Obama Warns Afghan President: Time for new Chapter

Did you hear that Karzai? If you do not do the right thing, Obama might just let the Taliban thugs takeover. Oh, he is already on the way to doing that....

Obama warns Afghan president: Time for new chapter
By BEN FELLER

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama greeted Hamid Karzai's election victory with as much admonishment as praise on Monday, pointedly advising America's partner in war he must make more serious efforts to end corruption in Afghanistan's government and prepare his nation to ultimately defend itself.

"I emphasized that this has to be a point in time in which we begin to write a new chapter," Obama said in describing his phone call to the Afghan president. When Karzai offered back assurances, Obama said he told him that "the proof is not going to be in words. It's going to be in deeds."

Obama's message of stern solidarity came as he considers sending tens of thousands more U.S. troops into the war zone in Karzai's country.

Karzai won a second term Monday when competitor Abdullah Abdullah pulled out of the Nov. 7 runoff, suggesting it would be doomed by fraud just as the first voting in August was. The handling of the first election cost Karzai in international credibility.

Yet the White House put its weight behind the legitimacy of the final outcome after helping to broker a runoff that never happened. Obama called the process "messy" but said Karzai won in accordance with Afghan law. The White House repeatedly said Abdullah had pulled out for his own political and personal reasons.

The collapse of the planned run-off increases pressure on the Obama administration to quickly end its lengthy deliberations about whether to commit more U.S. forces to a worsening war. Obama may announce his revamped war strategy, including a decision on sending more troops, early next week before a planned overseas trip.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs acknowledged that Karzai's win by default is a factor in the coming decision about troops but did not say the timetable for an announcement has changed. The administration continues to say it will happen in the "coming weeks."

In recounting his call to Karzai, Obama spent most of his time saying what he expects from his fellow president: more diligent efforts to end corruption, cooperation in accelerating the training of Afghan security forces, tangible benefits in the lives of the Afghan people.

Those aren't just Obama's standards. He is under pressure to show Congress and the public that the U.S. is dealing with a trustworthy partner, particularly if it is going to send more troops there. Many Americans have grown weary of the war and are questioning its worth.

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Obama Offers Taliban 6 Provinces for 8 Bases

When Obama stated that he was going to reach out to the Islamic world, he was not kidding. The weakness of Obama has lead to the Taliban getting stronger. He has even given the Taliban the OK to participate in the future political landscape of Afghanistan. Apparently none of this was enough though, and now Obama is willing to share power in Afghanistan with the Taliban thugs. This is straight out of the Twilight Zone.

US Offers Taliban 6 Provinces for 8 Bases
By Aamir Latif, IOL Correspondent


ISLAMABAD – The emboldened Taliban movement in Afghanistan turned down an American offer of power-sharing in exchange for accepting the presence of foreign troops, Afghan government sources confirmed.

"US negotiators had offered the Taliban leadership through Mullah Wakil Ahmed Mutawakkil (former Taliban foreign minister) that if they accept the presence of NATO troops in Afghanistan, they would be given the governorship of six provinces in the south and northeast," a senior Afghan Foreign Ministry official told IslamOnline.net requesting anonymity for not being authorized to talk about the sensitive issue with the media.

He said the talks, brokered by Saudi Arabia and Turkey, continued for weeks at different locations including the Afghan capital Kabul.

Saudi Arabia, along with Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates, were the only states to recognize the Taliban regime which ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.

Turkish Prime Minister Reccap Erodgan has reportedly been active in brokering talks between the two sides.

His emissaries are in contact with Hizb-e-Islami (of former prime minister Gulbadin Hikmatyar) too because he is an important factor in northeastern Afghanistan."

A Taliban spokesman admitted indirect talks with the US.

"Yes, there were some indirect talks, but they did not work," Yousaf Ahmedi, the Taliban spokesman in southern Afghanistan, told IOL from an unknown location via satellite phone.

"There are some people who are conveying each others’ (Taliban and US) messages. But there were no direct talks between us and America," he explained.

Afghan and Taliban sources said Mutawakkil and Mullah Mohammad Zaeef, a former envoy to Pakistan who had taken part in previous talks, represented the Taliban side in the recent talks.

The US Embassy in Kabul denied any such talks.

"No, we are not holding any talks with Taliban," embassy spokeswoman Cathaline Haydan told IOL from Kabul.

Asked whether the US has offered any power-sharing formula to Taliban, she said she was not aware of any such offer.

"I don't know about any specific talks and the case you are reporting is not true."

Provinces for Bases

Source say that for the first time the American negotiators did not insist on the "minus-Mullah Omer" formula, which had been the main hurdle in previous talks between the two sides.

The Americans reportedly offered Taliban a form of power-sharing in return for accepting the presence of foreign troops.

"America wants 8 army and air force bases in different parts of Afghanistan in order to tackle the possible regrouping of Al-Qaeda network," the senior official said.

He named the possible hosts of the bases as Mazar-e-Sharif and Badakshan in north, Kandahar in south, Kabul, Herat in west, Jalalabad in northeast and Ghazni and Faryab in central Afghanistan.

In exchange, the US offered Taliban the governorship of the southern provinces of Kandahar, Zabul, Hilmand and Orazgan as well as the northeastern provinces of Nooristan and Kunar.

These provinces are the epicenter of resistance against the US-led foreign forces and are considered the strongholds of Taliban.

