Burqas: Terrorists’ Calling Card?, Islam and the West, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam and the West

Burqas: Terrorists’ Calling Card?

By Ryan Mauro

On April 17, a refugee camp at Kohat in Pakistan was struck by two suicide bombers who disguised themselves in burqas. The attack, which killed 41 people and injured 62, is sure to heighten the debate in Europe about whether wearing burqas and niqabs in public should be banned. A parliamentary committee in Belgium has unanimously approved such a ban, with the final vote in the House of Representatives on April 22 expected to pass it. Movements to ban the burqa in Europe are growing due to concern that the Islamic veil can be used to disguise the identities of terrorists planning attacks like those that just took place in Pakistan and over the lack of assimilation of Muslim immigrants.

These concerns are not unfounded. Even though Islam frowns upon cross-dressing, male terrorists dressing up as burqa-clad women in order to carry out attacks is becoming more and more part of their modus operandi. This tactic has even been used by bank robbers and other criminals on many occasions, including in the US.

Terrorists have repeatedly donned burqas in Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as in the UK, Iraq, the Gaza Strip, India, Somalia and Mauritania. In the UK, one man who tried to set off a bomb in July 2005 in London was able to escape by wearing a burqa. The use of this clothing makes counter-terrorism difficult because female police, who are in short supply, must be used to search those wearing burqas. The police chief of Iraq’s Babil Province in August 2008 complained about this after two burqa-wearing females attacked Shiite pilgrims.

http://newageislam.com/burqas--terrorists-calling-card?/islam-and-the-west/d/2744

Taliban using poison gas on Afghan schoolgirls?, Islamic World News, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic World News

Taliban using poison gas on Afghan schoolgirls?

KUNDUZ: More than 80 schoolgirls in northern Afghanistan have fallen ill after a suspected poison gas attack on their school, local authorities said on Sunday, blaming the incident on the Taliban who oppose education for girls. Kunduz provincial spokesman Mahbobullah Sayedi said the latest case occurred on Sunday when 12 girls fell ill at school.

Officials said 47 complained of dizziness and nausea on Saturday, and another 23 got sick last Wednesday. None of the illnesses have been serious.

Sayedi blamed the sickness on "enemies" who oppose education for girls. Provincial police chief Abdul Razzaq Yaqubi also accused the Taliban of orchestrating the attack.

"I was in class when a smell like a flower reached my nose," said Sumaila, 12, one of the girls hospitalised after the alleged attack.

"I saw my classmates and my teacher collapse and when I opened my eyes I was in hospital," she said.

Azizullah Safar, head of the Kunduz hospital, said many of the girls were still suffering from pain, dizziness and vomiting.

The Taliban banned all education for girls when they ruled Afghanistan from 1996-2001 and it remains a disputed issue in much of Afghanistan.

Similar attacks have been carried out in other parts of Afghanistan over the past few years, including areas where there is little presence of the dreaded Taliban.

http://newageislam.com/taliban-using-poison-gas-on-afghan-schoolgirls?/islamic-world-news/d/2760

Muslims do not have a monopoly on morality, Islamic Sharia Laws, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic Sharia Laws

Muslims do not have a monopoly on morality

By Shaista Gohir

Some Muslims are fond of condemning western morality – alcoholism, nudity, premarital sex and homosexuality often being cited as examples. But Muslims do not have a monopoly on morality. In the west, child marriages and sex with children are illegal. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for many Muslim countries.

I recently saw the documentary on the Dancing Boys of Afghanistan. It exposed an ancient custom called "bacha bazi" (boy for play), where rich men buy boys as young as 11 from impoverished families for sexual slavery. The boys are dressed in women's clothes and made to dance and sing at parties, before being carted away by the men for sex. Owning boys is considered a symbol of status and one former warlord boasted of having up to 3,000 boys over a 20-year period, even though he was married, with two sons. The involvement of the police and inaction of the government means this form of child prostitution is widespread.

