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Posted on 06/01/2007 7:57:59 PM PDT by nwctwx
More Details UPDATE:
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=28828
“Christian Monastery Attacked in Gaza”
By Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook
Palestinian Media Watch | June 20, 2007
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “During the recent fighting in Gaza between Hamas and Fatah, the Christian community in Gaza was also targeted. The Palestinian paper Al-Ayyam reported that “Armed masked men… stole, destroyed and burned down a monastery and a church school in Gaza, after they bombed the main gate with RPG shells… they destroyed the main gate of the monastery with an RPG shell, and then entered the church and destroyed everything in the monastery: The crosses, the holy books, computers and photocopy machines.” They appeared to be members of Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades, however, the Hamas has directed the blame at the Palestinian Authority police.
It should be noted that while this may have been a Hamas attack on the church, the Christian community has been suffering under Fatah rule as well. Ever since the West Bank cities were given over from Israel to the Palestinian Authority the Christian population has been living under very difficult conditions.
Palestinian writer Khaled Abu Toameh recently reported in The Jerusalem Post on the ruin of the Christian community of Bethlehem:
“The conditions of Christians in Bethlehem and its surroundings had deteriorated ever since the area was handed over [from Israel] to the PA in 1995…. ‘Every day we hear of another Christian family that has immigrated to the US, Canada or Latin America… The Christians today make up less than 15 percent of the population’… “Samir Qumsiyeh [said]: “I believe that 15 years from now there will be no Christians left in Bethlehem.”
When the West Bank was under Israeli administration the Christian population of Bethlehem was over 60%.”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=somalia
#
http://www.jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?articleid=2373478
TERRORISM FOCUS
“Somalia’s Mujahideen Youth Movement”
By Andrew Black
(June 19, 2007)
UPDATE:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/128544
13:10
4 Tammuz 5767, June 20, ‘07
“Israeli Helicopters Strike Rocket Launching Cell”
#
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1181813082922&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Jun. 20, 2007 13:04
“Two Kassams fired into Israel; none wounded”
#
Note: The following news brief is a quote:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3415327,00.html
Qassam lands near Sderot
Published: 06.20.07, 12:52 / Israel News
A Qassam rocket launched from the northern Gaza Strip landed near the main road in Sderot Wednesday afternoon.
No injuries or damages were reported. (Shmulik Hadad)
http://www.truthusa.com/IRAN.html
#
http://www.meforum.org/article/1704
SUMMER 2007 • VOLUME XIV: NUMBER 3
“Deciphering Ahmadinejad’s Holocaust Revisionism”
by George Michael
Middle East Quarterly
Summer 2007
http://www.ypsilanticourier.com/images/20070405/11474_512.jpg
The Ypsilanti Courier
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
“Charges upheld against Taylor”
By Dan DuChene, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: April 5, 2007
“Orange Amir Taylor III is facing open murder charges in the death of 22-year-old EMU student Laura Dickinson.”
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Orange Amir Taylor III, accused of raping and murdering an Eastern Michigan University student in December, is expected to take the stand when his case goes to trial.
After the second and last day of Taylor’s preliminary exam, held Friday, District Judge Kirk Tabbey upheld all five of the charges Taylor faces involving the death of 22-year-old Laura Dickinson.
He is being held without bond on charges of open murder, criminal sexual misconduct, home invasion and larceny.
“The court finds probable cause has been established,” Tabbey said. “You are bound over to face time in Judge Brown’s courtroom.””
#
UPDATE:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1853388/posts
http://www.abcnews.go.com/print?id=3297153
“Eastern Michigan University Stays Quiet About Student’s Rape and Murder for Weeks
Police and School Officials Investigated a Woman’s Death Without Informing Her Parents or Campus”
June 20, 2007 —
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=beryllium
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=plutonium
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=georgia
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=azerbaijan
#
http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/010294.php
(LA TIMES.com)
June 20, 2007
“They Sent It Back?”
