Aisha's Surgery After Afghan Husband Mutilates Her

You will probably remember the startling magazine cover of the beautiful young Afghan woman, Aisha, looking into the camera with a large portion of her nose missing. Another tragic story of a woman's life as a Muslim wife in an Islamic country. See a video below.

Aisha

The TIME magazine cover was shocking but this lovely and courageous woman of only 19-years-old  wanted the world to know about her plight...to see what happened to her as she tried to escape from her marriage to a Taliban thug who sliced her nose and ears off.

"When they cut off my nose and ears, I passed out," she told CNN. "In the middle of the night it felt like there was cold water in my nose. I opened my eyes and I couldn't even see because of all the blood."

After being left for dead in the mountains, she crawled to her grandfather's house and was taken to an American medical facility.

Following time time at a shelter in Kabul, she was flown to the US by the Grossman Burn Foundation in August and stayed with an American family.

This month, she had a prosthetic nose fitted at the West Hills Hospital. Dr Peter H Grossman said they hoped to give Aisha a more "permanent solution".

This might involve rebuilding her nose and ears using bone, tissue and cartilage from other parts of her body.

What happens now to Aisha? Can she stay in the U.S.? Does she want to? How many Aisha's are out there? Aisha's TIME cover asks: What Happens If We Leave Afghanistan? A good follow-up statement to that question is, God Bless America as America continues to bless the World with courage and compassion.




Jodi Bieber - Portraits of the Women of Afghanistan (video)
Posted by Maggie@Maggie's Notebook

Friendly Fire Kills Linda Norgrove?

Here it comes. The Mail Online (U.K.) is saying that "friendly fire" from Navy SEALs killed a British woman, Linda Norgrove, as they tried to save her life and rescuse her from Muslim Taliban thugs. Nato and the U.S. are launching an investigation. Of course they are.

Linda Norgrove, 36, was snatched by the Taliban along with three Afghan colleagues on September 26, 2010. She was traveling in a two-vehicle convoy. She wore a burka. It didn't save her. She was moved from mud hut to mud hut - over and over.

A senior security source said: 'It was clear from very early on that the level of threat was very high that she would be moved from the very bad people who were holding her to even worse people across the border in Pakistan.

The last thing we wanted was for her to be passed into the hands of Al Qaeda.

One-hundred and fifty "heavily armed U.S. troops, supported by Afghan soldiers, launched the raid in the early morning hours of Saturday - before the dawn call to prayer. The troops wore-night vision goggles. Predator drones and Apache attack helicopters were standing by.

Americans fight the Taliban small arms fire for half an hour, and then make it through to where Linda Norgrove lay, guarded by about 8 Taliban. They find her alive but "fatally wounded." Urgent medical aid tried desperately to save her life.

If you read my blog with any regularity, you know that I am exasperated and saddened at the number of Westerners who travel to these dangerous areas to work in Islamic countries where they are hated. I understand that Afghanistan women, especially, need all the help they can get, but when a lovely young woman like Norgrove is in their midst, they are sure to have a target on their back the minute they step foot in the country. Every American is a target.

There must be a realization that if you get in trouble, you put the lives of others at risk, and in Afghanistan, it makes fighting a war so much worse. Linda Norgrove was working toward an MBA at the University of Warwick. She worked for the UN in Afghanistan from 2005 to 2008 and returned there in February of this year. The UN cannot protect anyone. The UN does not protect anyone. Please. Find other, safer places to spread charity, and to do doctoral work. Stay home where you will not need our Military.

General David Petraeus notified Prime Minister David Cameron today that Linda Norgrove may have died of a grenade thrown by the SEALs. This according to Cameron:

Miss Norgrove’s life was in 'grave danger' from the moment she was seized and there were fears that she might be passed up the terrorist chain to bases in Pakistan and put at greater peril if she was not rescued. 

'I am clear that the best chance of saving Linda’s life was to go ahead, recognising that any operation was fraught with risk for all those involved and success was by no means guaranteed,' Mr Cameron said.

Here is the story from the U.K.:

A British aid worker may have died when U.S. special forces lobbed a grenade in a frantic bid to save her from the Taliban.

Linda Norgrove, 36, was fatally wounded when  U.S. troops stormed the compound where she was being held hostage.

It was initially thought she died when her captors blew-up a suicide vest.

But today Prime Minister David Cameron said a review of the Navy SEALs' rescue operation had uncovered a new 'deeply distressing development' suggesting a grenade detonated by taskforce members may have been to blame.

If you must have an investigation, make it quick and let these heroes move on. God bless Linda Norgrove and God bless our Military.