The moral hypocrisy is outrageous in a country where homosexuality is not only strictly forbidden but savagely punished, even between two consenting adults. However, men who sodomise young boys are not considered homosexuals or paedophiles. The love of young boys is not a phenomenon restricted to Afghanistan; homosexual pederasty is common in neighbouring Pakistan, too. In my view, repression of sexuality and extreme gender apartheid is to blame.

http://newageislam.com/muslims-do-not-have-a-monopoly-on-morality/islamic-sharia-laws/d/2771

Hamid Gul, Uzma Gul, Varan Bus Service and the Transport Jihad, Islamic Society, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic Society

Hamid Gul, Uzma Gul, Varan Bus Service and the Transport Jihad

Varan Bus Service was established with millions of rupees loaned to the daughter and son-in-law of a former ISI chief, General Hameed Gul, now the most right wing spokesman of Islamic fundamentalists of Pakistan. His politics of course started after he had secured the financial and economic interests and for his family, using his General’s uniform as the password.

Here is the story which tells numerous tales of how the Generals would not let any business opportunity slip by. Despite the ideological rhetoric and slogan mongering, facts in this story will shake up readers:

"Situated in and around the federal capital, the Rawalpindi/Islamabad district is politically critical because of its proximity to the heart of all government operations. Last summer the CMKP began to reorganize its wing in the area, placing special emphasis on attracting working class youth to the party ranks.

Among other issues, cadres began efforts to develop political consciousness in workers in the Varan city bus service. These efforts have resulted in increased police surveillance and repression of the party and its supporters. This is how the struggle of CMKP started in the district of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

Varan city bus service is a private company that provides urban bus transport in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. The company is headed by politically powerful shareholders who enjoy very strong connections with the establishment. Its owner, Uzma Gul, is the daughter of the former Director General of the ISI (Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence Agency), Hameed Gul, who some people might remember as the man who headed the anti-communist campaign in Afghanistan, and as a major patron of all right-wing groups in Pakistan.

http://newageislam.com/hamid-gul,-uzma-gul,-varan-bus-service-and-the-transport-jihad/islamic-society/d/2781

Pakistan at Crossroads: Bhuttos and Sharifs are not the hope for the future but dark forces of the dead past, Radical Islamism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.

Radical Islamism and Jihad

Pakistan at Crossroads: Bhuttos and Sharifs are not the hope for the future but dark forces of the dead past

By Mahboob A. Khawaja

Pakistan bears the hallmarks of the US-British roadmap for Iraq with massive killings of the civilian population, destruction of its socio-economic infrastructure as the foreign implanted leaders have adequate share of their fortunes for looting its irreplaceable natural wealth, time, human and economic resources. Dean Nelson of the UK Telegraph (October 07, 2009), made a pinching observation and asked: “Has Pakistan lost its honour?” The article referred to Dr. AK Khan’s much appraised Urdu write up “Ghairat” – honor a reflection on the current bloody affairs of the nation. Could any official of the ruling clan dare to answer that question? Ordinary folks believe that General Pervaiz Musharaf, late Miss Bhutto and Zardari have sold the country to foreign interests to maintain their own relevance and foreign bank balances.

To entertain the anti-Islamic Washington-based lobbyists, America carries out its own attacks on the civilian population inside Pakistan. In clear violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and international law, the daily American predator drone attacks kill innocent people in South Waziristan but no one can dare to question the might of the US control over Pakistan’s internal affairs. President Obama talks about peace and harmony with the Muslim world as face lifting postulation to shield the American worldwide moral, political and financial bankruptcy but appears determined to send more troops to Afghanistan to increase the deaths and destruction of the war torn country. He and his advisors never been to a war front but want to fight new wars against Muslims.

http://newageislam.com/pakistan-at-crossroads--bhuttos-and-sharifs-are-not-the-hope-for-the-future-but-dark-forces-of-the-dead-past/radical-islamism-and-jihad/d/2524

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attacks US for Afghan 'double game', Islamic World News, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic World News

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attacks US for Afghan 'double game'

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has accused the US of playing a "double game" in Afghanistan after the US used the same term to condemn Iran's role.

