Tuesday, December 27, 2011

before you jump in: Mullah Omar and the FBI List

12/27/2011 08:43:00 PM SgtJim No Comments yet, your thoughts are welcome

read it before jump in :)
today many tweets came out: Mullah Mohammad Omar removed from the FBI's Most Wanted List
Alex took his time and ran around some circles:

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Storified by Alex Strick v L

Rumours spun out of control on twitter when it was suggested that Mullah Mohammad Omar had been removed from the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists list.

Pakistani blogs and media outlets appear to be the main source for a rumour that quickly picked up steam among twitter users, many of whom were Afghan journalists. See here, for example, with the Pakistani newspaper Express Tribune's story:
FBI removes Mullah Omar's name from list of most wanted terrorists
In the past, US officials have held about half a dozen meetings with representatives of Mullah Omar. The Unites States Federal Bureau...
Tribune
The initial spark this morning seems to have been a tweet by @RatebNoori:
“
Flash: Mullah Omar's name deleted from FBI's most wanted list. t.co/84yahgKE@@wanted-grou...
Rateb Noori
8 hours ago
This was retweeted and then repeated by numerous Afghan users, many of whom didn't reference a news report or the FBI's list.
“
RT @RatebNoori Flash: Mullah Omar's name deleted from FBI's most wanted list. t.co/UafaM3Bk @wanted-group-listing
Ehsanullah Amiri
8 hours ago
“
Flash: #FBI remove #Mulla Omar name from black list.
Parwiz Shamal
8 hours ago
“
Mullah Omer is no more a Top Wanted Fugitive by the FBI.
Mustafa KAZEMI
8 hours ago
“
The 2nd green light for Taliban: FBI removes Mullah Omar from its most wanted list.
Ehsanullah Amiri
8 hours ago
This then picked up steam as others started retweeting, googling, and finding the original Pakistani media stories.
“
Urgent: Taliban not our enemy lets remove Mullah Omar from Black list FBI t.co/f3ha3Wki
Sharifullah Sahak
8 hours ago
Some journalists questioned the story.
“
Wait What? RT @AmiriEhsan: RT @RatebNoori Flash: Mullah Omar's name deleted from FBI's most wanted list. t.co/zTuykreN
Subel Bhandari
8 hours ago
I used archive.org's Wayback Machine to check whether he had ever been on the list. I had a hunch that he hadn't ever been on that list. There was only one previous snapshot of the page, made on 14 May 2011, but Mullah Mohammad Omar wasn't on the list then.
“
@RatebNoori well, this is that same page in May 2011, and he's not on the list t.co/X44w0EhO
Alex Strick v L
8 hours ago
It was at this point that Tolo News, one of the biggest Afghan television stations, seems to have gone with the story.

Read more/full story and for updates:

http://storify.com/strickvl/mmo-and-the-fbi-s-most-wanted-terrorists-list

R.I.P. - Staff Sgt. Joseph J. Altmann

12/27/2011 06:43:00 PM SgtJim No Comments yet, your thoughts are welcome

DOD Identifies Army Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

Staff Sgt. Joseph J. Altmann, 27, of Marshfield, Wis., died Dec. 25, in Kunar province Afghanistan, of injuries suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with small arms fire.

He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.

For more information, media may contact the 3rd Brigade Combat Team at 808-655-0054.

Dec. 27., 2011. - ISAF Joint Command Evening Operational Update

12/27/2011 05:22:00 PM SgtJim No Comments yet, your thoughts are welcome

KABUL, Afghanistan – A coalition security force discovered a weapons and drug cache during a routine patrol in Zharay district, Kandahar province, today.

The cache consisted of four improvised explosive devices found at different locations. Each IED had approximately 11 pounds (5 kilograms) of homemade explosives. The security force destroyed three of the four IEDs on site without incident and confiscated the fourth IED for destruction and later date for safety reasons. The drug cache consisted of approximately 1,300 pounds (590 kilograms) of hashish. All the drugs were destroyed on site without incident.

In other International Security Assistance Force news throughout Afghanistan:

South

A combined Afghan and coalition security discovered a drug cache during a routine patrol in Maiwand district, Kandahar province, today. The cache consisted of approximately 200 pounds (90 kilograms) of hashish. The security force destroyed all the drugs on site without incident.

A combined Afghan and coalition security discovered a weapons cache during a routine patrol in Tarin Kot district, Uruzgan province, today. The cache consisted of approximately 2,700 heavy machine gun rounds. The security force confiscated all ammunition to be destroyed at a later date.

West

A coalition security force discovered a weapons cache during a routine patrol in Shindand district, Herat province, today. The cache consisted of four 105 mm artillery rounds and four anti-tank rockets. The security force confiscated the munitions for destruction at a later date.

Afghan girl rescued after locked up in toilet for 6 months

12/27/2011 01:20:00 PM SgtJim No Comments yet, your thoughts are welcome

PUL-I-KHUMRI (PAN): Police rescued a teenage married girl who was kept locked-up in a toilet for six months by her in-laws in northern Baghlan province, officials said.