SNIPPET: “One has to wonder what Georgian border officials were thinking when they encountered a car full of nuclear materials at the Azerbaijan border. Instead of confiscating the car and the materials — which could have use in weapons — they sent it back to Azerbaijan instead”
###
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Thanks to FARS for the ping to this thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1853295/posts
“Car with nuclear cargo denied entry (Customs just told them to go back to Azerbaijan)”
LA Times ^ | June 20, 2007 | Times Wire Reports
Posted on 06/20/2007 5:48:56 AM PDT by PapaBear3625
Note: View documents here:
http://www.judicialwatch.org/archive/2007/Saudi%20Docs%202.pdf
#
http://www.judicialwatch.org/6322.shtml
June 20, 2007
“Judicial Watch Releases New FBI Documents: Osama bin Laden May Have Chartered Saudi Flight Out of U.S. after 9/11”
(Washington, DC)
#
STEPPING BACK IN TIME...
http://www.nationalreview.com/york/york091102.asp
September 11, 2002 8:00 a.m.
“The bin Ladens’ Great Escape
How the U.S. helped Osama’s family leave the country after 9/11.”
ARTICLE SNIPPET:
“Bill Carter, the FBI spokesman, is adamant. “We were given full access to the individuals on that plane,” he says, “and we were satisfied that we did not believe any of those individuals had anything to do with the 9/11 plots.”
The plane to which Carter refers was an aircraft chartered by the Saudi government in the days after the terrorist attacks. The individuals were two dozen members of Osama bin Laden’s extended family who had been living in the United States. Saying they were afraid that family members might suffer retribution in the U.S., the Saudis asked for American assistance in getting them out of the country. With the help of the FBI, the Saudis and the bin Laden family chartered an aircraft to pick up family members in Los Angeles, Orlando, and Washington, D.C. The bin Laden plane then flew the relatives to Boston, where — one week after the attacks — the group left Logan Airport bound for Jeddah.
At the time, the massive 9/11 investigation was just beginning. The government had begun detaining hundreds of people who were held for days, weeks, or months while U.S. agents performed extensive background checks and interviews. In addition, the government announced its intention to question thousands of men from Muslim countries who might simply have known something of interest to the investigation. “The Department of Justice is waging a deliberate campaign of arrest and detention to protect American lives,” Attorney General John Ashcroft said on November 27.
But the bin Ladens did not have to worry about that. While FBI agents looked into bin Laden family members in the Boston area immediately after September 11, it appears that the agents’ first chance to interview them — or other family members who lived elsewhere in the country — came on the day they left the U.S. Each family member was given the all-clear on the basis of a single, day-of-departure interview — conducted, in Bill Carter’s words, “at the airport, as they were about to leave.”
Asked by National Review whether the FBI had conducted a full and thorough investigation of all the family members before allowing them to go, Carter repeated his earlier statement: “The FBI had an opportunity to interview the individuals on that plane, and we were satisfied with the information they provided.” Asked again, he said the same thing. “Unless you have evidence to stop them from leaving the country, they have every right to do that,” Carter explained. “The bin Laden family is very large, and for the most part are involved in legitimate enterprises. The fact of the matter is that because of September 11, some of these individuals felt it would be better to leave the country. They have every right to do that.””
Adding 1 link to post no. 967:
Related thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1853567/posts
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/017029.php
~
http://www.iol.co.za/general/news/newsprint.php?art_id=nw20070620112908423C340437&sf
“Sir Osama bin Laden?”
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Islamabad - A hard-line Pakistani parliamentarian and head of a religious political party on Wednesday demanded a “sir” title for Osama bin Laden, the leader of the al-Qaeda terrorist network, in retaliation for Britain knighting author Salman Rushdie.
“Muslims should confer the ‘sir’ title and all other awards on bin Laden and Mullah Omar in reply to Britain’s shameful decision to knight Rushdie,” Sami ul Haq, leader of the pro-Taliban Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, said in a statement, referring also to the leader of the Taliban.
Such a move would not only go against the political grain of Britain, who joined in the international effort to drive the Taliban from power and al-Qaeda from their Afghan safe haven in 2001, but it would also break knighthood rules, under which foreigners may not be addressed as sir.