Mr Ahmadinejad said the US had "created terrorists and now say they are fighting them", as he appeared with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul.

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, who is also in Kabul, has accused Iran of giving the Taliban low-level support.

Later, Mr Karzai flew to Pakistan for talks with another key neighbour.

This is Mr Ahmadinejad's first visit to Afghanistan since both he and Mr Karzai were re-elected last year.

At a joint press conference with Mr Karzai, Mr Ahmadinejad rejected the presence of foreign military forces "as a solution for peace in Afghanistan".

He said: "Our policy is full support for the Afghan people and Afghan government and reconstruction of Afghanistan."

Mr Gates, who is in Afghanistan to review the progress of the current Western troop surge against the Taliban, had earlier accused Tehran of "playing a double game" of offering friendship to the Afghan government while at the same time giving "low-level support" and money to the Taliban.

The Taliban are Sunni Muslims and sworn enemies of Shia Iran, which has growing interests and influence, particularly in western parts of Afghanistan.

Mr Ahmadinejad said it was the US that was playing the "double game".

"They themselves created terrorists and now they're saying that they are fighting terrorists," he said.

Mr Ahmadinejad criticised the US for its troops' presence, saying: "Your country is located on the other side of the world, so what are you doing here?"

http://newageislam.com/mahmoud-ahmadinejad-attacks-us-for-afghan--double-game-/islamic-world-news/d/2560

The outrageous murder of Sikhs by the Taliban, Current affairs, NewAgeIslam.com

Current affairs

The outrageous murder of Sikhs by the Taliban

Tormented by Taliban

Let’s bring home persecuted Hindus, Sikhs

The beheading of two Sikhs by the Taliban in Pakistan’s tribal badlands is no doubt a ghastly crime which has understandably shocked the people of India. But it would be instructive to ask ourselves whether we expected the abductors of the hapless Sikhs to behave any better. Indeed, no purpose is served by expressing shock and revulsion at the Taliban’s gross display of inhuman cruelty; that’s what the adherents of Islamism are trained to do and that’s what jihadis indulge in for pleasure. It would be deceitful to suggest that the Sikhs were murdered because their families failed to pay the ‘ransom’ that had been demanded by their abductors. The abduction of these Sikhs (and at least four others who are believed to be still in the custody of the Taliban) was not what is usually referred to as kidnapping for ransom by criminals looking for easy money. What the Taliban had demanded — and continues to demand — from the Sikh community, which is a designated minority in Islamic Pakistan, is jizya, or survival tax (call it protection money if you wish) that non-believers must pay to stay alive in an Islamic caliphate. Since the Taliban’s ideology of hate extols the ‘virtues’ of puritanical Islam, it is only to be expected that they — as also the Islamic orthodoxy — should believe in the Quranic concept of dhimmitude and the right to treat dhimmis in the most appalling manner. We only need to recall the plight of the few remaining Sikhs in Afghanistan and the misery that is inflicted on Hindus in Pakistan. For further evidence we could look at Bangladesh where the Jamaat-e-Islami and its diabolical front organisations have targeted Hindus for atrocities committed in the name of Islam: The homes of Hindus have been looted, Hindu temples have been desecrated, Hindu women have been raped and Hindu men killed in cold blood, most noticeably when the BNP-Jamaat alliance was in power. The efforts of the Awami League Government to reverse the tide of Islamism are no doubt showing results, but a lot more needs to be done to restore a sense of security among Hindus and, in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Buddhists.

http://newageislam.com/the-outrageous-murder-of-sikhs-by-the-taliban-/current-affairs/d/2493

Fazle Hasan Abed, Bangladesh NGO head gets UK award, Islamic World News, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic World News

Fazle Hasan Abed, Bangladesh NGO head gets UK award

The founder of one of the world's largest non governmental organisations, the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, has been honoured in the UK.

Fazle Hasan Abed - who holds dual British and Bangladesh citizenship - will be knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 2010 for services in tackling poverty.

He has also been awarded for empowering the poor in Bangladesh and globally.

Mr Abed's name was included in the Queen's New Year's Honours List released on Thursday.