The 15-year-old was found locked up-in the toilet after her parents informed police, the second police district chief, Col. Fazal Rahman, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Girl locked up for months rescued

by Habibur Rahman Sherzai on Dec 27, 2011 - 15:23

PUL-I-KHUMRI (PAN): Police rescued a teenage married girl who was kept locked-up in a toilet for six months by her in-laws in northern Baghlan province, officials said.

The 15-year-old was found locked up-in the toilet after her parents informed police, the second police district chief, Col. Fazal Rahman, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Sar Gul was married to Mohammad Azim, 30, nine months ago, he said, adding the girl was locked up when she refused having sex with men brought home by her in-laws.

Sara's husband used to beat her and denied her enough food, the police official quoted the girl as saying. The girl's mother-in-law has been arrested, but her husband managed to flee.

The victim's parents are living in Badakhshan, women affairs director, Rahima Zafari, said. She added the girl was admitted to the Pul-i-Khumri Civil Hospital with severe mental stress. Zafari demanded the criminals' early arrest and punishment.

The hospital head, Dr. Gul Mohammad Wardak, said the girl had her nails pulled out with pliers and there were burn signs on her body. He said she was in a critical condition and might be transferred to Kabul for better treatment.

Lebanese al Qaeda operative eulogizes Jordanian killed in Afghanistan

12/27/2011 11:47:00 AM SgtJim No Comments yet, your thoughts are welcome

Haythem bin Mohammed al Khayat, a Jordanian better known as Abu Kandahar al Zarqawi. Image from the SITE Intelligence Group.

A Lebanese al Qaeda fighter recently praised a fellow Jordanian operative who was killed in Afghanistan sometime in 2010. Before his death, the Jordanian had helped several "brothers" enter the Afghan-Pakistan theater to wage jihad.
In an interview published by al Waqa Magazine, Abu Zubaydah al Lubnani recounted his time with Haythem bin Mohammed al Khayat, a Jordanian better known as Abu Kandahar al Zarqawi, who was killed by US forces in late 2010 [see LWJ report, Jordanian al Qaeda operative killed in Afghanistan]. Lubnani's interview was translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.
Lubnani said he first met Abu Kandahar on the Paltalk Internet chat forum "through one of the coordinating mediator brothers."
"At the time, I had requested one of the brothers to help me go to fight, and he [Abu Kandahar], may Allah have mercy on him, used to work as a coordinator for the brothers who want to join the mujahideen, especially those on the Khorasan front," Lubnani said. Jihadists often use the term "Khorasan front" to describe Afghanistan and Pakistan's tribal areas and northwest.
In his role as a facilitator for foreign fighters into the Afghan-Pakistan theater, Abu Kandahar helped several al Qaeda operatives wage jihad in the region.
"I and those with me were the first to enjoy the honor of going to fight through Abu Kandahar. I can count more than ten brothers who went to fight through Abu Kandahar," he said.
Lubnani also stated that he "spent with the brother [Abu Kandahar] six consecutive months on the line in South Waziristan," after traveling to the Pakistani tribal agency. In South Waziristan, al Qaeda fighters often shelter with the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan as well as with Taliban fighters under Mullah Nazir, who calls himself an al Qaeda leader.
Before his death, Abu Kandahar was a member of a network of foreign al Qaeda operatives that included Abu Dujanah al Khurasani, the suicide bomber who carried out the attack at Combat Outpost Chapman in Khost province on Dec. 30, 2009 that killed seven CIA operatives and a Jordanian intelligence officer. Khurasani lulled the CIA officers into a false sense of security by claiming to have intelligence that would lead them to Ayman al Zawahiri, who at that time was al Qaeda's second in command.
Other members of the network included Abu Abdulrahman al Qahtani, a veteran jihadist from Yemen; Ghazwan al Yemeni, a top operative in al Qaeda's external operations network who aided in the attack at Combat Outpost Chapman; and Abu Dujanah al Sanaani, a Yemeni and an Internet jihadist who is known to have operated the Al Balagh Media Center and to have interviewed Siraj Haqqani. Qahtani, Ghazwan, and Sanaani were killed in fighting and Predator strikes along the Afghan-Pakistani border during the fall of 2010.

Monitoring the dangerous Pakistani border: OP Mustang (+video)

12/27/2011 11:28:00 AM SgtJim No Comments yet, your thoughts are welcome

By Clarissa Ward at CBSNEWS
video embeding disabled on CBSNEWS currently, so you need to navigate to the site
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(CBS News)