Orazgan and Hilmand are the home provinces of Taliban Supreme Commander Mullah Omer and Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

"But Taliban did not agree on that," said the senior official.

"Their demand was that America must give a deadline for its pull out if it wants negotiations to go on."

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Obama Opens up Checkbook to Taliban

Although the Taliban in Afghanistan is getting stronger, Obama still believes that he is going to reach out to the "moderate" Taliban members, in order to turn the war around. His next brilliant move is to now pay off Taliban members, this comes just weeks after stating that Taliban members will be allowed to take part in the government of Afganistan. Because of Obama, who has the upper hand here?

U.S. defense bill would pay Taliban to switch sides
By Susan Cornwell – Tue Oct 27

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The defense bill President Barack Obama will sign into law on Wednesday contains a new provision that would pay Taliban fighters who renounce the insurgency, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin said on Tuesday.

The provision establishes a program in Afghanistan similar to one used in Iraq where former fighters were re-integrated into Iraqi society, Levin told Reuters.

Obama plans to sign the bill authorizing Pentagon operations for fiscal 2010 on Wednesday, the White House said.

Reaching out to moderate Taliban members is part of the Obama administration's plan to turn around the eight-year war in Afghanistan. Levin also has advocated trying to convince Taliban fighters to change sides by luring them with jobs and amnesty for past attacks.

Under the legislation, Afghan fighters who renounce the insurgency would be paid for "mainly protection of their towns and villages," Levin said.

It would be "just like the sons of Iraq," he said, referring to the program used in Iraq which military commanders say helped turn around a failing war.

"You got 90,000 Iraqis who switched sides, and are involved in protecting their hometowns against attack and violence."

The bill authorizes using money from an existing Commanders Emergency Response Program, which U.S. commanders can use for a variety of purposes. It does not set a specific dollar amount for the fighters' re-integration program.

There is $1.3 billion authorized for the fund in fiscal 2010, which began October 1. The money must still be allocated by defense appropriators, who are working to finish the legislation.

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Taliban Beats Down Pakistani Army

Sharia is spreading in Iraq, after almost eight years in Afghanistan it is a stand-off at best, and the Taliban is running wild in Pakistan.
Either the gloves are going to come off against our enemies, or we will continue to lose this war.

Pakistan suffers reverses in offensive against militants

DERA ISMAIL KHAN , Pakistan --
Taliban guerrillas recaptured the birthplace of the Pakistani Taliban leader from the Pakistani army Tuesday, inflicting the heaviest military losses so far in Pakistan's high-stakes offensive in South Waziristan , a refuge for Pakistani extremists, Afghan insurgents and al Qaida .

A government attempt to foment a tribal uprising against the Pakistani Taliban also failed Tuesday. In a meeting with the top Pakistani official for the tribal areas, elders of the area's Mehsud clan refused a request to form a traditional militia, known as a lashkar, to battle the Taliban who've taken over their territory.


Separately, two suicide bomb blasts at an Islamic university in Islamabad, Pakistan's capital, killed six people and wounded at least 20. In response, many educational institutions, including all schools and colleges in the Punjab, the country's most heavily populated province, announced that they'd close.

The Pakistani offensive appears to be first serious operation against extremists in South Waziristan since 2004, when the military entered the area for the first time.
Pakistan has thrown some 30,000 soldiers into the fight against an estimated 10,000 Taliban , plus some 1,500 foreign jihadists closely liked to al Qaida .

However, Kotkai, a town surrounded by high mountains in the Sararogha area of South Waziristan , remained in Taliban hands late Tuesday after Pakistani forces were beaten back on the fourth day of the ground operation in South Waziristan .

The town is the birthplace of Hakimullah Mehsud, the head of the Pakistani Taliban. The group's top trainer of suicide bombers, Qari Hussain , also comes from Kotkai, and he has a madrassa, or Islamic school, just outside the town in which hundreds of children and young men have been indoctrinated into suicide attacks.

Security officials, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak to journalists, said that Pakistani troops had thrust into Kotkai only to be hit by a determined counteroffensive that killed seven soldiers, including an army major, and wounded seven more.

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Pakistan Taliban: Convert, pay Jizya or Christian Women are Sex Slaves!

The Taliban which just will not go away, has threatened Pakistani Christians once again. Their threats are in accordance to the Islamic scriptures.

Would anyone from the Islam is a religion of peace crowd like to address this?

Hat tip to the The Religion of Peace.

BREAKING NEWS: Taliban Threatens To Kill More Christians
Saturday, October 17, 2009
By Worthy News Chief International Correspondent Stefan J. Bos

SARGODHA, PAKISTAN (Worthy News)-- Fighters linked to the militant Taliban group have threatened to kill Christians and burn their homes in Pakistan's Punjab province if they don't meet their demands.

In a letter sent to the Christian community in the northeastern city of Sargodha, Taliban militants said Christians should convert to Islam, pay an Islamic tax imposed on religious minorities, known as 'Jizya tax', or leave the country.

Koran verse 009.029

YUSUFALI: Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.

If Christians refuse to accept these choices, Christians “will be killed, their property and homes will be burnt to ashes and their women treated as sex slaves,” said the letter, which was distributed to Worthy News and its partner agency BosNewsLife by rights group International Christian Concern (ICC). The Christians “themselves would be responsible for this,” the letter added.

I cannot imagine where they got that idea from.