'Multi-dimensional approach'

"I feel very humbled to receive this award," he told the BBC from his office in Dhaka, "which I am delighted to accept on behalf of all Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (Brac) workers across the world.

"I now want to build on this success to continue Brac's fight against poverty not only in Bangladesh but in eight other countries in the world where we are involved - Afghanistan, Uganda, Tanzania, Southern Sudan, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Sri Lanka."

Brac also has plans to expand into Haiti.

Mr Abed says that Brac's success was because of a "multi-dimensional approach" to fighting poverty such as improving education, healthcare and financial services.

He Abed is to be made a Knight Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) and is the first person of Bangladeshi origin to be honoured with a knighthood by the British Crown since 1947.

Mr Abed is the second person in his family to be honoured with a knighthood. His grand uncle, Justice Nawab Sir Syed Shamsul Huda, was knighted by the British Crown in 1913.

http://newageislam.com/fazle-hasan-abed,-bangladesh-ngo-head-gets-uk-award/islamic-world-news/d/2306

Washington: Could CIA attack be handiwork of ISI?, Islamic World News, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic World News

Washington: Could CIA attack be handiwork of ISI?

Washington, Jan. 12: The suicide strike on the key US intelligence base in Afghanistan had hallmarks of an operation carried out by a national intelligence service, a leading US thinktank has said, apparently hinting that it could be the handiwork of Pakistan’s ISI or its rogue elements.

"The hit was by all account a masterful piece of trade craft beyond the known abilities of a group like Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan," US thinktank Stratfor said. "The Jordanians penetration of the CIA was less like the product of an insurgency than an operation carried out by a national intelligence service. And this is the most troubling aspect for the US," the think tank said.

The speculation about a possible ISI hand in the suicide attack is being traced back to US and Afghan government sources who said in the analysis of explosives used, it was found they were of standard military grade which points to ISI.

Stratfor deduction comes even as al-Jazeera TV said the Jordanian bomber Khali Abu Mulal al-Balawi was bought to the US base in Khost in eastern Afghanistan by car from across the border in Pakistan. The agency which was one of the TV channels which beamed a footage of Al Balawi alongside Pakistan Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud said the video showed "there was clearly a link between Pakistani Taliban headed by Hakimullah Mehsud and some of Al Qaeda elements operating in Pakistan. The Arab TV channel said, this video was expected and "everybody in the tribal border areas was told Al Balawi had recorded a message before he went to his mission." —PTI

http://newageislam.com/washington--could-cia-attack-be-handiwork-of-isi?/islamic-world-news/d/2376

Will The Quiet, Idealistic American sink into another quagmire called Yemen?, War on Terror, NewAgeIslam.com

War on Terror

Will The Quiet, Idealistic American sink into another quagmire called Yemen?

The Quiet American

By Uri Avnery

The quiet American was the hero of Graham Greene's novel about the first Vietnam War, the one fought by the French.

He was a young and naïve American, a professor’s son who had enjoyed a good education at Harvard, an idealist with all the best intentions. When he was sent to Vietnam, he wanted to help the natives to overcome the two evils as he saw them: French colonialism and Communism. Knowing absolutely nothing about the country in which he was acting, he caused a disaster. The book ends with a massacre, the outcome of his misguided efforts. He illustrated the old saying: "The road to hell is paved with good intentions."

Since this book was written, 54 years have passed, but it seems that the quiet American has not changed a bit. He is still an idealist (at least, in his own view of himself), still wants to bring redemption to foreign and faraway peoples about whom he knows nothing, and still causes terrible disasters: in Iraq, Afghanistan, and now, it seems, in Yemen.

The Iraqi example is the simplest one.

