Why nation-building in Afghanistan only wound up failing

Here's an excerpt from Jesse Petrilla's recent book, "If It Takes a Thousand Years: From Al-Qaeda to Hamas, How the Jihadists Think & How to Defeat Them", which explains why, so long as Islam rules countries like Afghanistan, nation-building there won't be possible:

I was serving in the U.S. Army as a Liaison Officer to the Afghan secret police, and facilitated the interrogations of over 400 captured Taliban and Al-Qa’eda members while there. A Taliban leader once told me “You have me in a cage, my fight is over for now, but my children will fight you, and if they don’t win, their children will fight you. If It Takes a Thousand Years, we will win.” Although it didn’t take the Taliban a thousand years to win the battle of Afghanistan, it demonstrates the drive that our jihadist enemies have. They fight generational wars against the West as a whole.

When analyzing our Islamic extremist enemies, it is important for the American people to understand the tribal mindset that so many of our enemies come from. Islam developed from tribal cultures, and many tribal cultures over the past 1,400 years developed under Islam. The Islamic world itself is divided into what I would describe as tribes; you have the Sunni tribe, the Shia tribe, and within that are thousands of other tribes, one of the most recent being the “Palestinian” tribe which has become somewhat of a self-appointed identity by various lost members of other tribes. But in Afghanistan, tribalism is at a level that is virtually unparalleled in the world.

It is human nature to coalesce together into groups, but when you add Islam to the mix, it fuels different dynamics that are completely alien to Westerners. The tribal mindset is so vastly different than our own that it often makes it impossible to reason with them, and they will not respond logically or rationally as you might assume an American or other Westerner would. To Westerners, the tribal mindset may contain many elements that are quite shocking and deeply disturbing.

Part of our training upon arrival in Afghanistan included multiple briefings on Islamic and Afghan culture, since we would be working with locals on a daily basis. In one such briefing, the Afghan-American man leading the discussion began by stating; “You must understand that everything about your way of life in America, is completely different in this planet.” He quickly corrected himself to say “in this country,” but his misspeaking was not too far from the truth. From the way people say hello to the way they go to the bathroom, everything is different, and it is like another world to a Westerner.

In Pashtun tribal law, the largest tribe in Afghanistan comprising almost half the nation, there is something known as khun, or blood money. It can be paid to make amends for various transgressions such as murder, property damage, theft, kidnapping, etcetera. In addition to khun, women can be given to become sex slaves as well as female babies to eventually turn into sex slaves. Women and female babies count as two-thirds of the khun.

Just as in every other part of the Islamic world, Pashtun women have far less status than men. To divorce a woman, the man only needs to declare “I divorce thee” three times publicly. Many Pashtuns also believe that women have something called the “evil eye,” that they have special powers and the ability to cause bad things to happen.

In Pashtun tribal law, if a woman is kidnapped by force, and coerced to consent to marry her kidnapper, but she does not get her father’s permission, the father has the right to kill her. Any inclination of a woman having dishonored the family is rapidly met by her murder. In one of the detainee interrogations, I was truly shocked and saddened when the detainee was describing his family, and nonchalantly said “I have eight children, I had nine but one of my daughters dishonored the family and so I killed her,” a story I unfortunately would hear similar versions of on more than one occasion from multiple detainees.

With women and children relegated to 2nd-class status via Islamic sharia, it's no wonder things are as horrific there as they still are. That the government of Dubya did nothing to prevent many of these repulsive cases behind the scenes is another reason Afghanistan's "liberation" was doomed to failure. We must hope Donald Trump's incoming government will do whatever possible in the meantime to reverse what Biden's bunch enabled upon retreat. But it's doubtless going to be a very long, grueling trip to put an end to the suffering there.

Taliban destroyed education for over a million girls in Afghanistan

Ironically, it's the UN that first reported this, considering such an awful outfit does nothing genuine to defend women's civil rights from Islamofascism:

The Taliban’s ban on women receiving above a secondary has deprived 1.4 million Afghan girls of education since 2021, according to research from the United Nations.

