Pakistanis Aided Attack in Kabul, US Officials Say

The Pentagon has officially used “the long war” to describe the current fight. “For the foreseeable future, winning the long war against violent extremist movements will be the central objective of the U.S.,” the 2008 strategy document released by the Pentagon stated. “We must display a mastery of irregular warfare comparable to that which we possess in conventional combat.”

The Diyala security operation has resulted in 189 detentions to date. US and Iraqi troops captured 14 al Qaeda operatives in Bayji, Baghdad, Mosul, Diyala, and Haditha. Coalition forces captured a Hezbollah Brigades operative in Baghdad. US troops captured 10 Special Groups fighters in Baghdad, including an EFP maker.

Al Qaeda commander Abu Abdallah al Shami was killed in a US airstrike this month. More than 20 Taliban were killed after ambushing an Afghan patrol in Ghazni province. A bombing outside the Pakistani consulate in Herat wounded two civilians. Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Ayyub al Masri and other senior commanders are thought to have transferred to Afghanistan.

Abu Abdallah al Shami, one of the Bagram Four escapees and a field commander in Afghanistan, was killed in an unspecified strike this month.

Ten Taliban and 21 civilians were reported killed in fighting in Swat. The Taliban in the Muzaffargarh district in Punjab ordered women to wear veils or acid would be poured on their faces and ordered “un-Islamic” businesses to shut down. The Taliban killed a female “US spy” in North Waziristan and reoccupied a TV booster station in Bajaur. The Taliban shura condemned this week’s US airstrike in South Waziristan.

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Two Jemaah Islamiyah operatives captured earlier this year were planning to travel to Iraq to seek funding for operations in Indonesia, according to information that was on their laptop. Abu Husna and Agus Purwantoro, who were captured in Malaysia in March, planned to enter Iraq via Syria.

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US and Iraqi forces have detained 54 suspected insurgents since the security operation in Diyala began. Iraqi and Coalition forces detained 12 suspected al Qaeda operatives during raids in central Iraq. Police captured three insurgents in Kirkuk. US troops captured four Mahdi Army fighters in New Baghdad. An Iraqi soldier was killed and 10 were wounded in an IED attack in eastern Baghdad.

The government has relaunched the military operation in Swat; the military claimed 48 Taliban and five soldiers were killed in today’s fighting after the Taliban attacked in outpost. Four Taliban leaders in Bajaur denied breaking from Baitullah Mehsud’s organization. The military retook a television station booster in Bajaur. Extremists run more than 100 radio stations in the Northwest Frontier Province.

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Pakistani military claimed 48 Taliban killed. Taliban deny the claims, but confirmed a senior Swat leader was killed.

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Afghan and Coalition forces killed “several” Taliban in Ghazni and detained three in Khost. The Taliban in Kapisa executed one of their own for allegedly spying for the US. A British soldier was killed in combat in Helmand. CENTCOM does not plan on sending the 15th MEU to Afghanistan.

A large Taliban force surrounded and overran a police and Frontier Constabulary post in northern Swat. This comes just days after Mullah Fazlullah held a high-level planning session with Taliban leaders and threatened to resume suicide attacks.

The Diyala operation has begun; 20 “wanted men” have been captured and 10 IEDs have been defused. Coalition forces killed one known terrorist facilitator and detained 18 al Qaeda fighters. More than 100 senior and mid-level Mahdi Army and Sadrist leaders have been killed or captured since last summer. A “key” Mahdi Army leader and four associated were captured in New Baghdad.