Prime Minister David Cameron on Death of Linda Norgrove (video)

Posted by Maggie@Maggie's Notebook

Warlords, Iranian Spies Hired to Guard US Troops in Afghanistan

Barack Obama refused to send the Afghanistan command the full measure of troops asked for. Is this why "Iranian spies," "Warlords" "thugs," AND "TALIBAN COMMANDERS" are hired to protect our troops? Why can't our troops protect themselves?

U.S. Army Sgt. Sharanjit Dhaliwal helps one of his soldiers across a narrow path during a presence patrol in Zabul province, Afghanistan, Sept. 18, 2010. Dhaliwal is assigned to the 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Joshua Grenietalion, 4th Infantry Regiment. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Joshua Grenier

The report, published by the Senate Armed Services Committee, says lax oversight and "systemic failures" have led to "grave risks' to US forces, including instances where contractors have employed Afghan subcontractors who were "linked to murder, kidnapping and bribery, as well as Taliban and anti-coalition activities." The chairman of the committee, Sen. Carl Levin, D.-Michigan, said the report was evidence that the US needs to reduce its reliance on contractors. "We need to shut off the spigot of US dollars flowing into the pockets of warlords and power brokers who act contrary to our interests," said Sen. Levin.

The chaotic system left US facilities and personnel vulnerable to attack. The report found that some Afghan security guards simply walked off their posts at remote forward operating bases. 

Well, shout out to Senator Levin: do what the Generals have asked of you, and send them the troops needed to be safe in their own compounds.

Who can even conceive of Taliban commanders and Iranian spies standing guard over American military facilities?

Tom Little America Optometrist Killed in Afghanistan

An American optometrist is among the dead medical workers in Afghanistan. He has worked in Afghanistan for 30 years.

Dr. Tom Little and Libby Little 

BBC:

Team leader Tom Little spent more than three decades in the country, a leading member of the IAM team working with the Noor Eye Institute. One of his students was former Afghan foreign minister Dr Abdullah Abdullah who told us: "Dr Little travelled the length and breadth of Afghanistan, treating thousands and thousands of Afghans."

From the Bethlehem Times Union, Dr. Little lived in Delmar, Pennsylvania NewYork, but:

...has a Delmar home but, with his wife, Libby, has spent most of the past three decades in Afghanistan, is believed among the dead. One of the local churches that supports the Littles’ work, First Presbyterian in Schenectady, put out word to its congregation on Friday that Tom Little had been killed. 

In his 30 years in Afghanistan, Dr. Little cared for and operated on thousands of Afghan men, women and children. It’s quite possible he cured the eyesight of the Taliban man who shot him to death.

This report says the group was murdered by Taliban in the Badakhshan Province, although earlier reports have named the Nuristan Province. Information seems to be somewhat confusing on where the Americans were shot down. For now I'll leave this report and the three linked herein, and perhaps we'll know the truth before long.

Mullah Omar in Pakistan Custody?

Some Taliban believe the leader of their jihad, Mullah Mohammed Omar, may be in the custody of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). With more proof this week that Pakistan plays it both ways with the U.S. and Afghanistan, perhaps we should ask if Omar, known as the One-Eyed Sheikh, is being hosted by Pakistan. This Newsweek article takes a look at the dynamics depending on Pakistan to root out Taliban, while providing the U.S. questionable intelligence.

Omar infamously brought back the Pashtun tribal practices of unkempt beards for men, no education for women, no music, no photos or drawings...even no kite flying. This article is an interesting look at Mullah Omar, the illusive warlord.

Jarod Newlove 2nd Navy Sailor Found Dead in Afghanistan

If you've been following the story of the two Navy sailors missing in Afghanistan, sad news today that a second body has been found, that of Petty Officer 3rd Class Jarod Newlove.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Jarod Newlove

The two men are believed to have driven into a hostile area after visiting a local market in Logar. The Taliban said one man was dead, and Petty Officer 2nd Class Justin McNeley's body was found this week. McNeley was from Wheatridge, Colorado, 30-years-old and the father of two small children.

It was believed Newlove was captured and held by the terrorists for a prisoner exchange. More as details become available.

Missing US Navy: One Dead One Captured by Taliban

Sad news this morning. An Afghan official says one of the two missing US Navy members is dead and the other held captive by the Taliban. The terrorist organization is offering to exchange the body of the dead American and the captive for the release of imprisoned insurgents in US custody. Ongoing updates as available. See an important update below.

Missing U.S. Navy in Afghanistan

US Army ABC is reporting:

...the two men ignored warnings and set out on their own from the base into a known Taliban-held area, and after an exchange of gunfire the two were captured.

 The CSMonitor says the two men were seen in their armed Toyota Land Cruiser. There are reports that the local police tried to flag them down before they got to the insurgents area. Taliban saw the men in the market, watched them drive toward danger and "warned fellow militants down the road to prepare an ambush."

 The graphics above are the leaflets distributed by the U.S. Military to Afghan civilians as they searched for the missing US Navy men. More when available.

