The Taliban know no depths when it comes to depravity

More as we get it. In their seemingly endless race to the bottom, the depraved Religion of Peace™ ’strugglers’ the Taliban cause more carnage; and deprive their own of aid:

KUNDUZ, Afghanistan — Three people, including a German security guard, were killed Friday when suicide bombers and gunmen stormed the compound of a US aid organisation in northern Afghanistan in an attack claimed by the Taliban.

At least four suicide bombers attacked the premises of Development Alternatives Inc (DAI) in Kunduz city and two detonated their explosive vests, Mohammad Omar, the governor of northern Kunduz province, told AFP.

Smoke billowed from the building, which was surrounded by NATO-led Afghan troops after the latest strike by insurgents against foreign targets in the nearly nine-year conflict.

“The first suicide attacker detonated at the entrance, the second detonated inside the premises, killing one foreign national,” he said, adding that one security guard and one policeman were also killed. Two of the attackers were killed by security forces before they were able to detonate their explosives, he said, while two militants were “still resisting” from inside the compound.

An official at the US embassy in Kabul said a German security guard was killed and that another foreigner, whose nationality was not immediately clear, had been shot in the arm as expatriates fled on to the roof. Both German and US troops are based in Kunduz under ISAF’s operations to quell an intensifying Taliban insurgency.

A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack, which began around dawn. “This morning six Taliban suicide bombers attacked the United States development organisation branch,” Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location.

Northern Afghanistan has largely escaped the violence that blights the southern provinces, mainly because the population is dominated by Tajiks and Uzbeks, rather than the Pashtuns who make up the bulk of the Taliban.
In the past year, however, violence in the region has escalated as the Taliban converge on road routes that bring supplies from Central Asia to military bases in Afghanistan.

DAI is a so-called “implementing partner” of Washington’s international aid arm USAID. It is believed to have opened its Kunduz operation about four months ago. Such contractors are playing an increasingly important role in Afghanistan, utilising billions of dollars in aid money pouring into the impoverished country in an effort to rebuild after 30 years of war.

A spokesman for NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said Afghan and foreign troops were involved in the clearing operation and had been evacuating the injured. The Taliban are stepping up attacks on foreign targets in reaction to intensified efforts by the US and NATO to rout the militants, particularly from their strongholds in the south of the country.

Friday’s attack came just days after Taliban gunmen attacked a major NATO base in the eastern city of Jalalabad, setting off a car bomb and firing rockets. It was the latest in a series of attacks on military bases, although many do come under regular rocket fire.

US aid contractors have been attacked in a number of locations in Afghanistan in recent months, notably in the southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar where fighting is fiercest. Suicide and gun attacks on foreign firms — most involved in delivering aid projects — have shaken the companies and hampered their efforts to recruit foreign staff as part of the “civilian surge” to speed development.

The US and NATO have 140,000 troops in Afghanistan, with most of the newly-deployed heading to the south as part of a US-led counter-insurgency strategy aimed at bringing the fight to the Taliban. NATO also said Friday that one of its soldiers had been killed in eastern Afghanistan, bringing the death toll so far this year to 324

These are the people that US, British and EU politicians, military pundits (and pretty much every left winger everywhere) want to talk to. In your name.

Feel happy about that?

[Source: AFP]

Radical Isamists are suspected of a campaign to deface posters considered 'sexy' in East London'

The Religion of sexual inadequacy and mysoginistic jealousy may be attempting to bring more of its seventh century bigotry to twenty-first century London:

Street adverts featuring women in bikinis have been defaced in apparently targeted attacks.

Most show women in swimwear by chain store H&M but another features a couple kissing to promote the Bollywood film Kites.

Residents in affected London areas suggested the images, which were daubed with black paint, could have been targeted by religious conservatives or radical feminists.

Police have not linked the campaign to any religious group but the damage is similar to attacks in Pakistan on billboard ads branded “un-Islamic” and “obscene” by hardliners.

Today women’s rights and anti-censorship activists joined Muslims and Christians to condemn the vandals.

