Taliban drohen Niederlande wegen Wilders mit Terror
WELT ONLINE: Falls die Regierung Forderungen des Islamgegners Wilders umsetze, werde das Land "Ziel einer Dschihadisten-Gruppe", so ein Taliban-Sprecher.

Ein Anführer der afghanischen Taliban hat einem Zeitungsbericht zufolge die Niederlande vor einem Anschlag gewarnt, sollte die neue Regierung Forderungen des Islamgegners Geert Wilders umsetzen. „Wenn die Niederlande ihre Anti-Islam-Politik beibehalten oder intensivieren, werden sie mit Sicherheit das Ziel einer Dschihadisten-Gruppe werden“, zitierte die Tageszeitung „Volkskrant“ Sabjullah Mudschahed, der offizieller Sprecher der Taliban für Ost- und Nordafghanistan sein soll.

Wenn Wilders erfolgreich das niederländische Parlament „so manipuliert, dass es mehr Anti-Islam-Gesetze verabschiedet, gibt es keinen Zweifel, dass Muslime aus anderen Ländern aktiv werden, um ihren muslimischen Brüdern und Schwestern zu helfen“, sagte Mudschahed demnach weiter. >>> AFP/dpa/Reuters/cn | Montag, 18. Oktober, 2010

DAILY TIMES: Taliban warn Dutch against adopting anti-Islam agenda >>> Tuesday, October 19, 2010

'German Taliban' Video Posted on Al-Qaeda Website
THE TELEGRAPH: A recruiting video produced by German militants and posted on an al-Qaeda website has cast fresh light on how European Islamists are joining insurgents fighting in Pakistan's mountainous tribal areas.

Watch Telegraph video here | Rob Crilly in Islamabad | Tuesday, October 05, 2010

Taliban Stone Afghan Couple to Death for Adultery
THE GUARDIAN: Amnesty International condemns first confirmed stoning in Afghanistan since fall of the Taliban in 2001

Taliban forces have stoned a couple to death for adultery in a public execution.

With Nato and UN officials in Kabul poring over the latest Taliban proposal to establish a joint commission to investigate civilian casualties, officials in the north of the country were detailing a killing that Amnesty International described as the first confirmed stoning in the country since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001.

Militants ordered the stoning after a married man and a single woman in Dasht-e-Archi district, Kunduz province, were accused of eloping.

Amnesty International called the stoning a "heinous crime" that showed the Taliban and other insurgent groups "are growing increasingly brutal in their abuses against Afghans".

"Amnesty International has warned that the Afghan government should not sacrifice human rights, particularly the rights of women and minorities, in the name of reconciliation with the Taliban and other insurgent groups," said a spokesman for the group. >>> Associated Press | Monday, August 16, 2010

Shock TIME Cover Illustrates the Plight of Women Under the Taliban
GUARDIAN – BLOG – GREENSLADE: Time magazine's latest issue carries this disturbing cover image. It's a portrait of Aisha, a shy 18-year-old Afghan woman who was sentenced by a Taliban commander to have her nose and ears cut off for fleeing her abusive in-laws.

Aisha posed for the picture because she wants the world to see the effect a Taliban resurgence would have on the women of Afghanistan.

Her picture is accompanied by a powerful story on how Afghan women have embraced the freedoms that have come from the defeat of the Taliban — and how they fear a Taliban revival.

Richard Stengel, Time's managing editor, writes: "I thought long and hard about whether to put this image on the cover... First, I wanted to make sure of Aisha's safety and that she understood what it would mean to be on the cover. Continue reading and comment >>> Roy Greenslade | Friday, July 30, 2010

TIME: The Plight of Afghan Women: A Disturbing Picture >>> Richard Stengel, Managing Editor | Thursday, July 29, 2010

TIME: Women of Afghanistan: Living Under the Taliban Threat – Photographer Jodi Bieber meets the extraordinary women of a war-torn nation >>>

Photographing Aisha for the Cover of TIME

Taliban Suicide Bombers Attack Jalalabad Nato Base in Afghanistan
THE TELEGRAPH: Six Taliban suicide bombers launched a brazen daylight attack on one of the biggest Nato bases in Afghanistan one day after Gen David Petraeus warned of escalating violence.

