AND A BIT MORE HAMZA

...According to the indictment, Abu Hamza conspired with others in December 1998 to take a group of Western tourists hostage in Yemen. The indictment explains: “On or about December 28, 1998, the hostage-takers stormed a caravan of sport utility vehicles carrying sixteen Western tourists and took the tourists hostage by use of force.” The Yemeni military then attempted to rescue the hostages, at which point the “hostage takers used the hostages as human shields and attempted to fight off the Yemeni military,” according to the indictment. Four hostages were killed and several wounded in the ensuing combat. The indictment goes on to allege that Hamza conspired with others and provided material support for a “violent jihad training camp” in Oregon. These efforts included, among other things, the stockpiling of weapons and ammunition within the US. The indictment goes on to allege that Abu Hamza’s two co-defendants Oussama Abdullah Kassir and Haroom Rashid Aswat travelled to Bly, Oregon – telling individuals there that “they had been sent there by [Abu Hamza] to train people for jihad and to assess the suitability of the Bly, Oregon property for a Jihad training camp. [Kassir and Aswat] also both told individuals at the property that they supported Usama bin Laden and al Qaeda, and had received their own jihad training in Afghanistan.” The indictment further alleges in part that Abu Hamza provided and concealed material support and resources to terrorists facilitating violent jihad in Afghanistan, and that Abu Hamza conspired to supply goods and services to the Taliban in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA)...

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NORWEIGAN NUTS

Charlie Wilson Dies

Former Texas congressman Charlie Wilson, the architect of the US support for anti-Soviet forces in Afghanistan and subject of the Hollywood movie Charlie Wilson's War, died today. He was 76.

If you haven't already do read George Criles book which is even more crazy than the film.

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MORE SCAG

Addicted in Afghanistan from Jawed Taiman on Vimeo.

This was filmed by Jason Brooks who did a music video for my band

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Behind The Scenes

Fascinating reporting from behind the scenes in The Telegraph today and The Daily Mail a while ago, which I missed at the time. In The Telegraph Andrew Gilligan details the conflicts between the British and American top brass in Iraq, whilst in the Daily Mail Craig Murray details the path 2007s bumper crop of smack took into Europe.

Hostility between British and American military leaders revealed
Britain is protecting the biggest heroin crop of all time

Also from India, Mumbai terrorist Kasab in his own words
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DAYLIGHT

The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, said today the Obama administration was reassessing the relationship between the Taliban and al-Qaida, but denied any change of strategy on Afghanistan had occurrred.

Clinton's comments came after reports that the president's security advisers were pressing him to shift the focus of the war from the Taliban in Afghanistan to al-Qaida in Pakistan. The Taliban issued a statement last week claiming they posed no international threat, in an apparent attempt to put daylight between themselves and al-Qaida...

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THE FUTURE

Taliban announces that it poses no international threat

Barack Obama 'sees role for Taliban in Afghanistan's future'

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THE FUTURE

I'm not sure if this was written by Paula Newton, who once called Atilla "A seriously scary guy" or Andrew Carey who I met up with once a while back but I think the title of this CNN blog post about McChrystals visit to London sums up the troubles of Afghanistan, and of maintaining the focus of American action there- No bumper sticker slogan will solve it

...Our manner of operating distances us physically and psychologically from the people we seek to protect. You need to connect with people,” says McChrystal adding, “We’ve under resourced our operations, in some areas we’ve underperformed, in some areas we’ve under-coordinated. We’ve struggled with unity of effort, national agreements, chains of command that are complex to say the least.”

What he did not admit so openly is that any more engagement with the Afghan people will inevitably lead to more military and civilian casualties in the short term.

But General McChrystal did begin articulating a new mission statement for Afghanistan. He said winning there doesn’t mean beating the Taliban but making the Afghan people safe and secure.

And he divulged two other things that commanders rarely say publicly: We can’t debate a new strategy forever, three months tops, and reconciliation with the Taliban is inevitable...



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ALONE

I bought the Suday Times but only got round to reading this today. A Sunday times journalist has spent time talking to grieving families all over the country.

...During his time in Afghanistan, part of Hale’s duties included the so-called TRM-ing of soldiers who had been in fierce firefights with the Taliban or who were showing signs of stress after tense patrols in which colleagues might routinely be blown up or shot.

TRM-ing, or trauma risk and management, is a fairly new concept and Hale was at the forefront of the army’s efforts to identify those at risk of post-traumatic stress before it is too late. “Mark would talk to the guys after firefights . . . He’d say, ‘it’s okay to feel this’, or ‘it’s okay to feel that’. If boys have seen friends shot, sometimes they dirty themselves and he’d have to impress on the others that you can’t take the mickey out of someone in that situation. It happens and it’s okay. And it’s okay to cry too.”

