Gold9472
09-10-2005, 05:47 PM
The Taliban's battle over the ballot
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/GI10Ag01.html
(Gold9472: Didn't Bush say, "Full warning has been given, and time is running out. (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/10/20011006.html)" to the Taleban? Apparently, they are "rich with money they make from Afghanistan's opium trade". How can that be? Was the "warning" a bluff?
According to Tommy Franks at an awards ceremony, he told the troops, "You did it on time, you did it with a good plan, you did it with violent execution, you did it taking care of one another. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/1879884.stm)" Um, did what?
In that same article, he said, "It is possible for al-Qaeda and Taleban fighters to regroup in various parts of Afghanistan and that is why we are not saying that this is over. I suspect that this kind of operation could happen again. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/1879884.stm)"
So if that's the case, then why are 140,000 troops in Iraq, and only 18,000 in Afghanistan? Why are they allowed to flourish? Aren't THEY the ones who harbored Osama Bin Laden? Aren't THEY the ones who deserve our full fury for harboring someone "responsible" for 9/11?
I guess Afghanistan wasn't the priority after all. And guess what... neither was Osama Bin Laden (http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-09/11/content_3472731.htm).
There's a reason for that, and it can be found here (http://www.yourbbsucks.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=14).)
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - Rich with money they make from Afghanistan's opium trade, the Taliban-led resistance has the funds to finance its struggle against foreign troops in the country, in many cases using the same smuggling routes the drugs take to procure arms on the black market. These routes traverse Iraqi Kurdistan, Turkey, the Central Asian states and Iran.
The Taliban are buying more sophisticated arms, and Russian and Chinese-made surface-to-air missiles in particular are flowing into Afghanistan in increasing numbers, according to people familiar with the resistance who spoke to Asia Times Online.
Obviously this gives an added dimension to the Taliban's fighting capabilities, and in recent months they have succeeded in bringing down several helicopters - the most recent being an attack last month that claimed the lives of 17 Spanish soldiers.
In June, 16 US service members aboard a MH-47 helicopter died when their aircraft crashed near the Afghan-Pakistan border. The US military believes the chopper was downed by the resistance.
The Taliban have been less successful in attacks on foreign aircraft using the main bases at Sheendand and Bagram. As one contact told Asia Times Online, the Taliban now have an abundant stock of surface-to-ground missiles, but they are still learning to use them properly.
"A general conduit of the weapons smuggling for Afghanistan is from Iraqi Kurdistan, from where the weapons are transported through Iran to Afghanistan. The SAM missiles of Russian and Chinese origin are available at a cost of US$2,500 each. The main market of these missiles is Afghanistan," a confidante told Asia Times Online on a condition of anonymity.
The Taliban already have close links with elements of the Iraqi resistance in terms of tactics and training, so it is logical that they also cooperate over arms.
Asia Times Online has reported in detail on Mullah Mehmood Haq Yar, an expert in guerrilla and urban warfare, (see Revival of the Taliban, April 9) and how Taliban leader Mullah Omar sent him to Iraq before the war. There, he interacted with Islamic groups in northern Iraq before returning to Afghanistan to introduce similar tactics to those of the Iraqi resistance.
According to a report from Reuters news agency, last month al-Arabiya television aired a video purportedly depicting foreign militants in Afghanistan, including Europeans, Arabs and others, preparing to attack US troops and Afghan officials.
"These foreign guys are pretty well-armed," the Reuters report quoted a US paratrooper on patrol in Orgun-E, an area in southeastern Paktika province, as saying. "They have expensive weapons you can't get in this country."
Back to the source
Earlier this year, the Iraqi resistance leaked some documents to the media, including Asia Times Online, which showed correspondence between the Iraqi Ministry of Defense and a US contracting firm by the name of Wye Oak Technology. The documents detailed correspondence in August of last year relating to the sale of weapons from Saddam Hussein's army for scrap. The list of weapons includes missiles, artillery and light- and medium-size weapons, all of Russian, Chinese or French origin.
Though there is no way to confirm the authenticity of the documents, it is widely believed that arms of a similar nature made their way onto the black market, and in particular to Iraqi Kurdistan, from where the Taliban is now sourcing Russian and Chinese-made weapons.
