Kajaki dam generates 32 megawatts of electricity, supplied not only to...

One of the critical components of President Obama's new Afghan strategy is an effort to persuade large groups of Taliban to change sides. The U.S. military is already looking for opportunities to motivate mid- and low-level Taliban to lay down arms. The premise: Many Taliban have joined up because of lack of jobs or services, or tribal conflicts. If these grievances are addressed, tribal elders might be willing to stop fighting. "Reintegration is hugely important, incredibly important," the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, told me in an interview. One of the purposes of the U.S. troop surge is...

Taliban sympathizer Jodie Evans and President Barack Obama, Oct. 15, 2009 In a wide-ranging interview released this week by MIPtalk, Obama funder, terrorist sympathizer and Code Pink co-founder Jodie Evans spoke about her meetings with the Taliban and President Barack Obama. She lauded the Taliban for bringing peace and justice to Afghanistan while saying that the U.S. has failed to deliver either. In a separate interview with Lauren Steiner, Jodie Evans went further in her criticism of the United States saying that we had created “hell on earth” in Afghanistan. Jodie Evans also spoke about being called on by Obama’s...

Predator UAV tracks car full of Talibunnies...hilarity ensues....

KABUL - The Taliban have announced they will release a new video of a U.S. soldier captured in Afghanistan, a U.S.-based terrorism monitoring group said Wednesday.

A CBS news report filed by Kimberly Dozier states that U.S. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met in Kandahar with five Afghan tribal elders. Pulling out his notebook, the admiral asked the Afghans what they need. Apparently the new fashionable counterinsurgency introductory question is "What do you need?" rather than "Are you fighting on our side?" or "Are we winning?" (snip) To use Dozier's own words, the most striking comments made to Mullen by the Afghan elders was "Stop fighting for us." "You must understand our culture," one said. "It's insulting for you...

Dec. 19 (UPI) -- A CBS news report filed by Kimberly Dozier states that U.S. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met in Kandahar with five Afghan tribal elders. Pulling out his notebook, the admiral asked the Afghans what they need. Apparently the new fashionable counterinsurgency introductory question is "What do you need?" rather than "Are you fighting on our side?" or "Are we winning?" In addition to new dams for irrigation purposes, Afghan elders made two requests, which were surprising only from the standpoint that, after eight years in Afghanistan, either request could...

In an editorial column published on 18 December, the editors of The Toledo Blade point out that capturing or killing Osama Bin Laden would not defeat Al Qaeda and capturing or killing Mullah Omar would not defeat the Taliban. They are correct in this but their notions do not go far enough. The fact of the matter is, Al Qaeda and the Taliban could cease to exist tomorrow and the U.S. and Western civilization would still face a Jihadist threat...

Dec. 18 (UPI) -- The Obama administration's decision to begin withdrawing troops from Afghanistan in 18 months after the start of the surge has already begun to bear fruit, but perhaps not in a way that was intended. The strongest Taliban warrior in Afghanistan, Siraj Haqqani, whose fighters pose the biggest threat to U.S. forces, remains protected by Pakistan in a sanctuary in North Waziristan. Jane Perlez of The New York Times reports that requests by the United States to crack down on the Afghan Haqqani Taliban have been rebuffed because Pakistan views it as contrary to its long-term interests...

A recent exchange of intelligence information between India and the U.S. revealed that an American Moslem (whose father was a Pakistani diplomat) under arrest for plotting Islamic terrorism, admitted that he had witnessed Pakistani Army officers working with Islamic terrorists, while he was undergoing terrorist training in Pakistan. While there have been many such reports, Pakistan always responds by claiming that they are "rogue officers." But American intelligence and military officials, who have worked have worked with the Pakistanis, report encountering many Pakistani officers who were openly favoring Islamic terrorism. Thus the Pakistani protests carry less and less weight. For...

As an increasing number of suicide attacks rock Pakistan's major cities, concerns for the country's security are rising. In recent years, many new terrorist groups have emerged, several existing groups have reconstituted themselves, and a new crop of militants has emerged, more violent and less conducive to political solutions than their predecessors. Links between many of these new and existing groups have strengthened, say experts, giving rise to fresh concerns for stability. Pakistani authorities have long had ties to militant groups based on their soil that largely focused their efforts in Afghanistan and India. But with Pakistan joining the United...

