May 24, 2005
The Forgotten War
U.S. and allied forces are still actively fighting elements of the
Taliban and al Qaeda, as this interesting report from an Italian website reveals. The scene of the fighting, the Paktika province, was a major area of anti-Soviet resistance in the 1980s and its dense forests offer some refuge from American air power. Don't miss the last line: the Taliban commander in the region is believed to be new al Qaeda's no. 3. It seems everyone gets a chance to be AQ's no. 3 man, at least for 15 minutes...
Posted by Richard Miniter at 05:17 PM
May 19, 2005
Our friends, the Pakistanis
So Pakistan's Minister for Religious Affairs defends suicide attacks in Mesopotamia, expecting only a knowing nod from the world's press and a what-else-would-you-expect-? shrug from the State Department—but he got more than he bargained for. The Iraqi National Congress is demanding an apology. It is about time that the appointed officials of allied nations got with the program. As Bush likes to say, "You're either with us or with the terrorists." For a front-bench minister in the Musharaf government, this shouldn't be a hard choice.
Posted by Richard Miniter at 08:30 PM
May 15, 2005
Predator Preys on Perp in Pakistan?
ABC News and others reported on Saturday that a CIA drone used a Hellfire missile to kill a high-ranking al Qaeda member inside Pakistan. Of course, the Pakistanis were quick to disavow the report (allowing the U.S. to roam Pakistan's skies and kill at will is not a popular political position in Pakistan). The CIA retreated into its favored "no comment" mode, but you can almost feel the satisfied grin on their face when you phone them to ask about it. I think the story is true, although the matter of whether to target—who has been watched for months—was really the replacement of Abu Faraj al-Libi (supposedly al Qaeda's no. 3) is a matter of sharp debate among the informed sources I contacted.
Posted by Richard Miniter at 01:09 PM
I bet they know
In an article in Pakistan's Daily Times, several military officials admit that the political risks of arresting bin Laden in Pakistan are huge. The press and other observers too easily forget that radical Islamic parties claim up to 40 percent of the vote in local Pakistani elections and that bin Laden is indeed a popular figure there.
There is also a hint that the feared Inter-Services Institute, Pakistan's CIA, knows where bin Laden is. Unlike the Israelis, it does seem quite likely that Pakistani intelligence knows where he is or could find out if they really wanted to know. It was the ISI that helped create the Taliban, al Qaeda's strongest ally, and it was the ISI that asked U.S. forces to stop shelling Kunduz, Afghanistan, where some 2000 al Qaeda and Taliban fighters here holed up in the Fall of 2001, so that it could bring in two fixed-wing aircraft to fly out its intelligence officers. Must have been quite a few embedded with the enemy... Add to that that nearly every high-level al Qaeda target captured was seized in Pakistan as well as more than 700 al Qaeda footsoldiers, more than any other single nation on Earth (including Iraq and Afghanistan).
Posted by Richard Miniter at 08:14 AM