The Taliban Have Their Own Problems

Taliban militants in Afghanistan (file photo)

Afghan Taliban Commander Gunned Down In Quetta -- Threat Matrix

Afghan intelligence officials claimed today that the Taliban shadow district chief for Chak in Wardak province was assassinated by "Pakistani" gunmen in Quetta, Pakistan. Two gunmen riding on a motorcycle reportedly shot and killed Mullah Syed Ahmad Shahid Khel on Sunday afternoon.

According to Pajhwok Afghan News:

   Shahid Khel, [sic] the Taliban's deputy minister of education and administrative head of the Chak district in Maidan Wardak, came under gun attack on the outskirts of Quetta.

   The attack has worried senior Afghan Taliban leaders about their security in a city seen as their longtime sanctuary and capital in exile. The militant leader was hit in the leg, stomach and chest.


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My Comment:  On top of killing each other, it appears that many within the Taliban are also becoming addicted to their own drug products. Couple this with their own inept bureaucracy, this gives me hope (a small hope) that the Taliban may never garner enough military support to re-conquer Afghanistan.

At least the Taliban have the Petraeus scandal.

Is The Taliban Splintering Into Dangerous Smaller Groups?

The Taliban Is Splintering Into Dangerous Smaller Groups -- Business Insider

At first blush, the breakup of the Taliban may seem like a success story of the War in Afghanistan.

In reality, it's a headache that has led to assassinations, killings, and a breakdown of the peace talks that are Afghanistan's only hopes for peace.

The radical cells are killing Taliban members for even talking with the U.S.

Kathy Gannon at the Associated Press reports how the splintering of the Taliban remnant means that the United States and allies are forced to deal with multiple forces, each with a different plan for post-war Afghanistan.

Read more ....

My Comment: These radical cells are not capable of ruling Afghanistan .... but this also tells me that the war in Afghanistan will probably continue for a very long time.

Is Taliban Leader Mullah Omar Dead?

Taliban Spokesman Disputes Claim That Leader Mullah Omar Is Dead -- CNN

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- A Taliban spokesman says the group's phones and website were hacked, and text messages sent out saying their reclusive Afghan leader Mullah Mohammed Omar is dead -- a claim the group has denied.

Omar is alive and the reports "are just propaganda against our leader and our mission," spokesman Zabihullah Nujahid told CNN.

NATO said it has no operational knowledge of Omar's condition or whereabouts.

This is not the first time speculation of Omar's death has surfaced.

Read more ....

More News On Taliban Phones And Websites Being Hacked

Afghan Taliban Denies Reports That Leader Mullah Omar Has Died -- SFGate/Bloomberg
Taliban becomes the latest victim of phone hacking -- Washington Post
Afghan Taliban Denies Leader's Reported Death -- Voice of America
Taliban blames US for Mullah Omar death reports -- BBC
U.S. hacking of Taliban site deemed unlikely -- Washington Post
Taliban: Reports saying our leader Mullah Mohammed Omar is dead are false, we were hacked! -- New York Daily News
Taliban claim their mobile phones have been hacked -- The Telegraph
Taliban Vows Revenge Against U.S. Carriers for Alleged Phone Hacks -- PCMag

The Taliban Are Now Killing Their Own

Colonel Imam, AKA Sultan Amir Tarar

'Godfather Of Taliban' Killed By Kidnappers -- The Telegraph

The former Pakistani intelligence agent who is known as the godfather of the Taliban has been killed ten months after being kidnapped by Islamist militants.

Rebels in North Waziristan still hold the body of Col Imam, the code name of 67-year-old Sultan Amir Tarar, and are demanding the release of five associates in return, according to officials.

Tarar was seized in March in one of the most dangerous parts of Pakistan's tribal belt, along with Asad Qureshi, a British filmmaker, and Khalid Khawaja, another former spy officer.

The retired officer from Pakistan's ISI military intelligence service played a central role in forming the Afghan resistance to the Soviet invasion of 1979 and then nurtured the Taliban in the 1990s.

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My Comment: This proves that the Taliban are not a homogeneous unit, but a collection of different tribes and competing groups.