Police said 14 bus shelters around Tower Hamlets, including many in Limehouse, were hit last month.

Residents told of similar damage in Waltham Forest. One said: “It seems to be a dedicated group who obviously have some serious issues with these adverts.”

After finding the black paint could be easily removed, the vandals switched to a sticky, tar-like substance which is harder to scrub off.

Agnes Callamard, of Article 19, a London-based organisation combating censorship, said: “While one may dislike some ads and find them offensive, this cannot be a basis for blacking out’ the picture.”

Avedon Carol, of Feminists Against Censorship, said: “The idea that somehow the image of women being sexy spreads all sorts of horribleness is reactionary and anti-women.”

The bus shelters are provided to Transport for London by advertising firm Clear Channel, which said the content was regulated by the Advertising Standards Authority.

A spokesman confirmed a rise in graffiti attacks and said each one cost £130 to put right. Dr Shaaz Mahboob, of British Muslims for Secular Democracy, said: “Many British Muslims wouldn’t go to the beach in a bikini but would never think it’s their right to impose their values on others like this.”

Pastor Henry Dixon, of Poplar Baptist Church, said: “If people feel that a poster is wrong then they should complain to the ASA. Causing criminal damage is not right.”

An H&M spokeswoman said: “A picture can be interpreted in many different ways. The interpretation is always in the eye of the beholder.

Now compare this to another story from the other side of the world:

Islamists in Peshawar have conducted similar campaigns to those seen in London recently

The depiction of uncovered women is considered un-Islamic by the Taliban, whose influence is growing in the North West Frontier province.

Similar edicts were issued and posters defaced in 2003. “These multinational companies want to promote obscenity, lewdness and vulgarity,” said a furious religious leader, Shehzada Babar.

Despite these protestations, images of women gradually began to reappear and had again become a fixture of Peshawar street life until this new wave of paint jobs. Last week, notices appeared warning people against un-Islamic activities, such as watching films and listening to music.

We need to be clear that no link has yet been proven between Islamists and these defacements. However, Tower Hamlets does have the highest proportion of Muslims in any area of the country (standing at well over 36% five years ago) and East London is also home to Britain’s most radical Islamists, including Anjem Choudary’s officially-disbanded but still active al-Muhajiroun jihadists.

Any British citizens among them should further consider whether pluralistic, democratic and gender-equal Britain really is the place for them.

[Sources: London Evening Standard, The Week]

US drones have been successful against terrorist groups in Pakistan - but would be even more so if the duplicitous Pakistani government would get off the fence

Yet another success for the US unmanned aircraft campaign, with the bonus that no good guys get killed:

 U.S. drone aircraft on Tuesday fired more than a dozen missiles into Pakistan’s North Waziristan, a major al Qaeda and Taliban sanctuary, killing at least 14 militants, Pakistani security officials said.

It was the third drone missile strike on militants in northwest Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan, since a failed bid to set off a car bomb in New York’s Times Square on May 1.

The United States is convinced that Pakistani Taliban militants allied with al Qaeda and operating out of northwestern border regions were behind the attempted bombing.

The drone attack was in Dattakhel village, about 30 km (20 miles) west of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan.

“Three missiles hit a vehicle and three militants sitting in it were killed,” said an intelligence agency official in the region, who declined to be identified.

The drones then attacked a nearby militant compound, firing about 12 missiles into it.

“The militants have cordoned off the area so far they’ve retrieved 11 bodies from the debris,” said a second security official. “The death toll may rise because the militants are still searching for bodies.”

There was no word on the identity of any of the militants killed but the attack was in an area where members of an Afghan Taliban faction led by a commander known as Gul Bahadur operate. Foreign fighters linked to al Qaeda are known to be in the area.

Pakistani Taliban fighters fleeing an army offensive launched late last year on their South Waziristan bastion are also known to have taken refuge with their North Waziristan allies.

Pakistan publicly objects to attacks by CIA pilotless aircraft saying they are a violation of its sovereignty and fuel anti-U.S. feelings, which complicate Pakistan’s efforts against militancy.

