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 War
and Terror
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February 2010
Islamabad ready to deal
Much of India's focus in the latest talks with Pakistan is on terror, in
particular tracking down anyone linked to the devastating attacks on Mumbai
over 14 months ago. Delhi wants to get its hands on Ilyas Kashmiri, the head of
al-Qaeda's military operations, but that is not going to happen anytime soon.
Islamabad can, though, offer an alternative. - Syed Saleem Shahzad
(Feb 26, '10)
India and Pakistan talk - all over
again
In their resumed talks, Pakistan was not impressed by India's accusations that
support for militant groups goes to the heart of Pakistan's military, while
Islamabad wrongly assumed Delhi to be panicked by the prospect of isolation
amid growing Pakistani influence with the United States, which must somehow
keep the dialogue going. - M K Bhadrakumar (Feb
26, '10)
Jundallah arrest proves timely for
Iran
Iran's dramatic arrest of the leader of Jundallah comes at a crucial juncture
for Tehran in its nuclear standoff with the United States. Should Abdulmalik
Rigi divulge embarrassing details of US involvement with the Pakistan-based
terrorist group, which is known to be linked with al-Qaeda, the fallout could
weaken the entire American position. - M K Bhadrakumar
(Feb 25, '10)
Iran gets its man
Pakistan is believed to have played a key role in the arrest announced on
Tuesday of Abdulmalik Rigi, the leader of Jundallah, a Sunni insurgent group
active in southeastern Iran. Tehran is delighted, but thanks to an earlier
about-turn by Islamabad, the now al-Qaeda-linked Jundallah could emerge
stronger. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Feb 24, '10)
Marjah push aimed to shape US
opinion
Never mind that Marjah is a town of fewer than 50,000 people, even including
surrounding villages, holding little strategic importance for the US-led war in
Afghanistan. The offensive to seize Marjah appears to be designed also to win
over domestic US opinion that a "new era" has started in the conflict. - Gareth
Porter (Feb 24, '10)
Cross-border militants strike back
 Monday's
suicide attack in Swat in Pakistan is the first in that area since militants
were dispersed by the military six months ago. The return of violence is a
direct result of the Taliban late last year gaining control of the provinces of
Kunar and Nuristan across the border in Afghanistan, an al-Qaeda-led militant
group tells Asia Times Online. The arrest in Pakistan of several senior Taliban
members is also expected to lead to an increase in militancy. - Syed Saleem
Shahzad (Feb 23, '10)
Dubai hit exposes Hamas' weaknesses
Hamas has gone into damage control since last month's murder of one of its
leaders in a Dubai hotel room. The killing, which bears the hallmarks of an
assassination by Mossad, raises the question of whether the Israeli
intelligence service has found a weak link to infiltrate the Palestinian group.
- Mel Frykberg (Feb 23, '10)
Strike reverberates beyond
Afghanistan
Cracks are appearing among North Atlantic Treaty Organization member nations in
Europe after the Sunday air strike that killed at least 27 civilians in
Afghanistan, with voters growing increasingly opposed to their countries'
involvement in the war. - Charles Fromm (Feb
23, '10)
Taliban's mood swings against talks
The Taliban have a replacement lined up for their supreme commander in
Afghanistan who was arrested recently by Pakistani and American intelligence
agencies. Taliban insiders claim, however, that the position has become more
ceremonial than functional and what is far more worrying to the Taliban is
Pakistan's level of cooperation with the United States, something that could
stop any peace process in its tracks. - Syed Saleem Shahzad
(Feb 22, '10)
Anger spreads on Marjah's front line
As Western and Afghan troops face continued resistance from the Taliban in the
second week of their offensive on Marjah, Helmand province, irate villagers say
more locals are being killed by coalition fire than the allies acknowledge.
