Posted on 04/22/2009 3:53:22 PM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
DAGGAR, Pakistan | Taliban militants have expanded their operations from the Swat Valley to Buner, an adjacent region they now control that is just 60 miles from the capital, Islamabad.
Young militants armed with automatic weapons freely patrol roads, while their superiors lead prayers in mosques, where they recruit other fighters to join their campaign to impose Taliban rule throughout Pakistan.
Pir Baba is one such mosque. Named after a revered Sufi saint from the region, an adjacent shrine used to be visited daily by worshippers from all across the country.
However, they are no longer allowed to visit the shrine because the Taliban say Pir Baba devotees were involved in un-Islamic practices.
The Taliban expansion to Buner and elsewhere in Pakistan is happening rapidly, well before the Obama administration can begin implementing its regional strategy that depends on the Pakistani government's willingness to fight the militants.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
I'm sure the new Pakistani rulers will be more than happy to give him a free book as well. It will be called the Koran, and the rest of us (those of us still around) will also get a copy. Reading and following it to the letter will be obligatory. No problem for 0bama, though. He has read and memorized it before.
you are welcome
” . . .And the survivors will unite under Umar or Usama under the black banners in Khorasan to march on Jerusalem with the entire Islamic world (i.e. coincidentally Jerusalem has been a consistent theme in recent months)
This regional unification will erase the “artificial lines” of Sykes-Picot and “the nine decades of humiliation” and rebirth the “caliphate” under Caliph Umar/Usama/Saad/etc and his/their nuclear arsenal parceled out across the region to defend against the “Crusader” onslaught.”
Al Qaeda Chief Reveals Afghan Strategy
April 15, 2009
Long War Journal (snipped)
The new commander of al Qaeda’s paramilitary forces that operate in Pakistan and Afghanistan laid out al Qaeda and the Taliban’s strategy to defeat the Coalition and Afghan government.
Abdullah Sa’id, the commander of the Lashkar al Zil, or the Shadow Army, released a statement concerning the status of the fight in Afghanistan. The statement, which has been obtained by The Long War Journal, was issued by Al Fajr Media Center, an official outlet for al Qaeda propaganda, and published on the Islamic Al Fallujah Forum.
The Shadow Army is al Qaeda’s elite paramilitary army. The unit has its roots in the 055 Brigade, which fought conventional battles against the Northern Alliance and US forces in Afghanistan. . .
In the statement, Sa’id is identified as the leader of the Qaidat al-Jihad fi Khorasan, or the base of the jihad in the Khorasan.
The Khorasan is a region that encompasses large areas of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Iran. The Swat valley, where the Taliban have forced the government to impose sharia, is part of this region. Khorasan is considered by jihadis to be the place where they will inflict the first defeat against their enemies in the Muslim version of Armageddon. The final battle is to take place in the Levant - Israel, Syria, and Lebanon.
Mentions of the Khorasan have begun to increase in al Qaeda’s propaganda. After al Qaeda’s defeat in Iraq, the group began shifting its rhetoric from promoting Iraq as the central front in their jihad and have placed the focus on the Khorasan. . .
Sa’id makes few distinctions between Taliban and al Qaeda operations in Afghanistan. He repeatedly calls Taliban leader Mullah Omar the Emir al Mumineen, or the Commander of the Faithful. This title has religious significance among jihadis; the Commander of the Faithful is designated the leader of their Islamist caliphate. Osama bin Laden is thought to have sworn allegiance to Omar. . .
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is under a serious threat, intelligence agencies have claimed in a letter addressed to concerned quarters of the government, including the Ministry of Interior, sources told The News.
The PM could be targeted in Islamabad, Lahore or Multan, the sources, quoting the letter, added. “Tribal area based terrorists are planning to target Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani through a combination of explosion and a suicide attack, or gorilla attack similar to the Sri Lankan cricket team and the Manawan police training centre,” the report said. “Three teams of terrorists are reported to be working simultaneously at Islamabad, Lahore and Multan.”
Meanwhile, to counter serious threats to Islamabad, the federal government has called troops of the Northern Area Scouts (a paramilitary force under the Army command) to aid the civil administration in protecting important personalities and sensitive installations of the capital city, Interior Ministry sources told The News. The ministry has asked concerned authorities to arrange the required force of the Northern Area Scouts (NAS) to counter threats from extremists. “At least, 20 companies of the NAS are required to tackle any possible untoward situation,” the sources said. The NAS would be deployed at sensitive installations and included in the motorcade of important personalities.
SSP (Security Division) Zubair Hashmi, when contacted, confirmed the report. “A proposal to summon the NAS has been sent to the concerned authorities.” Meanwhile, the capital city police are hunting for an explosive laden ambulance and a car bearing ‘Press’ plate on the information of an intelligence agency, sources said. However, it could be a mock exercise, they added.
They let the nose of the camel under the tent when they made the peace treaty. This could get ugly fast.
Yes...very serious threat.
“assassination” . . . September 9, 2001 . . .
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1239710777377&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter
(snip)
A day after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned that the Pakistani government was ceding ground to the Taliban, a top Israeli defense official expressed concern on Thursday that the country’s nuclear arsenal would fall into extremist hands and be used to threaten Israel. . .
Israeli defense officials said that while Pakistan was farther away than Iran, Israel needed to be concerned with the political upset there. “This is a major challenge,” one top official told The Jerusalem Post. “If Pakistan’s nuclear weapons falls into hands of radical Islamic elements, this will be a nightmare for the West and will also affect us,” he said. . .
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/apr/24/clinton-warns-of-pakistan-nuke-risk/
(snip)
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned Thursday that Pakistan has dispersed its nuclear weapons throughout the country, increasing the risk they could fall into terrorist hands as Taliban fighters move closer to the capital. Her comments came as new satellite images suggested Pakistan is increasing its capacity to produce plutonium, a fuel for atomic bombs. . .
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C04%5C06%5Cstory_6-4-2009_pg7_18
(snip)
LAHORE: Baitullah Mehsud, the brazen Taliban chief based in Waziristan, has been able to escape several attempts to kill and capture him because he has friends in Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, according to a Newsweek report. An “increasingly-emboldened” Mehsud has claimed credit for several attacks in Pakistan and also threatening to attack the US. “Soon we will launch an attack in Washington that will amaze everyone in the world,” he told the Associated Press last week. An unnamed Pakistani official told Newsweek that senior US officials had even shared with their counterparts in Islamabad “some intelligence indicating that renegade ISI elements helped Mehsud’s group train for the December 2007 assassination of Pakistan’s former prime minister Benazir Bhutto”. . .
“Baitullah is very much mixed up in Afghanistan and with Al Qaeda,” said one Afghan Taliban commander, adding that Mehsud was capable of shipping foreign fighters into Afghanistan “and even [farther] west”. . .
It's 1938 all over again.
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