The Afghan government first banned girls from attending secondary school in March 2022, later going on to prohibit women from attending university classes in December of that year. As a result of the bans, girls over the age of twelve have had education opportunities restricted, with 300,000 more girls being affected by the ban since the U.N.’s last count in April of 2023, according to a press release from the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

[...] Aside from banning girls from having access to secondary and higher education, the Taliban has also banned females from teaching male students, according to the press release. This change has contributed to the drop in total education enrollment in primary schools from 6.8 million boys and girls in 2019 to 5.7 million in 2022.

“In just three years, the de facto authorities have almost wiped out two decades of steady progress for education in Afghanistan, and the future of an entire generation is now in jeopardy,” the press release states.

But don't expect Kamala Harris to speak in defense of women in Afghanistan if she becomes president. And don't expect the UN to come to their rescue either. They're all just big talk and nothing else. For now, it's terrible what Joe Biden led to shortly after he become the fraud-in-chief of the USA.

What Trump has to say about the Afghanistan disaster, and some RINOs

The Federalist did an exclusive interview with Donald Trump, who had a lot to say about both Biden's botches and RINOs:

“Afghanistan is one of the worst things I think I’ve ever seen for our country,” Trump said. “To lose the young people [killed in the bomb blast] is so horrible. It’s a horrible situation.”

“What Biden is doing is grossly incompetent,” he added. “It’s a disgrace.”

The 45th president also teed off on former President George W. Bush, who used his remarks on the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on America to take a thinly veiled swipe at Trump and many of Trump’s supporters when Bush claimed they were “children of the same foul spirit” that led the 9/11 hijackers to kill thousands of innocent American citizens.

“Bush was a disaster getting us into the Middle East. He’s the one that got us into the quicksand of the Middle East, and he didn’t win. He didn’t know how to win. I think he goes down as one of the worst presidents in history,” Trump said.

“Bush now goes around lecturing everybody about all sorts of things, and he shouldn’t be lecturing anybody, because he’s the one who got us into the mess of the Middle East,” Trump continued. “In the 20 years since, it’s been obliterated, and it’s probably in worse shape now than it’s ever been because of him.”

As noted earlier, I'd heard it mentioned on a Steve Bannon podcast that Bush has now made himself into one of the most reviled figures of US politics, right down there along with Biden, and the failure to have ever combatted Pakistan and Iran's regime back in the day is just one more serious error that was made, despite any suggestions to the contrary. Trump also took issue with senator Mitch McConnell, another would-be conservative who's not doing anything to mend the continuing damage, and the way current Republicans are working is simply uninspiring. This is exactly what's bringing about more disasters down the road.

If Not for Memo, Torture Might Not Be An Issue

The question of whether members of the U.S. military and intelligence communities should be allowed to use waterboarding and other forms of torture during interrogations might be largely irrelevant today if not for a memo signed by Under Secretary of Defense James R. Clapper Jr. Oct. 29, 2007.

On that day, Clapper issued a memo granting “Operational Approval of the Preliminary Credibility Assessment Screening System (PCASS)” and designating the polygraph and its cousin, the PCASS, as the “only approved credibility assessment technologies” in the Department of Defense. And that's where the problems begin.

Click here to read the complete copyrighted story, If Not for Memo, Torture Might Not Be An Issue, at Bob McCarty Writes.

RUSSIAN VIEW OF PAKI TINDERBOX

Hat Tip: Bare Naked Islam

Will Military Continue Stonewalling on Lie Detector?

Nearly two weeks have passed since I published a post (”Is Tech ‘Turf War’ Putting U.S. Troops at Risk“) about my attempts to learn about the effectiveness — or lack thereof — of the military’s use of the Preliminary Credibility Assessment Screening System. Today, I wonder if officials at U.S. Central Command will continue the Army’s practice of stonewalling me when it comes to answering questions about the use of the hand-held lie detectors in combat zones.

The subject is important to me, especially when I consider a note received from an active-duty member of the Special Operations community who’s obviously familiar with the issues at stake:

“The bottom line is that the upper levels of command owe us a product that works. The CVSA has been tested under combat conditions and truly works! What more proof do they want?”*

To read the long and twisted chronicle of this former Air Force public affairs officer's attempt to get answers from the military, click here.

