Recently in Taliban Category

This came after the Taliban got into some battles with Pakistan's security forces. So it means that Karzai is effectively egging them on against Pakistan. Now, the Pakistani regime is no friend of the United States any more than Karzai is, but he strikes a remarkably conciliatory tone toward the Taliban -- remember, this is the guy we put into power after toppling the Taliban. He is supposed to be their opponent. And of course, this follows after he threatened to join the Taliban some time ago.

Yet more evidence of the appalling and pointless boondoggle that is our adventure in Afghanistan: "Karzai urges Taliban to fight Afghan enemies after Pakistan clash," from Reuters, May 4:

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai called on the Taliban on Saturday to fight Afghanistan's enemies in what was widely seen as a swipe against Pakistan days after the neighbors' security forces clashed on their border.

Karzai's remarks are likely to unsettle already shaky ties with Pakistan and come as the United States wants Pakistan to help Afghanistan persuade the Taliban to engage in peace talks ahead of the withdrawal of most foreign troops by the end of next year.

"Instead of destroying their own country, they should turn their weapons against places where plots are made against Afghan prosperity," Karzai told reporters in the capital, Kabul, saying this was "a reminder for the Taliban".

"They should stand with this young man who was martyred and defend their soil," he said, referring to a border policeman who was killed in the Wednesday night clash on eastern Afghanistan's border with Pakistan. Two Pakistani soldiers were wounded.

Hundreds of men took to the streets of the eastern Afghan town of Asadabad on Saturday, near where the clash took place, to protest against both Pakistan and the United States.

A day earlier, thousands of men in Kabul rallied in support of the Afghan security forces.

Afghanistan and Pakistan have had testy relations since Pakistan was formed in 1947, at the end of British colonial rule over India. Afghanistan has never officially accepted the border between them.

Pakistan helped the Taliban take power in Afghanistan in the 1990s. Many Afghan leaders say Pakistan is still helping the militants, seeing them as a tool to counter the influence of its old rival, India, in Afghanistan....

The Taliban think that democracy and Islam are incompatible, and are murdering candidates to drive home their point. Democracy, they say, is just for Jews and Christians. Apparently the Taliban are all greasy Islamophobes.

"Eight people killed as Pakistani Taliban target more candidates," from CNN, April 28 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

(CNN) -- At least eight people were killed Sunday as the Pakistani Taliban continued to attack candidates in that country's upcoming elections, authorities said.

The Pakistani Taliban, in a statement obtained by CNN, took responsibility for the bombings at the offices of candidates in Peshawar and the Orakzai Agency.

The Taliban said it targeted secular candidates, but many parties have been hit by the increasing violence.

"A man cannot be secular and Muslim at a time. These are two different doctrines in nature," the statement said.

The elections in May mark the first time in Pakistan's history that one democratically elected government will give way to another.

The nation has experienced three military coups, been ruled by generals for half its life, and it remains mired in near-constant political turmoil.

Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud has told Pakistanis to stay away from the elections.

"We are not in favor of democracy, democracy is for Jews and Christians," he said in recent propaganda video.

"They are intended to divide Muslims; we want the implementation of Sharia (law) and for that jihad is necessary," he added.

Both attacks Sunday targeted independent candidates.

Five people died and 22 were wounded by Sunday's explosion in Orakzai, said Dilawar Khan Bangish, police chief of the Kohat District.

In Peshawar, three people were killed and eight wounded, said Khalid Mehmood Hamdani, a senior police official.

The bombings follow three attacks Saturday and one Friday....

Why not? What would be preventing them? "Exclusive: FBI Informant Claims Taliban Members Are Living In America," by Michele Gillen for CBS4, April 25 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

MIAMI (CBS4) – “I am an informant and all I can tell you is that Talibans are walking freely right here in the soil of America right now, right now.”

That’s the haunting worry of South Floridian David Mahmood Siddiqui. He was the confidential FBI informant who has a rare view of of trying to infiltrate a largely secreted world of what the U.S. government considers terrorist sympathizers.

He met with CBS’4 Chief Investigator Michele Gillen saying he wants to tell his story to share what he’s uncovered and explain why he has concerns for the safety of the United States.

Because of concerns for his safety, his face is concealed during the interview.