Volume 5, Book 59, Number 513:
Narrated 'Abdul 'Aziz bin Suhaib:

Anas bin Malik said,
"The Prophet took Safiya as a captive. He manumitted her and married her." Thabit asked Anas, "What did he give her as Mahr (i.e. marriage gift)?" Anas replied. "Her Mahr was herself, for he manumitted her."

Now what woman would willing want to marry a man whose army just killed her father and husband? Mohammad himself was a rapist.

More on this story.


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Taliban Strength in Afghanistan Nears Military Proportion

While Obama and clueless McChrystal have imposed a ridiculous set of Rules of Engagement (ROE) on our brave troops, the Taliban is getting stronger and stronger. Both militarily and financially.

Taliban strength in Afghanistan nears military proportion
By Jonathan S. Landay and Hal Bernton, McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON -- A recent U.S. intelligence assessment has raised the estimated number of full-time Taliban -led insurgents fighting in Afghanistan to at least 25,000, underscoring how the crisis has worsened even as the U.S. and its allies have beefed up their military forces, a U.S. official said Thursday.

The U.S. official, who requested anonymity because the assessment is classified, said the estimate represented an increase of at least 5,000 fighters, or 25 percent, over what an estimate found last year.

On Wednesday, U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry assured Afghans that America would continue to fight until "extremists and insurgents" were defeated in the war-torn nation.

The new intelligence estimate suggests that such a fight would be difficult. Not included in the 25,000 tally are the part-time fighters -- those Afghans who plant bombs or support the insurgents in other ways in return for money -- and also the criminal gangs who sometimes make common cause with the Taliban or other Pakistan -based groups.

The assessment attributed the growth in the Taliban and their major allies, such as the Haqqani Network and Hezb-e-Islami, to a number of factors, including a growing sense among many Afghans that the insurgents are gaining ground over U.S.-led NATO troops and Afghan security forces.

"The rise can be attributed to, among other things, a sense that the central government in Kabul isn't delivering (on services), increased local support for insurgent groups, and the perception that the Taliban and others are gaining a firmer foothold and expanding their capabilities," the U.S. official said.

"They (the insurgents) don't need to win a popularity contest," said Michael O'Hanlon , a military analyst at the center-left Brookings Institution in Washington . "They are actually doing a good job in creating a complex psychological brew. The first part is building on frustration with the government. The second part is increasing their own appeal or at least taking the edge off of the hatred that people had felt for them before. But on top of that they are selectively using intimidation to stoke a climate of fear. And on top of that they have momentum."

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Taliban out to win Hearts of Afghans, new ROE,~Video

Recently the Obama lead Pentagon had disclosed the US military's new Rules of Engagement (ROE). Here are the Talibans.

Al Jazeera has obtained a copy of the Taliban's new military code of conduct, approved by their Afghan leader, Mullah Omar.

The document outlines the use of suicide bombings, guidelines on the treatment of hostages and how to win the battle for the hearts of the Afghan population.

As Al Jazeera's James Bays reports from the capital, Kabul, the book offers rare insight into how the Taliban is evolving in Afghanistan.

Official: Taliban Better Financed Than al-Qaida

So the Taliban is getting stronger than ever, and our Islam loving Obama, wants to put them in the Afghan government. Is it even possible to have a worse president?

Official: Taliban better financed than al-Qaida
By RICHARD LARDNER

WASHINGTON – The Taliban are in much stronger financial shape than al-Qaida and rely on a wide range of criminal activities to pay for attacks on U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan, a senior Treasury Department official said Monday.

David Cohen, the department's assistant secretary for terrorist financing, said the extremist group extorts money from poppy farmers and heroin traffickers involved in Afghanistan's booming drug trade. The Taliban also demand protection payments from legitimate Afghan businesses, he said during a speech at a conference on money laundering enforcement.

Cohen's assessment came as President Barack Obama and his top advisers discuss whether many more troops may be needed in the 8-year-old Afghanistan conflict. A critical part of the deliberations is whether the fight should be a more narrow one against al-Qaida or a broader battle against the Taliban-led insurgency.

According to Cohen, al-Qaida is a cash-strapped organization that is losing its clout. That condition is the product, he said, of a long-running effort by the U.S. and its allies to cut off the terror group's sources of funding by targeting its deep-pocketed donors and interfering with its ability to move money.

In the first half of 2009, he said, al-Qaida's leaders made four public appeals for money to bolster recruitment and training.

"We assess that al-Qaida is in its weakest financial condition in several years, and that, as a result, its influence is waning," Cohen said at the conference, sponsored by the American Bankers Association and the American Bar Association.

But Cohen cautioned that situation could reverse quickly because a pool of donors "who are ready, willing and able to contribute to al-Qaida" still exists.

The Taliban, meanwhile, appear to be heading in the other direction despite an international effort to shut down the movement's cash supply. Drugs are a major money maker for the group.

But Richard Holbrooke, the Obama administration's special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, has said the Taliban get most of their cash from private benefactors in the Persian Gulf.

Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, said in his 66-page assessment of the war that the diversity of the Taliban's streams of cash makes it difficult to blunt their ability to operate.

Cohen said portions of the Taliban's illicit proceeds make their way out of the country and into the global financial system. But he did not specify how much or detail the money's suspected entry points.

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Obama: Taliban can be in Afghan Politics

While our brave troops are fighting the Taliban thugs with one hand tied behind their back. Islam loving Obama, is willing to allow the Taliban to be involved in the future political landscape of Afghanistan. How our great troops are treated is beyond disgraceful!!!!!