Update 7-27-10
The remains of one of the sailors has been found in Eastern Afghanistan. The search is still on for the second missing man.

US Pays Afghan Warlords Taliban for Protection: Troop Supplies Delivered by Warlords

In a U.S. House report titled Extortion and Corruption Along the U.S. Supply Chain in Afghanistan, we learn the U.S. pays warlords for "protection. Worse, they have complete access to the supplies delivered to our troops in battle. It is another story of unintended consequences. See a video below.

U.S. House of Representatives 

The report makes clear that millions and millions of taxpayer monies are going to the wrong side of the war in Afghanistan.  Also clear is that Congress requires the DOD to provide oversight of the Host Nation Trucking contract, and they have not done so. Not only can Congress not control their own spending, they can't control the DOD either.

From Eyeblast: The DOD signed a $2.1 billion Host Nation Trucking (HNT) contract. These trucks get the food and supplies to our troops - 200 bases in Afghanistan. The report shows 7 areas of corruption. Here are snippets:

1) Security for the U.S. Supply Chain is Principally Provided by Warlords.
The principal private security subcontractors on the HNT contract are warlords, strongmen, commanders, and militia leaders who compete with the Afghan central government for power and authority. Providing “protection” services for the U.S. supply chain empowers these warlords with money, legitimacy, and a raison d’etre for their private armies.


2) The Highway Warlords Run a Protection Racket
The HNT contractors and their trucking subcontractors in Afghanistan pay tens of millions of dollars annually to local warlords across Afghanistan in exchange for “protection” for HNT supply convoys to support U.S. troops. Although the warlords do provide guards and coordinate security, the contractors have little choice but to use them in what amounts to a vast protection racket. [If you don't pay, your convoys are under attack]


3) Protection Payments for Safe Passage Are a Significant Potential Source of Funding for the Taliban
Within the HNT contractor community, many believe that the highway warlords who provide security in turn make protection payments to insurgents to coordinate safe passage. This belief is evidenced in numerous documents, incident reports, and e-mails that refer to attempts at Taliban extortion along the road.


4) Unaccountable Supply Chain Security Contractors Fuel CorruptionHNT contractors and their private security providers report widespread corruption by Afghan officials and frequent government extortion along the road. The largest private security provider for HNT trucks complained that it had to pay $1,000 to $10,000 in monthly bribes to nearly every Afghan governor, police chief, and local military unit whose territory the company passed.


5) Unaccountable Supply Chain Security Contractors Undermine U.S. Counterinsurgency Strategy
[Outsourcing provides the DOD opportunities for focusing on the mission at hand, but has unintended consequences]


6) The Department of Defense Lacks Effective Oversight of Its Supply Chain and Private Security Contractors in Afghanistan
The Department of Defense has little to no visibility into what happens to the trucks carrying U.S. supplies between the time they leave the gate to the time they arrive at their destination. Despite serious concerns regarding operations, no military managers have ever observed truck operations on the road or met with key security providers.


[Congress requires oversight] The Department of Defense is grossly out of compliance with applicable regulations and has no visibility into the operations of the private security companies that are subcontractors on the HNT contract.


7) HNT Contractors Warned the Department of Defense About Protection Payments for Safe Passage to No Avail
DOD knows some of their contractors are being forced to pay protection] While military officials acknowledged receiving the warnings, these concerns were never appropriately addressed.

See a link to the actual report (pdf) from the Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Rep. John F. Tierney is chair of the committee, at Eyeblast Blog.


US Pays Protection Money to Warlords and Taliban (video)

Afghan Taliban Hang 7 Year Old for Spying: The Truth too Terrible to Confront

From the religion of peace, we learn the Taliban, professing "the word" for Muhammad, have hanged a seven-year-old boy for being a spy. The boy was working for Afghanistan's President, Hamid Karzai, according to some of the most evil people on the face of the earth - the boy's murderers, the Taliban.

Taliban Killers

Karzai said the act was a "crime against humanity." Indeed, it is. Now, Mr. Karzai, what will you do about it? Show us how you separate the word of Allah from these acts. Show us how those peaceful Koranic verses negate the violent and inhumane Koranic verses.

Just last week, we watched the Ground Zero mosque protest in New York City. Thousands of people showed up to try to stop a mosque leering over a sacred burial site. One of the protest leaders, Pamela Geller, was interviewed on CNN about her objections to the mosque. After Pam's interview was over, an attorney spoke. He read verse after verse from the Koran about the beauty and peaceful nature of Islam's holy book. The interviewer didn't have a clue how to question him.

I want to know how those coy peaceful verses abide side-by-side with those calling for violent death to infidels? The Taliban is, indeed, doing their god's work, according to their god's word. In the meantime, our soldiers die for the average Islamic Muslim who lies about their god. The truth is too terrible to confront.

