At least twelve people were killed in Kabul today when a mass-murderer on a motorcycle exploded himself in Afghanistan's capital city. You might have heard this in the news already, but look how New Zealand's Mail and Guardian is spinning the story. Here is the headline:

What? Is this a joke? Ok, so maybe the headline is misleading. You know, like a typo or something. Sometimes headlines don't do a story justice. The only people who have any doubt that the Taliban were simply the institutionalized political wing of the Salafist jihad in Afghanistan also wear tin foil and believe that 9/11 was an 'inside job'. Let's go on to the story:

Afghan officials believe al-Qaeda has renewed its ties with the Taliban.

The facts of the story actually get at what is really going on. What is meant is that the Taliban are now copying tactics used by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al Qaeda in Iraq, and that foreign jihadis with ties to al Qaeda are entering Afghanistan in larger numbers.

In an interview published this week, a Taliban commander boasted he had trained in Iraq for several months and was now bringing his expertise home.

"I want to copy in Afghanistan the tactics and spirit of the glorious Iraqi resistance," Muhammad Daud told Newsweek.

Hours before Wednesday's blast, the Afghan intelligence agency, the NDS, told security groups that al-Qaeda had formed a new group, named Fedayani Islam (Sacrifices for Islam), and sent suicide bombers into southern Afghanistan, seeking "targets of opportunity".

Posted by: Rusty at 08:27 AM | Comments (12) | Add Comment
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Jawa Report readers will recall that on Sept. 7th we received information that some major news would be coming out of Afghanistan in the following weeks. At the time we labeled our information 'a rumor' since we could not confirm it. Today, Ed Morrissey notices that more rumors out of Afghanistan have begun to percolate to the mainstream media.

The Jawa Report, one step ahead in reporting unsubstantiated rumors.....(thanks to tip from source that wishes to remain anonymous)

UPDATE: Military now denying report. Scroll down for details more...

Posted by: Rusty at 11:04 AM | Comments (15) | Add Comment
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It's already 9/11 in Afghanistan. Among the several hundred news articles that pass on the Leftist meme that the U.S. hasn't really accomplished anything after 9/11, I did find one from Reuters reporting from Afghanistan.

Of course, it wouldn't be al Reuters if halfway into the article they cut away from it to remind readers that the U.S. hasn't really accomplished anything after 9/11 in Afghanistan.

Here's how our soldiers in Afghanistan are remembering the day that changed the world. God bless them, every one. more...

Posted by: Rusty at 04:20 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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A source is telling me that there will be some major news out of Afghanistan in the next few weeks. I wonder what I possibly could be implying?

These rumors have been wrong in the past. Call it wishful thinking. The source, though, is taking this all rather seriously. Not his usual MO.

Posted by: Rusty at 02:50 PM | Comments (29) | Add Comment
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Dozens of Taliban fighters have been killed or captured in Afghanistan in the past few days. Good news, all around.

Los Angeles Times:

.S. and Afghan forces killed 25 suspected Taliban fighters and captured dozens more in operations in two southern provinces over two days, Afghan and U.S. officials said.

On Monday, U.S. and Afghan forces killed 12 suspected militants and detained nine others in a raid in Zabol province, the U.S. military said. Soldiers were brought by helicopter into a remote area where militants were believed to be gathering before launching attacks. No casualties were reported among the Afghan and U.S. forces.

The operation in Zabol followed a raid in neighboring Kandahar province in which U.S. and Afghan forces killed 13 suspected Taliban fighters, and captured dozens more, in a remote area where a political candidate was kidnapped and executed last week, a provincial official said.

U.S. and Afghan troops dropped by parachute from American aircraft in the operation, which began Sunday, Kandahar Gov. Asadullah Khalid said by telephone from Kandahar city, the provincial capital. None of the coalition troops was injured.

The assault targeted insurgents suspected of killing Khan Mohammed, a candidate for Kandahar's provincial council in the country's Sept. 18 election who was abducted Friday, the governor added. A district commissioner and three policemen were killed along with Mohammed.