How The Taliban See Themselves Running Afghanistan

Haqqani Taliban fighters in their mountain camp in Khost, eastern Afghanistan. Photograph: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad for the Guardian

Talking To The Taliban About Life After Occupation -- The Guardian

Special report: In the last of his series from Afghanistan, Ghaith Abdul-Ahad asks Taliban leaders past and present what kind of regime they would run – and whether there is a chance of negotiated peace

• Part two: Five days inside a Taliban jail
• Part one: The London cab driver who fights for the Taliban

In the south-eastern city of Khost, the everyday business of the Taliban administration carries on across the street from the fortified, government-run city court and police station.

The head of the Haqqani network's civilian administration and his assistant hold their council in the grand mosque, which is also known as the Haqqani mosque because it was built with Taliban and Arab money.

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My Comment: It seems that the Taliban have their own counter-counterinsurgency program, and unlike the U.S./Nato program, theirs appear to be more successful.

How Insurgents Travel From Afghanistan To Their Safe Havens In Pakistan (And Vice Versa)

(Click Image to Expand)
Map: Pakistan's border with Afghanistan. Der Spiegel

An Insurgent's Road Trip from Pakistan to Afghanistan -- Spiegel Online

It is an open secret that thousands of Taliban insurgents travel to Pakistan when they need a break from the fighting in Afghanistan. The reason is simple: The Pakistani soldiers are friendly and the border is hardly controlled at all. SPIEGEL ONLINE joins one fighter as he returns to the front.

In Afghanistan cars are cheaper. Rafiullah knows this all too well. He grew up in Jalalabad, in eastern Afghanistan, a place where you can pick up almost any new model cheaply. The cars are stolen from around the world and then smuggled into the country. Rafiullah needs a car, here in Kohistan, in northern Pakistan where he has been living for a few months.

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My Comment: And this story sums up the crux of why it is difficult to defeat the Taliban. As long as they have an opportunity to recover from their battles instead of being continuously involved in warfare and/or constantly on the move .... the cost for them to continue this war will never be high enough for them to consider giving it up.

Life, Death, And The Taliban

WNU Editor: Global Post has an excellent (and comprehensive) report on the Taliban. The link for this analysis is here.

Hat Tip: Extra Good Shit

How The Taliban See The U.S. Surge

Taliban's Ambassador Abdul Salam Zaeef speaks to the press October 10, 2001 in Islamabad, Pakistan. Zaeef's book "My Life with the Taliban" recounts his years as a young man in Kandahar, the hardships he and his family suffered under Soviet occupation and his eventual fight against the Russians alongside the future leadership of the Taliban. (Carlos Villalon/Getty Images)

U.S. Surge: How the Taliban Sees It -- ABC News

Taliban Adherent Abdul Salam Zaeef Discusses U.S. Involvement in Afghanistan.

Abdul Salam Zaeef, a member of the Taliban, said he has no interest in reconciliation and really can't understand what all the fuss is about.

His memoir, "My Life with the Taliban," recounts his years as a young man in Kandahar, the hardships he and his family endured under the Soviet occupation and his eventual fight against the Russians alongside the future Taliban leaders.

I wanted to get his thoughts on the U.S.'s plan to turn Kandahar, his birthplace, away from Taliban control.

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My Comment: The part of this report that caught my eye is the following quote from a former Taliban leader ....

"America is an occupier and will always be viewed as an occupier until the last American leaves."

"But what about all the things America has done for Afghans, such as building schools and hospitals?" I countered.

He took a moment, and then said, "The honey of America is the poison of the people." His meaning: Afghans would rather be free to make their own decisions, bad, wrong or otherwise, than to follow the prescriptions of an occupying force, no matter how benevolent it may be.

No one .... Americans included .... want to have their lives influenced and governed by someone else. For coalition forces in Afghanistan that perception is now held by enough Afghans that will make reconciliation and peace next to impossible in most parts of this country. Bluntly put .... they are too many of them who now want us out. What is in our favor is that I believe that the majority of the Afghan population probably still hate the Taliban and who have no stomach for their rule, but the Taliban are the ones with the guns .... and they (for the moment) have the will and the determination to now win this war.

Has Pakistan's Arrest Of A Taliban Leader Threaten Peace Talks?