Obama focusing on al-Qaida, not Taliban
By JENNIFER LOVEN, AP White House Correspondent

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is prepared to accept some Taliban involvement in Afghanistan's political future and appears inclined to send only as many more U.S. troops to Afghanistan as are needed to keep al-Qaida at bay, a senior administration official said Thursday.

The sharpened focus by Obama's team on fighting al-Qaida above all other goals, and downgrading the emphasis on the Taliban, comes as the administration is engaged in a methodical but intensely debated review of how to overhaul the increasingly unpopular eight-year-old war.

Though aides stress that the president's final decision is still at least two weeks or more away, the emerging thinking suggests that he would be very unlikely to favor a large military ramp-up of the kind being advocated by the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal.

McChrystal's troop request is said to include a range of options for Obama, from adding as few as 10,000 combat troops to — the general's strong preference — as many as 40,000.

Obama's developing strategy on the Taliban will "not tolerate their return to power," the senior official said. But the U.S. would only fight to keep the Taliban from retaking control of Afghanistan's central government — something it is now far from being capable of — and from giving renewed sanctuary in Afghanistan for al-Qaida, the official said.

Bowing to the reality that the Taliban is too ingrained in Afghanistan's culture to ever be entirely defeated, the administration also is prepared, as it has been for some time, to accept some Taliban role in parts of Afghanistan the official said. That could mean paving the way for Taliban members willing to renounce violence to participate in a central government. It might even mean ceding some regions of the country to the Taliban. The official is involved in the discussions and was authorized to speak about them but not to be identified by name because they are still ongoing.

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General McChrystal: Afghans Tell us When we win

Clueless as they come McChrystal, had recently stated that he will put our great troops in even more of harms way, in order to gain the approval of the people of Afghanistan. Now the General has completely dropped to his knees, begging for the Afghans to like us.

Last week in London the General made the following statements.

“We don’t win by destroying the Taliban,” he said. “We don’t win by body count. We don’t win by the number of successful military raids or attacks, we win when the people decide we win.”

Apparently this so called leader does not care if the Taliban kills more of our guys than our troops do of them. Does the General have a cap on this death toll? How long should this failed policy go on for? Does he actually think that the Afghans care about our troops?

“Why isn’t the situation better after eight years?” he said. “Afghans’ expectations have not been met. ...

What a shame, the backwards people of Afghanistan have not had their desires fulfilled. How about a mass conversion of US troops to Islam General, do you think that would do it?

McChrystal said a clear change in “mindset” was needed because many current tactics are counterproductive and producing hostility and skepticism among Afghan civilians who must be convinced the coalition forces will improve their safety and quality of life.

Loosely translated: more US troops need to die for this Islamic hellhole.

None of this should be a surprise though. The General is flat out ignorant on Islam, its violent nature and its affect on the culture of Afghanistan.

From General McChrystal's recent Afganistan assesment:

A more forceful and offensive StratCom approach must be devised whereby INS [insurgents] are exposed continually for their cultural and religious violations, anti-Islamic and indiscriminate use of violence and terror, and by concentrating on their vulnerabilities. These include their causing ofthe majority of civilian casualties, attacks on education, development projects, and government institutions, and flagrant contravention of the principles of the Koran. These vulnerabilities must be expressed in a manner that exploits the cultural and ideological separation of the INS from the vast majority of the Afghan population.

Judging by the statement above, McChrystal has done absolutely no research what so ever on Islam. Here General, let me start you off on your much needed education on Islam.

"Islam 101: The Religion of War"

It is clear that Obama does not want to win this war, and he has found his useful idiot to lead the way.

Houston Taliban Supporter Get 4 1/2 Years

Let us add American Muslim convert Kobie Diallo Williams to the list of American Muslims in trouble with the law for supporting Islamic terrorism. Unfortunately this will be an endless list.

Houston Taliban supporter gets 4½ years in prison
He promises court that he will turn his life around
By MARY FLOOD
HOUSTON CHRONICLE


A former local college student, Kobie Diallo Williams, told a Houston federal judge Friday that while in solitary confinement for 33 months, he has reflected on his support of the Taliban and wants to apologize to his family, Muslims and the courts, promising a new focus when he is released.

Senior U.S. District Judge Ewing Werlein sentenced Williams to 4½ years in prison, most of which he already has served, and a $5,000 fine. Williams pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge in which he admitted to paramilitary training and donating money to the Taliban.

A former Rice University engineering technician who was enrolled at the University of Houston-Downtown in 2006 when he was charged, Williams, 36, said Friday that he will be more careful about choosing his friends. He will refocus on peaceful activities, he said, and he hopes to help Muslim youths who might be misguided like he was.

“I realize that what I said and did was very impulsive, reactive and uncalled for,” Williams told the judge, invoking God in his comments and quoting from the Bible.

Prosecutor Glenn Cook told the judge that every American has the right to peacefully disagree with the government. But, Cook said, Williams went too far by practicing paramilitary operations on camping trips in anticipation of fighting alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan and by contributing $350 to a group he understood would give the money to the Taliban, a terrorist organization.

Cook said Williams “crossed the line in practicing for a military jihad and supporting the Taliban.”

Werlein asked Williams about his plan to help the poor and young Muslim men when he gets out of prison. The judge said he was impressed with Williams' support from family and friends and letters indicating how much community work he'd done for the needy before planning the military trip overseas.