Did Hale need TRM-ing himself? Brenda had been distressed at the news that he was being posted to Afghanistan and never quite got over the nagging feeling that something awful would happen: “He’d done the Falklands, he’d done Iraq, he’d done Bosnia and Kosovo . . . I’d never had that feeling before but suddenly I just thought: you can’t keep going to these places. I said to him last summer, ‘One day your luck’s going to run out’.” ...

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TALIBAN

During wars and after them, the real voice of the enemy is rarely heard. Propaganda is plentiful, as are prideful boasts—and the Taliban have certainly been quick studies at the modern art of information warfare. But the fears and ambitions of ordinary fighters are too often buried under statistics and theories propounded from thousands of miles away. That’s been even more true in Iraq and Afghanistan, where reporters who might accurately convey the other side’s perspective are at risk of being kidnapped or killed for their efforts.

After eight long years of war in Afghanistan, however, America and its allies can ill afford not to understand who the enemy is and why they fight. To put together this remarkable oral history, told through the words of the Taliban themselves, NEWSWEEK turned to contributing correspondent Sami Yousafzai, who has been covering the conflict for the magazine since 2001. Over that time he has developed and maintained contact with dozens of Afghan insurgents, including the six whose stories are told here...

UPDATE: Now I have had time to read it myself- very interesting. Not surprising that a lot of this seems to have been directed by Arabs at first, or that Karzais Police are loosing the people with their corrupt behaviour now. I was surprised how often Chechens and Uzbeks are mentioned as I had a diferent concept of these countries, well Uzbekistan anyway. I was also surprised how little suicide bombing is mentioned.

Reading the whole article you get an idea of how fragmented these pockets of resistance are, but how as a whole they are bloody dificult for a superpower to deal with. It seems the Americans can't really stay and expect things to get better or leave, and "Your enemies enemy" isn't necessarily your friend for them in the long run either is it.

Also- Some really good pictures of the international forces in Afghanistan in the Big Picture here.

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AFGHANISTAN

Wade through this

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Immortal Technique

In Afghanistan

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STAR MAN

An article in the Daily Star about The Islamic Awakening forum-

HOOKY RANTS OVER ‘BODY BAGS’ TOLL

Under the picture they have of him it says Abu Hamza is said to have launched a sick rant but if you read the article it says that some people who supported him used to post there and accuses them of sick rants about soldiers now.

Some of the forum rants you can check for yourself here

Three UK soldiers die in Helmand .....
"Amerikan and European civilians are enemy combatants" - Al Qaeda

the one I found the most interesting Bin Laden's (former) Driver talks...

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Bombing Civilians

This includes some work by Guy Smallman who has recently returned from Afghanistan.

WE DONT BUGGER CHILDREN INTO BECOMING SUICIDE BOMBERS

Recently I've blogged about The Sun lying about a British Muslim and they have stolen from me personally but they have quoted a source here so I feel that I should put this up. Cheers to Mike for the link.

EVIL al-Qaeda chiefs are raping young male converts to shame them into becoming suicide bombers, it emerged yesterday.

The intense social stigma and fear of more gay sex attacks leaves Muslims prepared to die.

The warped new tactic was revealed by a reformed Algerian militant. Abu Baçir El Assimi said: “The sexual act on young recruits aged between 16 to 19 was a means to urge them to commit suicide operations.” ...

Lets see if Al Qaeda sue now.

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Rory Stewart

I read the book about his long walk but I never thought he would look like this. I imagined someone much older. This is fascinating.

Rory Stewart at the Frontline Club

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US Foreign Policy- Talking to People?

..."If you talk to General Petraeus, I think he would argue that part of the success in Iraq involved reaching out to people that we would consider to be Islamic fundamentalists, but who were willing to work with us because they had been completely alienated by the tactics of al-Qaida in Iraq," President Obama said.

"The situation in Afghanistan is, if anything, more complex.

"You have a less governed region, a history of fierce independence among tribes. Those tribes are multiple and sometimes operate at cross purposes, and so figuring all that out is going to be much more of a challenge."...

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BOSTIN TERR-R

...Interceptions of Taliban communications have shown that British jihadists – some "speaking with West Midlands accents" – are active in Helmand and other parts of southern Afghanistan, according to briefing papers prepared by an official security agency.

The document states that the numbers of young British Muslims, "seemingly committed jihadists", travelling abroad to commit extremist violence has been rising, with Pakistan and Somalia the most frequent destinations....


Wharar them new detonators like mate?

Bostin like arr..
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SPARE SOME CHANGE?

Just one month since Barack Obama declared "we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals", his administration has disappointed human rights campaigners by sticking to the old Bush position on those America holds in Afghanistan.

Hundreds of prisoners held at Bagram airbase should not, they say, have access to American justice.

But we have learned of another secretive and controversial prison which is technically an Afghan jail where former inmates of Guantanamo and Taliban fighters are being held.

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