OBAMA'S TALIBAN FRIENDS

Hat Tip: Bare Naked Islam

Another demonstration of B. Hussein Obama's "moderate" Taliban buddies, carrying out the legal code of the "Religion of Peace" !!!

TALIBAN ATTEMPT TO ASSASSINATE KARZAI

• NEWS HERE.
• IMHO: THE TALIBAN ARE EMBOLDENED BY THEIR NEW ALLIES IN CONTROL OF PAKISTAN.
• EXIT QUESTION: HOW LONG BEFORE AN ALLY OF THE TALIBAN'S IN THE PAK ARMY GIVES THEM A NUKE TO USE?

SARKOZY STEPS UP TO THE PLATE: ORDERS 1000 MORE TROOPS TO AFHGANISTAN

• GOOD FOR HIM.
• HE PUTS NATO TO SHAME,
• AND THE DEMOCRATS WHO CLAIM BUSH HAS RUINED OUR RELATIONS IN EUROPE.

SEVEN YEARS AGO THE TALIBAN BEGAN DESTROYING THE BUDDHAS OF BAMIYAN

WIKI:

The statues were destroyed by dynamite over several weeks, starting in early March, carried out in different stages.

Initially, the statues were fired at for several days using anti-aircraft guns and artillery. This damaged them but did not obliterate them.

Then the Taliban placed anti-tank mines at the bottom of the niches, so that when chunks of rock broke off from artillery fire, the statues would fall and be blown up again.

In the end, the Taliban tied ropes around some local Hazara men, lowered them down the cliff face, and forced them to place explosives into holes in the Buddhas.^[9]

On March 6, 2001 The Times quoted Mullah Mohammed Omar as stating, "Muslims should be proud of smashing idols. It has given praise to God that we have destroyed them."

He had clearly changed his position from being in favor of the statues to being against them.

During a March 13 interview for Japan's Mainichi Shimbun, Afghan Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmad Mutawakel stated that the destruction was anything but a retaliation against the international community for economic sanctions:

"We are destroying the Buddha statues in accordance with Islamic law and it is purely a religious issue".

[THEY WERE FINALLY DYNAMITED ON 3/21/01.]

• GLOBAL JIHAD IS PURELY A PROACTIVE RELIGIOUS EFFORT.
  
• AND REMEMBER, THESE BUDDHAS WERE DESTROYED BEFORE 9/11.
• THEIR DESTRUCTION WAS NOT A REACTION TO WESTERN HEGEMONY.
• IT WAS NOT TIT-FOR-TAT THEN AND IT ISN'T NOW, EITHER. NOT IN MARCH 2001 IN AFGHANISTAN AND NOT MARCH 2008 IN JERUSALEM.
  
• IN FACT; ISLAM IS THE FOREIGN INVADER IN AFGHANISTAN: THE BUDDHAS PREDATED ISLAM'S ENTRANCE INTO AFGHANISTAN BY CENTURIES.
  

WHEN CONFRONTING THE EVIL PEOPLE AND EVIL IDEOLOGY WHICH CARRIED OUT THESE DASTARDLY ACTS, WE HAVE TWO CHOICES:

• FIGHT OR SURRENDER.
• COUNTER-ATTACK OR SUBMIT.
• LEFT OR RIGHT.
• DOVE OR HAWK.
  
• DEMOCRAT OR REPUBLICAN.
  

THE CHOICE IS OURS.

VOTE ACCORDINGLY.

AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ: WINNABLE - IF WE HAVE THE RESOLVE

CORDESMAN - WASH POST:

Two Winnable Wars

By Anthony H. Cordesman
Sunday, February 24, 2008; Page B07

No one can return from the battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan, as I recently did, without believing that these are wars that can still be won.

They are also clearly wars that can still be lost, but visits to the battlefield show that these conflicts are very different from the wars being described in American political campaigns and most of the debates outside the United States.