Rushdie, 60, was given the recognition at birthday honours for Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II on Saturday, about two decades after his book The Satanic Verses sparked protests in Muslim countries, including Pakistan, in 1989.
The novel also became the subject in the same year of a fatwa, a religious edict, by late Iranian spiritual leader Ayatollah Khomenei, who demanded Rushdie’s death.”
###
Previously...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1852223/posts
“Pakistan Minister Says Salman Rushdie’s Knighthood Justifies Suicide Attacks”
Fox News ^ | 18 June 07 | AP
Posted on 06/18/2007 10:54:55 AM PDT by stm
TEHRAN, Iran
http://counterterrorismblog.org/2007/06/new_from_the_nefa_target_ameri.php
“New from the NEFA “Target: America” Series: “The East Coast Buildings Plot””
By Evan Kohlmann
(June 20, 2007)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1853331/posts
~
http://www.danielpipes.org/article/4644
“American Intifada”
by Daniel Pipes
National Post
June 19, 2007
SNIPPET: “Note to the reader: All quotations contained in this article and all references to events before June 2007 are genuine. All references to future events are, obviously, fictional. The sentences in square brackets did not appear in the print version.”
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “In retrospect, there were plenty of hints about the war that so abruptly broke out on June 19, 2008.
First, there were the overt verbal threats.”
http://www.truthusa.com/IRAN.html
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=honorkilling
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1853574/posts
~
Note: The following text is a quote:
IRAN: WOMAN ‘TO BE STONED’ (TO DEATH) ON THURSDAY
AKI ^ | 6/20/07 | RAH
Posted on 06/20/2007 1:25:37 PM PDT by Bokababe
Tehran, 20 June (AKI) - Makrameh Ebrahimi on Thursday will be stoned to death in a square in front of the cemetery of Takestan, in Ghazvin province some 100 km from Tehran, for having had a child out of wedlock 11 years ago, women’s rights groups in Iran said. The Islamic Republic denies issuing stoning death sentences and carrying them out. Thursday’s is the first death sentence by stoning to be publicly announced and rights groups say the population has been invited to participate and throw stones.
It is reportedly unclear how many stoning sentences have been issued and carried out in Iran since reports of a moratorium by the judiciary emerged in 2002.
The Iranian criminal code states that when stoning is carried out for offences such as adultery the stones should not be too large because “the punishment of stoning is designed to cause the victim great pain before death”.
In Iran, the convicted person to be killed is wrapped in a sheet and partly buried. Male convicts are buried from the waist down, while women are buried deeper to prevent the breasts from becoming exposed.
Iran is second in a global ranking of countries with the highest number of executions per year after China.
(Rah/Aki)
Jun-20-07 16:15
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=globaljihad
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=hamas
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Op-Ed Contributor
“What Hamas Wants”
By AHMED YOUSEF
Published: June 20, 2007
Gaza City
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(Note: See video included in the update.)
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=25920_New_York_Times_Shills_for_Hamas_(Again)&only
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
“New York Times Shills for Hamas (Again)”
placemark
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=tb
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=tuberculosis
#
blog:
http://michellemalkin.com/2007/06/20/the-tb-crisis-that-gets-ignored/
“The TB crisis that gets ignored”
By Michelle Malkin • June 20, 2007 12:48 PM
http://www.kcci.com/news/13538799/detail.html
“Tape Captures 3 Setting Fire To Tire Business”
“Damage Estimates Not Yet Known”
POSTED: 2:50 pm CDT June 20, 2007
UPDATED: 3:06 pm CDT June 20, 2007
DES MOINES, Iowa -
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Arson investigators and Des Moines police are asking for leads in the case. Polk County Crime Stoppers is offering a $1,000 reward.
Crime Stoppers callers can remain anonymous. Anyone with information can call 515-223-1400. People can also call the arson investigator at 515-237-1495.”
Oregon
http://www.dhonline.com/articles/2007/06/20/news/local/5loc01_arson.txt
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Last modified Wednesday, June 20, 2007 12:58 PM PDT
“Grass fire the latest in string of arsons”
By Carrie Petersen
Albany Democrat-Herald
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Anyone with information about the fires is asked to call the fire department at 917-7730 and push “1” to leave a message.”