Asked by Gillen what he thinks the risk of having Taliban living in America is, he responded; “They can commit a jihad at any time, they hate America, you have an enemy living here in American soil, do not know when they will take action to kill innocent Americans.”

Gillen met with Saddiqui to get an insider’s look into a recent case that made headlines across the South Florida community and the nation.

In a review of court documents and records, it appears Saddiqui and his undercover work resulted in key evidence in the case against Muslim Cleric Hafiz Muhammed Sher Ali Khan.

Following a 29 day trial, the 77 year old former head of the oldest Mosque in Miami was convicted last month of supporting terrorism and conspiracy. Khan awaits sentencing and could end up spending the rest of his life in prison....

How is it that the Taliban can operate with impunity in Pakistan? Why doesn't the vaunted Vast Majority of Peaceful Muslims rise up against them? Tiny Minority of Extremists Update: "Taliban Spread Terror in Karachi as the New Gang in Town," by Declan Walsh and Zia ur-Rehman for The New York Times, March 28 (thanks to David):

KARACHI, Pakistan — This seaside metropolis is no stranger to gangland violence, driven for years by a motley collection of armed groups who battle over money, turf and votes.

But there is a new gang in town. Hundreds of miles from their homeland in the mountainous northwest, Pakistani Taliban fighters have started to flex their muscles more forcefully in parts of this vast city, and they are openly taking ground.

Taliban gunmen have mounted guerrilla assaults on police stations, killing scores of officers. They have stepped up extortion rackets that target rich businessmen and traders, and shot dead public health workers engaged in polio vaccination efforts. In some neighborhoods, Taliban clerics have started to mediate disputes through a parallel judicial system.

The grab for influence and power in Karachi shows that the Taliban have been able to extend their reach across Pakistan, even here in the country’s most populous city, with about 20 million inhabitants. No longer can they be written off as endemic only to the country’s frontier regions.

In joining Karachi’s street wars, the Taliban are upending a long-established network of competing criminal, ethnic and political armed groups in this combustible city. The difference is that the Taliban’s agenda is more expansive — it seeks to overthrow the Pakistani state — and their operations are run by remote control from the tribal belt along the Afghan border.

Already, the militants have reshaped the city’s political balance by squeezing one of the most prominent political machines, the Pashtun-dominated Awami National Party, off its home turf. They have scared Awami operatives out of town and destroyed offices, gravely undercutting the party’s chances in national elections scheduled for May.

“We are the Taliban’s first enemy,” said Shahi Syed, the party’s provincial head, at his newly fortified office. “They burn my offices, they tear down my flags and they kill our people.”

The Taliban drift into Karachi actually began years ago, though much more quietly. Many fled here after a concerted Pakistani military operation in the Swat Valley in 2009. The influx has gradually continued, officials here say, with Taliban fighters able to easily melt into the city’s population of fellow ethnic Pashtuns, estimated to number at least five million people.

Until recently, the militants saw Karachi as a kind of rear base, using the city to lie low or seek medical treatment, and limiting their armed activities to criminal fund-raising, like kidnapping and bank robberies.

But for at least six months now, there have been signs that their timidity is disappearing. The Taliban have become a force on the street, aggressively exerting their influence in the ethnic Pashtun quarters of the city.

Taliban tactics are most evident in Manghopir, an impoverished neighborhood of rough, cinder-block houses clustered around marble quarries on the northern edge of the city, where illegal housing settlements spill into the surrounding desert.

In recent months, Taliban militants have attacked the Manghopir police station three times, killing eight officers, said Muhammad Aadil Khan, a local member of Parliament.

In interviews, residents describe Taliban militants who roam on motorbikes or in jeeps with tinted windows, delivering extortion demands in the shape of two bullets wrapped in a piece of paper.

A factory owner in Manghopir, speaking on the condition of anonymity out of fear for his safety, said that several Pashtun businessmen had received demands for $10,000 to $50,000. The figure was negotiable, he said, but payment was not: resistance could result in an assault on the victim’s house or, in the worst case, a bullet to the head.

Mr. Khan said he had not dared to visit his constituency in months. “There is a personal threat against me,” he said, speaking at the headquarters of his party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, which represents ethnic Mohajirs, in the city center....