Werlein, who stopped six months short of the maximum penalty of five years in prison, told Williams he is convinced that Williams will change his ways.
“I hope you won't let me down,” Werlein said.

John Floyd, William's lawyer, said his client was incensed by the killing of civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq and fell in with the wrong crowd.

“As part of his rebirth into his religion, he strayed some,” said Floyd, who was there with a group of supporters from Williams' family.

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Britain and US Prepared to Open Talks With the Taliban

Even though the Taliban has admitted that there no "moderate" Taliban members, President Obama has promised nonmilitary
solutions for Afghanistan. Well here comes the talks in which we will end up giving up ground to the Taliban.

Hat tip to Weasel Zippers.

Britain and US prepared to open talks with the Taliban
Richard Norton-Taylor
The Guardian, Tuesday 28 July 2009


A concerted effort to start unprecedented talks between Taliban and British and American envoys was outlined yesterday in a significant change in tactics designed to bring about a breakthrough in the attritional, eight-year conflict in Afghanistan.

Senior ministers and commanders on the ground believe they have created the right conditions to open up a dialogue with "second-tier" local leaders now the Taliban have been forced back in a swath of Helmand province.

They are hoping that Britain's continuing military presence in Helmand, strengthened by the arrival of thousands of US troops, will encourage Taliban commanders to end the insurgency. There is even talk in London and Washington of a military "exit strategy".

Speaking at the end of the five-week Operation Panther's Claw in which hundreds of British troops were reported to have cleared insurgents from a vital region of Helmand province, Lieutenant-General Simon Mayall, deputy chief of defence staff, said: "It gives the Taliban 'second tier' room to reconnect with the government and this is absolutely at the heart of this operation."

The second tier of the insurgency are regarded as crucial because they control large numbers of Taliban fighters in Pashtun-dominated southern Afghanistan. The first tier of Taliban commanders – hardliners around Mullah Omar – could not be expected to start talks in the foreseeable future. The third tier – footsoldiers with no strong commitments – are not regarded as influential or significant players.

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Pakistani News:US Ready to Take out our Nukes

As the violence has escalated in Pakistan since the inception of Sharia law in the Swat Valley, many of us have wondered about the nuclear arsenal within Pakistan. Here is what one Pakistani news organization had to say.

Hat tip to The Religion of Peace.

‘Plans ready to take out Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal’
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Monitoring Desk

WASHINGTON: The US has a detailed plan for infiltrating Pakistan and securing its mobile arsenal of nuclear warheads if it appears the country is about to fall under the control of the Taliban, al-Qaeda or other Islamic extremists, a leading TV network reported.

“American intelligence sources say the operation would be conducted by the Joint Special Operations Command, the super-secret commando unit headquartered at Fort Bragg, NC,” a report by Rowan Scarborough of the FoxNews said on Friday. The report has also been posted on foxnews.com, the website of the TV channel.

It said: “The JSOC is the military’s chief terrorists hunting squad and has units now operating in Afghanistan on Pakistan’s western border. But a secondary mission is to secure foreign nuclear arsenals — a role for which the JSOC operatives have trained in Nevada.

“The mission has taken on added importance in the recent months, as Islamic extremists have taken territory close to the capital of Islamabad and could destabilise Pakistan’s shaky democracy. “We have plans to secure them ourselves if things get out of hand,” said a US intelligence source, who has deployed to Afghanistan. “That is a big secondary mission for the JSOC in Afghanistan.”

The source said the JSOC had been updating its mission plan for the day President Obama gave the order to infiltrate Pakistan. “Small units could seize them, disable them and then centralise them in a secure location,” the source said. A secret Defence Intelligence Agency document, first disclosed in 2004, said Pakistan had a nuclear arsenal of 35 weapons. The document said it planned to more than double the arsenal by 2020.

The FoxNews quoted a Pakistani official as saying the US and his country had an understanding that if either Osama bin Laden, or his deputy, Ayman Zawahiri, was located, the US troops and air strikes might be used inside the borders to capture or kill them.

“What makes the Pakistan mission especially difficult is that the military has its missiles on the Soviet-style mobile launchers and rail lines. The US intelligence agencies, using satellite photos and communication intercepts, is constantly monitoring their whereabouts. Other warheads are kept in storage. The US technical experts have visited Pakistan to advise the government on how to maintain and protect its arsenal.

“Also, there are rogue elements inside Pakistan’s military and intelligence service, who could quickly side with the extremists and make the JSOC’s mission all the more difficult.“It’s relatively easy to track the rail-mounted ones with satellites,” said the intelligence source. “Truck-mounted are more difficult. However, they are all relatively close to the capital in areas that the government firmly controls, so we don’t have to look too far.

“The JSOC is made up of three main elements: Army Delta Force, Navy SEALs and a high-tech special intelligence unit known as the Task Force Orange. The JSOC was instrumental in Iraq in finding and killing Abu Musab Zarqawi, the deadly and most prominent al-Qaeda leader in the Middle East.

“There is speculation in the intelligence community that a secondary reason for Army Lt-Gen Stanley McChrystal being named the next commander in Afghanistan is that he headed the JSOC in 2006-08 and is read-in on its contingency missions in Pakistan.