Related:
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Taliban HIV Bombs: HIV Needles Hidden in Bombs in Afghanistan

That deep religious nature of Islam is showing itself once again. Afghanistan Taliban are planting HIV infected needles with their IED's. Think about it, where are they getting the HIV virus to dirty-up the needles? You can't place an order for a quantity of HIV virus. There are also warnings about hepatitis, and infected razor blades. See a video below.

Brit Captain Wayne Owers Dismantles Bomb in Helmand Province

This report is coming from The Sun UK and speaks of British soldiers finding these bombs, but it surely also affects U.S. soldiers. God bless these men and women doing this terrifying work:

Hypodermic syringes are hidden below the surface pointing upwards to prick bomb squad experts as they hunt for devices.

The heroin needles are feared to be contaminated with hepatitis and HIV. And if the bomb goes off, the needles become deadly flying shrapnel.

Apparently we have a cadre of sick and HIV infected Taliban, or are towns people showing up to donate their dirty heroin needles?

There is this report also coming via the UK's Independent, dateline May 25th, 2010, saying Taliban bombs are now being detonated, rather than dismantled.

The move represents a shift in policy to try to alleviate the pressure on operatives...four of whom have been Killed in just over a year in Helmand. 

Infected needles are not mentioned in the Independent report.




Real Life Hurt Locker (video)

Pakistan Taliban Claims Credit for Times Square Car Bomb

I just heard a live report from Fox News that a Taliban website in Pakistan is claiming credit for the failed Times Square car bomb found yesterday. More when available.

James Jones Joke: Taliban Duped by Jews

National Security Advisor, General James Jones, has apologized for a joke he told before delivering the keynote speech at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. The joke depicts a Taliban member (a Muslim) being duped by Jews (hated infidel Jews). See the video below.

General James James

We could equate this to many world events - the Palestinian claim that everything in the Nation of Israel belongs to them, but the greedy Jews won't give an inch, comes to mind first.

I find my Jewish friends to be the first to laugh at jokes like this, but a Muslim laughs at nothing unless it is the collapse of the World Trade Towers, the deaths of infidels anywhere in the world, and especially Jewish children. In these turbulent, race-and-religion-inflamed times, there is no excuse for a joke that makes a victim of Muslims at the hands of a Jew, or any infidel. And note that you will find Muslims doing business on Israeli soil, but you won't see an Israeli allowed to do business on Islamic soil. See the video below.

The message of the General's speech was America's strong commitment to Israel. Now that should have been the joke.





General James Jones - Taliban-Jew Joke (video)

Transcript:

“A member of the Taliban was separated from his fighting party and wandered around for a few days in the desert, lost, out of food, no water. He looked on the horizon and he saw what looked like a little shack, and he walked toward that shack and as he got to it, turned out that it was a shack, a store, a little store owned by a Jewish merchant. And the Taliban warrior went up to him and said, 'I need water, get me some water.' And the merchant said, 'I'm sorry, I don't have any water, but would you like to buy a tie? We have a nice sale of ties today.'

“Whereupon the Taliban erupted into a stream of language that I can't repeat about Israel, about Jewish people, about the man himself, about his family -- and just saying 'I need water, you try to sell me ties, you people don't get it.'

"And passively, the merchant stood there until this Taliban was through with his diatribe and said, 'Well, I'm sorry but I don't have water for you and I forgive you for all of the insults you've levied against me, my family, my country, but I will help you out. If you go over that hill and walk about two miles there's a restaurant there, and they have all the water you'll need.'

"And the Taliban, instead of saying thanks, still muttering under his breath, disappears over the hill -- only to come back about an hour later and walking up to the merchant and says, 'Your brother tells m e I need a tie in order to get into the restaurant.'"  End transcript.

Bowe Bergdahl New Video and Photo: Soldier - Taliban Prisoner Pleads to Come Home

U.S. Army Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl, from Hailey, Idaho,  is speaking in a new video released by the Taliban in Afghanistan, identified as the "Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirat of Afghanistan." Bergdahl was captured by the Taliban in June 2009. See video below.

 Bowe Bergdahl

In the video, Bergdahl seems to be trying to validate his identity. He mentions his duty station in Alaska at Ft. Richardson, Barracks 623. Says his father is Bob, Robert Bergdahl; his mother Jannie Marie Bergdahl; his sister Sky Julia Bergdahl. He lists friends: James Cameron, Kim Harrison, Kayla Harrison, Shane Harrison. Bergdahl says he loves motorcycles and sailing. See original reporting here.

I love my family. I haven't shown it very well. You have been lost in my life. I haven't given my family the love you have given me. 

