Posts Tagged ‘al-qaeda’

White House officials have made clear that one of their top priorities in a revised strategy for the war in Afghanistan will be to train Afghan security forces.  But any increase in forces will likely also be used to fight the Taliban.  Al Jazeera’s James Bays takes a look now at how a possible increase in soldiers might be used.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Militant attacks killed six troops in Pakistan’s tribal belt, where soldiers backed by warplanes and helicopter gunships are pressing a major anti-Taliban offensive, officials said Monday. The first attack, late Sunday, left four soldiers dead in Makin, one of the battlefields where ground troops are pressing an operation against the homegrown Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) network into a fourth week. Military officials said initially that the soldiers died in an improvised explosive device (IED) attack — of the type deployed by the Taliban to such deadly effect against US and NATO troops across the border in Afghanistan.

But the army press office later issued a statement saying militants fired rockets at a security checkpost, killing the four soldiers and wounding one other. Eight militants were killed, the statement said. Further to the north in the lawless tribal belt, where US officials say Al-Qaeda are plotting attacks on the West, a roadside bomb killed two paramilitary soldiers in Bajaur district, officials said. The soldiers were travelling at the time in a vehicle to take up duty at the strategic Mullahsaid Top checkpoint, 40 kilometres (25 miles) northeast of Khar, the main town of Bajaur. “Two soldiers were killed and one injured in an IED attack,” tribal administration official Abdul Hameed Khan told AFP. Paramilitary and intelligence officials confirmed Monday’s incident and toll.

Officials say the Taliban have stepped up attacks in Bajaur to deflect attention away from South Waziristan, where around 30,000 Pakistani troops are pressing their most ambitious offensive to date against the TTP. Makin is one of the most notorious Taliban-held towns in South Waziristan and close to where former TTP chief Baitullah Mehsud had a house, which the military said Friday had been demolished. A US missile attack killed Mehsud on August 5 in South Waziristan, part of the border area with Afghanistan that Washington calls the most dangerous place in the world because of an abundance of Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters. The military says around 480 militants and 46 soldiers have been killed since the offensive began, but security officials and analysts say that many Islamist rebels have simply fled rather than staying to fight. The military provides the only regular information coming from the frontlines. None of the details can be verified because communication lines are down and journalists and aid workers barred from the area. Source

When President Obama laid out his new Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy in March, he vowed to “not blindly stay the course.” Instead, a series of metrics would be set out to measure progress. Last week, the Obama Administration issued a draft of those metrics to Congress. Where Pakistan is concerned, the goals center on disrupting international terrorist networks, developing the military’s counterinsurgency capabilities, helping to enhance civilian control and building a global consensus on stabilizing the country. The first of what will become regular assessments will be drafted at the end of March 2010. But in the six months between now and then, Washington has a lot of work to do to get Pakistan to measure up to the metrics. Here is how things stand:

In terms of disrupting terror networks, there have been notable successes in Pakistan’s tribal badlands. Straddling the Afghan border, this region has long been notorious as a base for al-Qaeda, Taliban and foreign fighters who threaten both Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is from here that Western governments fear that the next 9/11-style attack could emanate unless action is taken. Over the past year, Washington has intensified CIA-operated drone strikes — yielding a flurry of successes. Air strikes may have killed two prominent al-Qaeda commanders over the past fortnight. If confirmed, the deaths would be further blows to the terrorist group. Last month, Baitullah Mehsud, the head of the Pakistani Taliban and a key al-Qaeda ally, was killed in a remote part of South Waziristan. Mehsud’s death has sown discord among his followers, with the new leader struggling to maintain control of the increasingly fractious alliance. The tribal areas “can no longer be described as a safe haven,” says a senior Western diplomat with approval. Read the rest of this entry »

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has insisted UK armed forces are making progress in Afghanistan, despite the death toll among personnel passing 200.

Two soldiers died on Saturday, bringing the number of deaths since 2001 to 201. Mr Brown said the recent offensive would make it “very difficult” for the Taliban to reassert themselves. Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth said he was unhappy with the speed of supply to forces but that he would “flex every muscle” to minimise the risk to troops. He warned the danger could not be removed entirely from the operation, adding: “We will lose more people and we need to show resolve as a nation.”

