Lashkar-e-Taiba: The Next Al Qaeda?, Radical Islamism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.com

Radical Islamism and Jihad

Lashkar-e-Taiba: The Next Al Qaeda?

By Jeremy Kahn

Feb 26, 2010

While the U.S. remains focused on hunting down Al Qaeda's original leadership along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, a lesser-known Islamic militant group has emerged as potentially the most dangerous terrorist outfit on the planet. For more than 15 years Lashkar-e-Taiba, known widely as LeT, has been targeting Indian interests, particularly in the disputed territory of Kashmir. But Western and Indian intelligence experts say LeT now has a growing interest in attacking foreigners and expanding its reach on a global scale—and that the group has the capability to carry out devastating attacks beyond India. At a U.S. Senate intelligence--committee hearing in February, Dennis Blair, the director of national intelligence, said LeT is now "becoming more of a direct threat," and "placing Western targets in Europe in its sights." Its "willingness to attack Jewish interests and locations visited by Westerners," he said, "raise[s] concerns that either the group itself or individual members will more actively embrace an anti-Western agenda."

To some analysts, LeT may be an even greater threat than Al Qaeda because of its technological sophistication, its broader global recruiting and fundraising network, its close ties to protectors within the Pakistani government, and the fact that it is still a less high-profile target of Western intelligence. Since about 2003 its fingerprints have been found on anti-Western attacks and plots from Afghanistan to Iraq, Dhaka to Copenhagen. And the choice of targets in LeT's most spectacular operation to date—the carefully choreographed November 2008 assault on Mumbai, including luxury hotels popular with Western travelers and a Jewish center—have been cited by Blair and other top U.S. officials as a sign of LeT's increasing interest in attacking the West. "In Mumbai the targets they went after were the targets of the global jihad," says terrorism expert and former CIA officer Bruce Riedel. Shortly after Mumbai, Pakistani authorities arrested alleged LeT communications specialist Zarar Shah and reportedly discovered on his laptop a list of 320 potential targets, most of them outside India. They included sites in Europe, says a Western intelligence official.

http://newageislam.com/lashkar-e-taiba--the-next-al-qaeda?-/radical-islamism-and-jihad/d/2522

Tentacles of terror, War on Terror, NewAgeIslam.com

War on Terror

Tentacles of terror

By B Raman

December 31 2009

The recent attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound airline, which was part of a wider conspiracy orchestrated from Yemen, clearly shows that the Obama Administration now faces a two-front war against Al Qaeda: One in the AfPak region and the other in the Yemen-Saudi axis

According to the NEFA Foundation of the US, a non-Governmental organisation created following 9/11 to track Islamic terrorism, Al Qaeda's network in Yemen has issued an official communiqué claiming responsibility for the failed terrorist bomb plot targeting a Delta/Northwest airliner travelling from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas day. The communiqué included original photographs of would-be bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab grinning in front of an Al Qaeda banner. The group acknowledged that the device had failed to properly detonate, but promised that it would "continue on this path until we achieve success." The statement also congratulated Fort Hood shooter Major Nidal Malik Hasan and urged fellow Muslims to follow his footsteps and kill American soldiers.

According to the same foundation, Al Qaeda's network in Yemen has issued an official response to the airstrike earlier this week on a suspected Al Qaeda gathering in the region of Shabwah that reportedly killed up to 30 people, including a number of senior Al Qaeda operatives.

The group threatened that it would not allow "the slaughter of Muslim women and children to pass without taking vengeance for them, Allah willing. We call upon all Yemeni tribes... and the people of the Arabian Peninsula to confront the crusaders and their clients in the Arabian Peninsula by attacking military bases, embassies, intelligence agents, and naval fleets occupying the waters of the Arabian Peninsula."

http://newageislam.com/tentacles-of-terror/war-on-terror/d/2319

Jihadism in 2010: The Threat Continues, Islam,Terrorism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam,Terrorism and Jihad

Jihadism in 2010: The Threat Continues

By Scott Stewart

January 6, 2010

For the past several years, STRATFOR has published an annual forecast on al Qaeda and the jihadist movement. Since our first jihadist forecast in January 2006, we have focused heavily on the devolution of jihadism from a phenomenon primarily involving the core al Qaeda group to one based mainly on the wider jihadist movement and the devolving, decentralized threat it poses.