The video ends with a Taliban spokesman demanding the release of a number of Taliban in exchange for Bergdahl, just after Pfc. Bergdahl says: "Get me to be released. This war is not worth the human life that it costs both Afghanistand and the U.S...Please, I begging you, bring me home." Read more at My Way.



Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl (video)

Taliban Siraj Haqqani Rape Tape Videos

I recently posted information via the The JAWA Report and author Brad Thor about serial rapes and murders by the Taliban's Siraj Haqqani, his physician and his uncle. At the time, I linked to a video of one of these men, presumably Siraj Haqqani raping a woman who was later murdered. See video link below.

Today, Brad Thor, writing at Big Journalism reports that the Haqqani terror network, considered "the backbone of the Taliban and al-Qaeda in the Afghanistan/Pakistan theater, is effectively under attack by conservative mullahs and mid-level Taliban inside the network.

Recently, this mid-level Taliban commander shared a chilling story with me.  He told me it was a scandal that would rock the Muslim world like nothing before and that it would “devastate” the Haqqani network.  “What Abu Ghraib was for you Americans,” he said, “this will be for the Haqqanis; only worse.”

According to Vahid Brown, a counter-terrorism instructor at West Point, the Haqqaini's were responsible for the attempted assassination of Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, the bombing of Serena Hotel in Kabul and a wave of suicide attacks at Camp Salerno, a U.S. military base.

The rapes and murders by the Haqqani's brought the outspoken wrath of at least one imam. Thor distributed the tape showing despicable acts on a young woman, with the voice of the iman calling for Islam to reject this evil (transcript).

As Siraj Haqqani moved from village to village, rounding up the sons of poor Muslim families to fight for the Taliban and Al Qaeda, he offered the villagers free medical care.  He even sent his physician, Dr. Hassan Duraz to conduct the clinics.  There was a horrific catch, though.  Duraz was a monster.

He arrived in each village with Siraj Haqqani’s uncle, Ibrahim, and Siraj’s cousin, Ishak, in tow.  With them, the Haqqanis brought along their own very special tools of terror – a video camera and an eye for human flesh.  You see, with Haqqani healthcare, you not only received a medical exam, if you were an attractive young girl, you also got a screen test.  And heaven forbid you passed.

For those women and girls unfortunate enough to catch the good doctor’s fancy, it was show time.  The Haqqani uncle and cousin would be brought into the exam room, they would set up their video equipment, and Duraz would drop his trousers and go to work.

The Haqqanis and Duraz sexually assaulted poor women throughout the tribal regions and captured every moment of their degradation and humiliation on video to enjoy over and over again.

When the rape videos, taken throughtout the region leaked, as you know they would, Siraq Haqqani murdered everyone involved - the women and even the doctor. His uncle and cousin were spared.

So now, things have changed for Siraq Haqqani and he is a monster in the midst of Islam. According to Thor, no one will chance an association with him or anyone in his family, including his father, Jalaluddin Haqqani.

Obviously, there are many Muslims, and many imams who would never condone these barbaric acts, but from my jaded viewpoint, I don't see those people being found among the Taliban. Think of the terrible assaults on women by Saddam Hussein and his loathsome son. Think of the young girls called out of classrooms to entertain them.

Children are raped all over the world by Muslim men espousing Allah. Rape is used as punishment for Muslim women in the name of honor. Once raped, they are unclean and even the women in the family foresake them. Muslim women are sold as slaves. Muslim women are beheaded. Muslim women are stoned. They are lashed and imprisoned. I doubt the Haqqaini's are much worse than the average Muslim head-of-family.

View the video here, but a warning, it is not for the faint-of-heart - and as Thorn said, it is certainly not safe to show in your workplace.

Related and Background:
Taliban Siraj Haqqani Rape Murder Tape Secreted to Brad Thor

The Jawa Report - original reporting

Obama Repeats Mistakes in Afghanistan: Purposeless Engagement

An article today by Michael Rubin in Commentary Magazine lays out the history of our State Department's many years of purposeless "engagement" with the Taliban; "engagement" meaning diplomacy and endless, endless meetings over the years, costing certainly billions in the quest for what our Government had to, at some point between then and now, realize  was folly...but apparently not.

Today, the Obama administration continues the awkward dance of engagement that began in 1995:

The story the documents tell is one of engagement for its own sake—without any consideration given to the behavior or sincerity of an unambiguously hostile interlocutor.

...another U.S. diplomat met a Taliban “insider” who told the official what he wanted to hear: the Taliban liked the United States, had no objection to elections in Afghanistan, and were suspicious of both Saudi and Pakistani intentions. This was nonsense, but it was manna for American diplomats who wanted to believe that engagement was possible.

In 1997, Madeleine Albright followed in Warren Christopher's engagement policy:

Simply sitting down for tea with a diplomat fulfilled the Taliban’s major needs before bargaining ever began. Engagement ironically removed any incentive the Taliban had to cease sponsoring terror or mitigate human-rights abuses.

