The
must-read; the
BBC says that Pakistani militants are returning to their roots.
But those who escaped were now beyond the control of their former masters in the Pakistani intelligence services.
Their numbers rapidly gained strength after then-President Pervez Musharraf banned Sipah-e-Sahaba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, a Kashmir-based militant group, in 2002.
"That was a landmark moment in the jihadist movement," a security official told me recently.
It's worth a read.
Afghanistan:
Two more NATO soldiers
died in Afghanistan on Friday. The early suicide-commando assault on a USAID compound resulted in the deaths of an Afghan guard, an Afghan cop, a German, a Filipino, and a Briton. About 20 others received injuries in the assault, which the Taliban claimed credit for. Afghan President Hamid Karzai says six terrorists were involved, and despite the Taliban claim of credit, he blamed foreign militants for the assault.
NATO forces operating in the south accidentally killed two civilians, including a woman.
The Secretary-General of NATO wants to start handing over responsibility for some provinces to the Afghan government in November.
Pakistan:
Security forces claimed to have killed over a dozen Taliban fighters in the central-FATA agency of Khyber, namely in the Bara valley bordering the infamous Tirah valley. At least 3 members of Pakistan's Frontier Corps have also died during combat in Bara. Security forces operating in central-FATA also claimed to have killed10 Taliban in Orakzai agency.
Lahore is in mourning.
After the devestating suicide-commando assault on the most important Sufi shrine in Pakistan, the Interior Minister has laid the blame upon al Qaeda, Sipah-Sahaba("Punjab Taliban"), Lashkar-e-Jhangvi(sometimes Punjab, sometimes Pashtun), and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan("Pakistani Taliban"). Considering the techniques it is probably an accurate aim for the blame. Azam Tariq, spokesman of the TTP, denied their involvement, blamed foreign spy agencies, and incredibly claimed that "you know we do not attack public places". Because we all knew that the Pakistani Taliban never attacked public places in remote villages, towns, or heck, how about bomb-scarred Peshawar or Rawlapindi? Someone claiming to be a spokesman for Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed the same thing, and also playing the whole thing on spy agencies and Blackwater. You would think that Pakistanis would have learned to think twice about believing any spokeman of these terrorist groups that have a long documentation about being untrustworthy and downright evil.
Meanwhile, because of Pakistan's gullibility for wild conspiracy theories, some Pakistanis are blaming the U.S., India, Blackwater, and Israel for the suicide-commando assault on moderate Islam's most important shrine in all of Pakistan. Because ya know, COIN, Hinduism, mercenaries, and Jews are all about blowing themselves up to kill Pakistani worshippers in some distant city called "Lahore"- that totally serves their ends.
The National Security Committee of Pakistan's National Assembly urged the government to change political and military strategy so that Pakistan is not a "frontline state" in the war on terror. Because, you know, the terrorists that we now call "al Qaeda Central" that attacked us on 9/11 had no connections at all to Pakistan.(yes, the AfPak series can do snark)
3 custom officials and 6 others have been arrested in connection to an ongoing investigation into the theft of goods from NATO containers.
Maps:
When considering the situation in Pashtunistan, consider these maps of Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is in the Pashtun areas where the U.S. and NATO have the most problems.