The central theme of last year’s forecast was that al Qaeda was an important force on the ideological battlefield, but that the efforts of the United States and its allies had marginalized the group on the physical battlefield and kept it bottled up in a limited geographic area. Because of this, we forecast that the most significant threat in terms of physical attacks stemmed from regional jihadist franchises and grassroots operatives and not the al Qaeda core. We also wrote that we believed the threat posed by such attacks would remain tactical and not rise to the level of a strategic threat. To reflect this reality, we even dropped al Qaeda from the title of our annual forecast and simply named it Jihadism in 2009: The Trends Continue.

The past year proved to be very busy in terms of attacks and thwarted plots emanating from jihadist actors. But, as forecast, the primary militants involved in carrying out these terrorist plots were almost exclusively from regional jihadist groups and grassroots operatives, and not militants dispatched by the al Qaeda core. We anticipate that this dynamic will continue, and if anything, the trend will be for some regional franchise groups to become even more involved in transnational attacks, thus further usurping the position of al Qaeda prime at the vanguard of jihadism on the physical battlefield.

http://newageislam.com/jihadism-in-2010--the-threat-continues/islam,terrorism-and-jihad/d/2369

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

Fighting the terror curse, Islam,Terrorism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam,Terrorism and Jihad

Fighting the terror curse

By Shashi Shekhar

December 30, 2009

A recent report has for the first time described Ilyas Kashmiri, the commander of Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami’s 313 Brigade, as the chief of Al Qaeda’s Shadow Army also called Lashkar-al-Zil. In the past Pakistan-based Al Qaeda’s operatives Abu Obaida al-Misri and Khalid Habib have been described as holding that role in the Lashkar-al-Zil. While Al-Misri is believed to have died of Hepatitis B back in January 2008, Khalid Habib is believed to have died in a Predator drone strike in October 2008. Since Khalid Habib’s death in last year’s Predator strike no other Al Qaeda leader was described as having replaced Khalid Habin until the December 24 report in the Asia Times describing Ilyas Kashmiri as the chief of Lashkar-al-Zil.

Bill Roggio writing in the Long War Journal in February describes the Lashkar-Al-Zil as being organised under a military structure that has a clear-cut command structure with established ranks. A senior Al Qaeda military leader is placed in command of the Shadow Army, while experienced officers are put in command of the brigades and subordinate battalions and companies. In article Bill Roggio also explains that this was the result of a revamp and reorganisation of the Shadow Army’s precursor Brigade 055.

To know how this reorganisation of the Shadow Army with a military structure could have come about we must rewind back to September 2007 when the Asia Times first reported that former Pakistan military men were operating out of the Waziristan camp of Ilyas Kashmiri. The report described the men as mostly ex-middle cadre (captains, majors, colonels). Subsequently in February 2008 the Asia Times quoted a certain Abu Harris, former Lashkar, that the addition of former jihadis, who were trained by Pakistani intelligence to fight in Kashmir, and some retired Pakistani Army officers to Al Qaeda’s ranks has brought about a major change in the group’s operational approach while describing Al Qaeda’s rationale and justification for Khuruj or revolt in Pakistan. It may not be a coincidence that the latest report in Asia Times on December 24 also describes at length Al Qaeda’s rationale for why the Pakistani Army must be attacked. It quotes extensively from a book titled Sharpening the Spearheads for Fighting the Pakistani Army by Abu-Yahya Al-Libby, an Al Qaeda ideologue.

http://newageislam.com/fighting-the-terror-curse/islam,terrorism-and-jihad/d/2301

Will Gulf of Aden be a new LoC for Indian Navy?, Current affairs, NewAgeIslam.com

Current affairs

Will Gulf of Aden be a new LoC for Indian Navy?