(912 on the mall) The left's anti-American coup d'etat on America, made possible by the first radical Marxist in the White House, calls for distinctly American counter measures. Dr. Jack Wheeler has "a strategy for any Republican wanting to get elected or re-elected to Congress in 2010, and for any Tea Partyer wanting to take individual action now against a government that ignores the Constitution -- Defund and Disobey." Here's an excerpt of "The Double -D Strategy for rescuing America": Let's talk about the Defund D first. The Founders in their usual brilliance place the power of the purse in...

UZBEEN VALLEY, Afghanistan (AFP) – More than 1,100 soldiers, including 800 French legionnaires as well as US and Afghan commandos, launched a major operation Thursday east of the Afghan capital, military officials said. Military officials said five US special forces were wounded in the fighting in the Uzbeen Valley, a Taliban stronghold where 10 French soldiers were killed in an ambush in August 2008.

MIR ALI, Pakistan (AP) – Two suspected U.S. missile strikes, one using multiple drones, killed 17 people in a Pakistani tribal region along the Afghan border Thursday, local intelligence officials said. The officials said the second, bloodier attack involved five drones and 10 missiles – an unusually intense bombardment. The missiles rained on North Waziristan, considered a safe haven for many militants including groups determined to push the U.S. and NATO out of Afghanistan. The strikes in North Waziristan are especially sensitive because they risk angering Afghan-focused militant groups who have agreed to be neutral as Islamabad cracks down on...

KABUL, Dec. 16, 2009 – Combined Afghan and international forces detained four Taliban commanders and other suspected militants in three operations in two Afghanistan provinces today, military officials reported. In Wardak province, a combined force searched a compound near the village of Bhardokheyl where intelligence sources reported militant activity. They detained two Taliban commanders involved with bombing activity and responsible for several attacks in the area. Another Taliban commander and a few other militants were detained in an operation in western Kandahar. This commander has led a sizable militant element and is responsible for a number of bombing attacks in...

KABUL, Dec. 15, 2009 – A combined Afghan-international security force detained a Taliban commander and other militants in Afghanistan today, and militants caught planting a roadside bomb were killed yesterday, military officials reported. The Taliban commander is linked to a bombing network in Zabul province and is believed to be responsible for several attacks in the area. The combined force searched a compound in the provincial capital of Qalat where intelligence sources reported the commander to be located and detained a few militants, one of whom identified himself as the man targeted in the operation. No shots were fired, and...

A mysterous Muslim group with unknown sponsors has purchased a building steps away from Ground Zero. Hudson New York reported: An identified group with unknown sponsors has purchased building steps away from where the WorldTrade Center once stood — to turn it into potentially one of the largest New York City mosques. At the moment the building, the old Burlington Coat Factory, already serves as a mini-mosque: an iron grill lifts every Friday afternoon for a little known Imam leading prayers a few yards away from where Osama Bin Laden’s airborne Islamist bombers killed nearly 3000 people back in 2001....

Appreciate Rep.Mark Kirk's(Illinois)comments re:Pres Obama not CLOSING Gitmo, merely moving it outside of Chicago!Very,very odd strategy,DC.

The Islamic Circle of North America has been named in "a list of our organizations and the organizations of our friends" by the Muslim Brotherhood, which is bent on waging "a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and sabotaging its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God's religion is made victorious over all other religions." They say they want to encourage dialogue via these billboards. Great. I'll start. The billboard says that Islam is "the way of life of Adam, Noah, Abraham,...

HELSINKI, Finland, Dec. 16 (UPI) -- In testimony before the U.S. Senate, U.S. Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal said: "To pursue our core goal of defeating al-Qaida and preventing their return to Afghanistan, we must disrupt and degrade the Taliban's capacity, deny their access to the Afghan population, and strengthen the Afghan security forces." To succeed, McChrystal and his warriors must fully understand the character, motivations, ambitions and, in particular, the methods of the enemy. Approaches that may have worked earlier in Afghanistan or even recently in Iraq may fail to turn around the present situation. Saeen Dilawar, from Pakistan's central...