Unofficially, however, analysts say Pakistan is cooperating with the United States in identifying at least some of the militant targets attacked by the drones.

On Sunday, at least six militants were killed in a similar strike in the same area.

Late last month, Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud, who was reported to have been killed in a drone strike in January, appeared in Internet videos threatening suicide strikes in the United States.

Last year, a drone killed Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who was accused of assassinating former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, in South Waziristan near the Afghan border.

The use of drones by the US in the Afghanistan/Pakistan theatre is one of the unsung success stories in this war against the Taliban/al-Qaeda nexus. They would do even better however, if the traitorous Pakistani Intelligence service (ISI) were not protecting the terrorists; moving the leaders between population centres within Pakistan that the US can’t reach.

The Pakistani government, who enables this chicanery, are playing a double game with the West – yet we still keep plying them with billions in aid and support every year – which seems to vaporise goodness only knows where.

Where is the quid pro quo? Perhaps it’s time to turn off the money pump and take the gloves off.

[Source: Reuters]

Eight year-old Farzana recovers in hospital after poison attack on a girls' school last year

Just when you thought that the sexual insecurity, misogyny, cowardice, moral depravity and utter cruelty of radical Islamism had hit bottom – the Taliban just keep on digging:

KABUL – At least 12 female students were hospitalised in Afghanistan on Wednesday after inhaling a poisonous substance sprayed at a school in northern Afghanistan.

The 12 students of the Fatima Zahra Girl School, and a teacher and an assistant were mysteriously poisoned, Hamayon Khamush, director of the hospital in Kunduz city, was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

The Taliban’s strict form of fundamentalist Islam prohibits girls from attending school.

To defend their ideology, Taliban militants have attacked girl students with gas and acid.

In May last year 90 girls were hospitalised in Kapisa province, north-east of the capital, after someone sprayed toxic chemicals in the classroom.

A similar gas attack reportedly took place on Tuesday in Shina, a suburb of Kabul, where over a dozen girl students had to be sent to hospital after exhibiting symptoms of poisoning.

“We were very weak, sick and dizzy. When I opened my eyes we were in hospital. I am so sad, what went wrong with our school? I want to study.” - Leda, 12, speaking from her hospital bed after similar attacks last year

Afghan schoolgirl receiving treatment in a hospital after a gas attack

We thought we were relatively unshockable, after several years of following and studying the underbelly of Islam – but this is possibly the most appalling human rights atrocity we’ve encountered on our journey so far – and that’s saying something.

[Source: ADN Kronos Additional material: The Independent]

The people the Obama administration would welcome talks with..

ISLAMABAD – Taliban militants flog two men and a teenage boy in a video that has emerged from Pakistan’s tribal belt along the Afghan border, showing the hold of insurgents in at least one area there despite army offensives and intensified U.S. missile strikes in the region.

The video was shot on a mobile phone on Feb. 3 and passed to a local journalist who occasionally provides video to Associated Press Television News. The man who provided the clip said it was taken in the Mamozai area of the Orakzai tribal region, though there was no way of verifying that because travel there is dangerous for outsiders. The tribal elder requested anonymity out of fear for his life.

The Taliban are known to beat people in areas they control if they are suspected of criminal acts, spying or violating the militants’ ultra-strict interpretation of Islamic law. People accused of serious crimes are often reportedly killed.

Using a piece of rope or leather, a militant repeatedly strikes a man who wears trousers but no shirt, and who looks to be covered in dirt or soot. The man at times has to be restrained. He falls to the ground repeatedly, but is hauled back up during the beating.

The tribal elder who provided the footage said the man was being punished for allegedly “working against the Taliban” by speaking out against the militants. The second victim appears to be a teenage boy, who the tribal elder said was being blamed for not growing a beard. The third victim was said to be punished for not praying.

A crowd of men and boys watched the beatings, mostly in silence.

‘Old man with the white beard’
As the audience rise to leave, a man announces that an “old man with the white beard” is to be detained for five days and “if he improves” during his detention the militants would take another look at his case. His crime was not announced.