The Afghan government Monday signaled that it may be open to peace talks with the Taliban. In the meantime, Taliban fighters keep slipping back and forth across the border with Pakistan. American soldiers are on a mission to stop them and CBS News correspondent Clarissa Ward spent time with one squad on a remote base in a mountainous border region.
Sgt. Eric Scharf knows the importance of discipline as squad leader at a tiny outpost of just 19 soldiers overlooking the dangerous Pakistani border. His men are the eyes and ears for key U.S. bases below, trying to keep them safe from insurgent attacks.
"If they are close enough to be firing us, we're close enough to be firing them," said Scharf. "The guys need to be quick. They need to be accurate and they need to be absolutely brutal when the time calls for it."
Perched at 7,000 feet, it doesn't get much more isolated than here. The stunning scenery provides abundant hiding places for an enemy the men rarely catch a glimpse of.
Normally by December these mountains would be covered in snow. But this year has been unseasonably warm, which means that enemy fighters from Pakistan have been able to come down and move freely through the mountain passes.
Scharf relies heavily on the expertise of his Afghan guards, who have been fighting in these mountains for more than 30 years and who monitor Taliban chatter.
"Through our monitoring of radio traffic and things like that, Pakistan is playing a huge role's in the insurgency's ability to freely move about," said Scharf.
Less than 36 hours after CBS News arrived, a nearby outpost came under enemy attack. The men were instructed to fire off mortars at suspected enemy positions to hold off the attackers. It was a reminder that the enemy can strike at any time.
"I know that the moment I slack off is the moment that one of my guys could catch a bullet in the head," said Scharf. "That's the main thing -- [it's] just encouraging them to try to understand their enemy, to learn about the fight and to be ready at any given point."
Ready for an enemy that takes refuge on both sides of a porous border.

video is here:

NATO drone emergency landing in Paktia province (+update)

12/27/2011 11:17:00 AM SgtJim No Comments yet, your thoughts are welcome

Tuesday, December 27, 2011 – According to local authorities in eastern Afghanistan, a drone belonging to NATO-led International Security Assistance Force on Tuesday made an emergency landing in eastern Paktia province.

Paktia provincial governor spokesman Rohullah Samoon confirming the incident said, the emergency landing of the NATO drone took place in Ahmadabad district of eastern Paktia province early Tuesday morning.

NATO-led International Security Assistance Force officials also confirmed the incident.

Taliban militants group fighting the Afghan government and International coalition forces immediately claimed responsibility behind the incident and said that their fighters are behind the NATO drone crash.

the crashed drone, source: http://yfrog.com/nxw6otj

But Afghan officials deny the claims of the Taliban group behind the incident.

update:

ISAF confirms to identify crash site of NATO drone

Tuesday, December 27, 2011 – NATO-led International Security Assistance Force officials in eastern Khost announced to discover the crash site of a NATO drone which made an emergency landing this morning.

According to a press release by NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, the crash site was found with the cooperation of the Afghan security forces and efforts have been put in place to bring back the crashed drone to NATO base.

According to reports, the main motive behind the emergency landing of the NATO drone was described a mechanical deficit but the Taliban group claimed that the drone was shot by their fighters in Ahmadabad district of eastern Paktia province.

Afghan officials deny Taliban claims to shoot down the NATO drone.

Dec. 27., 2011. - ISAF Joint Command Morning Operational Update

12/27/2011 11:08:00 AM SgtJim No Comments yet, your thoughts are welcome

KABUL, Afghanistan (Dec. 27) — An Afghan led and coalition supported security force captured a Taliban facilitator during an operation in Pul-e ‘Alam district, Logar province, today. The facilitator moved weapons and explosives used in attacks against coalition forces. Additionally, he was involved in a car bomb attack in Logar province earlier this month that killed one civilian and injured and nine others.
One additional suspect insurgent was detained during the operation.

In other International Security Assistance Force news throughout Afghanistan:

South
An Afghan led and supported coalition security force captured a Taliban weapons facilitator during an operation in Garm Ser district, Helmand province, today. The facilitator moved weapons throughout Helmand province. No civilians were injured during the operation.
In Zharay district, Kandahar province, an Afghan led and coalition supported security force conducted an operation in search of a Taliban leader, today. The leader moves supplies, emplaces roadside bombs and coordinates attacks against coalition forces. Two suspected insurgents were detained.
A coalition security force discovered a weapons cache during a routine patrol in Now Zad district, Helmand province, yesterday. The cache consisted of four 82 mm mortars, one land mine and various improvised explosive device components. All of the weapons were destroyed by the security force without incident.

East
A coalition security force discovered a weapons cache during a routine patrol in Andar district, Ghazni province, yesterday. The cache consisted of one anti-personnel mine, two rocket propelled grenade warheads, two 82 mm mortar rounds, and various improvised explosive device making components. The security force destroyed a portion of the find on site without incident and confiscated the remaining portion for destruction at a later date.

Prominent Taliban leader detained in Farah province

12/27/2011 01:20:00 AM SgtJim No Comments yet, your thoughts are welcome

Monday, December 26, 2011 – According to local security officials in western Afghanistan, Afghan national security forces arrested one of the prominent commanders of the Taliban militants group in western Farah province.

The officials further added, the Taliban commander was arrested in Bala Bolok district of western Farah province following a joint military operation by Afghan national police and Afghan national army soldiers.

Bala Bolok district security chief Gen. Abdul Basir confirming the report said, the joint military operations were conducted early Monday morning.

This comes as Afghan Interior Affairs ministry officials on Sunday announced that a militants commander was killed along with his four other companions in western Farah province on Saturday.

Taliban militants group fighting the Afghan government and NATO troops yet to comment regarding the reports.