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The Taliban: News & Videos about The Taliban - CNN.com
An airstrike by Pakistani fighter jets killed more than 30 Taliban fighters, including one believed to be a high-ranking commander, a government spokesman said Saturday. An airstrike by Pakistani fighter jets killed more than 30 Taliban fighters, including one believed to be a high-ranking commander, a ... more
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Furor over pics of Taliban in dead soldiers' kit - CNN.com
Furor over pics of Taliban in dead soldiers' kit
Story Highlights
Photos of Taliban in the uniforms of dead French soldiers provokes outrage
Magazine Paris Match features photos of Taliban and their commander
10 French troops were killed and a further 21 injured in an ambush Furor over pics of Taliban in dead soldiers' kit Story Highlights ... more -
Afghan general: Politics needed to end war
Afghan general: Politics needed to end war
Story Highlights
Wardak: People need help to find work, and everyone must accept constitution
Wardak echoes British commander who tells Sunday Times war will not be won
British commander also reportedly says deal with Taliban might be on the table
Western leaders say reconciling with hardcore militants will be difficult Afghan general: Politics needed to end war Story Highlights ... more -
Afghan "Allies" And Bin Laden Video
Osama Bin Laden is on the radio and hailed as a great warrior and hero leader of the Jihad by the people whom we are considering our allies. Osama Bin Laden is on the radio and hailed as a great warrior and hero leader of the Jihad by the people whom we are considering our a... more
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Danger In Iraq: Marines Face Attacks Daily In Ramadi
In downtown Ramadi, the fight with the Iraqi insurgency is up close – and, as CBS News Chief Foreign Correspondent Lara Logan reports, for one company of U.S. Marines, it's very personal.
In a Ramadi market, Lt. Carlos Goetz has found propaganda glorifying the killing of his fellow Marines.
"Close your store, and if you get froggy, I will kill you," he says to some men who are being cuffed and thrown into a Humvee. "Getting froggy" is Marine-speak for "don't try anythng."
Ramadi has become the operational center of al Qaeda and the symbolic heart of the Iraqi insurgency. So Kilo company has taken the fight to the most dangerous city streets in all of Iraq, hunting their enemy where they hide — among the population.
"We're not out with snipers hitting people a click away," says Marine 2nd Lt. Brian Wilson. "We're opening a door and there's a guy 15 feet away."
Lt. Wilson lost four of his men just over five weeks ago. The day after CBS News joined his platoon on this patrol, he nearly lost two more.
"Something hit me in the back; it felt like a sledgehammer," says Pfc. Charles Mitchell. "It just spun me around."
The plates in their body armor saved Mitchell and Lance Cpl. Sean Madison. But it was the second ambush in two days, so Lt. Doug Hsu, about to head out on patrol, made a critical call.
"We're gonna bring out the gun trucks because we've been taking a lot of contact on the egress routes back into the (government) center," he says.
It's a decision that would save his men's lives.
Hsu's first squad heads down some busy streets to take up lookout positions in a house less than a mile from their base.
At the same time, a few streets away, a sniper began targeting his second squad.
Hsu senses growing signs that the enemy may be planning something bigger.
"The people are getting off the streets," he says, "so basically the thinking is they're trying to maneuver in on us."
The tension is written on the men's faces as they plan their route back to base.
"We’ll probably get hit when we're going back to friendly lines," Hsu says.
As the Marines start to head out, they eye Iraqi men huddled just off the street watching them pass.
On the final approach to the base, they find that the shopkeepers have fled, their goods still on display. Then it begins. Out of nowhere, the first shot slammed into a Marine.
On the way back into the base, the firing started. One Marine was wounded in the leg.
Marines rushed into the kill zone to help 19-year-old Lance Cpl. Phillip Tussy. Under constant fire from both sides, they get him to one of the gun trucks and begin emergency treatment.
Heavy machine guns pounded the insurgent positions as automatic rounds and small arms fire hissed. The covering fire from the Humvees continued as the Marines pushed through, finally making it to base.
Cpl. Tussy survived, but there was no rest for his platoon. Hours later, they were on their next operation.
"We expect those sorts of things," says Hsu. "We suck it up and go on with our mission.