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=46473
Combined Forces Capture Terrorists, Discover Weapons
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, June 20, 2007 – Coalition and Iraqi forces continued security operations throughout Iraq the past few days, killing about 37 extremists, capturing more than 100, and discovering numerous weapons caches, military officials reported.
Four insurgents have been killed and 62 detained at the start of Operation Marne Torch’s fourth day today in southeastern Baghdad.
Ten caches have been seized, 17 boats destroyed, and five improvised explosive devices have been found.
The operation’s purpose is to clear insurgents from safe havens. Phase 1 of Marne Torch began in mid-May and focused on intelligence gathering and shaping the conditions for offensive operations.
Marne Torch is named for the historic 1942 British-American invasion of French North Africa in World War II. Soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Division fought alongside British comrades, and gave the Allies substantial beachheads in North Africa.
Task Force Lightning continued its offensive operation in and around the capital of Diyala province today as part of a powerful crackdown on al Qaeda terrorists operating in the area.
U.S. and Iraqi combined forces engaged and killed at least 30 al Qaeda operatives, and discovered four IEDs emplaced in houses and 10 buried IEDs during the first full day of Operation Arrowhead Ripper.
“These criminals will know no safe place to hide in Diyala,” said Brig. Gen. Mick Bednarek, deputy commanding general for operations, Task Force Lightning and Multinational Division North. “The people of Diyala are tired of the terror and violence these al Qaeda thugs have brought to their province and are cooperating with us in order to root them out.”
As the soldiers moved through Baqubah and the surrounding areas, they discovered at least two weapons caches containing assault weapons, grenades, rocket launchers, large- and small-caliber ammunition and explosives. Ground forces also coordinated a precision guided munitions strike to destroy a known al Qaeda weapons cache located inside a safe house, and reported a large secondary explosion due to the munitions the terrorists stored inside.
In another incident, soldiers from Alpha Troop, 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, observed and engaged armed individuals emplacing an IED near Zaganiyah village, along the Diyala River valley.
The gunmen returned fire, but the soldiers, using direct and indirect fire, killed both of the armed IED emplacers.
About 10,000 soldiers throughout Diyala province are participating in and supporting Operation Arrowhead Ripper, which was launched by Task Force Lightning to eliminate al Qaeda in Iraq terrorists. Included in this operation are more than 1,000 Iraqi army soldiers and a comparable number of Iraqi police.
In other operations, Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers discovered and destroyed an explosively-formed penetrator factory and suspected torture house in southern Baghdad yesterday. EFPs are an advanced form of IED capable of penetrating armor.
While searching abandoned buildings in the western Rashid district, soldiers of Company A, 1st Battalion 38th Infantry Regiment, found six EFPs, 24 sticks of C4 plastic explosive, a pipe bomb and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.
A house nearby was also searched, and soldiers found an 105 mm artillery round with a satchel charge attached and duct tape coated with blood and hair. After inspecting the houses, soldiers found materials believed to aid in camouflaging roadside bombs.
An explosive ordnance disposal unit arrived on the scene and detonated the cache. However, the resulting explosion was larger than expected and collapsed a nearby home. Soldiers searched the rubble for any possible trapped civilians. One female civilian was found dead.
“Our deepest sympathies are with the family of the deceased,” said Army Maj. Kirk Luedeke, spokesperson and public affairs officer for the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division. “This unfortunate event is something we are investigating and will take precautionary measures to prevent from happening again.”
Earlier in the day, coalition aircraft dropped six bombs on the palm grove along the Tigris River in the eastern portion of the Rashid district, targeting an infiltration route and possible cache storage site for al Qaeda operating in an area that has been used to conduct indirect fire attacks against the International Zone and coalition outposts.
In other developments, a suicide truck bomb detonated in Baghdad’s Rusafa district yesterday, killing 35 Iraqis and wounding 65 others.
