The good news is Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik seems to have dropped the charade that newly appointed Taliban chief Hakeemullah Mehsud is dead. The bad news is we’re going to be bombarded with more of the “Taliban is collapsing” rhetoric.
All posts in Intelligence
Iran Continues to Arm the Taliban
FOX News reports that another shipment of Iranian weapons has been confiscated in western Afghanistan:
Afghan and NATO forces uncovered the weapons cache on Aug. 29 in Herat. It included a small number of Iranian-made “explosively formed penetrators,” hyper-powerful roadside bombs similar to the weapons used to kill U.S. forces in Iraq, a senior U.S. Defense Official told FOX News.Also seized during the raid were 107 Iranian-made BM-1 rockets and dozens of blocks of Iranian C4 plastic explosives.
Iran has been using the same playbook it used in Iraq, but is a little bit more low-key in Afghanistan.
Iraq-Syria Row Intensifies
The Iraq-Syria row over Syria’s sponsorship of insurgent groups and al Qaeda operating in Iraq has gotten interesting over the past few days. Omar over at Iraq The Model has been closely following the story and has some interesting updates. First, a small group of Iraqis held a protest in Hillah and cleverly used Syrian President Bashir al Assad’s own words as part of their protest:
Afghanistan’s Wild-Wild North
As policymakers and analysts continue to examine the ever-evolving insurgency in Afghanistan, the Taliban infiltration into northern Afghanistan is finally receiving some much needed attention. Often billed as “the stable and secure” northern areas, Afghanistan’s northern provinces have been the target of a burgeoning Taliban insurgency since 2004. When analyzing the northern conundrum it is imperative to view the situation as the Taliban do: a two-pronged approach that includes establishing a stronghold in the northwest province of Badghis and severing the resupply routes available through the Herat-Badghis Sabzak Pass, the sole entry into northwestern Afghanistan, while establishing a northeastern jump-off point in northern Baghlan and Kunduz Provinces.
Taliban Strong in Remote Afghan Regions
DVIDS just posted an interesting story on a complex Taliban ambush against a US Army fuel convoy moving through the mountains at the border of Kandahar and Uruzgan provinces. A battalion of Taliban fighters established a “two-mile kill zone” in the mountains and attacked a 22-truck convoy from the 286th Combat Support Sustainment Battalion.
The Taliban used IEDs, mortars, RPGs, heavy machine guns, and other weapons during the ambush. The Taliban didn’t break contact with the convoy despite being on the receiving end of US air support from helicopter gunships and attack aircraft. The Taliban even attempted to flank the convoy as it regrouped outside of the kill zone, and they inflicted heavy damage on the vehicles in the convoy during the battle.
Pakistan’s Most-Wanted: Look at Who Isn’t Listed
Pakistan’s interior ministry has a top ten most-wanted list, according to Amir Mir, the journalist for The News. According to Mir, the top ten list is as follows:
1. Mullah Fazlullah – the chief of the Taliban in Swat.
2. Hakeemullah Mehsud – the new leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan and the successor to Baitullah Mehsud.
3. Qari Hussain Mehsud – the Taliban’s suicide bombing mastermind who runs camps in South Waziristan.
4. Ilyas Kashmiri – the operational commander of the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI), an al Qaeda-linked terror group.
5. Rashid Rauf – A senior al Qaeda operative and a member of Jaish-e-Mohammed; he was behind the planning to conduct attacks in London.
6. Mangal Bagh Afridi – the leader of the Lashkar-e-Islam in the Khyber tribal agency.
7. Matiur Rehman – the chief operational commander of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi who also manages al Qaeda’s “rolodex” of jihadis who have passed through terror training camps.
8. Mullah Faqir Mohammed – the deputy leader of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan and the commander of the Taliban forces in Bajaur.
9. Waliur Rehman Mehsud – the new leader of the Taliban in South Waziristan.
10. Qari Mohammad Zafar – the leader of the al Qaeda-linked Lashkar-e-Jhangvi who operates from South Waziristan.
Iraq Attacks and the Syrian Connection
As Iraq takes greater responsibility for its security, the government has begun to lash out at Syria for serving as a sanctuary and training ground for al Qaeda in Iraq and other Sunni and Ba’athist insurgent groups. Today the Iraqi government aired the confession of Mohammed Hassan al Shemari, a Saudi al Qaeda member who claims to be the leader of the terror group’s forces in Diyala province. Sherari said Syrian intelligence, or the Mukhabarat, actively supports al Qaeda in Iraq.
Saga of the Sons of Sufi
Yesterday the Peshawar High Court released on bail the three sons of Sufi Mohammed, the leader of the pro-Taliban Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammed (TNSM), or the Movement for the Enforcement of Mohammed’s Law in Swat and Dir. Sufi engineered the Malakand Accord, which turned large tracts of Pakistan’s northwest over the the Taliban. The release of Sufi’s sons highlights a major problem with Pakistan’s police and the courts.
Siraj Haqqani Target of Yesterday’s Predator Strike
Siraj Haqqani, the military commander of the Haqqani Network and a close ally of al Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban, was the target of the Thursday night Predator strike outside of Miramshah in North Waziristan. On Thursday night I heard that a senior Haqqani Network commander and an al Qaeda operative were the main targets, but no names were disclosed. With all of the controversy over the strike that may or may not have killed Baitullah Mehsud, I’m surprised Siraj’s name was even thrown out there.