Several attackers were killed when gunmen set off a car bomb and fired rocket propelled grenades at the Jalalabad air base in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday.

Two service personnel were injured, according to the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force.

The attack began at 0730 local time, with suicide bombers surrounding the base from different directions.

A Nato spokesman said the perimeter of the base had not been breached. >>> | Wednesday, June 30, 2010

The Sickness of Islam! ‘Taleban’ Execute 7-Year-Old Boy in Afghanistan
THE TIMES: A seven-year-old boy was executed by the Taleban in a brutal act of retribution this week after his grandfather dared to resist the insurgents’ iron rule.

Afghan officials said that the boy was accused of spying for US and Nato forces and hanged from a tree in southern Afghanistan.

Daoud Ahmadi, the spokesman for Helmand’s provincial governor, said that the murder came days after the boy’s grandfather, Abdul Woodod Alokozai, spoke out against militants in their hometown.

“I know his father and I know his grandfather,” Mr Ahmadi said. “His grandfather is a tribal elder in the village and the village is under the control of the Taleban. His grandfather said some good things about the Government and he formed a small group of people to stand against the Taleban.

“That’s why the Taleban killed his grandson in revenge.” >>> Jerome Starkey, Kandahar | Thursday, June 10, 2010

Our Friends and Allies, the Saudis! Terror Link Alleged as Saudi Millions Flow into Afghanistan War Zone
TIMES ONLINE: Millions of dollars of Saudi Arabian money have flowed into Afghanistan over the past four years, the country’s intelligence officials say, with the sponsorship of terrorism its most likely use.

According to members of the Afghan financial intelligence unit, FinTraca, the funds, totalling more than £920 million, enter from Pakistan, where they are converted into rupees or dollars, the favoured currency for terrorist operations.

“We can trace it back as far as an entry point in Waziristan,” said Mohammed Mustafa Massoudi, the director-general of FinTraca in Kabul. “Why would anyone want to put such money into Waziristan? Only one reason — terrorism.”

The revelations illuminate the difficulties in dividing the Taleban from al-Qaeda influence and the continuing involvement of Saudi donors in sponsoring the insurgency. >>> Anthony Loyd, Kabul | Monday, May 31, 2010

Star comment:

Oil revenues have allowed the Saudis to spread Wahabbism, the fanatical, destructive form of Islam all over the Muslim world and among the Muslims in the West. One of the Five Pillars of Islam established in the Koran requires that all Muslims give 2.5% of their income to charity. These donations are known as zakat.The amount of zakat donated in Saudi Arabia has been estimated to be around $10 billion annually. Predictably, the Wahhabis have now co-opted this mainstream institution within Islam to promote jihadism.The Saudi government funds mosques, university chairs, Islamic study centres, and religious schools known as madrassas all over the world. The Saudi education system has played a central role in indoctrinating an entire generation of young men into a rabidly xenophobic ideology. – © Alec Paterson | [Source: Times Online Comments] | Monday, May 31, 2010

New Hakimullah Mehsud Video Threatens Strikes on US ‘Within a Month'
The new video shows Hakimullah Mehsud threatening attacks on the US. Photo: Times Online
TIMES ONLINE: The Pakistan Taleban leader Hakimullah Mehsud, who was believed to have been killed in a US drone attack in January, has threatened attacks against the US in a video apparently made last month, according to the intelligence monitoring group SITE.

The video comes in the wake of the attempted car bombing in Times Square, New York on Sunday and follows another video by Mehsud's terror organisation Tehreek-e-Talebn in which the group claimed credit for the failed attack.

U.S. authorities have played down the potential connection between the Pakistani militant network and the car bomb, saying the group does not have the global infrastructure to carry out such a strike. Tehreek-e-Taleban frequently claim responsibility for terror attacks in which they have no involvement.

In the nine minute video allegedly made on April 4, Mehsud, the man who was once Pakistan's most feared commander makes no specific mention of an attempt on New York but threatens strikes on the United States within a month for the killing of militant leaders.

"The time is very near when our fidaeen (soldiers) will attack the American states in the major cities," says Mehsud, who is flanked by two armed and masked men. >>> | Monday, May 03, 2010

Taleban Release New Footage of US Soldier Bowe Bergdahl
TIMES ONLINE: The Taleban have released a video of the only American soldier in captivity, offering to release him as part of a prisoner exchange.

