| Good -- even if they are the enemy of our enemy. Hopefully the Afghan Taliban are also squeezed, since both rely on being able to freely cross the border to find safe havens on whichever side is safer at the moment. |
| "Hold me, Fatima, I'm feeling squeezed!" |
... which is right down the road from Chitral. Kunar is Haqqani country.....
The presence of the Pak and Afghan Taliban on both sides of the border has long been a bone of contention between both countries, with the two trading accusations of sheltering murderous Moslems and not doing enough to stop them. But the ascent to power of Afghanistan's Caped President Ashraf Ghani
...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. ..
this year has raised hopes the neighbours could do more to tackle the insurgency together.
Four Pak Taliban capos said drone strikes and tension with rustics had forced them to move from small Afghan towns to mountainous border areas.
| ...it gets awfully cold in the mountains in winter. Lonely, too, 'cause Fatima doesn't like it up there. Ditto Ayesha and Ludmilla. |
| Do stop whining. Are you not brave lions of Islam, braving all to conquer for your god? |
| Of course. |
...son-in-law of holy man Sufi Mohammad. Known as Mullah FM, Fazlullah had the habit of grabbing his FM mike when the mood struck him and bellowing forth sermons. Sufi suckered the Pak govt into imposing Shariah on the Swat Valley and then stepped aside whilst Fazlullah and his Talibs imposed a reign of terror on the populace like they hadn't seen before, at least not for a thousand years or so. For some reason the Pak intel services were never able to locate his transmitter, much less bomb it. After ruling the place like a conquered province for a year or so, Fazlullah's Talibs began gobbling up more territory as they pushed toward Islamabad, at which point as a matter of self-preservation the Mighty Pak Army threw them out and chased them into Afghanistan...
had stayed the night before and killed two commanders, one Taliban capo said. Relations between Pak Taliban fighters and rustics have also deteriorated -- a trend Afghan forces are trying to exploit.
Kunar governor Shuja-ul Mulk Jalala said there was an uprising in the Dangam district 11 days ago. "Villagers, backed by a unit of Afghan police and army launched an operation against the Pak Taliban," he said.
Jalala said villagers had complained of Pak Taliban harassment and the holy warriors sometimes attacked Afghan forces. "Villagers asked for some support and weapons to fight them. Tribal elders complained that there were no difference between good or bad Taliban
| ...'cause there isn't. They trade personnel freely, depending on operational needs... |
A krazed killer commander in Pakistain's Bajaur border region, opposite Kunar, said Afghan forces had recently detained a number of Pak krazed killers.
"Previously, they would avoid visiting areas where our people were staying and even provided food to some of our people but now they're creating problems," another krazed killer commander said of Afghan forces.
| You cause problems, you get problems. |