Now that there is the leaving no matter what timeline, looking forward to the taliban tet to: purge their ranks of the so-so and summer soldiers, give the EF forces a face saving big kill count, reoccupy districts with the true blue die hards, and fist shaking as the last transports leave. Thanks, coach! Love the Herm Edwards strategy.
/know people prepping to go
Once considered so entwined that they were twin targets of a U.S. invasion, al-Qaida and elements of Afghanistan's Taliban are now being surgically separated -- one careful stitch at a time.
The move by the United Nations last week to remove five former Taliban members from its official sanctions list reflects a growing belief by U.S. and international officials that some less-active leaders of the Afghan Taliban are no longer tightly linked to the al-Qaida network they sheltered before the terror attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.
The decision anchors an Obama administration policy shift that would transform the Afghanistan war from a broad international conflict into an internal political struggle largely handled by the Afghans themselves. Key to that change would be an effort to negotiate with and buy out midlevel Taliban figures willing to renounce violence and abandon their fight.
But in paring back some of the Taliban's connections to al-Qaida, the move risks running up against the American public's ingrained perception that the Afghan faction remains a national enemy and that there is no ideological daylight between the two groups.
Hey, Americans! AyPee thinks you're too stupid to have grasped what they never bothered to mention before! Be grateful they're doing so now, and pay attention.
A few other Taliban figures have been dropped from the target list in recent years, but the latest round signals a more comprehensive approach. Any large-scale tinkering with the U.N. target list would have a tangible impact on American counterterror moves: The U.S. typically has a strong behind-the-scenes role in the U.N.'s decision and the U.N. list is often used by the U.S. to identify its own targets for diplomatic and economic punishments.
U.S. officials are quick to say that the decoupling is limited and proceeding carefully. Some Taliban leaders, they say, may never come off the list -- such as Mullah Mohammed Omar or the leaders of the Haqqani network, which directs the fight against U.S. forces in eastern Afghanistan from the Waziristan tribal region in Pakistan.
Even Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who has endorsed the reconciliation plan as essential to success in the Afghanistan war, warns of the complexities involved in separating the two militant groups.
Gates ticked off "a syndicate of terrorist groups" on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistan border, including al-Qaida, Afghan and Pakistan Taliban and a number of Pakistani groups including Lashkar-e-Taiba. "So you can't say one's good and one's not good," he said recently. "They're all insidious, and safe havens for all of them need to be eliminated."
But those Talibs who no longer agree with their goals and methods now have the possibility of coming in from the cold.
The U.N. Security Council first imposed sanctions against the Taliban in November 1999 for refusing to send Osama bin Laden to stand trial on terrorism charges in connection with two 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Africa.
Those sanctions -- a travel ban, arms embargo and assets freeze -- were later extended to al-Qaida, and in January 2001, the U.N. assembled its first target list of 10 al-Qaida leaders and 74 top Taliban officials. The list has grown to 268 al-Qaida and 137 Taliban figures -- and is largely replicated in a similar list used by the State and Treasury Departments to pinpoint terror targets.
The U.N. decision -- approved by all 15 members of the Security Council -- came last week after Russia dropped an objection.
The driving concern of those opposing the move focuses on what would happen if the Taliban are allowed to regain any power in Afghanistan. Opponents fear that al-Qaida, including its leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, who are believed hiding along the Pakistan border, would be welcomed back.
Richard Barrett, the head of a U.N. group that monitors the threat posed by al-Qaida and the Taliban and among those who back the decision to start removing Taliban leaders from the list, said that "in areas that have been under Taliban control for some time there aren't al-Qaida there."
No, just the Taliban, establishing the Caliphate one village at a time, and sending their more ambitious lads off to one of the Al Qaeda affiliate finishing schools.
Other terrorism analysts are more cautious, warning that it will be difficult to determine who is no longer a threat, and that removing names may undercut the credibility of the list.
"The lines are blurred between the tribal affiliations of the Taliban on both sides of the border and al-Qaida," said Juan Zarate, a top counterterrorism official in the Bush administration who is now senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "It becomes a very difficult chess game and you need astute Afghans to help guide this. You don't want to make a deal with the wrong set of actors, you don't want to make a deal with the devil," he said.
Golly, that's some pretty sophisticated thinking for a Bushee neocon. (Of course he's a neocon -- he's a Bushee, ain't he?)
U.S. officials see a similar move as a key turning point in the Iraq conflict, says a senior Obama administration official who requested anonymity to discuss the rationale behind the strategy. U.S. forces teamed up with former Sunni insurgents to fight against al-Qaida and began an effort to absorb them into national security and other civilian jobs.
Removing the names of former Taliban leaders from the sanctions list would provide them with significant benefits. The sanctions bar their travel to other countries and freezes their financial assets, making it impossible for them to conduct business overseas.
However, Lifting financial sanctions on Taliban leaders "may well serve as a conduit for acquisition of funds, economic resources and weapons for the Taliban," warned retired U.S. diplomat Victor Comras, who was one of five international monitors who oversaw the implementation of U.S. Security Council terrorism financing measures in 2002.