An 8-year-old boy has been suspended from school and forced to undergo a psychological evaluation after he drew a picture of Jesus Christ on the cross. A teacher at Lowell Maxham Elementary School in Taunton, Mass., said the second-grade student created a violent drawing, the Taunton Daily Gazette reported. The boy's picture portrayed a crucified Jesus with Xs over his eyes to indicate that he had died on the cross. The child's father, outraged at the school's action, asked to remain anonymous to protect his son. He said his boy drew the picture after returning from a family trip to...

A battle over religion is brewing in central Indiana after a public school wanted second graders to sing a song declaring, “Allah is God.” The phrase was removed just before the performance after a national conservative group launched a protest. The principal of Lantern Road Elementary School in Fishers, IN, said they were trying to teach inclusiveness through their holiday production. It included references to Christmas, Hanukkah, Ramadan, Las Posadas and Kwanzaa. However, no other deity, other than Allah, was referenced in the show. “It went off…without a hitch,” Danielle Thompson told the Indianapolis Star. “Several families thought it was...

Islam is not a religion, nor is it a cult. In it's fullest form, it is a complete, total, 100% system of life. Islam has religious, legal, political, economic, social, and military components. The religious component is a beard for all of the other components. Islamization begins when there are sufficient Muslims in a country to agitate for their religious privileges. When politically correct, tolerant, and culturally diverse societies agree to Muslim demands for their religious privileges, some of the other components tend to creep in as well. Here's how it works. As long as the Muslim population remains around...

Afghanistan, American aircraft equipped with radar (that can see what's on the ground), are tailing Taliban suspects driving through remote areas. Operators in these JSTARS aircraft can track movement of ground units, or individual vehicles, over a wide area. Operators can also use the detail mode to pick out specific details of what's going on down there, like tracking the movement of vehicles fleeing the scene of a battle, or meeting with Taliban leaders. JSTARS is real good at picking up trucks moving along highways on flat terrain, but the equipment has now been tweaked to deal with the mountains...

In Afghanistan, the Taliban are finding that their Medieval warrior mentality and physical hardiness are no match for smart bombs and even smarter intelligence work. The Taliban fighters are often described as clever and adaptive. They are. But the Taliban fighters, including many of the leaders, are illiterate and uncomfortable with new technology. They constantly get nailed using cell phones and walkie talkies (like the Motorola models available worldwide), even though it's common knowledge that the U.S. frequently eavesdrops. The Afghans believe the Americans are using some kind of pagan "magic", and if an Islamic warrior is pure-of-heart, the magic...

Senior US officials are pushing to expand CIA drone strikes beyond Pakistan's tribal region and into a major city in an attempt to pressure the Pakistani government to pursue Taliban leaders based in the city of Quetta, The Los Angeles Times reported late Sunday. The newspaper said the prospect of Predator aircraft strikes in Quetta signals a new US resolve to decapitate the Taliban. But it also risks rupturing Washington's relationship with Islamabad. The concern has created tension among officials in the administration of President Barack Obama over whether unmanned aircraft strikes in a city of 850,000 are a realistic...

KABUL, Dec. 14, 2009 – The insurgency in Afghanistan has become more pervasive, more sophisticated and more violent, said the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff here today. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen said during a news conference with Afghan and American reporters that the insurgents “have a dominant influence in 11 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces.” The insurgents are becoming more effective at using improvised explosive devices and small-unit tactics, Mullen said. “I remain deeply concerned by the growing level of collusion between the Afghan Taliban and al-Qaida and other extremist groups taking refuge across the border in Pakistan,” he...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 14, 2009 – A combined Afghan and international security force killed five enemy militants and detained another in Afghanistan’s Laghman province yesterday while pursuing a Taliban bomb maker linked to several attacks in the area. The force targeted a compound near Tingawar village where intelligence sources reported militant activity. During the operation, several militants threatened the force with assault rifles and shotguns and were killed. The force then searched the compound without incident. In a Dec. 12 operation, a combined force killed an enemy militant and detained another in Paktia province while pursuing a Taliban commander responsible for...

The Taliban could be admired for their religious conviction and their sense of loyalty to each other, the new bishop for the Armed Forces said. The Rt Rev Stephen Venner called for a more sympathetic approach to the Islamic fundamentalists. The Church of England’s Bishop to the Forces said it would be harder to reach a peaceful solution to the war if the insurgents were portrayed too negatively. His comments in an interview with The Daily Telegraph came as the Prime Minister visited Afghanistan and claimed that the Taliban was fighting a “guerrilla war” aimed at causing “maximum damage”. Gordon...