The Pakistani army has carried out occasional air raids in Orakzai over the last few months, but it has not been the target of a major ground offensive like one under way in South Waziristan tribal region.

The government has little or no presence in Pakistan’s tribal belt. Before the Taliban rose to prominence in the region over the past decade, tribal elders dispensed justice.

Do we really need to pose the ‘elephant in the room’ question – the one that asks which sort of politicians would talk to these animals? US Democrats and electorate, you really played a blinder (to use somewhat sarcastic British expression), when you voted this man into office.

[Sources: AP, MSNBC]

Régime Change in Iran

Where's her vote?

..probably won’t happen – unfortunately. Though Ahmadinejad and the hard-Islamist Mullahs have proven themselves to be little other than sadistic, ultraviolent despots who detest the people they are supposed to represent, they are proving overwhelming in their resilience; despite the enormous groundswell of protest after the disputed elections last year.

However, at the very least, the political élite will be busy securing emergency plans for their escape – just in case.

Say Goodbye to Modesty:

Not your Dad's X-Ray: Millimetre Wave technology could increase your security - and your blushes

Islamic terrorism’s discovery of virtually undetectable binary explosives will mean Millimetre Wave ‘full-body-scanners springing up at airports around the world next year. At first, only on inbound US routes, but then -  as with all erosions of privacy – their spread will be irresistible.  Look out for (and allow time for) will also be more pat-downs, bag searches, questions and in-flight restrictions.

The time, inconvenience and expense for all this extra security? Consider it yet another slice of Islam tax non-Muslims will have to pick up.

Might be a good time to invest in companies like Cisco. Their ‘Telepresence’ videoconferencing technology will mean you can ‘be there’ without actually being there (if you see what we mean), for vital business meetings and such.

Yemen – the new Afghanistan

Yemen: The new battleground against Islamic Supremacism

Al-Qaeda, increasingly fearful of US drone operations on the Pakistan/Afghan borders (a highly successful aspect of the current military operations there), have already started to flock there. Expect the Taliban to follow in the exodus – but they will most likely disperse into the large Pakistan cities such as Karachi and Lahore (probably aided and abetted by the treacherous ISI, the Pakistani ‘Intelligence Service’).

New British Government:

Cameron: Here comes another one - just like the other one..

…same old Arabism, multiculturalism and dhimmitude. There may be a small degree of window-dressing, but by and large David Cameron will be anxious for his Conservative business chums to continue to profit from the not-so-stealthy importation of third-world immigrants (and consequent increases in indigenous unemployment) started by his opposite numbers in the what-will-be-by-then opposition Labour party.

The People Will Speak Up:

Standing up for Israel and Western values: demonstrators in London last year

The British people, naturally tolerant and slow to anger, will finally show signs of their frustration with the Islamisation of their country.  The UK arm of an organisation called SIOE (Stop The Islamisation of Europe), will also see its ranks swell – although it would do well to make alliances with secular groups such as the council of ex-Muslims of Britain and Jewish groups.

The English Defence League, a somewhat rag-tag group of mainly young male soccer fans, will have to lose its beer-swilling, football-chanting image (it needs to); and make a coherent case for what it stands for, if it too wishes see its membership widen.

There may be st least one violent clash with the hard-left UAF, Anjem Choudary’s ‘Islam4UK’ group and the EDL and others – possibly at Wooton Basset, the small Wiltshire market town near to RAF Lyneham, the Royal Air Force base used to fly home the bodies of British combatants in Afghanistan and Iraq.

It is here where the the ultra-fundamentalist al-Muhajiroun is likely to cross a line with mainstream Brits, by holding a demonstration with ’symbolic’ coffins of dead Muslims.

Taliban beware: this one might have your name on it

It has long been suspected that Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence Directorate (ISI) is in bed with the Taliban – this latest report shows that the spooks are assisting Top Turban Mullah Omar in moving around the country to escape American UAVs:

Fearing that Taliban supremo Mullah Omar might be targetted by US drones, Pakistan’s ISI has helped him to flee from the border town of Quetta to the mega port city of Karachi, where he has established a new Shura council.