Several of the Taliban members dropped from the list last week were senior leaders. Among them were Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil, a former foreign minister and Mullah Omar confidant who has recently been involved in helping negotiations, and Abdul Hakim Monib, a former deputy minister of frontier affairs who later renounced the Taliban and became a provincial governor.
The action sounds reasonable in these particular cases...
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Ah, the shifting sands of wishful thinking. That will win the war.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
02/03/2010 12:36 Comments ||
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#2
One possible side effect is to increase suspicion among Taliban groups. The more they quarrel with each other the less effort they can devote to attacking us. If our folks know what they're doing.
Of course you don't want to announce that as one of your goals. And that's a big "if."
Posted by: James ||
02/03/2010 14:47 Comments ||
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Dangerous cracks have appeared in Yemen; there are cracks courtesy of the Huthi rebels, the Al Qaeda organization, and the southern separatist movement, not to mention the cracks of poverty, drugs, and corruption, as well as the proliferation of light and heavy arms. The recent London Conference attempted to put forward solutions to overcome these cracks and faults; however it seems that the Yemeni division has spread to the West. Everybody is aware that the West, led by the US, would not have moved towards Yemen to save what can be saved if it weren't for the presence of Al Qaeda there, whose current situation is a result of the afore-mentioned cracks.
Al Qaeda found a geographic, political, social, and topographical environment in Yemen that contains all the elements needed by the organization's theorists to implement its policies and promote its ideology, enabling Yemen and its strategic position [in the region] to serve as the springboard for Al Qaeda's attacks. Al Qaeda in Yemen is very close to achieving its goals, for following the movement's presence in Afghanistan and Somalia, and after its failure in Iraq for reasons including the countries geographic position. Whereas in Yemen, Al Qaeda has found an environment that is similar to that of Afghanistan with regards to tribal and geographic complications, the presence of corruption that leaves the country vulnerable to threats, and the presence of a large section of the public who are disillusioned with the political leadership. A report issued by the Institute of the Middle East in Moscow said that Al Qaeda and its hard-line followers are waiting for the government to socially and economically collapse in order to take advantage of the situation. This is why Al Qaeda today is expanding its support amongst the tribes, as well as recruiting more people to their ranks, in order to be prepared for this.
The other complication faced by Yemen, and this is something that the recent London Conference would not have been able to resolve even if all the UN countries and their advisers and experts were in attendance, and this is the weak sense of national belonging in Yemen, especially amongst a section of the youth who represent the decisive factor with regards to the cohesion or collapse of the country. As for the educated section of society, that is influential in Yemen's public opinion, they have entered the cycle of political outbidding and gains. This can be seen in the actions of this section of society towards the Huthi insurgency, describing it as an external threat and an Iranian proxy that could -- God forbid -- affect the political future and unity of the country, and this is something that will be felt by the regional countries as well. Despite this, this educated section of society dealt with the insurgents in a vague and unclear manner while holding the political leadership responsible for the causes and consequences of this.
The Arab countries that are concerned with Yemeni stability must be aware that providing financial assistance to political and tribal leaders does not have any affect on the reality of the Yemeni youths suffering under poverty and destitution. The time has come, especially at this stage when the Yemeni government is fighting for its own survival, that it is in its interests, and the interests of its people, to take advantage of Arab and international support for development projects that benefit the people of Yemen, especially projects in the fields of healthcare, education, training and rehabilitation.
It is also time for the Gulf Cooperation Council [GCC] countries to be aware that the disregard of Yemen due to its support of Iraq's occupation of Kuwait is not necessary, and that this need not last forever. The reality and the latest developments in the Yemeni arena necessitate that every GCC country must join with Yemen as part of an integrated strategy, and block the path of Iranian ambitions and ideological expansion. Yemeni workers, for example, would be given a good alternative to working abroad in the far reaches of East Asia. It is simple for GCC countries to benefit in this regard from the European experience with regards to the redistribution of wealth from the wealthy west to the poor East that was newly liberated from Communism.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/03/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Step in support of the government, Saud. Huthi is a diversion.
#3
This is a piss poor piece of writing (and the guy writing it has a doctorate).
Posted by: lord garth ||
02/03/2010 8:33 Comments ||
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#4
I agree, lord garth. This article wasn't "all cracked up" to what was to be.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
02/03/2010 12:39 Comments ||
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#5
See FREEREPUBLIC Artic on the Histoire' of ABDULMUTTALAB's family + Others in LOCAL ISLAMISM-SHARIA MOVEMENT, + NIGERIA THE FAILING = FAILED STATE???
ARTIC > MUTALLAB's Big Banker Daddy-o may had MORE INFLUENCE IN MUTALLAB'S BEHAVIOR, ACTION? THAN PREVIOUSLY REPORTED OR PERCEIVED, + may ahd been covertly CYA-ing his arse in order to protect his personal + professional position.