“Adm Michael Mullen, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, this month said that based on the information he had seen, Pakistan’s nuclear warheads were safe. “I remain comfortable that the nuclear weapons in Pakistan are secure, that the Pakistani leadership and, in particular, the military is very focused on this,” it said. “We, the United States, have invested fairly significantly over the last three years, to work with them, to improve that security. And we’re satisfied, very satisfied with that progress. We will continue to do that. And we all recognise obviously the worst downside of — with respect to Pakistan is that those nuclear weapons come under the control of terrorists.”

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Pakistan:Convert or Pay Jizya!

Since the Taliban were allowed to govern govern Swat Pakistan under Sharia law, they figured that they will just go forward and implement some more Islam there. As per Koran verse 9:29 the Taliban are now threatening non-Muslims to convert to Islam or pay the jizah tax.


Koran 009.029
YUSUFALI: Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.

Pakistan's religious minorities report violence

By KATHY GANNON
KARACHI, Pakistan – Fauzia Abrar had finally gotten her crying baby to sleep when screaming men pounded on the steel doors of her home in the mostly Christian slum in the port city of Karachi.
Suddenly she heard shots, and the screaming grew louder: "Long live Taliban! Death to infidels!"

The men forced their way into her house, hurled loose tiles and a glass at her and fired a shot. She fainted.

As the Taliban gains a stronger foothold in Pakistan, increasingly violent assaults against religious minorities are further evidence of its growing power and influence. While the Taliban does not carry out all of the attacks, extremist elements inspired by the group will sometimes act in its name.

These attacks add to the instability of an already highly unstable country and also show how Pakistan, supposed to be a U.S. ally in the fight against Islamic extremism, is now itself increasingly threatened by extremists.

In dozens of interviews from Karachi to Peshawar, Christians, Sikhs and Hindus told of attacks and threats and expressed an overwhelming sense of fear. Minority Rights Group International, a watchdog organization, ranked Pakistan last year as the world's top country for major increases in threats to minorities from 2007 — along with Sri Lanka, which is embroiled in civil war. The group lists Pakistan as seventh on the list of 10 most dangerous countries for minorities, after Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Myanmar and Congo.

"In Pakistan today there is a lot of feeling of fear by all the minorities," said the Rev. Richard D'Souza of St. Jude Church in Karachi. "We feel we have no protection."

The trouble in D'Souza's parish started with bold blue graffiti on the church walls praising the Taliban and Islamic law, and condemning Christians as infidels. Young Christians in the neighborhood protested.

Within days, about 25 burly men with shaggy beards rampaged through the neighborhood, beating Christians, pelting women with stones and setting fire to the doors of houses and to meager possessions. An 11-year-old boy was killed, and several people were wounded.

"The police never helped. None of us had weapons. The police just stood there," said 26-year-old Imran Masih, who spent 10 days in the hospital after a bullet pierced his neck.

Dozens of Christian families fled. One man who stayed, Sohail Masih, showed what is left of the family's two Bibles and a Sunday school book — a seared and crumbled mass of paper. He had wrapped it in plastic bags and hidden it, in case evidence was ever needed.

D'Souza said the parish is thinking of forming its own armed youth brigades to patrol Christian areas. When he asked the government for armored personnel carriers, he said, two bored-looking policemen showed up for the Easter Sunday service and were gone the next morning.

Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan's minister for minorities affairs, said the government is trying to stop the Taliban through military operations.

"I don't say minorities are not worried. They have a genuine concern. They have been attacked," said Bhatti, a Christian. "The Taliban say non-Muslims are infidels, and the people who are misguided zealots can interpret this in any way. Minorities can be easy and soft targets of these extremists, but these Taliban are committing such violent acts that everyone feels fear in their presence — the minority and the majority in Pakistan."

Religious minorities represent about 5 percent of Pakistan's 160 million people, according to the CIA World Factbook. But Michael Javed, director of a peace council and a minister in southern Sindh, charged that census takers intentionally keep minority figures low to deny them greater representation. Christians alone represent 5 to 6 percent of the population, he said.

Javed said he has been told by militants to take the cross off his schools in Karachi, and has refused. Frightened Christians are trying to arm themselves, he said, pulling out a bulging file with more than 60 applications to buy weapons.
"It has never happened in the past like this. Today we feel we have no future. They want us to hide, but we won't," he said.

Even Shiite Muslims have come under attack as the Sunni Taliban tears through the tribal areas. In the past two years, the Taliban has embraced a violently anti-Shiite group, Lashkar-e-Janghvi, unleashing a fresh wave of bitter bloodletting. More than 500 Shiite Muslims in the Kurram tribal agency have been killed in daily attacks.

Editorials in local newspapers have warned of the threat to minorities and predicted that the brutality will eventually reach the larger population. In an April letter to the prime minister and president, Lahore Archbishop Lawrence Saldanha said allowing Islamic law in the violent Swat Valley would give license to "trigger-happy Taliban (and further) erode constitutional protections for minorities and women."

The Taliban issued an ultimatum in March to the elders of more than 25 Sikh families in the Orakzai tribal agency near the Afghan border: Convert to Islam, join the jihad or pay 5 billion rupees — roughly $62 million — for protection.

"We couldn't pay that amount. We were farmers," said a young Sikh who asked to be identified only as Singh, because he was too terrified to give his full name or location. He fidgeted nervously, and his voice became little more than a whisper as he recalled the Taliban's threat to take a Sikh leader to South Waziristan to decide his fate if the extortion money wasn't paid.

The villagers persuaded the Taliban to reduce the amount to 12 million rupees or $150,000 — still a princely sum for the Sikh community. But Singh said they raised enough money to get their elder released, with a promise to pay the rest by March 29.

