Green Energy
New York Daily News:
Al Qaeda in Afghanistan: Small in numbers, huge in impact on Taliban
By James Gordon Meek
Ever since senior Obama administration advisers such as CIA Director Leon Panetta and Vice President Biden admitted that Al Qaeda's presence in Afghanistan was minimal, with fewer than 100 operatives believed to be on the ground there, war critics have complained the President has little justification for escalating the U.S. commitment there.
But the inside-the-Beltway political debate underscores a fundamental misunderstanding of what Al Qaeda's role in Afghanistan — which Osama Bin Laden's minions call "Khorasan" — truly has been, according to Special Operations commanders and troops on the ground.
Today's Washington Post makes hay of the fact that Al Qaeda is barely mentioned in the 76,000 pages of war files released last month by WikiLeaks. The story overlooks two key facts: (1) The voluminous files are mostly "sigact" - "significant action" - combat reports dispatched as incidents happened; and (2) troops who faced Arabs in battle fighting alongside Afghan "Taliban" rarely knew, even after they had killed them, that they were up against non-Afghan opponents.
Critics also fail to realize that a single Al Qaeda operative's knowledge and experience in guerrilla and terror tactics is of incalculable value as a force multiplier to the Taliban.
Al Qaeda's Arab operatives are considered a fearless elite. They have knowledge of Islam that makes them seem like religious scholars to many Pashtun tribesmen, who they have led into battle in the past. After Al Qaeda fled Afghanistan's cities with their Taliban government allies in 2001-02, they reorganized and reconstituted their ranks in Pakistan. Al Qaeda returned to the fight in 2004, training, equipping and often leading or joining Haqqani fighters in battle along the eastern border.
Their presence was often suggested by the tactics used by Haqqani fighters, the cells' skill at accurately firing AK-47s and RPGs, and gear such as armor-piercing ammo, body armor and night-vision devices.
Today, as they withstand CIA's withering drone onslaught in Pakistan's tribal belt, the Arabs are more low-key in their Afghan ops than they were in the past. The CIA's targeted killing of Skeik Mustafa Abu al-Yazid after he left Mir Ali may also have impacted their activities on the other side of the AfPak.
Arabs from Al Qaeda still fund and train the Taliban, but no longer lead operations from the front, Army Col. Donald C. Bolduc, who leads the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force, told me in his office at Bagram Airfield this month.
"They're considered much too valuable to risk that," said another U.S. official in the war zone.
During the winter, Taliban leaders ensconced in Pakistan send in Al Qaeda operatives to train their fighters in bombmaking tradecraft during the lull in fighting, sources said.
"The Pakistani madrassahs are still the big recruiting and training place. The Afghans go to a madrassah in Pakistan, where an Arab is typically like the dean, or headmaster, and learn how to fight," the official told me. "Then the Afghan goes back home and teaches others to build bombs or fight — and gets paid handsomely for it."
-
Front Page Mag: Deadliest Afghan Bombing Points to Pakistan Posted by Ryan Mauro On Saturday, Pakistan showed how dismissive it is of U.S. pressure. Only days after Secretary State Clinton’s visit to Pakistan and one day prior to her trip to Afghanistan,...
-
You reckon David Cameron will be taking a victory lap? Daily Mail: Top Al Qaeda commanders with close links to Bin Laden captured in SAS dawn raid By Christopher Leake Last updated at 6:32 PM on 29th May 2011 A crack SAS team has captured two top Taliban...
-
Taliban Leaders, Wealthy Arabs Visited Bin Laden At His Home, But Pakistan Knew Nothing …(Telegraph) — Osama bin Laden received visits from Taliban leaders and wealthy Arab supporters while he was hiding out in a fortified compound in a Pakistani...
- Good News From The Obamanation
I like this idea. It looks like Obama really does intend to take the war to Pakistan to some limited degree. From Reuters: WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will deploy 4,000 extra troops to train Afghan security forces in a revamp of its Afghan...
- Everthing's Jihad In Waziristan , We're So Lucky To Have Pakistan On 'our' Side
Pakistani mullas sent us for jihad, claim Taliban Friday, October 20, 2006 Pakistani mullas sent us for jihad, claim Taliban * Say no ‘infidels’ in Afghanistan, everyone there is Muslim * Allege some clerics acting as middlemen for Taliban recruiters...