One-eyed leader of the Afghan Taliban recently found refuge from potential US attacks in Karachi with Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) assistance, the Washington Times reported quoting US intelligence officials.

“Mullah Omar travelled to Karachi last month after the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.  He inaugurated a new senior leadership council in Karachi, a city that so far has escaped US and Pakistani counter-terrorism campaigns,” the officials said.

The paper said the ISI helped Mullah Omar move from Quetta, where they felt he was exposed to attacks by unmanned US drones.

“The development reinforces suspicions that the ISI, which helped create the Taliban in the 1990s to expand Pakistani influence in Afghanistan, is working against US interests in Afghanistan as the Obama administration prepares to send more US troops to fight there,” the daily said.

Bruce Riedel, a CIA veteran and analyst on Al Qaida and the Taliban, confirmed that Mullah Omar had been spotted in Karachi recently, the daily said.

“Some sources claim the ISI decided to move him further from the battlefield to keep him safe” from US drone attacks, Riedel was quoted as saying.

“There are huge madrassas in Karachi where Mullah Omar could easily be kept,” he said.

Riedel noted that there had been few suicide bombings in Karachi, which he attributed to the Taliban and Al Qaida not wanting to “foul their own nest”.

At the same time, the daily said so far there has been no indication that the top Al Qaida leadership too had moved to Karachi.

Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri are still thought to be in the tribal region of Pakistan on Afghanistan’s border, he said.

However, the newspaper said according to intelligence officials, other mid-level Al Qaida operatives who facilitate the travel and training of foreign fighters have moved to the Karachi metropolitan area, which with 18 million people is Pakistan’s most populous city.

“One reason, Al Qaida and Taliban leaders are relocating to Karachi is because they believe US drones do not strike there,” an official was quoted as saying adding that it is a densely populated urban area.

Pakistan receives billions of dollars in international aid from the US and the rest of the developed world. Yet its government has signally failed to keep this rogue intelligence agency in check.

In addition to helping the Taliban avoid capture and assisting their attacks in the Coalition forces in Afghanistan, it is widely believed in informed circles that they facilitated the horrific Mumbai massacres of last year, by among other things training the Muslim attackers in marine navigation, in order  that they could sail into their destination undetected.

Isn’t it about time international aid donors started to make such aid conditional on Pakistan being a reliable ally in the first place?

Or are we just being played for Jizya?

[Source: NDTV, New Delhi)

What the Taliban do to schools (and schoolchildren)

A special school security wing (SSSW) of the police has been set up in Pakistan’s Malakand division, which has faced the ire of militants who have destroyed over 200 schools, an official said.

‘We have established the SSSW to ensure protection to the schools, colleges and university all over Malakand,’ Mohammad Idrees Khan, deputy inspector general (DIG) of police, Malakand, told The News Monday.

The wing is headed by an inspector who is assisted by two sub-inspectors, four assistant sub-inspectors and other police personnel that monitor the security of the educational institutions in Swat.

Khan said: ‘Life is returning to normal. The cinemas have reopened in Swat and people can watch movies there. Also, the barbers have reopened their shops while women now live without any fear in the militancy-hit areas of Swat and other districts of Malakand division.’

Education was a major victim of terrorism in Malakand division as terrorists destroyed over 200 schools, mostly for girls, in Swat district alone during the last couple of years. It led to schoolchildren abandoning studies.

Dpt. inspector General Malarkand Province Police, Mohammad Idrees Khan

Khan said that the federal and provincial governments are strengthening and equipping the police force in the division so that the militants are unable to stage a comeback. Besides providing facilities and funds, more vacancies for officers and cops have been created for Malakand.

Pakistan has been hit by a string of terror strikes, including massive bombings, since early October. The Taliban guerrillas have dramatically increased the terror attacks ever since the army stepped up their assault in mountainous South Waziristan.