No letup in the resistance
With nationwide parliamentary elections due in Afghanistan on September 18, the Taliban have raised the tempo of their attacks in an attempt to disrupt the voting process. In the latest attack, Afghan officials say that six Afghan policemen and two suspected Taliban insurgents had been killed this week after militants attacked a police post in Muqur, a district of southern Ghazni province.
More than 1,100 people have been killed in bomb blasts and shootings so far this year, compared with 850 for the whole of 2004. This includes more than 70 US troops.
An estimated 12 million voters are expected to vote for the lower house of the national legislature and for provincial councils across the country. Voters will choose 249 people to fill the People's Council, which is the lower house of the new National Assembly, marking the country's first national legislative body under its new constitution. Voters will also choose between nine and 29 members (depending on the size of the population in their province) to fill provincial councils.
However, the election commission has yet to release a full list of the candidates, partly because the Taliban have unequivocally stated that they will specifically target candidates, and they are believed to have drawn up plans for where they will strike. These targets could include 17 Taliban who have joined the administration of President Hamid Karzai.
Maulvi Pir Mohammed is one of them. This correspondent met him in the North Waziristan tribal area in Pakistan last year. Pir Mohammed was vice chancellor of Kabul University during the Taliban's rule - 1996-2001. When the Taliban retreated in the face of the US-led invasion of late 2001, Pir Mohammed took sanctuary in Dand-i-Darpa Khail, North Waziristan, where he lived in severely reduced circumstances. A few months ago, he suddenly surfaced to condemn the Taliban movement and announce his support for Karzai. Now he is chief justice of the Supreme Court in Kabul.
However, this elevation has not come free. Recently, two of his nephews were kidnapped in Miranshah, North Waziristan by men loyal to Taliban commander Jalaluddin Haqqani. According to Asia Times Online sources in the area, they were released once Pir Mohammed paid a ransom of two trucks loaded with weapons and $7,500 in cash.
Syed Saleem Shahzad, Bureau Chief, Pakistan Asia Times Online. He can be reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com[B]
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/GI10Ag01.html
(Gold9472: Didn't Bush say, "Full warning has been given, and time is running out. (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/10/20011006.html)" to the Taleban? Apparently, they are "rich with money they make from Afghanistan's opium trade". How can that be? Was the "warning" a bluff?
According to Tommy Franks at an awards ceremony, he told the troops, "You did it on time, you did it with a good plan, you did it with violent execution, you did it taking care of one another. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/1879884.stm)" Um, did what?
In that same article, he said, "It is possible for al-Qaeda and Taleban fighters to regroup in various parts of Afghanistan and that is why we are not saying that this is over. I suspect that this kind of operation could happen again. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/1879884.stm)"
So if that's the case, then why are 140,000 troops in Iraq, and only 18,000 in Afghanistan? Why are they allowed to flourish? Aren't THEY the ones who harbored Osama Bin Laden? Aren't THEY the ones who deserve our full fury for harboring someone "responsible" for 9/11?
I guess Afghanistan wasn't the priority after all. And guess what... neither was Osama Bin Laden (http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-09/11/content_3472731.htm).
There's a reason for that, and it can be found here (http://www.yourbbsucks.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=14).)
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - Rich with money they make from Afghanistan's opium trade, the Taliban-led resistance has the funds to finance its struggle against foreign troops in the country, in many cases using the same smuggling routes the drugs take to procure arms on the black market. These routes traverse Iraqi Kurdistan, Turkey, the Central Asian states and Iran.
The Taliban are buying more sophisticated arms, and Russian and Chinese-made surface-to-air missiles in particular are flowing into Afghanistan in increasing numbers, according to people familiar with the resistance who spoke to Asia Times Online.
Obviously this gives an added dimension to the Taliban's fighting capabilities, and in recent months they have succeeded in bringing down several helicopters - the most recent being an attack last month that claimed the lives of 17 Spanish soldiers.
In June, 16 US service members aboard a MH-47 helicopter died when their aircraft crashed near the Afghan-Pakistan border. The US military believes the chopper was downed by the resistance.