Albright had tea with the thugs, as had all those before her. Afghan women and girls lived the most brutal lives, under the harshest circumstances of any women, anywhere - while she took tea with the Taliban.

Diplomats met Taliban representatives every few weeks....What resulted was theater: the Taliban would stonewall on terrorism but would also dangle just enough hope to keep diplomats calling and forestall punitive strategies. It was not hard for the Taliban to string diplomats along.

On January 16, 1997, Holzman suggested that the Taliban allow a U.S. team to visit the sites of terrorist camps to confirm the alleged cessation of activity therein. Wakil Ahmed, a political adviser to Taliban leader Mullah Omar, agreed at first; but over subsequent weeks, he offered a litany of excuses to delay the visit—the Ramadan fast, winter snows, and scheduling difficulties. Eventually the offer was rescinded altogether.

Once again, the State Department walked away empty-handed, while the Taliban had secured for themselves a four-month reprieve from pressure at the very moment that al-Qaeda was using its Afghanistan base to plot attacks on the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania....

Rubin walks the reader through ABC's interview with bin Lade in May 1998. Then the embassy August bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, and points out:

Any notion that engagement had convinced the Taliban to cease support for terrorism should have evaporated. It didn’t....

Wakil Ahmed [Taliban foreign minister] repeated the canard that popular sentiment in his country would not allow the Taliban to expel Bin Laden, despite the carnage in Kenya and Tanzania.

Nonetheless, the State Department found promise in the discussion, even though a face-to-face meeting with Americans served only to reinforce the Taliban gang’s pretensions as a government rather than as an umbrella group for terrorists.

“Now is the time to notch up the diplomatic—-repeat—diplomatic pressure,” Milam [Ambassador to Pakistan] wrote. “A political / diplomatic solution to Bin Laden’s expulsion from Afghanistan may be a mite more possible now.”

 By November, "a Taliban court found bin Laden not guilty" of bombing our embassies. The dance continued.

Before long, the Taliban were again giving Bin Laden unfettered access to the media.

We continued plying funds into our agricultural adventures with the Taliban, hoping to convert them from drugs to vegetables - as Rubin put it: "the Taliban garden refused to yield even a hint of a green shoot."

Now today, the Karzai government plans to bribe the Taliban with money and jobs - hoping to lure them into communities where "the people" try to live out the day without dying. President Karzai has told the BBC "the US will fund the scheme."

Obama’s willingness to accept the conventional history—we lost Afghanistan because we ignored Afghanistan—is reason for grave concern. The story of Afghanistan in the 1990s is a story of the limits of diplomacy for its own sake. And diplomacy for its own sake is a cornerstone, perhaps the cornerstone, of Obama’s foreign policy.

And specifically in Afghanistan, he is already signaling a readiness to repeat the mistakes of engagement with the very extremists whose behavior made possible the attacks of 9/11 and who have returned to torment Afghanistan.

 I hope you will read this excellent and insightful piece, Taking Tea with the Taliban by Michael Rubin at Commentary Magazine. We who cannot learn from history, even the most powerful in the world, are likely doomed to repeat it.

Read more about the failures of diplomacy:
Missiles and Warships to Persian Gulf: Patriot Missiles to Qatar, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait

Hakimullah Mehsud Dead...Finally? Wali-Ur-Rehman Now Taliban Commander?

In August 2009 Hakimullah Mehsud shared a second-in-command position under Taliban commander, Baitullah Mehsud. Both were reported dead. Turns out, Hakimullah Mehsud was very much alive, but Baitullah was not. After a power struggle with Wali-ur-Rehman, who was also reported dead, but wasn't...Hakimullah became the new Taliban leader in South Waziristan. Today Pakistan television reports that Hakimullah Mehsud was killed in a CIA-directed drone attack, perhaps on January 17th.

 

Hakimullah Mehsud and Wali-ur-Rehman

 Pakistan military is trying to confirm the report.

An elder in the Mamuzai area of Orakzai tribal agency said he attended Mehsud's funeral on Thursday, the Associated Press reported. Speaking anonymously for fear of retaliation, the elder said Mehsud died at his in-laws' home.

A Reuters report, quoting a Pakistani intelligence official, said the Taliban leader may have been fatally wounded following a 17 January drone attack on two vehicles in North Waziristan.

He was also speculated to be dead in a January 13th drone attack. That report was incorrect. Hakimullah Mehsud's territory has been targeted in retaliation of the suicide bomber attack in Afghanistan that killed seven CIA agents. The bomber, a Pakistani doctor, was recruited as a double agent, or so the CIA thought. After the attack, a video showed him sitting beside Hakimullah, issuing a statement of his coming death.