The International Islamic University in the national capital was targeted by twin suicide bombers Oct 20 following which a decision was taken to shut down schools and colleges throughout the country. While some of the educational institutions reopened after a brief while, some private schools extended the closure period.

The school authorities have demanded adequate security for their institutions.

This is yet more hard evidence of what you must always remember when debating liberal igoramuses – far and away the biggest and most deadly threat to Muslims worldwide was, is and remains – other Muslims.

[Source: Indo-Asian News Service]

Feeling the love of Islamism: Children wade through the ruins of their Swat Valley school, blown up by the Taliban in January

ISLAMABAD: Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik said Taliban have torched 473 educational institutions in Malakand division and FATA [Federally-Administered Tribal Areas].

In a statement, interior minister said that Taliban want to destabilize and defame Pakistan. They torched 409 educational institutions in Malakand division and 64 in FATA.

Malik said Taliban are enemies of Islam and Pakistan and professional killers. Militancy and terrorism will be eliminated from the roots, he added.

What this short report fails to mention is that those schools are overwhelmingly girls’ schools. Islam (and particularly the Taliban) doesn’t like its females to be educated for some reason.

Frankly, we’re scratching our heads as to why that could be…

[Source: Geo TV]

Taliban Leader Baitullah Mehsud always insisted on anonymity in interviews

It now appears increasingly certain that the thoroughly nasty Taliban Chief, Baitullah Mehsud, has been killed by a missile from a U.S. drone in South Waziristan, along the Afghan/Pakistan border:

There are growing indications that Pakistan’s most wanted man, Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, has been killed by a US missile.

A Mehsud aide reportedly confirmed that he had died when a drone attacked the house where he was staying. Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Quresh said the government was seeking “ground verification”.

Taliban leaders have gathered in South Waziristan to choose a successor, local sources have told the BBC.

The missile fired by the US drone hit the home of the Taliban chief’s father-in-law, Malik Ikramuddin, in the Zangarha area, 15km (9 miles) north-east of Ladha, at around 0100 on Wednesday (1900 GMT Tuesday).

Mehsud's camp in S.Waziristan where boys he bought were trained as homicide bombers

At the time of the attack, the Taliban leader was said to be on the roof, suffering from an illness for which he was taking medication, local people told our Peshawar reporter. Some who had reportedly seen his body said that it had been half-destroyed by the blast.

Baitullah Mehsud was buried in the nearby village of Nardusai, the witnesses told our reporter. Several of [his]relatives were also injured, local people told the BBC earlier.

Pakistan’s foreign minister told reporters in Islamabad that “to be 100% sure [of the Taliban leader's death], we are going for ground verification”. One factor complicating verification of his death is the lack of photographs of the Taliban leader.

When the BBC’s Syed Shoaib Hasan went to interview him in South Waziristan in May 2008, he found himself sitting down before a short, plump, bearded man, reluctant to allow his picture to be taken.

Pakistan’s interior minister, Rehman Malik, told the BBC that even if DNA could be recovered at the scene, the authorities did not have a sample from a male relative of the Taliban leader to compare it with.

This will be a tremendous boost to the Afghanistan/Pakistan campaign if true, although the death of the head of the Pakistan Taliban will prove to be very difficult to verify completely, as few images of him exist (some of the ones you see in the results of an internet search are fakes – and in any meetings with the media Baitullah will normally insist on being photographed or filmed from the back).

This man is behind scores of atrocities. He ordered them. He sanctioned them. He participated in them. Among those to which Baitullah is thought or known to be linked include the massive  campaign of violence in Swat Valley, brutal attacks in other Pakistani cities and he is thought to have been key in the Mumbai atrocities.

He bought young boys from desperate parents and trained them to become suicide bombers at a secret camp in South Waziristan

So, although this is good news, it does need to be tempered with the fact that he will surely be replaced quickly; and that Taliban violence will not be ended by his demise.

This coward’s victims were mainly the unsuspecting, the defenceless, women and girls. His death, if and when fully confirmed, should therefore be a matter for celebration – but not victory parties just yet.

[Main story: BBC Online]