The device detonated at about 2:15 p.m. near the Al Husan Bin Ali Mosque in Rusafa’s Jumhuriyah neighborhood. Reports indicate the truck was filled with propane tanks, and that the driver attempted to jump the curb near the mosque median and subsequently got stuck.
The driver then detonated the truck’s explosive payload. The blast caused damage to the southeastern outer wall of the mosque.
Coalition forces were in the area and responded immediately following the blast. The more seriously wounded were transported to a local hospital for treatment; the less seriously wounded were treated by U.S. and Iraqi security forces at the scene. Iraqi firefighters arrived to battle the fire, which erupted from the blast site and had spread through the street.
Soldiers with the 1st Battalion, 504th Parachutist Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, along with the 118th Military Police Company and Iraqi security forces, responded to the blasts and sealed off the areas.
Coalition forces confirmed casualty figures with officials at the local hospital. The attack is under investigation.
Elsewhere, Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers captured a suspected member of an alleged bomb-making cell in Sab al Bor, Iraq, yesterday.
Soldiers from Battery C, 1st Battalion, 37th Field Artillery, attached to the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, captured the suspect using information from intelligence sources. In all, the unit detained 14 suspects for questioning during the operation.
The raid was part of a large-scale, sector-wide initiative to eliminate threats to coalition and Iraqi security forces, and to curb violence in the area north of the Iraqi capital.
In an attempt to rescue severely injured Iraqi police forces, Iraqi security forces battled extremists, killing more than three and detaining 45 in Nasiriyah June 18 and yesterday.
With coalition forces present as advisors, Iraqi security forces rushed to a neighborhood in Nasiriyah to recover wounded personnel from an earlier firefight.
As they arrived to the police checkpoint, Iraqi and coalition forces received enemy fire from multiple directions. With well-aimed fire, Iraqi forces killed more than three insurgents, one of whom is a suspected highly ranked rogue militia commander.
Throughout the operation, extremists fired on Iraqi and coalition forces from a rooftop across the street. Coalition forces called for an air strike and suppressed the extremists. No local Iraqi civilians were injured during the air strike.
During the operation, Iraqi security forces received hostile fire and suffered 30 casualties.
In other developments, coalition and Iraqi security forces conducted a cordon-and-search operation in the Adhamiyah district June 18, resulting in the capture of three suspects caught with materials used in the manufacture of car bombs. A fourth suspect was also detained during the operation.
“Operation Castine” was conducted by soldiers from the U.S. Army’s 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, and soldiers from the 1st Brigade, 11th Iraqi Army Division.
The operation began before sunrise, when U.S. and Iraqi forces made a tactical foot movement from Coalition Outpost Apache into the Safina neighborhood of Adhamiyah. For the next five hours, soldiers moved up and down the narrow city streets, searching hundreds of homes looking for illegal weapons and other contraband.
In other news, Iraqi national police repelled an attack on their outpost by unknown gunmen in Samarra June 18.
More than 2,000 Iraqi soldiers and policemen moved into Samarra to provide additional security for its citizens following the recent attack on the Askira Mosque June 13.
Iraqi police were occupying and conducting patrols about two miles from the Askira Mosque when gunmen attacked with small-arms fire and a suicide car bomb. The police defended their outpost, returning fire from a nearby checkpoint and repelling the attack with minimal casualties.
“This demonstrates total lack of respect for the Askira Mosque in light of its recent attack,” said Col. Bryan Owens, commander, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division. “The policemen injured were dedicated to protecting the mosque from any future attacks.”
The car bomb damaged the outside of a school and other buildings in the immediate area. There was no damage to the Askira Mosque.
Two Iraqi policemen injured in the attack were transported to a coalition forces’ medical facility for treatment.
(Compiled from Multinational Force Iraq and Multinational Corps Iraq news releases.)