The American soldiers were sent there to overthrow the tyrannical regime of Saddam Hussein. There were, of course, also some less altruistic objectives, such as taking control of the Iraqi oil resources and stationing an American garrison in the heart of the Middle Eastern oil region. But for the American public, the adventure was presented as an idealistic enterprise to topple a bloody dictator who was menacing the world with nuclear bombs.

http://newageislam.com/will-the-quiet,-idealistic-american-sink-into-another-quagmire-called-yemen?/war-on-terror/d/2382

Military power only one of the many tools to deal with Islamic Radicalization, Radical Islamism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.com

Radical Islamism and Jihad

Military power only one of the many tools to deal with Islamic Radicalization

John Burns Q. and A. on Islamic Radicalization

By John F. Burns

January 21, 2010

Why would a group of young Middle Eastern Muslims, many of them with good educations, promising futures and the opportunity to benefit in their travels from much that is best in the life of the West, want to leave such a terrible mark in history? What passion so great, what commitment of faith and unreason so immutable, what cast of mind so hostile to gentleness and compassion, could drive 19 young men to commit such appalling acts of mass murder, extinguishing their own lives in the process?

Millions of words have been written in search of answers since that day, and the days of extremist horror that have followed in Baghdad, Bali, Istanbul, Kabul, London, Madrid and elsewhere; so many that I fear that there is little new or insightful anyone can contribute at this remove to the understanding of Islamic extremism that is now so deeply embedded in the collective consciousness of the West. As a reporter, I, like so many others, have had personal exposure to the world of violence and intolerance engendered by the extremists, through a decade and more of assignments to places where their hatred of the West took its most dramatic form – the rise of the Talibanin Afghanistan in the mid-1990’s, and the miseries they imposed on the Afghan people until their overthrow after 9/11; a period of many months in Yemen, before and after the October 2000 attack by a bomb-laden skiff that killed 17 sailors on the USS Cole, the last major al Qaeda attack before the Twin Towers; after 9/11, assignment to Pakistan, and later Afghanistan, during the campaign to topple the Taliban and its aftermath; from there, on to Iraq for five years during the run-up to the invasion of 2003, and through the years of insurgency and civil conflict that followed.

http://newageislam.com/military-power-only-one-of-the-many-tools-to-deal-with-islamic-radicalization/radical-islamism-and-jihad/d/2409

We can’t afford to quit Afghanistan- India’s ambassador, Jayant Prasad, Current affairs, NewAgeIslam.com

Current affairs

We can’t afford to quit Afghanistan- India’s ambassador, Jayant Prasad

January 24th, 2010

Jayant Prasad, India’s ambassador in Kabul, suggests that if Afghanistan does not stabilise, the resulting chaos can impact India’s security in very many negative ways. In an interview to Anand K. Sahay, on the eve of the London Conference on Afghanistan on January 28, Mr Prasad expands on the policy to remain engaged.

Q. During his recent visit to the United States, the Prime Minister was categorical that India would remain engaged in Afghanistan, and advised America to do the same. The Indian leader did not wait for US President Barack Obama’s announcement that the US would be increasing troop levels. Why were we so emphatic, and off the mark even before the Americans? Why is Afghanistan so important to us?

A. Think back to 1998. When US embassies in East Africa were bombed that year, former US President Bill Clinton sent cruise missiles to hit Osama bin Laden in Khost in eastern Afghanistan where he was thought to be living. The Al Qaeda leader escaped, but many died or were injured in that strike. Western reporters learnt from survivors in Peshawar hospitals (where they’d been brought) that many of the dead and injured were members of terrorist groups who were training for attacks in Kashmir. I remember reading a report by Tim Weiner about this. I think it was called “Blowback from the Afghan Battlefield”.

At present there is danger of fusion and coalescing of terror groups in Pakistan that operate in India and Afghanistan. Perhaps the Pakistan government is itself beginning to realise this. But we are not at all confident that such realisation has gone far enough to create an impact on these terrorist outfits.

If the international community turns away from Afghanistan at the present juncture, if India turns away, Afghanistan may well be destabilised. The destabilisation of Afghanistan will lead first and foremost to the destabilisation of Pakistan, and is likely to have consequences for India.

http://newageislam.com/we-can%E2%80%99t-afford-to-quit-afghanistan--india%E2%80%99s-ambassador,-jayant-prasad/current-affairs/d/2417

New strategy for Afghanistan: US going for troop surge; withdrawal in three years, Islamic World News, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic World News

New strategy for Afghanistan: US going for troop surge; withdrawal in three years

WASHINGTON, Dec 1: US President Barack Obama is sending 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan but plans to conclude the war and withdraw most American troops within three years, White House officials said on Tuesday.