Shankar Roy chowdhury

Sept 08, 2009

A few months back the Russian warship Admiral Panteleyev, reportedly responding to a distress signal from the tanker Bulwai Bank, under attack from Somali pirates 120 km east of the Somali coast, tracked down a captured Iranian trawler being used as a command-and-control ship for pirate vessels, and apprehended 12 Pakistani nationals on board, including its captain, Mohammad Zamal. Russian investigators found that those apprehended were well trained and familiar with weapons handling (seven AK-47 assault rifles as well as pistols were recovered), as well as with military and naval procedures. There are other persistent media reports of "well-trained" Pakistanis directing Somali piracy operations near the coast of East Africa — off the Somali coast and in the Gulf of Aden. If this is correct, it would appear to indicate that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence, that country’s official clearing house for covert and subversive operations, may have extended its charter to Somalia and the Horn of Africa. This is a matter of concern for India, since in addition to general piracy, smuggling and gun-running, there is every likelihood of the ISI directing its marine jihadis to specifically seek out and target Indian merchant shipping, or ships bound for or out of Indian ports, and interdict or interfere with Indian maritime activity to whatever degree feasible. Indian economic interests and energy security are likely to be particularly affected because the Afghanistan experience indicates that these are always primary targets of Pakistani quasi-state covert entities, whether labelled Al Qaeda, Taliban, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba or any other.

http://newageislam.com/will-gulf-of-aden-be-a-new-loc-for-indian-navy?/current-affairs/d/2107

Algeria: Taking the Pulse of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, War on Terror, NewAgeIslam.com

War on Terror

Algeria: Taking the Pulse of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb

Coming Home to Roost?

By Scott Stewart and Fred Burton

June 24, 2009

The Devolution of Al Qaeda

The GSPC began as a splinter of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) in 1998 as the civil war in Algeria was winding down. At that time, Hassan Hattab led a group of other disaffected GIA members who disagreed with GIA’s targeting of unarmed civilians. Hattab and his followers wanted to distance themselves from the large-scale massacres that had taken place while continuing their struggle against the Algerian government. They formed the GSPC to give themselves a fresh name and a new start.

Hattab eventually ran into disputes within the GSPC as the group was increasingly drawn to the transnational jihadist campaign espoused by al Qaeda. He “resigned” (though he was effectively deposed) as the group’s leader in 2001 and was succeeded by Nabil Sahraoui, who declared the GSPC’s allegiance to al Qaeda. Security forces killed Sahraoui in 2004.

In a message issued on Sept. 11, 2006, al Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri announced that the GSPC had joined forces with al Qaeda in a union he hoped would be “a thorn in the neck of the American and French Crusaders and their allies, and an arrow in the heart of the traitors and apostates.” On Sept. 13, GSPC acknowledged the merger on its Web site with a message from its emir, Abu Musab Abd al-Wadoud, who wrote, “We have full confidence in the faith, the doctrine, the method and the modes of action of [al Qaeda’s] members, as well as their leaders and religious guides.”

http://newageislam.com/algeria--taking-the-pulse-of-al-qaeda-in-the-islamic-maghreb--/war-on-terror/d/1512

Jihadism will continue to thrive in 2009 - Stratfor forecast, Islam,Terrorism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam,Terrorism and Jihad

Jihadism will continue to thrive in 2009 - Stratfor forecast

Jihadism in 2009: The Trends Continue

January 7, 2009

By Fred Burton and Scott Stewart

The Devolution of Al Qaeda

As a quick reminder, Stratfor views what most people refer to as “al Qaeda” as a global jihadist network rather than a monolithic entity. This network consists of three distinct entities. The first is a core vanguard, which we frequently refer to as al Qaeda prime, comprising Osama bin Laden and his trusted associates. The second is composed of al Qaeda franchise groups such as al Qaeda in Iraq, and the third comprises the grassroots jihadist movement inspired by al Qaeda prime and the franchise groups.