On March 28, he said, the Sikhs paid the full amount, and the Taliban promised to protect them anywhere in Pakistan. But by 10 p.m. that day, the Taliban had told Sikh elders they were preparing to attack.

By 2 a.m., the elders had packed everyone into cars and trucks, and more than 150 Sikhs fled to Peshawar, the provincial capital of the northwest.

"What are we to do? We have nothing," Singh said. "We have asked the government of Pakistan, either relocate us to somewhere safe or send us to India."

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Obama and co. to Replace Top General in Afghanistan

While Obama has OK-ed a troop surge for Afghanistan, he is replacing the top US General who had been asking for the troops. The reason being is that Obama has a new strategy which is based on nonmilitary solutions, so this calls for a new leader. I guess that this is the reach out to the "moderate" Taliban members part.

Official: US to replace top general in Afghanistan
By PAULINE JELINEK and ANNE GEARAN

WASHINGTON – The Pentagon will replace its top general in Afghanistan as President Barack Obama tries to turn around a stalemated war, defense officials said.]

The exit of Gen. David McKiernan comes as more than 21,000 additional U.S. forces begin to arrive in Afghanistan, dispatched by Obama to confront the Taliban more forcefully this spring and summer.

McKiernan, on the job about a year, has asked repeatedly for additional forces. He has argued that his forces, while technically far superior, cannot hold ground against the Taliban in the volatile East and South.

Obama's revamped strategy for Afghanistan does markedly increase the number of U.S. forces in the country but focuses on nonmilitary solutions as a better long-term approach.

Military officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said McKiernan will be replaced by Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement. Defense Secretary Robert Gates was likely to announce the new leadership in Afghanistan later Monday, an official said.

Obama has approved a new strategy for Afghanistan and Gates wants new leadership to carry it out, the defense official said.

McKiernan was named to his post by former President George W. Bush.

Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen scheduled a Monday afternoon news conference at which Gates will discuss his trip last week to Afghanistan and new plans for the seven-year-old Afghan campaign, which during the Bush administration took a back seat to the war in Iraq.

McChrystal has had a top administrative job at the Joint Chiefs of Staff for less than a year. He is a former commander of the Joint Special Operations Command.

Lt. Gen. David M. Rodriguez, who serves as top military aide to Gates, will be deputy to McChrystal in Afghanistan, the defense official said.

Obama had approved 17,000 additional combat forces for Afghanistan this year, plus 4,000 trainers and other non-combat troops. By year's end, the United States will have more than 68,000 troops in the sprawling country — about double the total at the end of Bush's presidency but still far fewer than the approximately 130,000 still in Iraq.

McKiernan and other U.S. commanders have said resources they need in Afghanistan are tied up in Iraq.

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Taliban Warn Pope on "Proselytism"

Not only do the Taliban enjoy blowing up children, now they have even issued a warning to the Pope. All the while President Obama desperately searches for "moderate" Taliban members.

Hat tip to the The Religion of Peace.

TALEBAN WARN POPE ON 'PROSELYTISM'
'Reaction' threat after US soldiers seen with Bibles http://islaminaction08.blogspot.com/2009/05/afghandon.html


(ANSA) - Rome, May 7 - The Taleban have warned Pope Benedict XVI to help stop alleged attempts to convert Muslims in Afghanistan, in order to prevent ''serious consequences''.

The apparent threat appeared on a Taleban-linked website Thursday after Arab-language network Al Jazeera showed US soldiers in Afghanistan holding copies of the Bible translated into local languages.

''The Islamic Emirate in Afghanistan asks Pope Benedict XVI to act to stop the foolish and irresponsible actions of the crusaders upsetting the feelings of Muslim rebels, without awaiting the consequences of a severe reaction,'' said a Taleban message on the website, alemarah1.org.

''The Taleban forcefully exhort the mujaheddin, scholars and all religious circles to control the activities of the invaders and crusaders, and not allow anyone to preach religions except Islam,'' the message said.

Al Jazeera showed US soldiers in Bagram, not far from Kabul, with a pile of Bibles translated into the two local languages.

The US army subsequently said that ''any form of religious proselytism by troops is prohibited'' and assured that the bibles had been ''confiscated and destroyed''.

Trying to convert Muslims is a crime in Afghanistan and other Islamic countries.

The warning was issued amid mounting protests in Afghanistan against civilian deaths in recent US bombing raids.

It also came on the eve of the the pope's week-long trip to the Holy Land.

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Thousands Flee Pakistan Valley as Truce Crumbles

As predicted by anyone with an once of common sense, the Sharia law for "peace" deal with the Taliban in Swat Pakistan has only escalated the violence there. Civilians are now fleeing the area as the Taliban and the Pakistani government have started to square off. The question is, does the government have the stomach for the long and bloody battle?

Thousands flee Pakistan valley as truce crumbles

MINGORA, Pakistan – Black-turbaned Taliban militants seized government buildings, laid mines and fought security forces Tuesday in the Swat Valley, as fear of a major operation led thousands to pack their belongings on their heads and backs, cram aboard buses and flee the northwestern region.

The collapse of a 3-month-old truce with the Taliban means Pakistan will now have to fight to regain control of the Swat Valley, testing the ability of its stretched military and the resolve of civilian leaders who until recently were insisting the insurgents could be partners in peace. The government feared the refugee exodus could reach 500,000.