Karzai wants to keep the American troops in Afghanistan, because he knows that if they go, so does he. "Afghan leader Hamid Karzai says US, Taliban are colluding," from the Associated Press, March 10 (thanks to Jos):

Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Sunday accused the Taliban and the US of working in concert to convince Afghans that violence will worsen if most foreign troops leave as planned by the end of next year.

Karzai said two suicide bombings that killed 19 people on Saturday — one outside the Afghan Defence Ministry and the other near a police checkpoint in eastern Khost province — show the insurgent group is conducting attacks to help show that international forces will still be needed to keep the peace after their current combat mission ends next year.

“The explosions in Kabul and Khost yesterday showed that they are at the service of America and at the service of this phrase: next year. They are trying to frighten us into thinking that if the foreigners are not in Afghanistan, we would be facing these sorts of incidents,” he said during a nationally televised speech about the state of Afghan women.

There was no immediate response from the US-led military coalition, which is gradually handing over responsibility for securing the country to Afghan forces.

Karzai is known for making incendiary comments in his public speeches, a move that is often attributed to him trying to appeal to those who sympathise with the Taliban or as a way to gain leverage when he feels his international allies are ignoring his country’s sovereignty. In previous speeches he has threatened to join the Taliban and called his Nato allies occupiers who want to plunder Afghanistan’s resources.

His latest remarks come as his government is negotiating a pact with the US for the long-term presence of American forces in Afghanistan and just days after an agreement to transfer the US prison outside of Kabul to Afghan authority fell through. His comments also came while US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel is making his first visit to Afghanistan since becoming the Pentagon chief.

Karzai said in his speech that any foreign powers that want to keep troops in Afghanistan need to do so under conditions set forward by Afghanistan.

“We will tell them where we need them, and under which conditions. They must respect our laws. They must respect the national sovereignty of our country and must respect all our customs,” Karzai said.

Karzai offered no proof of coordination, but said the Taliban and the United States were in “daily negotiations” in various foreign countries and noted that the United States has said that it no longer considers the insurgent group its enemy. The US continues to fight against the Taliban and other militant groups, but has expressed its backing for formal peace talks with the Taliban to find a political resolution to the war.

Karzai said he did not believe the Taliban’s claim that they launched Saturday’s attacks to show they are still a potent force fighting the United States. “Yesterday’s explosions, which the Taliban claimed, show that in reality they are saying they want the presence of foreigners in Afghanistan,” Karzai said.

Will the Islamophobia never end? How did this imam in Florida get the crazy idea that it would be Islamically meritorious to support the Taliban? Doesn't he know that all, all, all Muslims in the West abhor the Taliban and reject everything it stands for? How did he come to misunderstand Islam in this way?

"Florida imam convicted in Pakistani Taliban case," by Curt Anderson for the Associated Press, March 4 (thanks to all who sent this in):

MIAMI (AP) — An elderly Muslim cleric was convicted Monday of funneling thousands of dollars to support the Pakistani Taliban terror organization, which is blamed for suicide bombings and other attacks that have killed both Americans and Pakistanis.

The jury returned its verdict after the two-month trial of Hafiz Khan, the 77-year-old imam at a downtown Miami mosque. Khan was found guilty of all four charges: two conspiracy counts and two counts of providing material support to terrorists.

"Despite being an imam, or spiritual leader, Hafiz Khan was by no means a man of peace," said U.S. Attorney Wifredo Ferrer, whose office prosecuted the case. "Instead, he acted with others to support terrorists to further acts of murder, kidnapping and maiming."

The Imam Wifredo Ferrer did not apparently deign to explain how Hafiz Khan's actions contradicted the teachings of Islam. More's the pity.

Each charge carries a maximum 15-year prison sentence. U.S. District Judge Robert Scola set sentencing for May 30.

Prosecutors built their case largely around hundreds of FBI recordings of conversations in which Khan expressed support for Taliban attacks and discussed sending about $50,000 to Pakistan. There were also recordings in which Khan appeared to back the overthrow of Pakistan's government in favor of strict Islamic law, praised the killing of American military personnel and lauded the failed 2010 attempt to detonate a bomb in New York's Times Square.

"He said these things. He admitted these things. He did all of these things," Assistant U.S. Attorney John Shipley said during closing arguments.

