“The Bajaur area has been hit twice by Central Intelligence Agency predator drones, one specifically after Zawahiri. However, at a time when al-Qaeda is reactivated and the Taliban’s main focus is to lay siege of Kabul, via adjacent Nooristan province in Afghanistan, aerial surveillance is considered insufficient.
As a result, a large US base is under construction on a mountaintop at Ghakhi Pass on the Pakistan-Afghanistan (Bajaur) border.
Militants believe this is in preparation for an operation inside Pakistan to clamp down on them as well as to renew the hunt for bin Laden and his associates. As a result, the militants have attacked the new base in an attempt to delay its construction.
“This is a matter of life and death for the mujahideen. We will shed our blood, but we will never let this base be completed,” Dr Ismail told Asia Times Online while standing at the grave of his son, who was killed a few weeks ago by US forces while attacking the base.
The tall and well-built Ismail is the leader of the TNSM and a main source of inspiration for the jihadis in Bajaur. “My son sacrificed his life against American designs to build this base over our heads. I shall never allow them to complete it, I will fight till my last.”
This article is very interesting in light of gandalftb’s post.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/IG17Df03.html
Well, it looks like by just building the base we won a battle! You may want to take a gander. The pictures in the article are supposed to be about 3 clicks from the base.
This base is indicative we have no plans on retreating from the GWOT in Afghanistan and by default Pakistan. Things are really only starting to heat up.
Thanks for the link. Interesting article. We are on offense. The 7th century cave-dwellers are struggling with it.
Very good. Thanks for the link.
It’s Iraq all over again. Draw them in, mow ‘em down.