A man believed to be Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar in a photograph taken in 1998, given to The New York Times by a former photographer for the Taliban

Afghan Officials Say Pakistan's Arrest Of Taliban Leader Threatens Peace Talks -- Washington Post

KABUL -- Senior Afghan officials are now criticizing as counterproductive the arrest in Pakistan this year of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the No. 2 Taliban official. Its main effect, the Afghan officials say, has been to derail Afghan-led efforts to secure peace talks with the Taliban, making that peace ever more remote.

The episode offers a window into the mutual suspicions that still divide Afghanistan and Pakistan, mostly because of Pakistan's long history of support for the Taliban, as well as differences between Afghanistan, Pakistan and the United States about how best to seek reconciliation between insurgents and the Afghan government.

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My Comment: The Afghan Government's defense of this mass murderer appears .... from the outside .... to be a bit strange. It is therefore no surprise that Pakistan has refused to extradite him to Afghanistan fearing (justifiably it seems) that to do so would only result in his release.

I suspect that there are numerous clan and tribal loyalties at play here, and it illustrates accurately the difficulty that U.S. and allied forces have when coming to grip with this insurgency .... friend and foe are quite often the same person.

Is The Afghan Taliban At War With The Taliban In Pakistan?

Terrorist vs. Terrorist -- Ralph Peters, New York Post

Bad-guy fratricide in AfPak.

As an intelligence officer or journalist, you've got to know which sources you can trust. And a source who's never let me down told me yesterday that the terrorist multinational based in Pakistan is coming apart.

According to this insider's insider, the Pakistan-headquartered Afghan Taliban is furious at the Taliban's Pakistani wing because its assaults on the Islamabad government triggered a stunning backlash.

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My Comment: I sometimes disagree with Ralph Peters .... and I sometimes agree. In this post he has some good points .... and I can only hope that he is right.

On a side note, both Taliban groups have been at war with each other in the past .... but they have always found a way to get together and cooperate. If they are having differences now, I do expect them to reconcile again in the future.

Why Is Pakistan Refusing To Hand Over Captured Taliban Leaders To Afghanistan

Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. Photograph: Saeed Achakzai/Reuters

Pakistan Refuses To Hand Over Captured Taliban Leaders To Afghanistan -- The Guardian

Islamabad cites concerns detainees may be freed or transferred to US custody, though broader geopolitics may also be at play.

Pakistan is refusing to hand over captured Taliban leaders to Afghanistan on the grounds that they could be released or transferred to the US, according to officials familiar with the negotiations.

The refusal to extradite Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban's deputy leader and military commander, together with several regional insurgent commanders seized by Pakistani forces in recent weeks, has deepened uncertainty over Islamabad's motives.

Read more ....

Update: Americans have direct access to Taliban No. 2 -- Reuters

My Comment: This case is getting stranger and stranger everyday. I can only presume that Pakistan is trying to position themselves for some quid pro quo from either the U.S. and/or Afghanistan .... as to what that quid pro quo is .... hmmmm .... your guess is as good as mine.

How The Taliban Uses The Internet To Gain Recruits

Image: Sara Carter, the Washington Examiner’s national security correspondent (Courtesy photo)

Taliban Internet Recruiting Through The Eyes Of A Detainee -- Washington Examiner

PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN — The young Taliban detainee, shackled at the wrists, with his head covered with a black canvas bag, was chillingly clear about his life's mission: "The Taliban have only one objective: to continue killing the Americans."

The tools this particular terrorist had adopted to accomplish that goal were not suicide bombs or sniper rifles, but laptop computers and other high-tech equipment. The purpose of his Taliban cell was to reach potential recruits online over the Internet.

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My Commentary: Sara Carter is an excellent reporter, and she does not disappoint in this report. The Taliban have accepted the Al Qaeda philosophy that half of the battle is in the media space .... but arrests and being exposed by other bloggers has decimated their ranks, and their impact is not as pervasive as it once was.