It's a mission that's seen some progress — with the Iraqi security forces beginning to share some of the burden. But the challenges are still huge: U.S. commanders admit Ramadi is just as violent today as it was a year ago. In downtown Ramadi, the fight with the Iraqi insurgency is up close – and, as CBS News Chief Foreign Correspondent Lara Logan reports,... more -
Debate Over Terrorist Links Video
The Debate over American Intelligence in Iraq is questioned, reminding us that the rest of the world won't sweep our lies under thier rug. They felt more than accomadating after 9/11 and thier patience is worn thin of U.S. policy. The Debate over American Intelligence in Iraq is questioned, reminding us that the rest of the world won't sweep our lies under t... more
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Al Qaeda Strong In Afghanistan Video
This video is from 7/08 but it still rings true. Talk of the Pakistan border, troops, trustworthiness of relations with Pakistan. They have been able to reqroup the al Queda or base. This video is from 7/08 but it still rings true. Talk of the Pakistan border, troops, trustworthiness of relations with Pakistan. The... more
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Bush had no plan to catch Bin Laden after 9/11
WASHINGTON, Sep 29 (IPS) - New evidence from former U.S. officials reveals that the George W. Bush administration failed to adopt any plan to block the retreat of Osama bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders from Afghanistan to Pakistan in the first weeks after 9/11.
That failure was directly related to the fact that top administration officials gave priority to planning for war with Iraq over military action against al Qaeda in Afghanistan.
As a result, the United States had far too few troops and strategic airlift capacity in the theatre to cover the large number of possible exit routes through the border area when bin Laden escaped in late 2001.
Because it had not been directed to plan for that contingency, the U.S. military had to turn down an offer by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in late November 2001 to send 60,000 troops to the border passes to intercept them, according to accounts provided by former U.S. officials involved in the issue.
On Nov. 12, 2001, as Northern Alliance troops were marching on Kabul with little resistance, the CIA had intelligence that bin Laden was headed for a cave complex in the Tora Bora Mountains close to the Pakistani border.
The war had ended much more quickly than expected only days earlier. CENTCOM commander Tommy Franks, who was responsible for the war in Afghanistan, had no forces in position to block bin Laden's exit.
Franks asked Lt. Gen. Paul T. Mikolashek, commander of Army Central Command (ARCENT), whether his command could provide a blocking force between al Qaeda and the Pakistani border, according to David W. Lamm, who was then commander of ARCENT Kuwait.
Lamm, a retired Army colonel, recalled in an interview that there was no way to fulfill the CENTCOM commander's request, because ARCENT had neither the troops nor the strategic lift in Kuwait required to put such a force in place. "You looked at that request, and you just shook your head," recalled Lamm, now chief of staff of the Near East South Asia Centre for Strategic Studies at the National Defence University.
Franks apparently already realised that he would need Pakistani help in blocking the al Qaeda exit from Tora Bora. Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld told a National Security Council meeting that Franks "wants the [Pakistanis] to close the transit points between Afghanistan and Pakistan to seal what's going in and out", according to the National Security Council meeting transcript in Bob Woodward's book "Bush at War".
Bush responded that they would need to "press Musharraf to do that".
A few days later, Franks made an unannounced trip to Islamabad to ask Musharraf to deploy troops along the Pakistan-Afghan border near Tora Bora.
A deputy to Franks, Lt. Gen. Mike DeLong, later claimed that Musharraf had refused Franks's request for regular Pakistani troops to be repositioned from the north to the border near the Tora Bora area. DeLong wrote in his 2004 book "Inside Centcom" that Musharraf had said he "couldn't do that", because it would spark a "civil war" with a hostile tribal population.
But U.S. Ambassador Wendy Chamberlin, who accompanied Franks to the meeting with Musharraf, provided an account of the meeting to this writer that contradicts DeLong's claim.
Chamberlin, now president of the Middle East Institute in Washington, recalled that the Pakistani president told Franks that CENTCOM had vastly underestimated what was required to block bin Laden exit from Afghanistan. Musharraf said, "Look you are missing the point: there are 150 valleys through which al Qaeda are going to stream into Pakistan," according to Chamberlin.
.........more.... WASHINGTON, Sep 29 (IPS) - New evidence from former U.S. officials reveals that the George W. Bush administration failed to adopt any ... more -
McCain called Bin Laden a 'freedom fighter' in debate
McCain said 'after we were able to help the Afghan freedom fighters drive the Russians out of Afghanistan we washed our hands of the the region.' Guess who their number one freedom fighter was? Osama bin Laden. McCain said 'after we were able to help the Afghan freedom fighters drive the Russians out of Afghanistan we washed our hands of ... more
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Osama Helped Bush in '04
On Oct. 29, 2004, just four days before the U.S. presidential election, al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden released a videotape denouncing George W. Bush. Some Bush supporters quickly spun the diatribe as "Osama's endorsement of John Kerry," but behind the walls of the CIA, analysts had concluded the opposite: Bin Laden was trying to help Bush gain a second term. On Oct. 29, 2004, just four days before the U.S. presidential election, al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden released a videotape denouncin... more
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Western strategy "plays into Taliban hands"
The CIA went into Afghanistan as a paramilitary unit back in 2001 to set up groundwork for troops and to take control the country, but the CIA, once again failed in its mission. Here's an analysis of what the western led alliance did, and ultimately did to the world. here's the story...