Khan, who testified over four combative days in his own defense, insisted the money he sent overseas was for family, charity and business reasons — above all, his religious school, known as a madrassa, in Pakistan's Swat Valley. Khan also said he repeatedly lied about harboring extremist views to obtain $1 million from a man who turned out to be an FBI informant wearing a wire to record their talk.

"That is not supporting terrorism," said Khan attorney Khurrum Wahid in a closing argument. "That is an old guy running a scam, who got scammed."

Prosecutors, however, said the purported $1 million offer was never heard on any tapes and no other witnesses testified about its existence. The informant, identified in court papers as Mahmood Siddiqui, did not testify.

"That is an absurd story," Shipley said. "This whole defense is a lie."

One of Khan's sons, Irfan, said after the verdict that his father was mentally unable to express himself clearly on the witness stand.

"I wish he didn't have dementia so he could explain himself better," said Irfan Khan, a Miami taxi driver. "You're asking him questions about five or six years ago. That really affects things."...

Always the victim. Yet previously Hafiz Khan seems to have been quite devious in his own defense, with no indication of dementia at all.

This should not surprise anyone. Nothing was done while they were in captivity to disabuse them of their understanding that they had a responsibility before Allah to wage jihad warfare against non-Muslims and apostates (i.e., the Western-backed Karzai regime). So why would anyone have expected that, once freed, they would do anything but go back to the jihad?

"Some Taliban prisoners released by Pakistan are back in battle, officials fear," by Richard Leiby and Kevin Sieff in the Washington Post, February 9 (thanks to Jerk Chicken):

KABUL — Pakistan’s release late last year of several imprisoned Taliban officials and fighters, which it advertised as a good-faith effort to help bring peace to Afghanistan, is now prompting questions about whether the gesture has yielded anything but potential new dangers for NATO and Afghan troops.

American, Afghan and Pakistani officials say they believe some of the freed Islamist movement members have rejoined their colleagues waging war against Western troops and the coalition-backed government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

With its long-standing links to Afghan Taliban insurgents, Pakistan has a vital role in nudging them to the table as the United States winds down its involvement in the 11-year war in Afghanistan. But Pakistan’s handling of the prisoner release once again subverted the trust of the Afghans, who were supposed to receive the captives and keep tabs on them to lower the risk of any returning to terrorist havens in Pakistan.

The whereabouts and even the number of ex-prisoners have remained murky since their release in two batches in mid-November and late December by Pakistan’s powerful spy agency, the ­Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, as part of a road map drawn up by the Afghan High Peace Council to build the militants’ confidence.

Despite an earlier agreement, the ISI failed to consult with the council when it set many of the captives free. On Friday, however, the Pakistani government pledged to coordinate future Taliban releases with the council, in a belated admission that it had blindsided the Afghans.

The U.S. military is keenly interested in the former captives’ whereabouts and is trying to track down any who have returned to the Taliban in Afghanistan — and wants to identify those participating in the reconciliation process so they won’t be targeted.

‘Back to their old ways’

“It’s all a black hole,” one U.S. official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

A Pakistani security official confirmed that 18 men were freed and described them as junior to mid-level members of the Islamic movement, including field commanders and foot soldiers.

“Some have gone back to their old ways, with their old friends,” said the official, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity....

Surrender. "Taliban can be part of Afghanistan's future, says US envoy to Pak," from ANI, February 1 (thanks to Benedict):

Islamabad, Feb. 1 (ANI): US Ambassador to Pakistan, Richard Olson, has said the United States is ready to open the door for talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban, adding that the Afghan Taliban could be part of Afghanistan's future if they met conditions to ensure long-term peace and stability in the war-torn country.

Olson said that the end result of any process must be that the Taliban end violence, break ties with Al-Qaeda and accept Afghanistan's Constitution, and if this happens, the Taliban can be a part of Afghanistan's future, reports The Express Tribune.

Olson's remarks reiterated recent American emphasis on pursuing reconciliation in Afghanistan instead of its usual method of using military might.

In this context, Olson said their new office in Qatar could be used for negotiations between the Afghan High Peace Council and representatives of the Taliban.

Olson also called for the US and Pakistan to work together to facilitate a negotiated peace in Afghanistan. (ANI)

They target the military because they think they cooperate with the Americans, and the Shi'ites because they consider them heretics. Not that this has anything to do with Islam.