“We came to that determination through a series of deliberations and getting a strategy for how we go forward in Afghanistan,” White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told CNN when asked why President Obama was sending 10,000 less troops than Gen Stanley McChrystal, his commander in Afghanistan, wanted.

As a candidate, Mr Obama had described Afghanistan as the war the United States could not afford to lose. As president, he has repeatedly stated his intention to “finish the job” in Afghanistan.

After months of deliberations, Mr Obama is set to unveil his strategy on Tuesday night (1am GMT) in a nationally-televised address at the US Military Academy at West Point.

“What the president will announce tonight, though, is getting an accelerated timeline into Afghanistan so that we can talk about transitioning our forces out of there quickly,” said Mr Gibbs.

On Monday, Mr Obama consulted key US allies, including President Asif Ali Zardari. He also held an hour-long video conference call with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

The expected troop surge already caused a rift within Mr Obama’s Democratic Party on Tuesday when a senior lawmaker Jan Schakowsky announced that she was not going to support the new strategy. Congresswoman Schakowsky was one of President Obama’s earliest and most ardent supporters.

“I think he’s made up his mind that at this point there ought to be a troop increase, and I have to say I’m very sceptical about that as a solution,” she said.

http://newageislam.com/new-strategy-for-afghanistan--us-going-for-troop-surge;-withdrawal-in-three-years/islamic-world-news/d/2179

Taliban can be admired for their faith and loyalty, says UK Army Bishop, then says sorry, Islam and the West, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam and the West

Taliban can be admired for their faith and loyalty, says UK Army Bishop, then says sorry

By Jonathan Wynne-Jones and Duncan Gardham

13 Dec 2009

The Taliban can be admired for their conviction to their faith and their sense of loyalty to one another, the new bishop for the Armed Forces has claimed.

The Rt Rev Stephen Venner called for a more sympathetic approach to the Islamic fundamentalists that recognises their humanity.

The Church of England’s Bishop to the Forces warned that it will be harder to reach a peaceful solution to the war if the Afghan insurgents are portrayed too negatively.

His comments came as the Prime Minister visited Afghanistan and warned that the Taliban was fighting a "guerrilla war" aimed at causing "maximum damage". Gordon Brown said soldiers were discovering improvised explosive devices every two hours.

Mr Brown stayed overnight in the Allied base in the southern city of Kandahar, the first British Prime Minister to spend the night in a war zone since Winston Churchill. His visit came days after the death of Lance Corporal Adam Drane, the 100th member of the British forces to die in Afghanistan this year. His death brought the total number of British service personnel who have died since the start of operations in 2001 to 237.

Bishop Venner stressed his admiration for the sacrifices made by the British forces fighting in Afghanistan but also urged the need for a reassessment of how the Taliban are viewed.

http://newageislam.com/taliban-can-be-admired-for-their-faith-and-loyalty,-says-uk-army-bishop,-then-says-sorry/islam-and-the-west/d/2236

Obama doctrine in a spin, Current affairs, NewAgeIslam.com

Current affairs

Obama doctrine in a spin

By Mallad Rama Rao

Even two weeks after his Afghanistan speech, the world is questioning the notions at the basis of President Barack Obama's doctrine. The latest surprise is the suggestion of a carrot and stick policy for the Taliban

Expectedly, US President Barak Obama has defended his Afghanistan policy in his Nobel Peace Prize speech as a watershed event. Like his predecessor, George Bush Junior, he also cautioned the world of the consequences of not supporting the American war against Islamists. But at home, his policy has evoked a mixed response. The reasons would appear to be obvious.

In one breath Obama talks of pulling out US troops in 18 months and also his determination to bring the `war' in Afghanistan to a successful conclusion without making an `open-ended commitment.' Despatch of extra 30,000 US troops to the embattled country is in his view good enough evidence of his determination to win. At the same time he admits the war in Afghanistan can be won only when the last vestiges of the al-Qaeda and the Taliban are stamped out from not only the Afghan soil but also in their `safe havens' across the border in Pakistan.