The Western-led military alliance in Afghanistan is facing an ever greater challenge from Taliban forces, who have regained some 60 per cent of the country.
The Nato-led coalition, known as the International Security Assistance Force, has made errors that have played into the hands of the Taliban, and ending the war will not be easy, two Swiss experts tell swissinfo.
The Taliban – literally meaning "religious students" in the Pashto language – came to power in 1997, but were driven out without much difficulty by US and British forces and their Afghan allies, the Northern Alliance, in the invasion following the terror attacks in the US of September 11, 2001.
But since then, the Taliban, Sunni fundamentalists who for the most part belong to the majority Pashtun ethnic group, have with growing success harassed Western forces and those loyal to the government of President Hamid Karzai, from bases in the frontier provinces of Pakistan.
Today the Taliban can move freely through much of Afghan territory, making good use of its mountainous terrain.
Ethnologist Pierre Centlivres, who knows Afghanistan well, does not find the comeback entirely surprising.
"The way the Afghans see it, Western troops are occupying their country, although officially they are simply there to support the Karzai government. This military presence is all the less acceptable because it has been responsible for a number of blunders which have killed civilians," he explained to swissinfo.
"Nevertheless, not all Afghans support the Taliban. Some still think the presence of foreign troops is a necessary evil. But there are fewer and fewer who think this way, whereas just two years ago they were in the majority."
Centlivres points out that there are different aspects to the foreign intervention: military and civilian.
Taken together, the aim is to help the battered country to get back on its feet
Afghanistan has been in a semi-permanent state of war ever since the Soviet invasion in 1979. Against this background, the state embodied by the Kabul government had never succeeded in imposing its writ on the country's different ethnic groups, tribes and clans.
"Most Afghans regard not only the presence of foreign troops as a humiliation, but also the attempt to establish Western-style democracy and justice based on a constitution inspired by foreigners. Afghans now see their country as not being merely under foreign influence, but being treated as a trust territory," he added.
Terrorism expert Jacques Baud, who recently returned from Afghanistan, agrees.
"The Afghan mentality reflects their geography, in a way. Most of them are mountain people... with little interest in the outside world," he told swissinfo.
"They are not asking the West to make big investments or to modernise their country. They want to develop at their own pace, in their own way, and in accordance with their own culture."
In other words, those who believe Nato should step up its civilian presence are likely to be disappointed.
"It's an illusion to expect to win over hearts and minds. It's a good thing to do good, but it is difficult to be liked when you bomb a village and then make amends by paying out dollars," Centlivres warns-----more at link The CIA went into Afghanistan as a paramilitary unit back in 2001 to set up groundwork for troops and to take control the country, but... more -
Cheney admits there's no proof linking Bin Laden to 9/11!
This may have been put up by a 9/11 conspiracy nut, but there is some truth to it.
According to these websites: http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/16-...
http://www.teamliberty.net/id267.html
The FBI has admitted they have no hard evidence connecting Osama bin Laden to 9/11. He has not been formally charged in connection to 9/11. Once evidence is gathered, it is turned over to the Department of Justice. The Department then decides whether it has enough evidence to present to a federal grand jury. In the case of the 1998 United States Embassies being bombed, bin Laden has been formally indicted and charged by a grand jury. There is some evidence linking bin Laden to 9/11, (more evidence linking bin Laden than Bush to 9/11) but not enough to charged bin Laden. The media has remained silence on this.
However, Cheney did lie when he said "we've never made the case or argued the case that Osama bin Laden was directly involved in 9/11." Through corporate media, the Bush administration told the American people that bin Laden was "Public Enemy Number One" responsible for the deaths of nearly 3,000 people on September 11, 2001.
Read the full transcript of this interview at the website of the White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/03/2006032...
For now Osama bin Laden remains the prime suspect, not to mention the only suspect. This may have been put up by a 9/11 conspiracy nut, but there is some truth to it. ... more -
Is Bush planning an October suprise to help McCain win in Nov?