Bowe Bergdahl, who was taken hostage in Afghanistan last June, is pictured saying he wants to return to his family in Idaho and that the war in Afghanistan is not worth the number of lives that have been lost or wasted in prison.

His voice falteringly, Mr Bergdahl dressed in an army shirt and fatigues, clasps his hands together and pleads: “The pain in my heart to see my family again doesn’t get any smaller. Release me. Please, I’m begging you, bring me home.”

The footage shows the soldier with a beard and doing press-ups to demonstrate that he is in good physical condition. He tells the camera that he is strong and is “given the freedom to exercise; and to be a human being, even though he is a prisoner. >>> Joanna Sugden | Thursday, April 08, 2010

Taliban Attempt to Storm US Consulate in Peshawar, Pakistan
THE TELEGRAPH: Taliban militants armed with guns and suicide vests targeted the US consulate in Pakistan's northwestern capital and unleashed carnage at a political rally on Monday, killing 43 people.



The apparently co-ordinated attacks were the deadliest so far this year in nuclear-armed Pakistan, where the government is closely allied to the US-led war against al-Qaeda and in neighbouring Afghanistan.

The ability of heavily-armed militants to get so close to the US mission and other military installations, such as the provincial headquarters of Pakistan's premier spy agency, will raise further questions about endemic insecurity.

Up to 15 militants armed with explosives and driving in two vehicles targeted the heavily guarded US consulate in Peshawar, a city of 2.5 million on the edge of Pakistan's lawless tribal belt, setting off multiple explosions.

"The target was certainly the American consulate but they didn't succeed in getting there," said Pakistani police officer Ghulam Hussain.

"One of the suicide bombers blew himself up close to the gate. Police guarding the US consulate started retaliatory fire. More blasts took place. We have recovered unexploded material from four different points," he said.

Three powerful explosions and bouts of gunfire echoed through the area, where the attacks occurred at a checkpoint about 20 yards from the US consulate where heavy thick smoke spewed into the sky.

"We can confirm there has been an attack on the US consulate Peshawar facilities," US embassy spokeswoman Ariel Howard told AFP, unable to provide any details about the nature of the attack, possible damage or casualties. >>> | Easter Monday, April 05, 2010

Taliban Fighters Are 'Conditioned' to Die in Battle, Claims Former Insurgent
THE TELEGRAPH: A former insurgent in Afghanistan has told how he survived daily battles with British troops and why he decided to join the peace process in what is believed to be the first ever interview given by a member of the Helmand Taliban.

Taliban fighters hand over weapons to authorities, Shindand, Afghanistan. Photograph: The Telegraph
Every morning just before dawn, as the sun rose over the central Helmand plain, Abdul Mohammed would pray to Allah, clean his rifle and prepare to kill British soldiers.

For two years, Abdul, who is married with a young son, served as Taliban foot soldier in one of the most violent and battle-scared areas of southern Afghanistan.

"I expected to be killed in battle – but that didn't worry me," he said. "I never thought about death. If I was told go on a suicide attack, I would have done so. I was a committed Taliban fighter, being with the Taliban was my life.

"The British soldiers were my enemy, they would try and kill me, so I'd try to kill them."

But last month, after seeing hundreds of his friends and family killed in battle, Abdul turned his back on the insurgency and joined the peace process under the Nato-backed strategy of "reintegration".

In what is believed to be the first ever interview by a member of the Helmand Taliban, the former insurgent told The Sunday Telegraph, how he survived daily battles with British troops and why he decided to join the peace process.

Abdul agreed to the interview only after lengthy negotiations between the district governor, an "intermediary" and The Sunday Telegraph.

Until 2008, Abdul and his family enjoyed a simple existence: growing crops, tending his small herd of goats and living in hope that his young son, Babrak, might one day go to school and become an engineer.

But those dreams were shattered when, he says, a violent warlord seized control of his district and began robbing and killing members of his family and friends. >>> Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent in Nad e'Ali | Saturday, March 27, 2010

Tehran Accused of Arming Taleban with Weapons and Explosives
TIMES ONLINE: The Iranian Government has been accused by Afghan and Western officials of delivering tonnes of weaponry to the Taleban, including plastic explosives, mortars, grenades and technical manuals.