Survivors vow revenge on the infidels while officials talk of an early return
to "normal business". - Aziz Ahmad Tassal and Mohammad Elyas Dayee
(Feb 22, '10)
New force emerges in Kirkuk
In Iraq's disputed city of Kirkuk an upstart opposition group founded by
battle-hardened but reform-minded former leaders of the legendary Kurdish
Peshmerga - such as Mam Rostam - is trying to make the jump from pesky protest
movement to the country's king-making political machine. - Charles McDermid
(Feb 19, '10)
American blitzkrieg
The United States military's infatuation with the German military has led to it
seeing war as a creative science, not a man-made disaster, with rapid, decisive
victories such as Desert Storm celebrated as artful "blitzkrieg". The army may
have forgotten that the Third Reich was defeated not by military elan,
cutting-edge weaponry or tactical finesse, but by the unbreakable spirit of
citizen-soldiers. - William J Astore (Feb 19,
'10)
India picks up the pieces
Whether the Pune attack was carried out by domestic terror groups or not, it is
becoming chillingly clear that the lull in strikes in India was not down to a
national security overhaul, but rather to the gaze of militants being focused
elsewhere. All this changed with the revival of the India-Pakistan peace
process. - Siddharth Srivastava (Feb 19, '10)
Two cities and the Afghan insurgency
The large-scale operation in Marjah is designed to stop the momentum the
Taliban has been building over the past several years, as well as to force them
to the negotiating table. The capture by Pakistan of a top Taliban commander
plays into this scenario, but it is not evidence of any strategic reappraisal
on Islamabad's part. - Brian M Downing (Feb
18, '10)
 SPENGLER
The case for an Israeli
strike against Iran
Rather than focus on Iran's possible acquisition of nuclear weapons, more
pressing for Israel is the weakening of its main ally, financier and arms
supplier - the United States. Israel must now decide whether to act as a US
client state, or establish itself as a regional superpower. The latter could be
achieved by attacking Iran. (Feb 17, '10)
The meaning of Marjah
Marjah in Helmand province was targeted for the largest-ever offensive by
Western and Afghan forces because it generates significant funds for the
Taliban through opium production and it gives insurgents a solid base. It was
also chosen as a part of Washington's focus on altering the parameters of the
country itself. - Kamran Bokhari, Peter Zeihan and Nathan Hughes
(Feb 17, '10)
Contractors stirred by sexy tales
A lawsuit filed by two former employees of what was then known as Blackwater
may be making headlines for claiming that a prostitute was on the payroll in
Afghanistan, but this is just one of the allegations involving the contractor
for the United States government. - David Isenberg
(Feb 17, '10)
Pakistan delivers a Taliban treat
Pakistan's arrest of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban's supreme
commander in Afghanistan, is a big publicity boost for Pakistan and the United
States and appears to be an attempt to split the Taliban and isolate Taliban
leader Mullah Omar. Similar efforts in the past, however, have failed. - Syed
Saleem Shahzad (Feb 16, '10)
Pune blast: One of many to come?
The deadly bombing in Pune, western India, at the weekend ended the lull in
terrorist attacks on Indian soil since the Mumbai attack in November 2008. With
India and Pakistan edging closer to peace talks and a major offensive underway
against the Taliban in Afghanistan, many fear a new wave of attacks that will
be planned inside India by homegrown terror outfits. - Indrajit Basu
(Feb 16, '10)
DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA
Hold onto your underpants
The 9/11 attacks on America and the George W Bush years spawned state machinery
fueled and excused by institutionalized fear. As the blanket coverage of the
failed attempt to blow up an aircraft on Christmas Day shows, there is no place
for rational assessment of risk in the "age of terror". - Tom Engelhardt
(Feb 16, '10)
Al-Qaeda chief delivers a warning
Message follows deadly bombing in India
 Asia
Times Online has received a warning message from top guerrilla commander Ilyas
Kashmiri, whose 313 Brigade is an operational arm of al-Qaeda. The message
arrived on Monday morning, shortly after a deadly weekend bombing in the Indian
city of Pune. Both bombing and message seem to be intended to scuttle the
US-engineered rapprochement between India and Pakistan. - Syed Saleem Shahzad
(Feb 15, '10)
The winner takes all in Afghanistan
The main plot in Afghanistan is about the expansion of the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization into Central Asia, and reconciliation with the Taliban is