Pakistani troops fired on two U.S. helicopters that intruded into Pakistani airspace on Sunday night (Sept 21), forcing them to turn back to Afghanistan.
It was the second incident in a week.
In this article dated Sept 20 Bush was specifically asked if he would send US troops in Pakistan if he new Osama bin Laden was there. He said, Yup!
But Pres. Bush has known for YEARS that Osama bin Laden was hiding in Pakistan.
http://www.rediff.com/news/2004/sep/07osama.htm
The above link will take you to an article (just one of many on the wb) titled "Osama in Pakistan, says expert" ---- and this article is dated Sept 7 2004!
Four years ago most experts were in agreement that Osama was esentially in Pakistan.
Pakistan has been essentially sheltering Osama, either outrightly or simply by not looking very hard for him. Pakistan needs US money to stabalize their economy and the US needs Pakistan to help with our with efforts in Afghanistan.
For 4 years we haven't pressed the issue with Pakistan.
So why 4 years later is Pres. Bush so adamant that he send troops into Pakistan?
There is only one thing there: Osama bin Laden.
Why now?
Because being able to confirm the capture or kill of America's greatest enemy only a month before a Presidential election would ensure the victory of Bush's biggest supporter....Sen. John McCain!
Is Pres. Bush risking the fragile house of cards the US and Pakistan have constructed over the last 4 years in a cynical attempt to help his biggest (and only!) supporter when the election in November?
Are these mysterious military incursions into Pakistani airspace really not so mysterious at all?
Is Bush planning to finally capture Osama bin Laden after nearly 8 years not out of any sense of justice...but merely to help the Republican win another election? Pakistani troops fired on two U.S. helicopters that intruded into Pakistani airspace on Sunday night (Sept 21), forcing them to turn b... more -
Psychologists Ban Any Involvement In Use Of Torture Techniques
(AP) The nation's leading psychologists' association has voted to ban its members from taking part in interrogations at the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and other military detention sites where it believes international law is being violated.
The ban means those who are American Psychological Association members can't assist the U.S. military at these sites.
They can only work there for humanitarian purposes or with non-governmental groups, according to Stephen Soldz, a Boston psychologist. Soldz is founder of an ethics coalition that has long supported the ban.
"This is a repudiation by the membership of a policy that has been doggedly pursued by APA leadership for year after year," Soldz said Thursday. "The membership has now spoken and it's now incumbent upon APA to immediately implement this."
Even so, the vote was not unanimous - it was 8,792 to 6,157 in favor of the tough new position. Steven Reisner, a New York psychologist who's running for president of the association, said that members' votes were counted this week.
Under the group's rules, the ban becomes official policy at the association's next annual meeting in August 2009. Its council likely will discuss whether to act sooner than that, said spokeswoman Rhea Farberman.
The new policy by the psychologists brings the group more in line with the American Medical Association and American Psychiatric Association. In 2005, the psychologists association adopted a position that said, for national security purposes, it was ethical to act as consultants for interrogation and information-gathering. (AP) The nation's leading psychologists' association has voted to ban its members from taking part in interrogations at the ... more -
Al Qaeda Video threatened major new attacks in Afghanista
(CBS/ AP) Al Qaeda threatened major new attacks in Afghanistan and dismissed setbacks in Iraq, vowing that it will keep fighting there even after Americans leave, in a new video marking the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, issued Friday more than a week after the anniversary.
The delay in release, apparently due to problems in the militant Web sites where al Qaeda posts its videos, raised questions among counterterror specialists over whether the terror network's long powerful propaganda machine was faltering.
The delay deflated what is usually a media splash for al Qaeda. In previous years, the group has released a string of videos for the 9-11 anniversary, featuring top leaders trumpeting their victories. Osama bin Laden spoke in one of the anniversary videos last year, making his first appearance in nearly three years.
Elsewhere in the video, a leading al Qaeda cleric, known as Sheik Attiyatullah, dismissed claims that the U.S. and Iraqi military were defeating the terror group's branch in Iraq. "The Americans have not won nor has their security plan succeeded," he said.
He acknowledged a "decline in the number of operations (by mujahedeen) and decline in the number of losses in the ranks of the Americans," but said, "this is something natural, as everything has its ups and downs, and every stage has its own circumstances."