This attack also shows the viciousness of the propaganda of Islamic supremacist spokesmen in the U.S. such as Ahmed Rehab of Hamas-linked CAIR and the oily pseudo-moderates Faisal Abdul Rauf and Daisy Khan of Ground Zero Mosque fame: all have said, to applause from their credulous non-Muslim interlocutors, that they want to rescue Islam (and specifically the concept of jihad, in Rehab's case), from "extremists on both sides." They are dubbing those who are against jihad and Sharia the "extremists" who are on the "other side" from the likes of the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

So they're equating people like the Taliban, who glory in the murders of those who disagree with them, with people who are fighting against jihad and Islamic supremacism in order to preserve notions of human rights that are accepted globally aside from the Islamic world. This equation is nothing short of monstrous, and should always in every case be noted as such by everyone who still can see well enough through the fog to do so.

"Militants Attack Pakistani Army Camp," from the Associated Press, February 1 (thanks to Lookmann):

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Militants attacked an army camp in northwestern Pakistan with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades before dawn on Saturday, killing six members of the security forces, officials said.

The attack followed a suicide bombing at a Shiite Muslim mosque elsewhere in the northwest on Friday that killed 23 people and wounded more than 50, police said. It was the latest in a rising number of sectarian attacks in the country.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for both attacks. The group has been waging a bloody insurgency against the government for years and has carried out previous attacks on the country's minority Shiite sect.

The raid on the army camp in Serai Naurang town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province began around 3:45 a.m. local time and lasted for several hours, said senior police officer Arif Khan Wazir. The militants were armed with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades and also seemed to include suicide bombers, he said.

Six security force personnel were killed and eight others were wounded in the attack, said an army official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the army has not yet issued a news release. Twelve militants were also killed, he said.

Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan claimed responsibility for the attack in a telephone call to The Associated Press from an undisclosed location. He said four suicide bombers were involved in the attack. He said that three of them were killed and the fourth is still resisting.

Ahsan said the attack was in retaliation for the recent deaths of two Taliban commanders in U.S. drone strikes. He accused the Pakistani army of helping with the attacks.

Pakistani officials often criticize drone strikes as a violation of the country's sovereignty, but are known to have assisted with some attacks in the past.

The attack on the mosque Friday took place in Hangu town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which has experienced previous clashes between the Sunni and Shiite communities that live there.

Shiites in Pakistan have increasingly been targeted by radical Sunnis who consider them heretics, and 2012 was the bloodiest year for the minority sect in the country's history....

Obama recently declared: "We achieved our central goal ... or have come very close to achieving our central goal, which is to de-capacitate al Qaeda, to dismantle them, to make sure that they can't attack us again." What about the Taliban?

"Coordinated Kabul suicide attack targets government building," by Hamid Shalizi for Reuters, January 21 (thanks to Lookmann):

(Reuters) - Suicide bombers and gunmen launched an eight-hour assault on the headquarters of the Kabul traffic police on Monday, Afghan officials said, in the second coordinated attack on a government building in less than a week.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the operation In which all five attackers and three traffic police officers were killed, interior ministry officials said....

Last week, six suicide bombers attacked the National Directorate of Security (NDS), killing two guards. That attack followed December's failed assassination attempt on NDS chief Asadullah Khalid....

Monday's attack began when three men detonated suicide bombs outside the main entrance and was followed by the two remaining attackers storming the unfortified area, Deputy Interior Minister General Abdul Rahman said.

The pair, armed with automatic rifles, battled security forces outside the building nestled between two police hubs and close to parliament and a road commonly used by Afghan MPs....

"Honestly speaking, this type of attack, at the start of the year, indicates the coming months are going to be tough," a government official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"The Taliban will want to display their presence and reach with these kinds of attacks in Kabul."

No kidding, really?

Izhar Khan is free today: apparently we are to believe that he knew nothing about and would have strongly disapproved of his father's activity in "funneling about $50,000 to the Taliban to target U.S. interests in Pakistan." The judge said that the case against his father, Hafiz Khan, would proceed: "Scola said Thursday that the government’s case against the 77-year-old imam of the Flagler Mosque is overwhelming."