Did not Jesus say not to throw pearls before swine?

High alert in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Gujarat A top Union Home Ministry official on Monday said that Taliban-trained ‘fidayeen’ (suicide squad) have entered the country to carry out attacks at "specific" installations, including Bhaba Atomic Research Centre Kolkata, Mumbai and the national capital, besides Gujarat, have been put on high alert following intelligence inputs that Taliban-trained terrorists have sneaked into these cities to target vital installations. A top Union Home Ministry official on Monday said that Taliban-trained ‘fidayeen’ (suicide squad) have entered the country to carry out attacks at “specific” installations, including Bhaba Atomic Research Centre, defence establishments among...

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...

SNIPPET: "PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Taliban militants blew up a girls' school in Pakistan's Khyber district Monday, officials said, as two soldiers and seven insurgents were killed in clashes in the northwest tribal belt. The pre-dawn school attack took place in Saddokhel town in northwest Khyber tribal district, where militants detonated explosives planted around the building, destroying all five school rooms but causing no injuries. "They are Taliban. They are the same people who do not want children to get an education," senior administration official Rahim Gul Khattak told AFP. Islamist militants opposed to co-education have destroyed hundreds of schools, mostly...

U.S. Admiral Michael Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, says the military's focus now is the rapid deployment of 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan and the initial elements of the surge will begin arriving next week. Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon, Admiral Mullen says orders have been issued to combat infantry, engineers and civil affairs experts to deploy to Afghanistan, with 1,500 Marines expected to arrive in southern Helmand Province next week. Mullen indicated there is a sense of urgency at the Pentagon to implement U.S. President Barack Obama's decision to send tens of thousands of...

The Rt Rev Stephen Venner called for a more sympathetic approach to the Islamic fundamentalists that recognises their humanity. The Church of England’s Bishop to the Forces warned that it will be harder to reach a peaceful solution to the war if the Afghan insurgents are portrayed too negatively. His comments came as the Prime Minister visited Afghanistan and warned that the Taliban was fighting a "guerilla war" aimed at causing "maximum damage". Gordon Brown said soldiers were discovering improvised explosive devices every two hours. Mr Brown stayed overnight in the Allied base in the southern city of Kandahar, the...

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan (AFP) – British Prime Minister Gordon Brown vowed a renewed effort to defeat the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan as he made an unannounced visit to troops in the field Sunday. Brown made the visit two weeks after ordering the deployment of 500 extra British troops to Afghanistan alongside a surge of 30,000 US forces, part of a sweeping new strategy to turn around the eight-year war. He held talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at a military base in Kandahar, the southern province where the Taliban first emerged and one of the deadliest battlefields for Western troops...

The Republican Party, the Party of Reagan has been nearly smothered and suffocated by the RINO-virus which has spread more rapidly than any swine flu pandemic, the GOP has been infected from the top down, and IF it is to avoid the fate of the Bull Moose Party, the principles of Reagan conservatism must be re-established, the fair weather collaborators and Quislings (that means YOU Juan McCain and your butt buddy Lindsey 'Goober' Graham!) MUST be driven out and banished and if they join up with the traitorous 'Rats, so be it. Force them to show their true colors. The...

SNIPPET: "Well, the English-language Voice of Jihad site seems to be down at this address – I’ll share the new one once I find it. In my hunt, though, I ran across this version of the Voice of Jihad page, in Arabic (GoogleEnglish translation here, PDF at non-terrorist site here) with only a slight difference in the address (alemrah.info, instead of alemarah.info – note the extra “a” in the second version, which brings you to the Arabic news site). The fundraising site URL seems to be registered with a company in Westchester, California (WHOIS results – PDF of results here)....

Osama says, "Before I found this site my love was limited to the beasts of the field.

WASHINGTON — The plan President Obama unveiled last week for Years 9 and 10 of the war in Afghanistan left a basic question begging for an answer: If Al Qaeda is the threat, and Al Qaeda is in Pakistan, why send another 30,000 troops to Afghanistan? In his address Tuesday night, the president mentioned Pakistan and the Pakistanis some 25 times... --snip-- That land is not on any map, but it’s where leaders of Al Qaeda and the Taliban both hide. It straddles 1,000 miles of the 1,600-mile Afghan-Pakistani border. It is inhabited by the ethnic Pashtuns, a fiercely independent...