The dichotomy in the Obama doctrine is therefore clear to the naked eye. Can anyone fix a time table for the decimation of terrorist groups? By announcing a sort of deadline for US pullout, he has assured the terrorist groups that all they have to do is to hold out for a year and a half before going on rampage in Afghanistan and beyond.

http://newageislam.com/obama-doctrine-in-a-spin/current-affairs/d/2248

The ‘cool’ Jihadis of America: Brainwashed on the Internet, Islam,Terrorism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam,Terrorism and Jihad

The ‘cool’ Jihadis of America: Brainwashed on the Internet

December 22, 2009

But the saga of the five young men from Virginia —friends who grew up together and attended the same mosque — has taken a very different turn, moving from a tale of promise to one of despair for many of the relatives and friends they left behind.

There is sadness in their tight-knit Muslim community — and anger.

The five detained men, who grew up with modest means and still lived in small homes and apartments with their families, seemed as though they were on track to achieve good things.

Some of the men, whose ages range from late teens to early 20s, have been described by friends and neighbours as polite, quiet and kind. They went to public schools. Some were athletes.

Right up to the time that they disappeared a few weeks ago, they regularly attended prayer services at the mosque. Several of them went to a nearby gym five days a week, a gym manager said.

At least two of them were in college. Umar Farooq — whose family ran a computer business — was a business major at George Mason University. Another of the five, the soft-spoken Ramy Zamzam, had just started dental school at Howard University. He would have taken his first round of final exams last week.

Instead, he and his friends were sitting in jail cells in Pakistan, not yet charged but suspected of trying to join militants who are fighting US troops in Afghanistan.

http://newageislam.com/the-%E2%80%98cool%E2%80%99-jihadis-of-america--brainwashed-on-the-internet/islam,terrorism-and-jihad/d/2257

Afghanistan: A case for more schools, not troops, War on Terror, NewAgeIslam.com

War on Terror

Afghanistan: A case for more schools, not troops

By Nicholas D. Kristof

October 30th, 2009

Dispatching more troops to Afghanistan would be a monumental bet and probably a bad one, most likely a waste of lives and resources that might simply empower the Taliban. In particular, one of the most compelling arguments against more troops rests on this stunning trade-off: For the cost of a single additional soldier stationed in Afghanistan for one year, we could build roughly 20 schools there.

It’s hard to do the calculation precisely, but for the cost of 40,000 troops over a few years — well, we could just about turn every Afghan into a Ph.D.

The hawks respond: It’s naive to think that you can sprinkle a bit of education on a war-torn society. It’s impossible to build schools now because the Taliban will blow them up.

In fact, it’s still quite possible to operate schools in Afghanistan — particularly when there’s a strong “buy-in” from the local community.

Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea, has now built 39 schools in Afghanistan and 92 in Pakistan — and not one has been burned down or closed. The aid organisation CARE has 295 schools educating 50,000 girls in Afghanistan, and not a single one has been closed or burned by the Taliban. The Afghan Institute of Learning, another aid group, has 32 schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan, with none closed by the Taliban (although local communities have temporarily suspended three for security reasons). In short, there is still vast scope for greater investment in education, health and agriculture in Afghanistan. These are extraordinarily cheap and have a better record at stabilising societies than military solutions, which, in fact, have a pretty dismal record.

http://newageislam.com/afghanistan--a-case-for-more-schools,-not-troops/war-on-terror/d/2093

Let's Not Abandon Afghan Women, War on Terror, NewAgeIslam.com

War on Terror

Let's Not Abandon Afghan Women

By Tina Brown

September 29, 2009

In all the debate about Afghanistan, we don’t hear much about our obligation to the wretched lives of Afghan women. They are being treated as collateral damage as the big boys discuss geopolitical goals. No, we can’t go around saving every failed state, but as well as clear national security interest, there’s a moral obligation here that is being forgotten.