... The military situations in Iraq and Afghanistan are very different. The United States and its allies are winning virtually every tactical clash in both countries.

In Iraq, however, al-Qaeda is clearly losing in every province. It is being reduced to a losing struggle for control of Nineveh and Mosul. There is a very real prospect of coalition forces bringing a reasonable degree of security if decisions such as Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's announcement Friday to extend his militia's cease-fire six months continue over a period of years.

Military victory is far more marginal in Afghanistan.

NATO and international troops can still win tactically, but the Taliban is sharply expanding its support areas as well as its political and economic influence and control in Afghanistan. It has scored major gains in Pakistan, which is clearly the more important prize for al-Qaeda and has more Pashtuns than Afghanistan. U.S. commanders privately warn that victory cannot be attained without more troops, without all members of NATO and the International Security Assistance Force fully committing their troops to combat, and without a much stronger and consistent effort by the Pakistani army in both the federally administered tribal areas in western Pakistan and the Baluchi area in the south.

• WE CAN WIN - IF WE HAVE THE RESOLVE TO WIN.

• ALL OBAMA AND HILLARY PROMISE IS THE "RESOLVE TO RETREAT" - AND MAYBE TALK TO OUR ENEMIES AS WE DO SO.

• THAT GUARANTEES THE ENEMY A VICTORY.

THAT'S WHY A VOTE FOR OBAMA OR HILLARY IS A VOTE FOR THE TALIBAN AND AL QAEDA.

BHUTTO'S PARTY READY TO SURRENDER TO TALIBAN - of course they call it "dialogue" and "autonomy"

CNN:

The Pakistan People's Party, which swept the parliamentary elections last week on Sunday called for an end to military operations in the southwestern Pakistani province where intelligence officials believe Taliban leaders may be holed up.

In a resolution issued Sunday after a meeting of top leaders, the PPP called on the army to immediately stop its operation in Balochistan, a province near the Afghan border.

The party also asked that all prisoners, be released and said it would work toward giving "maximum provincial autonomy" to the area.

• THIS IS TANTAMOUNT TO SURRENDER.

• THIS IS NEARLY EXACTLY WHAT THE DEMOCRATS WOULD HAVE US DO IN IRAQ.

• IT IS APPEASEMENT AT BEST, CAPITULATION AT WORST.

MERELY PUTTING IT ON THE TABLE GIVES AID AND COMFORT TO THE ENEMY.

*******UPDATE: THE TALIBAN ARE ALREADY FLEXING THEIR MUSCLES AT THE PROSPECT OF A NEW ACCOMMODATIONIST REGIME:

Pakistan militants linked to Al-Qaeda warned any incoming civilian government on Sunday that they would strike even more viciously if President Pervez Musharraf's war on terror was continued in tribal areas.

Following last week's inconclusive election, several political parties are in talks to form a coalition big enough for a ruling majority in the National Assembly. How they deal with the militants will be one of their most pressing challenges.

In northwest Pakistan on Sunday, militants attacked a security post and killed a policeman and two paramilitary servicemen and wounded six others, officials said.

THESE ARE THE FRUITS OF APPEASEMENT.

MULLAH OMAR FIRES MEHSUD

PAKISTAN LINK:

Mullah Omar sacks Baitullah for fighting against Pak Army

* Maulvi Faqir refuses to be new TTP chief

LAHORE: Taliban chief Mullah Omar has sacked Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud for fighting against the Pakistan Army instead of with NATO forces, Asia Times Online reported on Friday.

The news website quoted Mullah Omar as telling other Taliban commanders to turn their focus on NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan.

The sacking comes at a time when President Pervez Musharraf has launched an intense military operation against Baitullah in South Waziristan.

Mullah Omar appointed Baitullah as TTP chief, according to the website. Baitullah has been sacked at a time when the Taliban’s spring offensive is just months away. “The Afghan front is quiet because the Taliban and Al Qaeda militants are heavily engaged in fighting Pakistani security forces in Waziristan.

Therefore, Mullah Omar has put his foot down to reset goals for the Taliban: struggle in Afghanistan and not against Pakistan, as was being done by Baitullah Mehsud,” the website reported.