At least four other candidates have been killed in the weeks before the election for the lower house of Afghanistan's parliament and provincial councils. It is Afghanistan's first parliamentary election since U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban's hard-line Islamic regime in late 2001.

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President Hamid Karzai has signed a decree on behalf of the people of Afghanistan, allowing for the donation of $130,000 in disaster relief aid to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

It's small when compared to the amount of U.S. foreign aid received by Afghanistan, but it's the thought that counts.

Posted by: Mike Pechar at 11:47 AM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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(Kabul, Afghanistan) Tourists Jun Fukusho, 44, and Shinobu Hasegawa, 30, both junior high school teachers from Hiroshima, disappeared on August 8 in southern Afghanistan. Their bodies, confirmed by dental records, were found Thursday in a ditch outside Kandahar. According to the Japanese Foreign Ministry, both "had been shot in the head point-blank."

While acknowledging that their deaths were brutal, senseless, and criminal, I have to seriously question the wisdom of touring Afghanistan while the country is at war.

Posted by: Mike Pechar at 11:41 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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Apparently, the terrorists who escaped from the Bagram detention center are now in the southern part of Afghanistan.

From Reuters:

Four Arab al Qaeda militants who escaped from a heavily fortified U.S. detention center in Afghanistan this week reached a Taliban haven safely on Thursday, a spokesman for the guerrilla movement said.

"The Taliban found and recovered four al-Qaeda mujahideen (holy warriors) this morning," Taliban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi said from an undisclosed location.

Hakimi, whose information has often proved unreliable, declined to say where the escapees were, but added: "They are far away from Kabul. They are safe and now taking rest."

The Pakistani-based Afghan Islamic Press news agency quoted another, unnamed, Taliban spokesman as saying the men were in the south of the country. "They are alright. They had some bruises to their feet ... they are being given medicines."

Anyway, the escapees have been named and they come from four different countries, Syrian Abdullah Hashimi, Kuwaiti Mahmoud Ahmad Mohammad, Saudi Mahmoud Alfatahni, and Libyan Mohammad Hassan.

In the same report, a member of the Taliban leadership council, Mullah Dadullah, told Al Jazeera television that the group possessed anti-aircraft weapons and was seeking to obtain even more powerful arms.

Would it be possible to get spokesman Hakimi back on the line for a lengthy chat?

Companion post at Interested-Participant.

Posted by: Mike Pechar at 02:31 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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(Gardez, Afghanistan) Here's some good news if you are interested in seeing Afghanistan become united on the path toward freedom and democracy. Sadly, the elite media seems to be ignoring the story.

From the Army News Service:

Eighteen of Gulbiddin Hekmatyar’s Hezb-e Islami commanders turned themselves over to government officials in the Paktia Province June 12.

Under the terms of the Afghan government’s reconciliation program, Pakhm-e Sohl, the former commanders returned home after years of living in Pakistan.

Upon meeting with Governor Abdel Hakim Taniwal, Provincial Reconstruction Team or PRT Soldiers, and government representatives, who explained the provisions of the program to them, the commanders pledged their loyalty to the Karzai government by signing statements.

The loyalty statement to the Afghan government includes an agreement not to possess heavy weapons or take up arms against the Afghan government or Coalition forces. The commanders received new reconciliation identification cards and were embraced by Taniwal who welcomed them back to Afghan society.

So, by any measure, the Hezbi Islami is a major military element in the country. However, it has also been a prime political and ethnic leader for the large Pashtun segment of the Afghan population (42 percent). Consequently, by laying down arms and ending hostilities, Hekmatyar's commanders have given heightened authenticity and authority to the democratic Afghan government.

In my opinion, the fact that Gulbiddin Hekmatyar’s Hezbi Islami has chosen to become part of the new Afghanistan should be heralded by the international media as a major step toward pulling the country into the 21st Century. It should also be heralded as a win in the battle against backwardness, and a victory for freedom and democracy. So far, the elite media hasn't mentioned it. Maybe I'm making too big a deal about it.

Tipped by Captain's Quarters.

Posted by: Mike Pechar at 08:17 AM | Comments (13) | Add Comment
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