More than a million Afghan men died fighting our proxy war against the Soviets. The streets of Kabul today are full of sightless beggars and amputees who paid the price for that nine-year struggle. America funded the Islamic revival, giving out Korans and Stinger missiles to beat the Communists, then pulled out and was surprised when the assassins of 9/11 were spawned by the chaos left behind.

The women of Afghanistan, left behind as their men fought, did what the women of World War II did—used their wits and resourcefulness to preserve some semblance of civilization. The Taliban’s backward vision of a radical Islamist state was a utopian fantasy. Except in the rural villages of the south, women before the Taliban worked as doctors, judges, teachers, broadcasters, and budding politicians.

Now Afghan women are terrified we will abandon them again. Anne McBride, who observed the elections last month, emailed me: “The women I met at polling stations risked their lives to come out and vote, but they are angry that the Taliban ruined their lives and are willing to risk it. They are not tolerant of half-steps for women.” Are we really considering throwing them back into the dark, leaving them even more vulnerable after their return to freedom?

http://newageislam.com/let-s-not-abandon-afghan-women/war-on-terror/d/1830

When in Doubt, Keep Killing: Starting Another Year of the War in Afghanistan, War on Terror, NewAgeIslam.com

War on Terror

When in Doubt, Keep Killing: Starting Another Year of the War in Afghanistan

By Norman Solomon

As this month begins the ninth year of the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan, "windowless" seems to be an apt metaphor. The structure of thought and the range of options being debated in Washington's high places are notably insular. The "new course" will be a permutation of the present course.

While certainty is lacking, steely resolve is evident. An unspoken mantra remains in effect: When in doubt, keep killing. The knotty question is: Exactly who and how?

News accounts are filled with stories about options that mix "counterinsurgency" with "counterterrorism." The thicker the jargon in Washington, the louder the erudite tunes from the latest best and brightest -- whistling past graveyards, to be filled by people far away.

In the White House, there's no indication of a pane that's facing the pain in Afghanistan, one of the poorest countries in the world, where the U.S. government continues to bring gifts: a dollar's worth of warfare for a dime's worth of everything else.

http://newageislam.com/when-in-doubt,-keep-killing--starting-another-year-of-the-war-in-afghanistan/war-on-terror/d/1851

The stakes in Afghanistan go well beyond Afghanistan, War on Terror, NewAgeIslam.com

War on Terror

The stakes in Afghanistan go well beyond Afghanistan

By Dan Twining

Sep 30, 2009

The problem with the current debate over Afghanistan is that it is too focused on Afghanistan. There is no question that the intrinsic importance of winning wars our country chooses to fight -- to secure objectives that remain as compelling today as they were on September 12, 2001 -- is itself reason for President Obama to put in place a strategy for victory in Afghanistan. But the larger frame has been lost in the din of debate over General McChrystal's leaked assessment, President Obama's intention to ramp up or draw down in Afghanistan, and the legitimacy of the Afghan election. In fact, it is vital for the United States and its allies to recommit to building an Afghan state that can accountably govern its people and defeat the Taliban insurgency -- for reasons that have to do not only with Afghanistan's specific pathologies but with the implications of failure for the wider region and America's place in the international system.

The surreal belief in some quarters that abandoning Afghanistan -- described as a "graveyard of empires" with its complicated tribes, forbidding terrain, and peripheral strategic importance -- would not have direct and bloody consequences for the United States, never mind the Afghan people, can be answered with three numbers: 9-11. It is troubling that our political and foreign policy elites even need to engage this debate (including its more sophisticated but equally illusory variants like moving to an "over-the-horizon" strike-and-retreat strategy). At the same time, the experts (correctly) advocating a counterinsurgency strategy make the same mistake of framing their arguments purely with reference to Afghanistan's internal dynamics. As important as they are, they constitute only part of a wider strategic landscape that would be upended by a U.S. decision to reduce its political and military commitment to Afghanistan.

http://newageislam.com/the-stakes-in-afghanistan-go-well-beyond-afghanistan/war-on-terror/d/1855