As indicated by the title of this forecast, we believe that the trends we have discussed in previous years will continue, and that al Qaeda prime has become marginalized on the physical battlefield to the extent that we have not even mentioned their name in the title. The regional jihadist franchises and grassroots operatives pose a much more significant threat in terms of security concerns, though it is important to note that those concerns will remain tactical and not rise to the level of a

http://newageislam.com/jihadism-will-continue-to-thrive-in-2009---stratfor-forecast--/islam,terrorism-and-jihad/d/1107

Nuclear-armed Jihadis: Obama’s Worst Pakistan Nightmare, Islam,Terrorism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam,Terrorism and Jihad

Nuclear-armed Jihadis: Obama’s Worst Pakistan Nightmare

By DAVID E. SANGER

Published: January 8, 2009

TO GET TO THE HEADQUARTERS of the Strategic Plans Division, the branch of the Pakistani government charged with keeping the country’s growing arsenal of nuclear weapons away from insurgents trying to overrun the country, you must drive down a rutted, debris-strewn road at the edge of the Islamabad airport, dodging stray dogs and piles of uncollected garbage. Just past a small traffic circle, a tan stone gateway is manned by a lone, bored-looking guard loosely holding a rusting rifle. The gateway marks the entry to Chaklala Garrison, an old British cantonment from the days when officers of the Raj escaped the heat of Delhi for the cooler hills on the approaches to Afghanistan. Pass under the archway, and the poverty and clamour of modern Pakistan disappear.

Photo: Pakistan’s Jihadi Bomb by Alika Cooper

Chaklala is a comfortable enclave for the country’s military and intelligence services. Inside the gates, officers in the army and the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, known as the ISI, live in trim houses with well-tended lawns. Business is conducted in long, low office buildings, with a bevy of well-pressed adjutants buzzing around. Deep inside the garrison lies the small compound for Strategic Plans, where Khalid Kidwai keeps the country’s nuclear keys. Now 58, Kidwai is a compact man who hides his arch sense of humour beneath a veil of caution, as if he were previewing each sentence to decide if it revealed too much. In the chaos of Pakistan, where the military, the intelligence services and an unstable collection of civilian leaders uneasily share power, he oversees a security structure intended to protect Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal from outsiders — Islamic militants, Qaeda scientists, Indian saboteurs and those American commando teams that Pakistanis imagine, with good reason, are waiting just over the horizon in Afghanistan, ready to seize their nuclear treasure if a national meltdown seems imminent.

http://newageislam.com/nuclear-armed-jihadis--obama%E2%80%99s-worst-pakistan-nightmare---/islam,terrorism-and-jihad/d/1117

OBAMA’S WAR ON TERROR IN PAKISTAN-AFGHANISTAN, War on Terror, NewAgeIslam.com

War on Terror

OBAMA’S WAR ON TERROR IN PAKISTAN-AFGHANISTAN

Strategic Divergence: The War Against the Taliban and the

War Against Al Qaeda

Washington’s attention is now zeroing in on Afghanistan. There is talk of doubling U.S. forces there, and preparations are being made for another supply line into Afghanistan — this one running through the former Soviet Union — as an alternative or a supplement to the current Pakistani route. To free up more resources for Afghanistan, the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq probably will be accelerated. And there is discussion about whether the Karzai government serves the purposes of the war in Afghanistan. In short, U.S. President Barack Obama’s campaign promise to focus on Afghanistan seems to be taking shape.