Weapons and documents shown to Channel 4 News indicate that more than ten tonnes of weapons have been intercepted at Iran’s desert border with Afghanistan in the past year, with a tonne and a half recovered in the past week.

The reports come as General David Petraeus, the head of US Central Command, warned the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that Iran also provided a base for al-Qaeda operatives. Afghanistan’s intelligence agency estimates that about 60 per cent of the weaponry it has intercepted from Iran has been supplied by the Iranian Government rather than black market dealers.

In a report on Iran’s weapons smuggling to the Taleban — to be aired by Channel 4 News this evening — one Afghan Taleban commander claims that the Iranian border is assuming greater importance than that into Pakistan. >>> Tom Coghlan | Thursday, March 18, 2010

Taliban Network of 156 Caves Discovered in Pakistan Mountains
THE TELEGRAPH: A complex network of 156 caves used by the Taliban and al-Qaeda has been discovered by the Pakistan army dug into rocky mountains close to the Afghan border.

Photo: The Telegraph
The tunnels, which are thought to have been created over five to seven years, were carved into sheer rock within view of the snow-capped peaks of eastern Afghanistan.

The network was found during an offensive against Islamist militants in the country's semi-autonomous tribal areas in which 75 militants were killed. >>> | Wednesday, March 03, 2010

Pakistan Fashion Week Defies Taliban with Non-Islamic Dress
THE TELEGRAPH: Pakistan's fashion week began on Wednesday in defiance of the Taliban's preference for strict adherence to modest Islamic veils.

As Pakistan's army battled religious extremists in South Waziristan, Karachi's top designers sent models down catwalks with bare shoulders and exposed navels in an unusual display of skin in a country where most women cover up.

Sonya Battla, the first designer to show, presented a collection that she said celebrated strong women. She dismissed the fact that in more conservative parts of the country, her designs might get women driven out of town or stoned to death.

A model presents a creation by Pakistani designer Aiesha Varsey during the Pakistan Fashion Week in Karachi on November 4, 2009. Pakistan's fashion week began on November 4 with an opulent opening ceremony, against a backdrop of militant violence and secu[rity]. Photo: The Telegraph
"I'm a very brave woman," said the 38-year-old designer. "I'm not going to be scared and no one's going to judge me." >>> Chris Allbritton in Karachi | Thursday, November 05, 2009

Pakistan: Between Two Rocks
Watch Journeyman Pictures video here | Monday, November 02, 2009

Hakimullah Mehsud named as new Pakistan Taleban leader
THE SUNDAY TIMES: After weeks of speculation and reports of infighting the Pakistan Taleban have appointed a top militant commander as their new chief to replace Baitullah Mehsud who was killed in a US missile attack.

The appointment Hakimullah Mehsud, the 28-year-old commander known for his ferociousness and believed to have masterminded the bloody attack on Sri Lankan cricket team early this year raised fears of new wave of militant violence in Pakistani cities.

A spokesman for Tehrik-e-Taleban Pakistan, a loose alliance of disparate groups of tribal factions said a 42-member Shura (Council) had elected Mr Hakimullah to succeed Mr Mehsud.

However Taleban leaders refuse to admit that Mr Mehsud has been killed; the spokesman would say only that he was unable to carry out his responsibilities as leader because of failing health. >>> Zahid Hussein in Islamabad | Sunday, August 23, 2009

Clashes with Islamists Who Claim to Be Taleban Kill 150 in Nigeria
TIMES ONLINE: Radical Islamists, who claim to be linked to al-Qaeda, have killed more than 150 people in two days of violence in northern Nigeria, news agencies reported.

Residents in the state of Borno said that Islamic militants, loyal to an anti-Western preacher, burnt a police station, a church and a customs office early yesterday.

The attacks came after clashes in the neighbouring, mainly Muslim states of Bauchi and Yobe on Sunday.