Faqir refuses:

It also quoted intelligence sources as saying that Omar appointed Maulvi Faqir Muhammad as TTP chief but Faqir refused to accept the designation after which the local Taliban were holding meetings to find Baitullah’s replacement. Sources told Asia Times that with Baitullah replaced, Omar would use all Taliban resources in the Tribal Areas to dislodge NATO troops from Afghanistan. However, this leaves Baitullah and his loyalists completely isolated to fight Pakistani forces, according to the report. Baitullah is already named by the government as the main suspect behind Benazir Bhutto’s killing.

THESE DIVISION'S REVEAL THAT THE ENEMY IS BEING SMASHED UNDER THE HAMMER AND ANVIL OF NATO AND THE PAKISTAN ARMY.

IT'S ONLY A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE WE KILL ALL THE BIGGIES IN THE REGION - OMAR, INCLUDED.

TRIBAL UPRISING BEGINS IN WAZIRISTAN?

What helped kill Al Qaeda in Anbar was the tribal strategy - getting the Sunni tribes on our side.

This Sunni uprising was the anvil to our hammer.

We smashed 'em.

There are signs that the same thing is happening in Pakistan's tribal region, specifically Waziristan (DAWN/AFP): Tribesmen raising anti-Al Qaeda Lashkar

WANA, Jan 9: Thousands of armed tribesmen of South Waziristan met here on Wednesday, vowing to organise a Lashkar to hunt down Al Qaeda-linked militants blamed for killing nine of their kinsmen.

The tribal jirga in Wana came three days after militants stormed two offices and killed nine tribal elders of a government-sponsored peace committee.

The jirga ordered tribesmen from every household belonging to the Wazir tribe to come to Wana with arms to prepare for action, a local official said.

“One man from each house should come to Wana with a gun at 10am on Thursday to plan our defence and act against those who are responsible for disorder,” tribal chief Malik Ghaffar told the gathering.

Wazir tribe chief Maulvi Nazir, who earned fame after he drove out hundreds of Uzbeks from the region last year in bloody clashes, is expected to address the Lashkar on Thursday.

He did not turn up at Wednesday’s meeting but had earlier blamed Baitullah Mehsud, a local Al Qaeda commander and leader of the rival Mehsud tribe, for the killing of the peace committee members.

Residents have reported that announcements have been made on a public address system asking Mehsud tribesmen to “leave Wana to avoid losses”.

Baitullah Mehsud is accused by the government of masterminding a spate of suicide attacks in the country, including the December 27 assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in a gun and bomb attack in Rawalpindi. Mehsud has denied any involvement in the killing.

• This comes as Musharraf is turning up the heat with more forces and a new harsh governor. (See earlier post here.)

• And as we prepare to send an additional 3000 troops to the border with Afghanistan.

HEY... YO: BINLADEN... ZAWAHIRI: THE CLOCK IS TICKING...

PAKISTANIS FLEEING TRIBAL REGIONS AHEAD OF MAJOR CONFRONTATION

BBC:

Thousands of Pakistanis have fled into Afghanistan with the security situation deteriorating in Pakistan's tribal regions over the past week.

Hundreds of families, comprising some 6,000 mainly women and children, have been crossing the border.

The UN refugee agency says clashes between Pakistan's Shia and Sunni groups have forced people to flee.

It is the first time so many people have crossed this way as for years it was Afghans fleeing fighting.

EARLIER TODAY WE RELATED THIS:

Pakistan launches new operation in Swat Valley

WEBINDIA: Pakistan launches new operation in Swat Valley

The Pakistan Army launched a new military operation Sunday to clear out armed Islamic militants spotted in remote areas of the strife-torn Swat Valley in the northwest, where hundreds have died in two months of clashes.

AND WE RELATED THIS IN AN EARLIER POST:

NEW GOVERNOR FOR PAKISTAN'S TRIBAL REGION: MUSHARRAF ABOUT TO GET VERY TOUGH

BBC: Key Pakistan governor steps down

The new governor, Owais Ahmed Ghani, has been known for his tough action - which often took the form of brutal force - against Baluch nationalists.