We have discussed many aspects of the Afghan war in the past; it is now time to focus on the central issue. What are the strategic goals of the United States in Afghanistan? What resources will be devoted to this mission? What are the intentions and capabilities of the Taliban and others fighting the United States and its NATO allies? Most important, what is the relationship between the war against the Taliban and the war against al Qaeda? If the United States encounters difficulties in the war against the Taliban, will it still be able to contain not only al Qaeda but other terrorist groups? Does the United States need to succeed against the Taliban to be successful against transnational Islamist terrorists? And assuming that U.S. forces are built up in Afghanistan and that the supply problem through Pakistan is solved, are the defeat of Taliban and the disruption of al Qaeda likely?

http://newageislam.com/obama%E2%80%99s-war-on-terror-in-pakistan-afghanistan--/war-on-terror/d/1151

'There is no room for suicide in Islam': Al Qaeda's racist attack on Obama signals the death of jihad, Radical Islamism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.com

Radical Islamism and Jihad

'There is no room for suicide in Islam': Al Qaeda's racist attack on Obama signals the death of jihad

London: With both countries facing the common threat of suicide bombings, India-born inter-faith champion Lord Khalid Hameed says a recent British exercise in bringing Muslim and Jewish students together holds important lessons for India.

"There is absolutely no room for suicide in Islam," said Hameed who has been visiting top British universities along with a group of like-minded parliamentarians, addressing challenging religious issues.

Their visits follow reports of campus tensions between Muslim and Jewish students in Britain.

Lord Hameed is British Asian of the year 2007

"I'd say the same thing to Muslim youth audiences in Britain and in India," the Lucknow-born Hameed, who was honoured with a Padma Shri in 1992 for services in the field of medicine, said.

"You need to come out of the margins and participate in nation-building. Be non-violent, go in for education and put in hard work. At the end of the day, the solution is education, education and education.

"The problem is that Muslims lack credible, sincere and honest leadership. There are no leaders - the community is like a ship with no anchor and no captain, travelling in all directions in turbulent waters," he said.

http://newageislam.com/-there-is-no-room-for-suicide-in-islam---al-qaeda-s-racist-attack-on-obama-signals-the-death-of-jihad/radical-islamism-and-jihad/d/1023

Digesting the Marriott blast, War on Terror, NewAgeIslam.com

War on Terror

Digesting the Marriott blast

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

This “it-is-not-our-war” group is clueless about what the Americans and their European allies — and others stretching as far eastward as Japan — can and may do after they no longer have to regard us as an ally but face as an ally of their enemies. Why doesn’t this group make any reference to the alternative strategy — “eat grass honourably?” — in the presumed post-pullout phase? Who will face up to the trespasses made by the NATO-ISAF forces into Pakistan? How will trespasses by Al Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban in safe havens in FATA violate our sovereignty any less? Are we ready to trust the security of the state to Al Qaeda who will, if all goes according to its plan, of course be in charge of the armed forces and will control our nuclear capability? In fact it is this thought about nuclear weapons that inclines the “it-is-not-our-war” club to pre-emptively allege that the Americans are in Afghanistan to “grab our nuclear weapons”. But surely the global consensus on taking out the nuclear weapons acquired by Al Qaeda will develop much more dangerously than it is developing now.

http://newageislam.com/digesting-the-marriott-blast/war-on-terror/d/798

Was that Pakistan’s 9/11?, War on Terror, NewAgeIslam.com

War on Terror

Was that Pakistan’s 9/11?

Beena Sarwar

These American strikes, apparently driven by the Bush administration’s need to boost the Republicans before the upcoming elections, illustrate American highhandedness and shortsightedness as they undermine Pakistani democracy which many see as the only hope for winning this war.

This nascent democracy is immeasurably threatened by the Taliban and Al Qaeda elements on Pakistan’s western borders and within its heartland. Pakistan reluctantly and half-heartedly abandoned its Taliban allies in post-9/11 Afghanistan, as they were successors of the Mujahideen it supported in America’s war against Communist Russia. After September 11, 2001, the American attack on Afghanistan drove Taliban elements across the border into Pakistan’s north-western tribal areas where they have ethnic, linguistic and historic ties. Their Al Qaeda friends, who have developed ties here through matrimony and a common enemy (America), joined them.

http://newageislam.com/was-that-pakistan%E2%80%99s-9/11?/war-on-terror/d/805

Normal Islamabad-Delhi links crucial to the entire world, Current affairs, NewAgeIslam.com

Current affairs

Normal Islamabad-Delhi links crucial to the entire world

Published: Sunday, 3 August, 2008

I wrote recently about the centrality of Pakistani-Indian relations to the struggle against Al Qaeda. Pakistan’s army and intelligence services have been more focused on the border with India than on the mountainous Pakistani-Afghan border, where Al Qaeda and other murderous militant groups are now based.