Later this week I'll head to Nashville, where I'll have the honor of speaking with members of the Tea Party movement. I look forward to meeting many Americans who share a commitment to limited government, common sense and personal responsibility. This movement is truly a grassroots, organic effort. It's not a top-down organization; it's a ground-up call to action that already has both political parties rethinking the way they do business.
From the town halls last summer to the protests and marches in the fall to the game-changing recent elections, it has been inspiring to see real people not politicos or inside-the-Beltway professionals speak out for common-sense conservative policies and values. As with all grassroots efforts, the nature of this movement means that sometimes the debates are loud and the organization is messier than that of a polished, controlled machine. Legitimate disagreements take place about tone and tactics. That's OK, because this movement is about bigger things than politics or organizers.
The soul of the Tea Party is the people who belong to it everyday Americans who grow our food, run our small businesses, teach our children how to read, serve the less fortunate and fight our wars. They're folks in small towns and cities across this nation who saw what was happening to our country and decided to get involved. Thank God for them. Many of these good Americans had never been involved in their government before, but now they attend town hall meetings and participate in online forums. They write letters to the editor. They sign up to be precinct leaders and run for local office and support other independent patriots. They have the courage to stand up and speak out.
Their vision is what drew me to the Tea Party movement. They believe in the same principles that guided my work in public service whether I was working on the PTA and city council or serving as a mayor, commissioner or governor. I look forward to meeting some of these great Americans this weekend.
Recently, some have tried to portray this movement as a commercial endeavor rather than the grassroots uprising that it is. Those who do so don't understand the frustration everyday Americans feel when they see their government mortgaging their children's future with reckless spending. The spark of patriotic indignation that inspired those who fought for our independence and those who marched peacefully for civil rights has ignited once again. You can't buy such a sentiment. You can't AstroTurf it. It springs from love of country and the knowledge that we can make a difference if we just stand up and stand together.
I thought long and hard about my participation in this weekend's event. At the end of the day, my decision came down to this: It's important to keep faith with people who put a little bit of their faith in you. Everyone attending this event is a soldier in the cause. Some of them will be driving hundreds of miles to Nashville. I made a commitment to them to be there, and I am going to honor it.
But participation won't be limited to those in Nashville who have a ticket. It's much bigger than that. Because the Tea Party movement is spread out across the country with no central offices or annual events this is an opportunity to connect with like-minded folks. Yes, there will be speeches given in a room in Nashville. But we'll also be speaking with thousands of Americans watching online at twitter.com/SarahPalinUSA, or through various news outlets. And the conversation will continue on my Facebook page.
I will not benefit financially from speaking at this event. My only goal is to support the grassroots activists who are fighting for responsible, limited government and our Constitution. In that spirit, any compensation for my appearance will go right back to the cause.
The nature of the Tea Party movement means there may never be a "perfectly orchestrated" event: Democracy in action doesn't come with a manual. But we must not get caught up in the politics or the controversies that some hope will distract from the heart of the movement. The focus must remain on our ideas and beliefs, and on supporting those ideas and beliefs however we can.
This weekend, it's Nashville, but in March, I'll head to Searchlight, Nev., for the kickoff rally at the Tea Party Express III. In April, I'll be in Boston for a Tea Party gathering there. Across the country, tea-partiers will be sharing our vision for America's future, a vision that promotes common sense solutions to out-of-control spending and an out-of-touch political establishment.
The process may not always be pretty or perfect, but the message is loud and clear: We want a government worthy of the fine Americans that it serves. And we're going to keep spreading that message one convention, one town hall, one speech and one election at a time.
#1
They showed on the local news last night Mrs. Palin will be in Wichita KS....right after they showed a clip about the Wichita City Counsel imposing an additional local gas tax to foot a $10mil bond for someone to build a hotel (because a bank would not loan them money and investers were not interested in a piss poor idea in a piss poor location IMHO).
The BBC funded a paintballing trip for men later accused of Islamic terrorism and failed to pass on information about the 21/7 bombers to police, a court was told yesterday.
Mohammed Hamid, who is charged with overseeing a two-year radicalisation programme to prepare London-based Muslim youths for jihad, was described as a cockney comic by a BBC producer.
The BBC paid for Mr Hamid and fellow defendants Muhammad al-Figari and Mousa Brown to go on a paintballing trip at the Delta Force centre in Tonbridge, Kent, in February 2005. The men, accused of terrorism training, were filmed for a BBC programme called Dont Panic, Im Islamic, screened in June 2005.
#2
But the BBC types do know their Classics. Title is a reference to Plato's cave. Plato if I recall my Left wing mythology correctly was the original Fascist.
#3
Yes, the myth of AQ. The 9th circle of Hell awaits these operatives of the BBC. They may have abandoned Western Civ, but enough of those on the Western side of the Atlantic haven't.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Once considered so entwined that they were twin targets of a U.S. invasion, al-Qaida and elements of Afghanistan's Taliban are now being surgically separated -- one careful stitch at a time.