A Tale Of Two Taliban

Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, at a press conference in Islamabad, Pakistan
Robert Nickelsberg / Getty Images

A Tale of Two Taliban Reveals U.S. Afghan Dilemma -- Time Magazine

Abdullah Ghulam Rasoul and Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef were both held by the U.S. at Guantánamo. Both were senior Taliban commanders, and both say they were subjected to solitary confinement, sleep deprivation, countless interrogations and beatings. But when they were released back home in their native Afghanistan, the two men's paths diverged radically.

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My Comment: I found Time Magazine's portrayal of Abdullah Ghulam Rasoul interesting .... to begin, he did not join the Taliban with fervor because of Gitmo .... he was already a committed Islamic extremist before his capture, detention, and subsequent release.

Unfortunately, his release and promotion within the Taliban has now resulted in the deaths of untold numbers of Afghans and US servicemen .... and the tally is still climbing.

Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef is also an interesting character .... but he has given up on the fight .... a position that will probably guarantee him a longer and better life than his former comrade in arms .... Abdullah Ghulam Rasoul.

Interview: ‘My Life With The Taliban’

From The New York Times:

Felix Kuehn and Alex Strick van Linschoten, Western researchers who are living without security protection in Kandahar, Afghanistan, spent the past two years editing and overseeing the translation of the autobiography of Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, the former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan and a core member of the early Taliban movement.

“My Life with the Taliban” has been reviewed by Ahmed Rashid in The New York Review of Books and by The Times’s David Rohde in The New Republic, who praised it as offering “valuable insight into the Taliban’s worldview.”

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My Comment: War Is Boring has an excellent 4 part examination on the life of Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, these links are at .... Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.

The New 2nd In Command Of The Taliban Was Released From Guantanamo Two Years Ago

Camp Delta, the fenced-in core of the Guantánamo prison.
Angel Franco/The New York Times

Afghan Officials Say Former Gitmo Detainee Now a Taliban Commander -- FOX News

LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan — A man freed from Guantanamo more than two years ago after he claimed he only wanted to go home and help his family is now a senior commander running Taliban resistance to the U.S.-led offensive in southern Afghanistan, two senior Afghan intelligence officials say.

Abdul Qayyum is also seen as a leading candidate to be the next No. 2 in the Afghan Taliban hierarchy, said the officials, interviewed last week by The Associated Press.

The story of Abdul Qayyum could add to the complications President Barack Obama is facing in fulfilling his pledge to close the prison at Guantanamo by sending some prisoners back to their home countries or to other willing nations, while putting others on trial.

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My Comment: If true, this is gong to make the closing of Guantanamo prison a very difficult proposition for President Obama to fulfill.

Has The Afghan Taliban Leadership Been Decimated?

Plain clothed police move a Pakistan Taliban commander from the Bajaur region through the halls of the Police Crime Investigation Department on Feb. 17. Nearly half the Afghanistan Taliban leadership have been apprehended in the past week, according to Pakistani intelligence officials. Akhtar Soomro/Reuters

Half Of Afghanistan Taliban Leadership Arrested In Pakistan -- Christian Science Monitor

MONITOR EXCLUSIVE: Pakistan officials told the Monitor they have arrested nearly half – 7 of 15 – members of the Afghan Taliban's senior leadership council in recent days, including the Taliban head of military operations in Afghanistan.

Kabul, Afghanistan

Pakistan has arrested nearly half of the Afghanistan Taliban’s leadership in recent days, Pakistani officials told the Monitor Wednesday, dealing what could be a crucial blow to the insurgent movement.

In total, seven of the insurgent group’s 15-member leadership council, thought to be based in Quetta, Pakistan, including the head of military operations, have been apprehended in the past week, according to Pakistani intelligence officials.

Read more ....

Update: What's the Quetta Shura Taliban and why does it matter? -- Christian Science Monitor

My Comment: I have just finished reading up on Michael Collins, the guerrilla fighter who was able to fight the British to a standstill in Ireland after the First World War. During this conflict the British were successful in imprisoning almost all of the leadership in the Irish independence movement. But the few were left were able to reorganize and intensify the fight against the British.

The same can be said about the Afghan Taliban .... we can imprison most if not all of the leadership .... but the fight will still continue.