The elected government of Pakistan - whose prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, visited the White House last week - wants to shift foreign-policy focus. It understands that jihadi groups present a more immediate threat to Pakistan than does India. But the civilian government is still trying to consolidate power and doesn’t fully control the military or intelligence agencies. It is unclear whether Qureshi can carry out his plans or whether the military will go along.

One thing is certain, however. The US should be doing all it can to help Pakistan’s new government establish control over the military and pursue warmer relations with India. I repeat: all it can.

I was struck by Qureshi’s fervour in outlining the measures he seeks to build confidence with India.

“It is in our own interest to have improved relations,” he said. “The Pakistani business community wants it.” That community grasps that its future growth depends on a more open relationship with its far bigger neighbour.

http://newageislam.com/normal-islamabad-delhi-links-crucial-to-the-entire-world/current-affairs/d/419

Germany: Osama is Che Guevara of Qaeda, Radical Islamism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.com

Radical Islamism and Jihad

Germany: Osama is Che Guevara of Qaeda

Associated Press Posted online: Tuesday, August 05, 2008

BERLIN, August 4: Osama bin Laden is no longer personally planning attacks, but remains significant as a “Che Guevara of al-Qaeda” who helps hold together the terror network, Germany’s intelligence chief said in an interview published on Monday.

Bin Laden is believed to be hiding along the Afghan-Pakistan border— a suspicion that Ernst Uhrlau, the head of the Federal Intelligence Service, underlined in an interview with the Bild daily.

“As a creative director and icon, he is still something like the Che Guevara of al-Qaeda,” Uhrlau was quoted as saying — a reference to the Cuban revolutionary who became a popular symbol of rebellion worldwide.

“Bin Laden is certainly no longer personally planning any attacks,” he added, according to the report. But “for the internal cohesion of the terror network, it is enough for very different groups to be able to invoke him”.

Uhrlau said, “As far as we know, bin Laden is still in the Afghan-Pakistani border region. He apparently is with friendly tribes for whom a basic rule is irrevocable: one does not send a guest to his doom.”

http://newageislam.com/germany--osama-is-che-guevara-of-qaeda/radical-islamism-and-jihad/d/437

Pak turmoil helps Al Qaeda tighten grip, train cadre, War on Terror, NewAgeIslam.com

War on Terror

Pak turmoil helps Al Qaeda tighten grip, train cadre

S Rajagopalan

"There are probably dozens of operatives the organisation has identified for operations. They speak Western languages; they have Western travel documents and experienced living and acting in the West," he said. According to him, the recruits were taken to sanctuaries in the tribal tracts of northwest Pakistan for training and indoctrinating and, in some cases, redeploying them. He reckons that most of the recruits are probably still in Pakistan "or to some extent in Europe".

On the whole, Gistaro believes that the Al Qaeda now has many of the operational and organisational advantages it once enjoyed across the border in Afghanistan, albeit on a smaller and less secure scale.

As for the probability of an attack on the US homeland, he admitted that the intelligence agencies were not aware of any specific, credible al-Qaeda plot. "But we do receive a steady stream of threat reporting from sources of varying creditability, which the US intelligence community is investigating aggressively," he said.

http://newageislam.com/pak-turmoil-helps-al-qaeda-tighten-grip,-train-cadre/war-on-terror/d/556

Advice to Al-Qaeda: Keep it real, Radical Islamism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.com

Radical Islamism and Jihad

Advice to Al-Qaeda: Keep it real

Ejaz Haider

August 17, 2008

Mark Twain it was who said “Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t”. Bacon quoted a jesting Pontius Pilate as asking “What is truth?” and without staying for an answer ordered Christ to be put on the cross. Even truth, it seems, is nothing absolute, though Bacon must have made up the story like the lazy reporter who doesn’t venture out and writes desk stories that cannot be verified.