arguably the only option available to keep open-ended NATO's military presence
in Central Asia without having to fight a futile war. The ascendancy of
malleable Islamist forces also has its uses for the US's containment strategy
towards China. - M K Bhadrakumar (Feb 12,
'10)
How the Taliban pressed bin Laden
The Taliban drew a tight ring around Osama bin Laden's operations during the
late 1990s in a bid to squeeze the al-Qaeda leader out of Afghanistan, recently
declassified US State Department documents and other sources confirm. The
evidence stands against claims by top American officials that they cannot talk
peace with the Taliban because its leader, Mullah Omar, "has blood on his
hands" over the 9/11 attack on the United States. - Gareth Porter
(Feb 12, '10)
THE ROVING EYE
Yemen, the new Waziristan
The United States fighting machine is still hostage to the outdated notion of
"territory". So it's automatic to have the Pentagon dispatch its might to fight
"al-Qaeda" in Yemen and in the Waziristan tribal areas in Pakistan. All that is
there, though, beyond some individualistic neo-jihadis, are ghosts. - Pepe
Escobar (Feb 10, '10)
Altogether ... the big push in
Afghanistan
North Atlantic Treaty Organization  military
leaders say the imminent "Operation Moshtarak" ("Together") on the town of
Marjah will be one of the defining offensives in the counter-insurgency
campaign in Afghanistan. The Taliban, however, question the logic of building
up forces at a time when Kabul is trying to engage them in peace talks. - Elias
Dai and Ron Synovitz (Feb 10, '10)
Black sites in the empire of bases
After nearly a decade of war, close to 700 United States, allied and Afghan
military bases dot Afghanistan. Until now, however, they have existed as black
sites known to few Americans outside the Pentagon. A base at Shinwar in
Nangarhar province, once occupied by the British and then by the Soviets, is
the latest example of foreign occupiers setting down roots. - Nick Turse
(Feb 10, '10)
AN INDIA-PAKISTAN TEST
Delhi papers over cracks
The growing realization within India's policymaking elite that instability in
Pakistan is detrimental to India's security and economy has led to optimism in
Delhi over renewed India-Pakistan dialogue. However, the countries' conflicting
approaches to Afghanistan, a continued atmosphere of mistrust and the
precarious state of Pakistan's leadership mean that reconciliation is less
likely than renewed conflict. - Chietigj Bajpaee
(Feb 9, '10)
Islamabad can't give an inch
The United States has nudged Pakistan and India closer, bending over backwards
to reassure each of their strategic importance. But Pakistan stands to lose
popular support if it concedes to Indian demands without gaining concessions,
while its greatest fear remains militants infiltrating its larger cities and
unleashing the type of havoc witnessed recently in Karachi. - Zahid U Kramet
(Feb 9, '10) |
Operation Breakfast redux
The escalating drone war of the United States in the Pakistani tribal
borderlands has ominous parallels with Richard Nixon's secret bombing in
Cambodia 40 years ago to destroy a "Bamboo Pentagon", where North Vietnamese
communists were supposedly orchestrating raids deep into South Vietnam. Could
the US be repeating the same mistakes that brought the Khmer Rouge to power? - Pratap
Chatterjee (Feb 9, '10)
Pakistan's military sets Afghan
terms
Pakistan's military establishment, taken fully on board by the United States in
the efforts to find solutions for Afghanistan, has made clear that its
cooperation comes with strings attached. Any Indian role is to be restricted to
civilian development projects, and Pakistan will choose for itself who its
enemies are. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Feb 8,
'10)
Israeli case for war with Syria -
and Lebanon
Threats may be escalating between Syria and Israel, but the chances of war
breaking out are very low: it would be too dangerous for Israel and too costly
for the Middle East. Nobody, though, can rule out another Israeli war in
Lebanon, where there is "unfinished" business to do. - Sami Moubayed
(Feb 8, '10)
India-Pakistan thaw key to Afghan
peace
The prospect of the first high-level bilateral talks between India and Pakistan
since the 2008 Mumbai attack was raised by global powers when they endorsed a
United States-backed plan in London that seeks reconciliation with the Taliban
in Afghanistan. Washington sees the key to Kabul as lying in Islamabad, and the
key to Islamabad as lying in New Delhi. - Siddharth Srivastava
(Feb 8, '10)
Taliban go-betweens draw up road map
Plans drawn up by Taliban mediators for a political settlement in Afghanistan
encourage the insurgency's leaders and the government to reach agreement on key