EDITOR'S NOTE: The following was sent to RFFM.org by Major John Birch, a retired U.S. Army Intelligence officer. It was written by a U.S. Marine currently serving in Afghanistan. For obvious reasons, the Marine's name has been redacted. RFFM.org has not edited the Marine's comments in any way. It is not politically correct and it contains language not meant for children. It is an account of life on the front lines from a member of America's military who is telling it "like it is." Letter From A U.S. Marine On The Front Line!!! From a Recon Marine in Afghanistan From...

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) – Pakistan's military on Friday killed 20 insurgents in operations against Taliban strongholds, as the prime minister warned that militants were striking back with attacks in big cities. Armed forces this year launched multiple operations across the northwest tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, the stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban and a haven for Al-Qaeda fighters and other militants. In Orakzai district in the centre of the tribal belt, nine militants were killed and two hideouts destroyed in airstrikes on the villages of Ghiljo and Mamoonzai, paramilitary force spokesman major Fazalur Rehman told AFP. The UN said Friday that...

A high-ranking al-Qaida figure was killed Thursday in an attack by a drone aircraft in northwest Pakistan, U.S. officials told NBC News. The officials did not identify who was killed, except to say that it was not al-Qaida’s supreme leader, Osama bin Laden. If the report is confirmed, it would be the first time coalition forces had killed a top al-Qaida figure in almost a year. The officials said the killing was the result of stepped-up operations targeting al-Qaida leaders in recent weeks.

December 10, 2009, 0:00 a.m. Through Our Enemies’ EyesEnough about you; what did Mullah Omar think of Obama’s West Point speech? By Clifford D. May We’ve heard a lot in recent days about how conservatives and liberals are responding to President Obama’s plans for Afghanistan. But what does the enemy think? Mullah Mohammed Omar, the Afghan Taliban leader, clearly would have been happier had Obama taken Michael Moore’s advice and begun to withdraw, rather than increase troop levels in Afghanistan. Just before the president took the stage at West Point, Mullah Omar issued a message calling upon his fighters...

In recent weeks, a renewed epidemic of suicide bombings has swept Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq, climaxing in huge blasts in Baghdad that killed 130 innocents on Tuesday. The Obama administration says these bombings have nothing to do with religion. It's purely coincidental that the perps preach severe Islam. The attacks are merely meant to destabilize governments. Once again, we grasp at a comforting explanation, deceiving ourselves. Yes, Islamist fanatics want to disrupt Pakistani society and Iraq's upcoming elections. But they're not butchering thousands of Muslims just over ward politics.

The Taliban continue to adapt to new NATO tactics for detecting roadside bombs in Afghanistan. The current trend is to rely on more elaborate methods of deception. One troubling trend (especially for animal lovers) is the use of pack animals. These are common throughout rural Afghanistan, especially donkeys. In this case, the goods the animal carries is mostly explosives. A donkey can carry at least a hundred pounds of explosives, even counting material to hide the true nature of the load. Wheelbarrows and bicycles are also used, and carry about the same load of explosives. These bombs usually are left...

The Taliban in Pakistan have made a big deal about eliminating non-religious schools Nearly 500 have been destroyed in the last two years. Most of the damage was done in the tribal territories, where the need for education is greatest. In the tribal territories, schools that educate girls are the main target, while outside the tribal areas, all schools are potential targets. This anti-education (except in religious schools, where Islamic radicalism is a primary subject) policy is very unpopular with the general population, the Taliban don't seem to notice or care. The Taliban believes that they are doing God's will...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 9, 2009 – Achieving success against extremists in Afghanistan is a challenging, yet attainable mission, the commander of U.S. Central Command said at a Capitol Hill hearing here today. Success in Afghanistan “is of enormous importance, and it is attainable,” Army Gen. David H. Petraeus told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “But achieving our objectives will not be easy,” the four-star general told senators, noting “the challenges are great.” Petraeus said he supports President Barack Obama’s revised Afghanistan strategy, part of which involves the deployment of 30,000 extra U.S. troops there over the next several months....