The Taliban have been less successful in attacks on foreign aircraft using the main bases at Sheendand and Bagram. As one contact told Asia Times Online, the Taliban now have an abundant stock of surface-to-ground missiles, but they are still learning to use them properly.
"A general conduit of the weapons smuggling for Afghanistan is from Iraqi Kurdistan, from where the weapons are transported through Iran to Afghanistan. The SAM missiles of Russian and Chinese origin are available at a cost of US$2,500 each. The main market of these missiles is Afghanistan," a confidante told Asia Times Online on a condition of anonymity.
The Taliban already have close links with elements of the Iraqi resistance in terms of tactics and training, so it is logical that they also cooperate over arms.
Asia Times Online has reported in detail on Mullah Mehmood Haq Yar, an expert in guerrilla and urban warfare, (see Revival of the Taliban, April 9) and how Taliban leader Mullah Omar sent him to Iraq before the war. There, he interacted with Islamic groups in northern Iraq before returning to Afghanistan to introduce similar tactics to those of the Iraqi resistance.
According to a report from Reuters news agency, last month al-Arabiya television aired a video purportedly depicting foreign militants in Afghanistan, including Europeans, Arabs and others, preparing to attack US troops and Afghan officials.
"These foreign guys are pretty well-armed," the Reuters report quoted a US paratrooper on patrol in Orgun-E, an area in southeastern Paktika province, as saying. "They have expensive weapons you can't get in this country."
Back to the source
Earlier this year, the Iraqi resistance leaked some documents to the media, including Asia Times Online, which showed correspondence between the Iraqi Ministry of Defense and a US contracting firm by the name of Wye Oak Technology. The documents detailed correspondence in August of last year relating to the sale of weapons from Saddam Hussein's army for scrap. The list of weapons includes missiles, artillery and light- and medium-size weapons, all of Russian, Chinese or French origin.
Though there is no way to confirm the authenticity of the documents, it is widely believed that arms of a similar nature made their way onto the black market, and in particular to Iraqi Kurdistan, from where the Taliban is now sourcing Russian and Chinese-made weapons.
No letup in the resistance
With nationwide parliamentary elections due in Afghanistan on September 18, the Taliban have raised the tempo of their attacks in an attempt to disrupt the voting process. In the latest attack, Afghan officials say that six Afghan policemen and two suspected Taliban insurgents had been killed this week after militants attacked a police post in Muqur, a district of southern Ghazni province.
More than 1,100 people have been killed in bomb blasts and shootings so far this year, compared with 850 for the whole of 2004. This includes more than 70 US troops.
An estimated 12 million voters are expected to vote for the lower house of the national legislature and for provincial councils across the country. Voters will choose 249 people to fill the People's Council, which is the lower house of the new National Assembly, marking the country's first national legislative body under its new constitution. Voters will also choose between nine and 29 members (depending on the size of the population in their province) to fill provincial councils.
However, the election commission has yet to release a full list of the candidates, partly because the Taliban have unequivocally stated that they will specifically target candidates, and they are believed to have drawn up plans for where they will strike. These targets could include 17 Taliban who have joined the administration of President Hamid Karzai.
Maulvi Pir Mohammed is one of them. This correspondent met him in the North Waziristan tribal area in Pakistan last year. Pir Mohammed was vice chancellor of Kabul University during the Taliban's rule - 1996-2001. When the Taliban retreated in the face of the US-led invasion of late 2001, Pir Mohammed took sanctuary in Dand-i-Darpa Khail, North Waziristan, where he lived in severely reduced circumstances. A few months ago, he suddenly surfaced to condemn the Taliban movement and announce his support for Karzai. Now he is chief justice of the Supreme Court in Kabul.
However, this elevation has not come free. Recently, two of his nephews were kidnapped in Miranshah, North Waziristan by men loyal to Taliban commander Jalaluddin Haqqani. According to Asia Times Online sources in the area, they were released once Pir Mohammed paid a ransom of two trucks loaded with weapons and $7,500 in cash.
Syed Saleem Shahzad, Bureau Chief, Pakistan Asia Times Online. He can be reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com[B]