issues, such as the withdrawal of all foreign troops and al-Qaeda. The reaction
of the United States to the plan and the vexed issue of a new constitution are
the biggest roadblocks, the mediators say. - Gareth Porter
(Feb 8, '10)
US fires off new warning in Pakistan
With its biggest drone attack to date in 
Pakistan - nine unmanned vehicles firing 19 missiles in one evening - the
United States has underscored its invigorated desire to wipe out Taliban and
al-Qaeda sanctuaries in the Pakistan and Afghanistan border areas. The efforts
are backed by a new intelligence-gathering network tapping into Afghan
tribesmen. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Feb 4, '10)
THE ROVING EYE
Staring at the abyss
On Indonesia's tropical island of Bali, everything is about sekala and niskala,
ritual and the occult. In the United States, the Pentagon has its occult as it
continues its descent into the ghostly abyss of its "long war". When President
Obama visits Indonesia next month, he'd do well to do some soul-searching on
Bali if he is to avoid being permanently engulfed by hungry ghosts. - Pepe
Escobar (Feb 4, '10)
Pakistani Taliban has its work cut
out
If Hakeemullah Mehsud, the leader of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, did indeed
die in a United States drone attack last week, there is a ready replacement for
him in a young battle-hardened commander with a set agenda: to continue the
relationship that Mehsud's group forged with al-Qaeda as a component of its
regional plans. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Feb 3,
'10)
Taliban raid showcases new battle
tactics
With tactics similar to an earlier assault on Kabul, heavily armed Taliban
suicide bombers attacked important buildings in Lashkar Gah, Helmand's
provincial capital. The Taliban say the focus on urban targets has been forced
on them by the increased presence of troops. - Mohammad Ilyas Dayee
(Feb 3, '10)
US, Karzai split over Taliban talks
Differences between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and key officials of the
administration of United States President Barack Obama over the issue of talks
with the Taliban came to a head at last week's London conference. Peace
negotiations are embedded in a deeper conflict over US war strategy, which has
provoked broad anger and increasing suspicions of US motives among Afghans -
and especially with Karzai. - Gareth Porter (Feb
3, '10) |
Taliban take on the US's surge
The Taliban, rather than demand that all foreign troops be pulled out of
Afghanistan before negotiations begin with the United States or any other
country, have proposed that if the US stops its surge of 30,000 troops,
dialogue can start immediately. In addition, the Taliban say they will take
measures to reduce hostilities. The dilemma for the US is how desperate is it
to take the Taliban's word. - Syed Saleem Shahzad
(Feb 2, '10)
DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA
Seven days in January
On his return flight after visiting South Asia, where he was blindsided, United
States Secretary of Defense Robert Gates watched Seven Days in May, a
Cold War-era film about an attempted military coup in the US. With congress
recently approving a US$626 billion Pentagon budget, the US military is so
ascendant that it has no need for real-life coups. - Tom Engelhardt
(Feb 1, '10)
Dialogue seeks a middle ground
The Taliban, unable to deliver a decisive military blow to oust the government
in Kabul, know they will never rule Afghanistan as they once did, while foreign
forces up against an intractable foe cannot expect counter-insurgency to
succeed anytime soon. Straight talking, however, could give each side in the
conflict much of what they seek. - Brian M Downing
(Feb 1, '10)
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ATol Specials
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Syed Saleem Shahzad reports on
the Afghan war from the Taliban side
(Dec '06)
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How
Hezbollah defeated Israel
By
Mark Perry and
Alastair Crooke
(Oct '06)
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Mark Perry and
Alastair Crooke
talk to the 'terrorists'
(Mar, '06)
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The evidence for and against Iran's alleged
nuclear weapons program
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Nir Rosen goes inside the Iraqi
resistance
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Nir Rosen rides with the 3rd
armored cavalry in western Iraq
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Islamism, fascism and
terrorism
by Marc Erikson
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For earlier articles go to:
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