"The Americans are without a doubt going to pull out of Iraq dragging their tails in defeat," he said. "The jihad and mujahedeen are here to stay and will keep going, with Allah's help. It requires only a little patience." (CBS/ AP) Al Qaeda threatened major new attacks in Afghanistan and dismissed setbacks in Iraq, vowing that it will keep fighting there... more -
Pakistani army protected bin Laden and Taliban
Khawar Mehdi: What happened to Pakistani military after 9/11? Part 4 of 4
In part 4 of this series, Pakistan analyst Khawar Mehdi tells Pepe Escobar about the repercussions of Musharraf's crucial policy switch after 9/11, abandoning the Taliban and embracing the Bush-declared "war on terror". Mehdi recalls the visit by a Pakistani delegation to Afghanistan that allegedly asked Taliban emir Mulah Omar to hand over Osama bin Laden. Mehdi argues that the true story was that the head of the delegation, Pakistani ISI chief Lt. Gen. Mahmud Ahmed, convinced the Taliban to implement a new Pakistani plan, advising the Taliban to retreat instead of facing overwhelming US military power. Mehdi also discusses how Musharraf's radical U-turn has been extremely confusing for the Pakistani armed forces and for the ISI - which had nurtured the Taliban since the mid-1990s.
Khawar Mehdi, born in Rawalpindi, is a Pakistani journalist and political analyst. Even before 9/11 he had advised numerous journalists, academics and researchers from North America and Europe working in the tribal areas of Pakistan and in Afghanistan. In 2004 he was imprisoned and tortured by President Pervez Musharraf's regime while investigating the presence of Taliban training camps inside Pakistan. He was released thanks to an international media campaign - after a personal intervention by Musharraf. Mehdi has unparalleled access to sources in Pakistan's FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas). He has been living in Virginia since 2005, working as an analyst/consultant.
See Part 1 at: http://current.com/items/89316301_the_revamped_war_on_t...
See Part 2 at: http://current.com/items/89316341_who_s_in_us_line_of_f...
See Part 3 at: http://current.com/items/89318873_al_qaeda_and_jihad_s_... Khawar Mehdi: What happened to Pakistani military after 9/11? Part 4 of 4 ... more -
U.S.: Al-Qaida 'imploding' - Terrorism- msnbc.com
Intelligence agencies caution against saying terror group's demise too soon!!!
Top U.S. counterterrorism officials Monday said al-Qaida is "imploding" and that its violent tactics have turned Muslims worldwide against the organization.
"It's imploding. It's imploding because it's not a message that resonates with a lot of Muslims," said Dell Dailey, the State Department's coordinator for counterterrorism.
Al-Qaida still remains the most dangerous threat to the United States, according to U.S. intelligence officials and reports. But of growing concern are organizations like Lebanese Hezbollah and Hamas, which combine social services, local governance, national politics with extremist attacks, Undersecretary of State James Glassman said. Intelligence agencies caution against saying terror group's demise too soon!!! ... more -
'YOU MAY BE A TALIBAN IF...'
Our troops in Afghanistan prove they've retained their sense of humor with the following 'YOU MAY BE A TALIBAN IF...'
1. You refine heroin for a living, but you have a moral objection to beer.
2. You own a $3,000 machine gun and $5,000 rocket launcher, but you can't afford shoes.
3. You have more wives than teeth.
4. You wipe your butt with your bare left hand, but consider bacon 'unclean.'
5. You think vests come in two styles: bullet-proof and suicide.
6. You can't think of anyone you HAVEN'T declared Jihad against.
7. You consider television dangerous, but routinely carry explosives in your clothing.
8. You were amazed to discover that cell phones have uses other than setting off roadside bombs.
9. You've often uttered the phrase, 'I love what you've done with your cave.'
10. You have nothing against women and think every man should own at least one.
11.! You bathe at least monthly whether necessary or not.
12. You have a crush on your neighbor's goat. Our troops in Afghanistan prove they've retained their sense of humor with the following 'YOU MAY BE A TALIBAN IF...' ... more -
60 MILLION Sign Anti-Terrorism Petition
60 million Pakistanis have sign on to the "This Is Not Us" campaign.
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Decade worth of messages, interviews from bin Laden leaked to web
Ten years of messages and interviews with al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden have been leaked. Translated by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the documents were posted on a blog Friday.
Posted to Secrecy News blog on September 12, and copied to similar sites including Wikileaks.org, the ten years of messages span from 1994-2004. The packet, issued in 2004, is nearly 300 pages, and labeled "official use only". It was translated by the Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS), a division of the CIA, and includes interviews with bin Laden from various news agencies and also includes messages he sent directly to the United States.
One message includes bin Laden's denial of having anything to do with the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York City, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania.
Read on.... Ten years of messages and interviews with al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden have been leaked. Translated by the United States Central In... more
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