At this moment, 9:35 a.m. Sunday morning, FOXNews' Eric Shawn has announced that top "intel sources" confirm that he is dead. Assuming this is true, that leaves Wali-ur-Rehman  commander. These two men previously, "physically" fought for the commander position after Baitullah Mehsud's death.

Hakimullah Mehsud man has a history of having more than one life, and after reports of his demise, he has a habit of phoning a Western journalist for a few laughs. We'll see if that phone call comes.

Related and Background:
Baitullah Meshud Successor is Alive

Hakimullah Mehsud Dead: Wali-ur-Rehman Dead - Successors Kill Each Other?

Baitullah Mehsud is Alive: Baitullah Mehsud is Dead

Taliban Siraj Haqqani Rape Murder Tape Secreted to Brad Thor

Best-selling author Brad Thor has had some heavy-duty film come his way, secreted to him by an Afghan imam who speaks in the video. The short story is that Siraj Haqqani, his physician and his uncle are involved in the smut and murder of his own people - all in the name of providing medical care to villagers. Here's a pullout quote from Brad: (see update 2-12-10 below)

Here’s how the Haqqani’s horror films “art” movies are put together. Siraj extorts encourages poor Muslim families to do the “right” thing according to Islam and push their sons into jihad. As their magnanimous benefactor, he then sends Ron Jeremy, Dr. Hassan Duraz into their villages to provide medical care. Duraz sets up clinics and the villagers pour in, often in desperate need of medical attention. As the “good” doctor treats them, he keeps his eyes peeled for the cute ones; the ones with that "something special" that the camera will absolutely love

You must read this story at The Jawa Report. You'll read Thor's details of what is going on and see the video, but steel yourself, of the abduction, rape, filming and murder of local women.

An imam calls them out it. How long will he live? This  is breaking news and I suspect Thor went out on a tenuous limb for this story. It should shake things up in the Muslim world. Then pass the link on to your liberal friends. They need to know - especially feminists. Ladies, start speaking out about the deadly plight of Muslim women and children. If you have an ounce of decency, you will start talking now.

Update 2-12-10:
See the latest update on the videos and the fate of Siraj Haqqani

Obama Hands Afghanistan to Taliban

A Wall Street Journal report says President Obama is against building the ranks of the Afghan police to the levels suggested by General McChrystal.

The president has a realistic view of how successful the training regimen can be, and that has helped inform his decision," a senior administration official said Sunday.

U.S. Troops and Afghan Police

If this report is true, we can see this as nothing other than handing the country to the Taliban. If we doubt that Afghanistan can have a "successful training regimen" to protect their own country, why are we there?

Mr. Obama is expected to outline broad performance goals for the Afghan government, including improvements in tackling corruption and taking control of security.

The U.S. military police in Kandahar say progress takes time and can be hard to measure. U.S. troops say some Afghan patrolmen seem honest and competent; others fear Taliban assassination and rarely venture out of their stations at night without a coalition escort.

"They have their good days and they have their bad days, said 2nd Lt. Danielle Champagne, a 24-year-old from Houma, La., and leader of Black Sheep -- 1st Platoon of the 293rd Military Police Co., the only regular U.S. force based inside Kandahar.

Inside one police outpost, Lt. Col. Abdul Qader, the Afghan station commander, said he hopes Mr. Obama uses the moment to force a crackdown on Afghan public corruption. "The police always arrest the Taliban, but when they go to court, they pay a bribe and get released," Col. Qader said.

In the bleak war assessment that he delivered to Mr. Obama earlier this year, Gen. McChrystal called for expanding the Afghan army to 240,000 and the Afghan police to 160,000, roughly twice the size of their current growth plans. The proposal initially found support within the administration, where senior officials have talked openly about wanting to quickly transfer security responsibility to Afghan forces.

But as the months-long administration strategy review has worn on, Vice President Joe Biden and other senior administration officials have become skeptical that the Afghan central government could retain, train and support so large a force, even with considerable Western support.

For U.S. forces in Afghanistan, meanwhile, the expected troop surge can't come fast enough. "We could use as many troops as possible," said Staff Sgt. Jeff Schaffer, a 25-year-old Black Sheep squad leader. "It's ridiculous to think you can tame a city like this with as few people as we have."

This is the opposite strategy of the very successful Iraq surge, which cleared and held, and trained.

Photo credit: USAF Tech. Sgt. Rebecca F. Corey

Hakimullah Mehsud Alive: Baitullah Meshud Successor is Alive

Hakimullah Mesud is alive. The successor to Baitullah Mehsud, who was killed in a U.S. drone attack in August 2009, apparently survived a tribal power struggle to succeed Baitullah.Wali-ur-Rehman also wanted Baitullah Mehsud's position, and he was also reported dead as the two feuded over the bosses' job. The bottom-line was, they were either dead or they were alive. Today, it appears we know that both men are alive.

