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Predators, Taliban, and civilians
Click image to view The Long War Journal’s data related to the US air campaign in Pakistan. Peter Bergen and Katherine Tiedemann have published an analysis for the New America Foundation about US drone strikes in Pakistan. Citing previous analyses of drone strike statistics, including the recent report in The Long War Journal, Bergen and Tiedemann conclude that based on their research, between 31 and 33 percent of all casualties from drone strikes inside Pakistan have been civilians. Bergen and Tiedemann did a fairly good job with their analysis. They debunked some of the rather outlandish estimates of civilian deaths…
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Afghanistan
Afghanistan: Why escalation may be Obama’s only choice
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Map of Taliban control in Pakistan’s northwest
Despite a military offensive in South Waziristan, the Taliban still have considerable control and influence throughout all of northwestern Pakistan.
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Iran
IAEA officials reported that Iran agreed on a draft agreement on shipping its uranium to Russia for enrichment. The UN Security council condemned last weekend’s suicide attack that killed six senior Revolutionary Guards commanders. The death toll in the attack has been raised to 57.
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Afghanistan
Central Asia: The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan undergoing dangerous transformation
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US airstrike targets al Qaeda in North Waziristan
Three jihadis were reported killed in an attack in the Mir Ali region, where al Qaeda is known to maintain bases and training camps.
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Pakistan
Pak judge hearing 26/11 Mumbai case wants to quit proceedings
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Iran
Jundallah: Profile of a Sunni extremist group
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Afghanistan
82nd Airborne takes up training mission in Farah province
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Afghanistan
Poll fraud officials must go – UN
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Why would the Taliban attack an Islamic university?
The Taliban have taken credit for yesterday’s suicide attack at the International Islamic University in Islamabad. As noted in yesterday’s report on the attack, the Taliban have no problems with striking at mosques and other religious institutions and events. I’ve received several questions as to why the Taliban would strike at an Islamic university. Dawn and the Australian Broadcasting Network provide the answers, summarized here. 1) More than 6,000 women are among the 17,000 students at the International Islamic University in Islamabad. To the Taliban, women attending schools is against sharia. 2) There are more than 2,000 foreign students from…
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Yemen
Saudi concern rises over Al Qaeda activity in Yemen
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Al Qaeda
What are the Waziristan war aims?
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Pakistan
Two suicide bombers killed five students at an Islamic university in Islamabad; all schools have been closed in Pakistan. The Taliban ejected the Army from Kotkai in South Waziristan and claimed it killed 45 soldiers. The military killed six foreign fighters and three Taliban fighters in South Waziristan and three Lashkar-e-Islam fighters in Khyber, and detained 41 foreigners on the Sindh-Punjab border and three Taliban fighters in Karachi.
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Afghanistan
NATO a corpse, fumes former Canada military boss
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Pakistan
Pakistan: Authorities ponder broader strategy against Taliban
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Taliban retake town from Pakistani Army in South Waziristan
The Taliban have ejected the Army from Kotkai and inflicted heavy casualties. A spokesman claimed up to 45 soldiers were killed in the Taliban counteroffensive.
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Pakistan
Pakistan seals alliance with two Taliban leaders in fights against rival tribe
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United States
A court indicted Ahmad Wais Afzai, an imam in Queens, New York, for lying to the FBI during questioning about Najibullah Zazi, the al Qaeda suspect accused of plotting attacks in the US. The Supreme Court will hear an appeal by Uighurs held at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.
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Northern Iraq sees security, general says
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Somalia
The death toll of yesterday™s battle in Mogadishu between Shabaab and government forces reached 11, including a Yemeni al Qaeda fighter. The first batch of Somali troops who completed military training in the neighboring Republic of Djibouti have arrived in the capital Mogadishu.
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Iraq
Insurgents killed two policemen, three civilians, and a US soldier in attacks throughout Iraq. Security forces detained 26 wanted men in Basrah, nine Islamic State of Iraq fighters in Kirkuk, five al Qaeda operatives in Karbala, Kirkuk, Baqubah, and Wasit, and four “infiltrators” from Syria.
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Afghanistan
President Karzai and challenger Abdullah Abdullah will hold a runoff election on Nov. 7, after Karzai’s vote percent dropped below 50 percent in the final count by Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission. US and Afghan forces killed six Taliban fighters in Wardak and captured a Haqqani Network facilitator in Khost.
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Afghanistan
Afghan poll run-off on November 7
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India
Intelligence reports warn of imminent attacks: Indian PM
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Afghanistan: ‘Other’ reasons
Shamsia Husseini, right, was among 15 girls and women in Kandahar, Afghanistan, who were splashed with acid last November. Photo from The New York Times. The recent arguments over Afghanistan have focused on “going all in” with properly resourced counterinsurgency vs. keeping al Qaeda diminished via Predator strikes and super-secret squirrel (commando) raids. Seemingly lost in the vigorous debate between policy wonks, political pundits, and COIN aficionados is the impact of lesser US and NATO engagement on the state of human rights in our new ally. Wazhma Frogh, a human rights campaigner and recipient of the US State Department’s 2009…
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Italy: Imam’s marriage to a Catholic rattles Muslim hardliners
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Afghanistan
An Afghan pullout would be a rights disaster
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Mali
The US government has announced it will donate $5 million worth of trucks, communication devices, equipment, and clothing to the Mali government in an effort to boost the sub-Saharan government™s ability to combat Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. The US joins Libya and Algeria in aiding the Mali government™s capacity to rid the Sahel of AQIM.
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Afghanistan
Held by the Taliban, part 3: ‘You have atomic bombs, but we have suicide bombers.™