A Who's Who In The Taliban

The Afghan Taliban's Top leaders -- Long War Journal

Over the past two months, Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency has captured four senior leaders of the Afghan Taliban, including Mullah Omar's deputy who served as the head of the top shura, the leader of a regional shura, and two shadow governors. These captures, combined with the US-led offensive in Helmand which will expand into Kandahar and the Afghan East later this year, have given rise to reports of the potential collapse of the group.

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My Comment: Fro future reference, bookmark this post from the Long War Journal. To measure how successful the US/NATO alliance is in its Afghan strategy, check this list to see who is still around a year from now.

Television Review | 'Behind Taliban Lines'

The Afghan Side Of War -- New York Times

Last fall the Afghan reporter Najibullah Quraishi was surprised to find himself operating as an embedded journalist. He was not tagging along with the United States Marines or some other coalition force — he was on the other side of the war, riding in minivans and walking through dusty fields with a small unit of militants in Baghlan Province, north of Kabul.

Mr. Quraishi spent 10 days with Hezb-e-Islami insurgents after an unexpected invitation from one of their commanders, and the result is “Behind Taliban Lines,” an installment of PBS’s “Frontline” (on Tuesday night) that’s likely to inspire strong feelings. The 36-minute report, consisting of Mr. Quraishi’s film and narration written by “Frontline” producers, is presented with a studied neutrality but has the inevitable effect of humanizing the militants, which may be laudable to some American viewers while driving others around the bend.

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My Comment: The Frontline PBS website for this documentary is here.

U.S. Intelligence Wants The Taliban's Military Commander Captured Last Week To Be In Their Custody

A man believed to be Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar in a photograph taken in 1998, given to The New York Times by a former photographer for the Taliban. New York Times

CIA Wants Baradar Sent To Afghanistan -- DAWN

WASHINGTON: The CIA wants Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar transferred to an American prison near Kabul for interrogation, US officials said.

The Taliban military chief, who was captured in Karachi earlier this month, is in Pakistan’s custody and is being interrogated mainly by ISI officials, but CIA representatives also have participated in some of these sessions.

Senior US officials, who spoke to various media outlets on the condition that they are not identified, said the Americans were not satisfied with the interrogation and wanted to take charge.

Read more ....

More News On The Taliban Military Commander Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar

Pakistan: We won’t hand over the captured Taliban leaders to the U.S. -- Hot Air
CIA wants to move captive Taliban official -- Baltimore Sun
CIA is said to seek custody of a seized Taliban chief -- L.A. Times
In Pakistan Raid, Taliban Chief Was an Extra Prize -- New York Times
Mullah Baradar capture 'a lucky accident' -- Threat Matrix
CIA post in Karachi helped catch top guns of Taliban -- Dawn
CIA post intercept in Karachi behind Mullah Baradar arrest -- News Track India
Mullah Baradar: The confusion grows -- The Moderate Voice
Possible successors to captured Taliban's No. 2 -- Washington Post/AP

More News On The Capture Of The Taliban's #2 Leader

Most Pakistani newspapers relegated the story either to the
lower half of their front page, or to the back page

Pakistan Confirms Top Taliban Arrest -- BBC

The Pakistani government has now confirmed that a senior Afghan Taliban commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, was captured last week in Karachi.

The Pakistani foreign minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, described the arrest as important.

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar is one of four men who founded the Taliban movement in Afghanistan in 1994 and is said to be second in command to the Taliban's spiritual leader Mullah Omar.

Read more ....


Watch CBS News Videos Online

More News on the Capture Of Senior Afghan Taliban Commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar

'Muted' Pakistan media response to Taliban arrest -- BBC
Pakistan's Karachi, a refuge but no base for Taliban -- Reuters
Taliban arrest 'significant development': Holbrooke -- AFP
Pakistan: Detained Taliban Chief Talking -- CBS
Deciphering the arrest of a Taliban commander -- The Economist
Could Baradar’s Arrest Damage Taliban Reconciliation Efforts? -- Washington Independent
Pakistan’s arrest of Mullah Baradar: tactics or strategy? -- Reuters
The capture of Mullah Baradar -- Foreign Policy
Capture a setback to Taliban, not end -- Washington Times
Taliban Commander's Capture: Is Bin Laden Next? -- FOX News
New York Times chief explains Baradar news delay -- BBC