The heavily armed sect, which calls itself Taleban, emerged in Nigeria in 2004. Although, it has never been clear if it has proper links to the Taleban in Afghanistan its leaders profess allegiance to and admiration of Osama bin Laden. >>> Jonathan Clayton | Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Massive US Assault to Seize Taleban Heartland
It is the biggest Marine operation since the storming of Fallujah in Iraq in 2004. Photo: TimesOnline
TIMES ONLINE: Thousands of US Marines stormed into an Afghan river valley by helicopter and land early today, launching the first major military offensive of Barack Obama's presidency with an assault deep into Taleban-held territory.

Operation Khanjar, which the Marines call simply "the decisive op", is intended to seize virtually the entire lower Helmand River valley, a heartland of the Taleban insurgency and the world's biggest heroin producing region.

It is the biggest operation launched by the US Marines Corps since the retaking of Fallujah in 2004 and seeks to break the grinding stalemate between Nato forces and the Taleban in the province.

US commanders stressed this morning their desire to move quickly and decisively with overwhelming force to seize the entire southern Helmand River valley from Taleban control ahead of the delayed Afghan Presidential elections on August 20.

"Where we go we will stay, and where we stay, we will hold, build and work toward transition of all security responsibilities to Afghan forces," Marine Corps Brigadier General Larry Nicholson, commander of the Marines in southern Afghanistan said in a statement.

He told his staff before the operation: "The intent is to go big, go strong and go fast, and by doing so we are going to save lives on both sides." >>> Tom Coghlan in Kabul | Thursday, July 02, 2009

The Taliban Will ‘Never Be Defeated’
THE SUNDAY TIMES: ‘Colonel Imam’, the Pakistani agent who trained Mullah Omar and the warlords to fight the Soviets, says the US must negotiate with its enemies

THE Pakistani intelligence agent who trained Mullah Omar, the Taliban leader, to fight has warned that Nato forces will never overpower their enemies in Afghanistan and should talk to them rather than sacrifice more lives.

“You can never win the war in Afghanistan,” said so-called “Colonel Imam”, who ran a training programme for the Afghan resistance to the Soviet Union’s occupation from 1979 to 1989, then helped to form the Taliban.

“I have worked with these people since the 1970s and I tell you they will never be defeated. Anyone who has come here has got stuck. The more you kill, the more they will expand.”

A tall, bearded figure, whose real name is Amir Sultan Tarar, he trained at Fort Bragg, the US army base where America’s special forces are stationed.

During the late 1970s and 1980s he controlled CIA-funded training camps for 95,000 Afghans and often accompanied his students on missions.

After the Soviet defeat and the collapse of communism, he was invited to the White House by the first President George Bush and was given a piece of the Berlin Wall with a brass plaque inscribed: “To the one who dealt the first blow.”

Today western intelligence agencies believe Imam is among a group of renegade officers from Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) who continued to help the Taliban after Pakistan turned against them following the attacks of September 11, 2001. >>> Christina Lamb in Rawalpindi | Sunday, June 07, 2009

Pakistan Taleban Take Over Towns as They Move Closer to Islamabad
The Swat Valley has been transformed into a Taleban stronghold from which the movement is extending its influence. Photo courtesy of TimesOnline
TIMESONLINE: The Taleban seized towns less than 65 miles from Pakistan’s capital yesterday, renewing fears that Islamabad’s recent peace deal with the radicals would only accelerate their advance across the country.

The peace accord had already drawn harsh criticism from Pakistan’s Western allies. “I think that the Pakistani Government is basically abdicating to the Taleban and to the extremists,” Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of States, said yesterday. She added that the situation in Pakistan “poses a mortal threat to the security of our country and the world”.

Mrs Clinton gave her gloomy assessment to the US Congress shortly after hundreds of Taleban fighters occupied government buildings in the district of Buner, ransacking the offices of international aid agencies and taking away vehicles, computers and other equipment. Some employees were also taken hostage briefly.

The militants, carrying rocket launchers and machineguns, also set up checkpoints to search vehicles as many residents fled the area. Local security forces remained confined to police stations and camps.

The fundamentalist movement struck a peace deal with Islamabad recently after a terror campaign in the neighbouring Swat Valley. Under the agreement the militants were allowed to establish an Islamist administration and Sharia courts. In return it was supposed to disarm but has failed to do so. >>> Zahid Hussain in Mingora | Thursday, April 23, 2009