Leaving that aside, however, how about substituting truth with life in Twain’s statement? Life too, without fiction’s controlled, select treatment and the writer’s deft handling of the plot, is not obliged to stick to possibilities. But perhaps I am wrong. When infused with the literalism of faith, life can begin to lose its myriad possibilities, even its colour, slithering instead through select grooves.

One report tells me that Al Qaeda in Iraq’s Sunni belt may be losing popularity because of “imposing their way of thought on the most mundane aspects of everyday life”.

http://newageislam.com/advice-to-al-qaeda--keep-it-real-/radical-islamism-and-jihad/d/576

Pakistan terror war focus finally on target, says US: Kayani attends secret talks with American military chief on aircraft carrier, War on Terror

War on Terror

Pakistan terror war focus finally on target, says US: Kayani attends secret talks with American military chief on aircraft carrier

By Anwar Iqbal

Other top US generals who attended the meeting included Gen David Petraeus, top US commander in Iraq, who will soon take charge of the US command for the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan; Gen David McKiernan, Nato’s top commander in Afghanistan; and Admiral Eric Olson, head of the US special operations command. Also present were Lt-Gen Martin Dempsey, acting commander of American forces in the Middle East, and Rear Admiral Michael LeFever, senior American military liaison to Pakistan.

The Pakistani side was represented by Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and his key commanders.

The meeting underscored the great concern both Pakistan and the US feel about the grave threat posed by a resurgent Taliban and a determined Al Qaeda to the stability and integrity of Pakistan and Afghanistan, US officials said.

The extreme secrecy surrounding the talks came amidst a series of worrying developments: continuing political turmoil in Pakistan, increasingly deadly attacks against Afghan and western targets in Afghanistan and a US top general’s complaints that the Pakistani military is not doing enough to stop militants from launching attacks into Afghanistan.

http://newageislam.com/pakistan-terror-war-focus-finally-on-target,-says-us--kayani-attends-secret-talks-with-american-military-chief-on-aircraft-carrier/war-on-terror/d/660

Are these attacks aimed at Indian polls?, Islam,Terrorism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam,Terrorism and Jihad

Are these attacks aimed at Indian polls?

By Indrani Bagchi,TNN

29 July 2008

In 2004, months before the US presidential elections, the fear of a terror attack on US soil to influence the elections was paramount. The New York Times also reported on the possibility that Al Qaeda would try to "influence the outcome of the election" by striking US oil refineries.

"The Federal Bureau of Investigation has warned the Texas oil industry of potential attacks by Al Qaeda on pipelines and refineries near the time of the November presidential election," NYT reported.

"In the wake of what happened in Madrid, we have to be concerned about the possibility of terrorists attempting to influence elections in the US by committing a terrorist act," FBI director Robert Mueller was quoted as saying.

It is generally believed that an Osama bin Laden video before the US presidential elections in 2004 put the national security question on top of the agenda, helping George Bush romp home.

Two years later, in April 2006, Italy, which was facing elections under Silvio Berlusconi was threatened by terror attacks and even a video by Al Qaeda No.2, Ayman al Zawahiri. The then Italian vice president of the European Commission, Franco Frattini, warned that "Al-Qaeda is ready to strike...and Italy is at risk because of its solid alliance with the US."

http://newageislam.com/are-these-attacks-aimed-at-indian-polls?/islam,terrorism-and-jihad/d/346

How Pakistan Lets Terrorism Fester, Islam,Terrorism and Jihad,

Islam,Terrorism and Jihad

How Pakistan Lets Terrorism Fester

by Husain Haqqani

Pakistanis are right to see themselves as victims of terrorism and to be offended by American unilateralism in dealing with it. Last year alone, 4,447 people were killed in 476 major terrorist attacks. Over the last decade, thousands of soldiers and law enforcement officers have died fighting terrorists — both homegrown, and those inspired by Al Qaeda’s nihilist ideology.