The developments brought Islamabad's faltering campaign against militancy into sharp focus as President Asif Ali Zardari was preparing for talks Wednesday in Washington with President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai on how best to counter an increasingly overlapping spectrum of extremist groups behind surging violence in the neighboring countries.

The Obama administration hopes to build a strong and lasting regional alliance, linking success in Afghanistan with security in Pakistan. Toward that end, the administration is encouraging Pakistan to confront — not make peace with — the Taliban and other militants.

"These violent extremists need to be confronted head on," State Department spokesman Robert Wood said. "We will be supportive."

Fearing that war could consume the region, thousands fled the main Swat town of Mingora on Tuesday, witnesses said. Refugees clambered onto the roofs of buses after seats and floors filled up. Children and adults alike carried belongings on their heads and backs.

"I do not have any destination. I only have an aim — to escape from here," said Afzal Khan, 65, who was waiting for a bus with his wife and nine children. "It is like doomsday here. It is like hell."

Shafi Ullah, a student, said the whole town was fleeing.

"Can you hear the explosions? Can you hear the gunshots?" he said, pointing to a part of town where fighting was continuing.

It is far from certain that the Pakistani public has the stomach for a long battle in Swat. Given that the militants have had time to rest and reinforce their positions in the three months since the truce took effect, any operation would involve fierce fighting in an urban setting and almost certainly cause significant civilian casualties and damage to property.

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Taliban Push to Control More of Pakistan

Just a day ago the President of Pakistan signed off on the sharia law deal with the Taliban. The deal was supposed to be sharia in exchange for peace. But The Taliban has moved forward and has brought their sharia push to Buner. It is just a matter of time until all of Pakistan is governed by Sharia law.

Taliban consolidating grip in Buner

ISLAMABAD/BUNER: The Taliban are imposing their rule in the mountain valley of Buner that they took over last week, spreading fear in the area only 100 kilometres from the capital, said police and residents on Monday.

Police said authorities were negotiating with the Taliban to persuade them to withdraw, but the group had stayed put and appeared determined to take over the valley. “They are everywhere,” Arsala Khan, a deputy superintendent of police, told Reuters overt the telephone from Buner. “They are visiting mosques, they are visiting bazaars asking people to help them enforce sharia,” he said. “Buner is fast turning into Swat.”

Using loudspeakers installed at mosques, Taliban commanders on Monday called on young men in Buner to get jihadi training. Residents of Buner said they feared more bloodshed.

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Pakistani Taliban Claims Responsibility for Binghamton Attack

Last week the Pakistani Taliban threatened an attack on the White House. Today they have claimed responsibility for yesterday's brutal attack in Binghamton NY.

Hat tip to Atlas Shrugs.

Taliban Chief Claims Responsibility for N.Y. Shooting Massacre
Saturday, April 04, 2009

A Pakistani Taliban militant leader has claimed responsibility for the attack on a U.S. immigration center in New York state in which 13 people were killed, Reuters reported.

"I accept responsibility. They were my men. I gave them orders in reaction to U.S. drone attacks," Baituallah Mehsud told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location on Saturday.

U.S. officials were not immediately available for comment about Mehsud's claim, Reuters reported, and one Pakistani security analyst dismissed the claim as a publicity stunt.

Representative Maurice Hinchey, whose district includes Binghamton, told the New York Times that indications are the gunman was an immigrant from Vietnam.

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Taliban:Obama's Ideas are "Lunatic"

Less than a month ago when Obama spoke about reaching out to "moderate" Taliban members, the Taliban told our clueless president that his plan was "illogical". Now we all know that Obama is not used to hearing the word no, so the Taliban has reaffirmed their message and told him that his ideas are "lunatic". Obama has brought us so much respect.

U.S. reconciliation offer "lunatic": Taliban spokesman

By Sayed Salahuddin
KABUL (Reuters) – Taliban insurgents reject a U.S. offer of "honorable reconciliation," a top spokesman said on Wednesday, calling it a "lunatic idea" and saying the only way to end the war was to withdraw foreign troops.

With the Afghan conflict now in its eighth year, NATO-led forces and the Taliban are locked in a bloody stalemate with violence set to rise further this year as more U.S. troops arrive and seek to contain the insurgency ahead of August elections.

President Barack Obama is redoubling U.S. efforts with more troops, more diplomatic effort and more economic assistance, but he has also already spoken of the need for an "exit strategy."

If the U.S. plan fails to show results, analysts say, time is on the Taliban side.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told an international conference on Afghanistan on Tuesday that those members of the Taliban who abandoned extremism must be granted an "honorable form of reconciliation."

"This matter was also raised in the past," said Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, referring to comments last month by Obama, who spoke of reaching out to moderate Taliban.

"They have to go and find the moderate Taliban, their leader and speak to them. This is a lunatic idea," Mujahid said by telephone from an unknown location.

Mujahid is one of two spokesman authorized to speak for the Taliban leadership council, headed by Mullah Mohammad Omar.

The 21,000 extra U.S. troops ordered by Obama to join the 70,000 foreign soldiers now fighting insurgents in Afghanistan showed the United States wanted the war to continue, Mujahid said, and the Taliban would keep fighting till they left.

"There is no other way. We want our freedom and respect for our independence," Mujahid said.

Swiftly ousted by U.S.-led forces in 2001 for harboring al Qaeda after the September 11 attacks, the Taliban regrouped and have steadily spread.

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