 Hakimullah Mehsud

This report out of Pakistan says the author and other reporters were granted a press conference with Hakimullah Mehsud and Wali-ur-Rehman yesterday.

Pakistan officials have stated several times that they thought Mehsud and Rehman were dead. "Western diplomats" echoed the opinion, including American officials.

Hakimullah was very much alive, speaking calmly as he sat under a tree on a blanket surrounded by top Taliban commanders, including Waliur Rehman, in a show of unity in South Waziristan, where the Pakistani state and security forces have little or no presence. Also present were Qari Hussain, the head of the Taliban's suicide bomb faction, and Azam Tariq, a Taliban spokesman.

Here's a little insight into the life of a Taliban tribal leader:

He did not appear to be a nervous fugitive in hiding from Pakistan soldiers and U.S. drones.

His tunic was clean, white and freshly pressed, and his manner at ease as he spent more than seven hours chatting and eating with the reporters. Two goats were brought out for slaughter for lunch.

At one point, he pulled out a laptop to show his guests an Afghan comedian's standup routine about jihadi - or holy war - groups. On the serious side, he also showed pre-attack video testimony made by a suicide bomber.

The article intimates that Hakimullah Mehsud may have been involved in the bombing of the U.S. office in Islamabad.

Funny thing. These two disappeared after a tribal meeting to pick a new leader to replace Baitullah Mehsud. Rumors were that they killed each other. So, that is not true. Maybe both have been out-of-sight, recovering from the wounds of their battle for power. Something isn't right here - but then, we know intelligence sucks.

Related and Background:

Hakimullah Mehsud Dead: Wali-ur-Rehman Dead - Successors Kill Each Other?


Baitullah Mehsud is Alive: Baitullah Mehsud is Dead

Bowe R. Bergdahl is Kidnapped Soldier in Afghanistan Updated

Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl has been named by the Department of Defense as the kidnapped U.S. soldier in Afghanistan. A video released by the Taliban showed the 23-year-old soldier's i.d. tags. See updates below. Newest update 8-9-09:
 

Bowe R. Bergdahl

Pfc Bergdahl was found missing with unknown whereabouts on July 1st. On July 3rd, his status was changed to "missing-captured." Bob Bergdahl, Bowe's father made this statement:

We hope and pray for our son's safe return to his comrades and then to our family, and we appreciate all the support and expressions of sympathy shown to us by our family members, our friends and others across the nation," Bob Bergdahl said in a statement issued through the Department of Defense. "Thank you, and please continue to keep Bowe in your thoughts and prayers.

On the video, Bowe Bergdahl says that he is from Hailey, Idaho, 160 miles east of Boise, ID. Pentagon reports say that his hometown is Ketchum, ID, about 12 miles north of Hailey.

The Facebook page for a coffee shop in Hailey, Zaney's River Street Coffee House, suggests many in the small town have known for some time that Bergdahl was in danger.
Join all of us at Zaney's holding light for Bowe Bergdahl," says a post dated July 8.

Bergdahl spoke of his girlfriend, his grandparents and a "very, very good family that I love back home." He said he is "scared," it is unnerving to be a prisoner." He also says he is afraid "I will not be able to go home."

You can read a Reuters transcript of the video here with the "off camera" prompts from his captors. Lt. Cmdr. Christine Sidenstricker, a U.S. military spokeswoman in Afghanistan points out that the Taliban is exploiting Bergdahl, in violation of international law. Of course, the Taliban is not bound by any law, and least of all international law.

Back here in America, Democrats seem to be in a hissy fit that an unimplemented Pentagon program planned to kill al-Qaeda leaders in Iraq, who also are certainly not subject to international law. Al-Qaeda and the Taliban are terrorist organizations and not Nations. It begs the question: Are we trying to kill Taliban leaders in Afghanistan? Or are we not?

For the story of how the U.S. Military is attempting to find Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl, read Afghan Villagers Warned: Return Missing U.S. Soldier.  

Update 7-20-09:
Michelle Malkin is asking all the questions most of us have been mulling around in our heads. She also has the video of Lt. Col. Ralph Peters interviewed by Julie Banderas this weekend. Peters doesn't avoid discussing the "desertion" issue swirling around Pfc. Bergdahl. Also interesting are comments in Idaho from Bergdahl's friends who say he really does not have a serious girlfriend back home.

Update 8-9-09: A Taliban commander said today that Mullah Omar's "council" is awaiting a response from the U.S. Military before "deciding" Pfc. Bowe R. Berghdahl's "fate." This is the first news of Bergdahl since a July 18 video surfaced with Bergdahl speaking. The Taliban indicates they have made their "demands" to the U.S., which appears to be stopping airstrikes in two areas of eastern Afghanistan.