If his appointment indicates anything, it must be that for the Pakistani authorities, the use of force is still very much an option in dealing with militancy in the tribal areas.

• THE HAMMER IS ABOUT TO COME DOWN ON THE ANVIL.
• IT'S LONG OVERDUE.

STAY TUNED...

THEN THERE'S THIS FROM THE LONG WAR JOURNAL; (VIA HOT AIR):

Report: Osama bin Laden’s security coordinator captured in Pakistan

By Bill Roggio January 6, 2008 11:15 PM

Osama bin Laden escorted by the Black Guard. ...

A senior al Qaeda commander has been reported to have been captured in the Pakistani city of Lahore, according to a Pakistani newspaper. Dr. Amin al Haq, the security coordinator of Osama bin Laden’s Black Guard, “was apprehended from Lahore couple of days back,” The Nation reported, citing “credible Afghan sources.” Al Haq is said to be “under interrogation” at an undisclosed location.

The report of al Haq’s capture has not been confirmed, a senior intelligence official told The Long War Journal. US intelligence agencies are aware of the report.

... As security coordinator for the Black Guard, it is believed al Haq would be in close proximity to Osama bin Laden. US intelligence believes Osama bin Laden is hiding in Pakistan’s tribal agencies, a claim the Pakistani government has denied.

THOUGH WE RELATED THAT RECENTLY MUSHARRAF DID INDICATE OTHERWISE - FOR THE FIRST TIME:

FOR THE FIRST TIME, MUSHARRAF PUBLICLY SPECIFIES WHERE OSAMA IS HIDING

SATP: Pakistan

Osama bin Laden hiding around Bajaur, says President Pervez Musharraf

President Pervez Musharraf has for the first time identified an area where he thinks al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden may be hiding, according to Dawn.

When asked where he thinks the Osama could be, Musharraf said in an interview to The Washington Post that he could be in the area that borders Pakistan’s Bajaur tribal agency and Afghanistan’s Kunar province.

... THIS IS AN AREA WE'VE LONG AND RECENTLY ATTACKED FOR THIS VERY REASON; FROM ASIA TIMES (VIA VWT JULY 17, 2007):

The Bajaur area has been hit twice by Central Intelligence Agency predator drones, one specifically after Zawahiri. However, at a time when al-Qaeda is reactivated and the Taliban's main focus is to lay siege of Kabul, via adjacent Nooristan province in Afghanistan, aerial surveillance is considered insufficient.

... As a result, a large US base is under construction on a mountaintop at Ghakhi Pass on the Pakistan-Afghanistan (Bajaur) border.

Militants believe this is in preparation for an operation inside Pakistan to clamp down on them as well as to renew the hunt for bin Laden and his associates. As a result, the militants have attacked the new base in an attempt to delay its construction.

MY GUESS: MUSHARRAF WOULD ONLY SAY THIS IF:

• A MAJOR ATTACK IS AFOOT;
  
• OSAMA IS TRAPPED -
• AND THIS LEAK IS MEANT TO FLUSH HIM OUT A LITTLE;
• AND THEREFORE I FEEL THAT OSAMA WILL SOON BE DEAD.

DOES ALL THIS (AND RECENT HIGH LEVEL VISITS BY KARZAI, PM BROWN, PM RUDD, PM PRODI AND PRESIDENT SARKOZY) ADD UP TO AN IMMINENT MAJOR OFFENSIVE AGAINST OSAMA?

I THINK IT DOES.

• THE LOCALS SEEM KNOW IT.
• THE TALIBAN KNOW IT.
• AL QAEDA KNOWS IT.

I HOPE MY FEELING ABOUT THIS ARE ACCURATE AND THAT THE HAMMER AND ANVIL ATTACK IS A SUCCESS.

FINGERS CROSSED...

KARZAI IN PAKISTAN FOR MEETING WITH MUSHARRAF

NYTIMES: Karzai in Pakistan to Mend Ties

President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan signaled an improvement in relations between their countries after an unusually cordial meeting here on Wednesday and called for greater cooperation in fighting terrorism.