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=46485
“U.S., Iraqi Troops Rescue Malnourished Boys From Baghdad Orphanage”
American Forces Press Service
BAGHDAD, June 20, 2007
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=46474
Taliban, al Qaeda Losing Influence in Afghanistan
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, June 20, 2007 – Afghanistan’s citizens are rejecting the dark vision offered by Taliban and al Qaeda extremists and are embracing their central government, senior U.S. and Afghan military officers said today. Video
“The people of Afghanistan are now getting the opportunity to decide what they want,” said Army Col. Martin P. Schweitzer, commander of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division’s 4th Brigade Combat Team, which is partnering with Afghan forces in the country’s southeastern region.
The Taliban, the radical Islamic group that was forced from power in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom in late 2001 and early 2002, has since conducted a guerrilla war against the democratic Afghan government and its coalition partners.
Yet today, the Taliban and their al Qaeda allies are finding it increasingly difficult to coerce Afghans to support them, Schweitzer said, noting the two terror groups routinely employ threats against the Afghan population to advance their agenda.
The Afghans “are tired of the oppression, are tired of having their kids not being allowed to go to school, tired of their kids not being able to get medical treatment and tired of a way of life that is only threats,” Schweitzer said from Afghanistan during a teleconference with Pentagon reporters.
Winning over the Afghan people is the key to victory over the terrorists, Schweitzer pointed out. And a vital component of that strategy is putting an Afghan “face” on counterinsurgency operations, the colonel said.
“We’re trying to get the people of Afghanistan in the small villages and communities to no longer fall under the oppression of the Taliban and start working (with) and looking to their government for a better way of life,” Schweitzer explained. “Initially, we were doing this with a heavy coalition presence.”
However, in the past two years, Afghan troops under the command of Maj. Gen. Abdul Khaliq have increasingly taken the lead in anti-insurgent operations in southeastern Afghanistan and interfaced with Afghans living in remote areas, who’d previously been prime recruiting targets for the extremists. Khaliq is the commander of the 203rd Afghan Army Corps.
“Now, you’re seeing the Afghan National Army down in those communities,” Schweitzer said, noting its influence among the villagers has had a devastating effect on the Taliban’s recruiting efforts.
A year ago, about 19 of the 83 districts within Schweitzer’s area of operations supported the Afghan central government, the colonel said. Today, 60 of those districts support the Afghan government, he said.
Those districts that support the government and reject the extremists no longer accept recruitment of their children into the Taliban, Schweitzer pointed out.
“There’s no better barometer than that, which indicates that these communities in these villages are looking toward their government now, versus the Taliban,” the colonel said.
Schweitzer saluted Khaliq’s leadership, noting the presence of Afghan soldiers has greatly assisted in diminishing the Taliban’s influence among the local population.
“It is impressive that when we go into these villages they ask for the Afghan National Army and they’re not asking for the coalition,” the colonel said. “We think the right strategy is to have the Afghans develop the plan, apply the solution (toward) a better way of life for their communities.”
And the terrorists’ indiscriminate bombings that kill innocent people haven’t garnered any friends among the Afghan population, Schweitzer pointed out.
“The Afghan people do not appreciate that particular (terrorist) approach,” the colonel said. “They don’t like it, they don’t want to be a part of it, and they want more Afghan National Army forces on the ground securing their communities.”
Schweitzer likened occasional reports of extremists taking over remote village centers as “grab and run” operations that quickly end when Afghan or coalition forces arrive to re-establish order.
Khaliq, who accompanied Schweitzer at the news conference, noted there are enough Afghan troops to secure his area, although he acknowledged the coalition is now providing much appreciated air strike and logistical support.
The Taliban continue to hang on, Khaliq said, because “they’re not alone.” The Taliban extremists, he explained, are connected to the al Qaeda terror network, and they’re receiving money and other kinds of support from outside of Afghanistan.
Yet, the Afghan people don’t want the Taliban’s “dark policy,” the general asserted.
“The people are hating (the Taliban),” Khaliq said, adding he’s confident that the Taliban and al Qaeda will eventually be defeated as Afghan security forces grow in size and capability.
Although things are looking up in Afghanistan, more work still needs to be done, Schweitzer said.
“Is it going to take time? Absolutely, it’s going to take time,” Schweitzer said. “We’re changing 10 to 15 years of oppression and 30 years of war in the minds of the villagers and communities.”
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