‘Never forget’

Speaking after the Ministry of Defence confirmed the deaths of two soldiers as a result of explosions in Helmand province, Mr Brown said the public “must never forget” why troops were making sacrifices in Afghanistan. “Al Qaeda and the Taliban had become a threat to our security in Britain and in the rest of the world,” he said, adding that three quarters of anti-UK terrorist plots derived from parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Mr Brown admitted that more than 30 deaths during July and August, as British troops went on the offensive to shore up security in time for Afghan elections, had made it “one of the most difficult summers yet”. But he said: “We have shown with Operation Panther’s Claw that we can make progress… by creating space in which the elections that will take place in the next few days will be held. Read the rest of this entry »

David Rohde was held for seven months

They played game after game of draughts with their Taleban captors until the men became drowsy, then made their big move.  With the gunmen asleep on the floor beside them, the two hostages crept to the window, dropped a length of old rope they had hidden during months of captivity, shimmied down and raced to freedom.  The extraordinary escape of a Pulitzer prize-winning American journalist and his Afghan translator from Islamic militants was described yesterday for the first time.

David Rohde, 41, a New York Times reporter, and Tahir Luddin, 34, an Afghan journalist who has worked for The Times for several years, fled after being held for seven months in a lawless region in northwest Pakistan described as “the most dangerous place on Earth” by US officials and a haven for al-Qaeda and the Taleban.  Mr Luddin told how they sneaked past sleeping guards at the Taleban prison near the town of Miram Shah after tiring out the men with repeated games of draughts. He described the attempt as a “suicide mission” that he felt was almost certainly doomed to fail. But after months in captivity the pair believed that they would be killed if they did make a bid for freedom.  At the time of his disappearance Mr Rohde was working on a book about US involvement in Afghanistan and had hired the services of two Afghan employees of this newspaper — Mr Luddin, 34, and Assadullah Mangal, 22, a driver — for a day’s work. They disappeared on November 10 last year an hour’s drive south of Kabul, en route to a prearranged interview with a Taleban commander.

Their captors proved to be the Haqqani network, a ruthless al-Qaeda-linked offshoot of the Taleban that is believed to have been involved in last year’s kidnap of Sean Langan, a Channel 4 reporter. The Times and other media organisations did not publicise the kidnap so as not to endanger the men’s lives further.  The two men spent weeks planning how they might escape after hiding a length of old rope from their captors. On Friday night they challenged the guards to repeated games of draughts before going to bed at midnight. An hour later with the guards asleep on the floor around them, the two lowered themselves out of a window. The rope was several metres short of the ground and the pair were forced to drop. Mr Luddin injured his foot and was and barely able to walk. The noise went unheard, covered by the clanking of an old air conditioning unit.

Once on the ground outside the jail the two men remained convinced that they would be caught by the 150 or more Taleban fighters posted in the area. However, Mr Luddin had scouted the area beyond their prison by persuading his guards that he had an interest in cricket, which was played on nearby waste ground.  They were also helped because a threatened Pakistani military assault on North Waziristan had drawn some fighters away from the area. After stumbling through the dark they reached a Pakistani border scout outpost. They were almost fatally mistaken for Taleban suicide bombers before being transferred to US custody. “All the way through we were both just praying to God for our survival,” said Mr Luddin, whose location is being kept secret for his own safety. The third group member, Mr Mangal, decided to remain behind.  During their seven months in captivity the three prisoners were frequently threatened with death, Mr Luddin said. They were also forced to appear in videos sent to Western news outlets and The New York Times which showed their increasing mental strain as they read lists of demands.

Mr Luddin said that the one positive aspect of his ordeal was the food, which was always excellent and accompanied by mineral water.  Negotiations for the release of all three men were conducted by the family of Mr Rohde in line with a policy of the US Government not to negotiate with terrorists. Those efforts were frustrated by the huge and varying demands of the kidnappers, who asked for £25 million and the release of prisoners in US and Afghan custody.  Mr Rohde had been married only a few weeks when he was kidnapped. In a statement released on Saturday his family said: “It is hard to describe the enormous relief we felt at hearing the news of David’s escape and knowing he is safe. Every day during these past seven months, we have hoped and prayed for this moment.”