Green Energy
New York Daily News:
Al Qaeda in Afghanistan: Small in numbers, huge in impact on Taliban
By James Gordon Meek
Ever since senior Obama administration advisers such as CIA Director Leon Panetta and Vice President Biden admitted that Al Qaeda's presence in Afghanistan was minimal, with fewer than 100 operatives believed to be on the ground there, war critics have complained the President has little justification for escalating the U.S. commitment there.
But the inside-the-Beltway political debate underscores a fundamental misunderstanding of what Al Qaeda's role in Afghanistan — which Osama Bin Laden's minions call "Khorasan" — truly has been, according to Special Operations commanders and troops on the ground.
Today's Washington Post makes hay of the fact that Al Qaeda is barely mentioned in the 76,000 pages of war files released last month by WikiLeaks. The story overlooks two key facts: (1) The voluminous files are mostly "sigact" - "significant action" - combat reports dispatched as incidents happened; and (2) troops who faced Arabs in battle fighting alongside Afghan "Taliban" rarely knew, even after they had killed them, that they were up against non-Afghan opponents.
Critics also fail to realize that a single Al Qaeda operative's knowledge and experience in guerrilla and terror tactics is of incalculable value as a force multiplier to the Taliban.
Al Qaeda's Arab operatives are considered a fearless elite. They have knowledge of Islam that makes them seem like religious scholars to many Pashtun tribesmen, who they have led into battle in the past. After Al Qaeda fled Afghanistan's cities with their Taliban government allies in 2001-02, they reorganized and reconstituted their ranks in Pakistan. Al Qaeda returned to the fight in 2004, training, equipping and often leading or joining Haqqani fighters in battle along the eastern border.
Their presence was often suggested by the tactics used by Haqqani fighters, the cells' skill at accurately firing AK-47s and RPGs, and gear such as armor-piercing ammo, body armor and night-vision devices.
Today, as they withstand CIA's withering drone onslaught in Pakistan's tribal belt, the Arabs are more low-key in their Afghan ops than they were in the past. The CIA's targeted killing of Skeik Mustafa Abu al-Yazid after he left Mir Ali may also have impacted their activities on the other side of the AfPak.
Arabs from Al Qaeda still fund and train the Taliban, but no longer lead operations from the front, Army Col. Donald C. Bolduc, who leads the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force, told me in his office at Bagram Airfield this month.
"They're considered much too valuable to risk that," said another U.S. official in the war zone.
During the winter, Taliban leaders ensconced in Pakistan send in Al Qaeda operatives to train their fighters in bombmaking tradecraft during the lull in fighting, sources said.
"The Pakistani madrassahs are still the big recruiting and training place. The Afghans go to a madrassah in Pakistan, where an Arab is typically like the dean, or headmaster, and learn how to fight," the official told me. "Then the Afghan goes back home and teaches others to build bombs or fight — and gets paid handsomely for it."
-
Front Page Mag: Deadliest Afghan Bombing Points to Pakistan Posted by Ryan Mauro On Saturday, Pakistan showed how dismissive it is of U.S. pressure. Only days after Secretary State Clinton’s visit to Pakistan and one day prior to her trip to Afghanistan,...
-
You reckon David Cameron will be taking a victory lap? Daily Mail: Top Al Qaeda commanders with close links to Bin Laden captured in SAS dawn raid By Christopher Leake Last updated at 6:32 PM on 29th May 2011 A crack SAS team has captured two top Taliban...
-
Taliban Leaders, Wealthy Arabs Visited Bin Laden At His Home, But Pakistan Knew Nothing …(Telegraph) — Osama bin Laden received visits from Taliban leaders and wealthy Arab supporters while he was hiding out in a fortified compound in a Pakistani...
- Good News From The Obamanation
I like this idea. It looks like Obama really does intend to take the war to Pakistan to some limited degree. From Reuters: WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will deploy 4,000 extra troops to train Afghan security forces in a revamp of its Afghan...
- Everthing's Jihad In Waziristan , We're So Lucky To Have Pakistan On 'our' Side
Pakistani mullas sent us for jihad, claim Taliban Friday, October 20, 2006 Pakistani mullas sent us for jihad, claim Taliban * Say no ‘infidels’ in Afghanistan, everyone there is Muslim * Allege some clerics acting as middlemen for Taliban recruiters...