Mr. Karzai was on a two-day visit here in the Pakistani capital, where he would also meet with the opposition politician Benazir Bhutto, a statement from the Afghan president’s office said. Ms. Bhutto is taking part in parliamentary elections scheduled for January.

The two presidents have regularly leveled harsh accusations at each other over the last two years since a Taliban resurgence shook the Afghan government’s control of much of southern Afghanistan. Mr. Karzai has blamed Pakistan for harboring the Taliban and militant training camps, which he says have allowed the insurgents to stage a comeback, while Mr. Musharraf has blamed lawlessness in Afghanistan and Mr. Karzai’s failure to govern for the creeping insurgency.

But the two men emerged Wednesday from their discussions closer to agreement on how to deal with the militants, who over the last year have extended their reach inside Pakistan.

Mr. Musharraf said their talks focused on the need for cooperation on intelligence to meet “this menace of extremism and terrorism, which is destroying both our countries.”

“I think we have developed very strong understanding of each other’s problems and we look forward to cooperation and coordination in all fields for our mutual benefit,” Mr. Musharraf said during a news briefing, which was broadcast live by Pakistan’s state-run television.

“The meeting was productive in all aspects,” Mr. Karzai said.

• THIS MEETING - (BETWEEN TWO MUSLIMS) - COMES RIGHT IN THE HEELS OF MAJOR TRIPS TO KABUL BY PM BROWN, PRESIDENT SARKOZY, PM RUDD, AND PM PRODI.
• THESE VISITS' PROXIMITY TO CHRISTMAS IS NOT A FACTOR - IMHO.
  
• AS I POSTED A FEW DAYS AGO, I FEEL SOMETHING MAJOR IS UP....
• PERHAPS A MAJOR OFFENSIVE IN BAJAUR - NOW THAT OUR FORTIFICATIONS ON THE AFGHAN SIDE AT THE GHAKI PASS ARE FINISHED.

FOR THE FIRST TIME, MUSHARRAF PUBLICLY SPECIFIES WHERE OSAMA IS HIDING

SATP: Pakistan

Osama bin Laden hiding around Bajaur, says President Pervez Musharraf

President Pervez Musharraf has for the first time identified an area where he thinks al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden may be hiding, according to Dawn.

When asked where he thinks the Osama could be, Musharraf said in an interview to The Washington Post that he could be in the area that borders Pakistan’s Bajaur tribal agency and Afghanistan’s Kunar province.

WHY TAKE CHANCES: LET'S JUST NUKE THIS AREA IN BAJAUR-KUNAR.

UPDATE: THIS IS AN AREA WE'VE LONG AND RECENTLY ATTACKED FOR THIS VERY REASON; FROM ASIA TIMES (VIA VWT JULY 17, 2007):

The Bajaur area has been hit twice by Central Intelligence Agency predator drones, one specifically after Zawahiri. However, at a time when al-Qaeda is reactivated and the Taliban's main focus is to lay siege of Kabul, via adjacent Nooristan province in Afghanistan, aerial surveillance is considered insufficient.

... As a result, a large US base is under construction on a mountaintop at Ghakhi Pass on the Pakistan-Afghanistan (Bajaur) border.

Militants believe this is in preparation for an operation inside Pakistan to clamp down on them as well as to renew the hunt for bin Laden and his associates. As a result, the militants have attacked the new base in an attempt to delay its construction.

MY GUESS: MUSHARRAF WOULD ONLY SAY THIS IF:

• A MAJOR ATTACK IS AFOOT;
  
• OSAMA IS TRAPPED -
• AND THIS LEAK IS MEANT TO FLUSH HIM OUT A LITTLE;
• AND THEREFORE I FEEL THAT OSAMA WILL SOON BE DEAD.

TALIBAN: BIN LADEN SHUTTLES BETWEEN CHINA-TAJIK BORDER AND AFGHANI-PAKISTANI BORDER

AKI:

Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was hiding in the remote mountains on the Afghani-Pakistani border and moving constantly to avoid detection by intelligence agencies, according to a Taliban sympathiser.

