Free Republic

Tajikistan seems to be determined to meet a government deadline to return home all its students studying in unofficial foreign religious schools. Authorities say 1,432 Tajik students have already retuned home from madrasahs in Egypt, Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan, and have vowed that another 300 will soon be on their way. It was President Emomali Rahmon who initially raised the issue in August, telling parents that students attending foreign madrasahs risked becoming terrorists and extremists. Rahmon brought the topic up anew during a cabinet meeting this week, again issuing the order for the return of Tajik youth from abroad. Tajik...

Shooting at Islamabad’s Lal Masjid; 10 including one soldier killed ISLAMABAD, July 3 (AP) - Security forces clashed with militants outside Lal Masjid in Islamabad, triggering gunfire that left one soldier dead and dozens of students and troops injured. (According to a private tv channel nine others including eight Lal Masjid students had been killed when last reports came in). The students later set fire to two government buildings, including the Ministry of Environment. They first tore down a section of the wall around the three-story ministry building near the mosque and pelted it with rocks. About four hours...

SAN FRANCISCO -- A lead FBI agent on Tuesday linked two local Muslim clerics to the Taliban and Osama bin Laden, contending the two were planning to set up a school near Lodi that would breed anti-American terrorism. The agent testified that Lodi clerics Shabbir Ahmed and Mohammed Adil Khan were prepared to relay information on terrorist plots from sources close to bin Laden. The allegations were dismissed by Ahmed's lawyer, who said the FBI and federal prosecutors have "made the whole thing up." The striking allegations came during an immigration hearing for Ahmed at which Immigration Judge Anthony Murry...

Last week, John Walker Lindh  petitioned the president to commute his 20-year sentence for fighting with the Taliban, imposed in 2002.  It’s a shame that this pampered child of Marin County is sitting in a cell for something as trivial as treason. Under a plea bargain, Walker Lindh (AKA: Abdul Hamid, AKA: Sulayman Al-Lindh) pleaded guilty to supplying services to the Taliban regime and carrying explosives for  Afghanistan’s former rulers.Which is like to saying that Benedict Arnold supplied services to George III. Johnny Jihad trained in an al-Qaeda camp – where he learned to fire an AK-47 and rubbed elbows...