Ahmad Farooq, a Pakistani Pashtun has told the Italian daily, Corriere della Sera, that bin Laden had been moving from village to village in the area from Chitral to the "corridor of Waqan", [alternately Wakhan] the mountainous Hindu Kush region of Pakistan bordering Tajikstan and China. [Area marked with red typeface in the map.]

... "There are always 20 armed men with him, free from satellite telephones so that they did not risk detection by the Americans," he told the newspaper.

"Not far from him there are two other similar groups that move in parallel. Osama passes from one to the other often many times in a week. No-one knows which group he is with at any time."

Farooq said bin Laden had also managed to hide in the Pakistan-China border area of Karakorum, an uninhabited remote area, because it is guarded by Chinese troops.

"He lives like a monk," Farooq said. "His health is not good. He is 50 years old. But he looks much older. He relies continutally on medicine for his weak kidneys and has a breathing apparatus. "He almost died a few years ago from bronchitis that developed into pneumonia."

Farooq conducted the interview in Imam Dheray, in the Swat Valley where there has been widespread bloody conflict between the Pakistani security forces and the fugitive rebel leader and radical cleric, Mullah Fazlullah, and his supporters in recent weeks.

... Farooq gave many details about where bin Laden had been since September 11 2001 - hiding in the Afghan province of Khost until it became too dangerous for him. Then, he said, the al-Qaeda leader moved to the Chitral region, in northern Pakistan.

"I saw him for the last time on 17 September 2003 not far from Dir, my village, " he said. "His caravan was moving slowly. They told me he was not well. They didn't seem worried about being detected by the Americans. "Instead, they were looking for medicines and a warm place for the night. In that area winter arrives early. With the first snow fall the passes are closed at more than 4,000 metres and you have to wait for spring.

"I think they only went to China in summer, when the paths are clear."

A senior official from NATO's security services told the Italian daily's magazine such an account of bin Laden's activities was "quite possible".

He said "We believe he remained in the mountains in the zones of Chitral and Swat. The detail about China was however new."

A FEW SMALL NUKES SHOULD DO THE TRICK.

BRITISH INTELLIGENCE: IRAN GIVING BOMBS TO THE TALIBAN

They're not Iranian nuclear bombs yet. But does anyone doubt that they'll give them to terrorists as soon as they can? And in the meantime, the Brits are quite sure that the non-nuclear weapons getting to the Taliban are courtesy of Tehran:

British military intelligence officers and the U.S. commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan say Iran is supplying Taliban fighters with weaponry. U.S. Army General Dan McNeill, the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, said more than 50 roadside bombs and timers were discovered by British special forces last month crossing the border in trucks from Iran to Afghanistan, The Daily Telegraph reported Thursday. He said the discovery is evidence that Iran's Quds Revolutionary Guards are providing active support to Taliban militants. "I cannot see how it is possible for at least the Iranian military, probably the Quds force, to not have known of this convoy," McNeill said.

We actually don't believe this story. Leftists explained to us that this is all part of Bush's Zionist neocon rush to war. You know - all those Zionist neocons who control British intelligence.

[Cross-posted to Mere Rhetoric]

IMPALED WITH AN RPG IN AFGHANISTAN: The incredible saga of Specialist Channing Moss

ACE/PURPLE AVENGER:

The incredible saga of Specialist Channing Mossand how he came to remain among the living is one you won't soon forget. "Protocol" would have had him being left for dead.

Spc. Channing Moss should be dead by all accounts. And those who saved his life did so knowing they might have died with him...

WATCH THE ENTIRE GRIPPING 7 MINUTE VIDEO - WARNING: IT SHOWS THE SURGERY.

(FOR THE FAINT OF HEART, HERE'S A LINK TO AN ARTICLE.)

(MOSS AND THE SURGEON AND THE ORDINANCE OFFICER ARE ALL INTERVIEWED.)

AS PURPLE AVENGER WROTE: AWESOME!