"Judge throws out Taliban terror case against Margate imam," by Jay Weaver for the Miami Herald, January 17 (thanks to Twostellas):

A federal judge threw out the terrorism charges against a young Muslim cleric from Broward County in a trial where he and his father, an imam in Miami, are accused of providing financial support to the Pakistani Taliban terrorist organization.

Izhar Khan, the imam of a mosque in Margate, will be a free man later Thursday after U.S. District Judge Robert Scola issued a verdict of acquittal for the 26-year-old Muslim scholar.

The prosecution, which rested its case Wednesday in the material support trial, failed to mount sufficient evidence of wrongdoing against the younger imam, imam of Masjid Jamaat Al-Mumineen mosque off Sample Road....

Both father and son have been held in the Miami federal detention center since their arrest in 2011 on charges of funneling about $50,000 to the Taliban to target U.S. interests in Pakistan. The Taliban allegedly used the funds for buying arms and other ammunition to carry our terrorist attacks against the Pakistan government, which is a U.S. ally.

Scola already denied Hafiz Khan’s bid for an acquittal verdict halfway through the trial. Scola said Thursday that the government’s case against the 77-year-old imam of the Flagler Mosque is overwhelming.

The government’s case has been built largely on FBI-recorded phone conversations between Hafiz Khan and other members of his family and suspected Taliban sympathizers. His bank records have also been central to the government’s case against him.

We are supposed to believe, on pain of charges of "Islamophobia," that no Muslims in the U.S. believe in the same version of Islam as the Taliban do. If that were true, how is it that these two were able to act as imams in Florida without the vast majority of peaceful Muslims throwing them out? "Pakistani violence detailed in case of Florida imams charged with Taliban financial support," from the Associated Press, January 14 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

MIAMI — A former Pakistani politician and landowner described beheadings, bombings and attacks on police stations by Taliban militants Monday at the trial of two Muslim clerics accused of financially supporting the terrorist group.

Saifullah Khan, 43, said his name was on a Taliban hit list of officials targeted during the Islamic fundamentalist group’s attempt to take control of Pakistan’s Swat Valley in 2007. The father of six, who now lives in Philadelphia, was formerly an elected official who helped oversee such things as road and water projects for about 15 villages in the Swat Valley.

Testifying through an interpreter in Pashto, Khan said on one occasion he saw his cousin’s beheaded body, “and the blood was still there, fresh.” Another time he helped carry a mortally wounded police officer out of a station attacked by Taliban fighters with assault weapons and grenades. He knew people whose homes and businesses were bombed, killing dozens more. His own home was struck by a rocket and shot at, he said.

“The Taliban was harming people. They were shooting at the army. The army would shoot at them. The people in the middle would get hurt,” he testified. “I don’t have the number, but many times they (Taliban fighters) attacked my house.”

The testimony about Taliban violence came in the second week of the trial of Hafiz Khan and one of his sons, Izhar. They are not related to Saifullah Khan but, like Saifullah, have family origins in the Swat Valley, where the surname is common. Hafiz and Izhar Khan are facing conspiracy and terrorism support charges that each carry potential 15-year prison sentences.

Hafiz Khan, 77, is imam at a downtown Miami mosque. Izhar Khan, 26, held the same post at a mosque in suburban Margate.

Prosecutors say they illegally funneled at least $50,000 to the Pakistani Taliban between 2008 and 2010. The two men have pleaded not guilty and insist any money they sent to Pakistan was for family members and other innocent purposes.

Saifullah Khan’s testimony is aimed at helping prosecutors establish the Taliban’s violent nature for the jury. Prosecutors contend most of the money sent by Hafiz and Izhar Khan to Pakistan was intended to help Taliban fighters battling Pakistan’s army for control of the Swat Valley.

Saifullah Khan testified that as the violence increased, he met with a top Taliban leader in the Swat Valley at a local madrassa, or Islamic religious school. Saifullah Khan said when he arrived, the leader, Maulana Fazullah, was surrounded by about 60 armed men. Saifullah Khan said he urged Fazullah to stop the shootings and bombings.

Fazullah replied that it wasn’t his fault because “the government is not leaving me alone and I will knock down this government,” according to Saifullah Khan.

“His appearance was similar to a religious figure, but he was not,” Saifullah Khan added.

He also described Fazullah’s frequent radio speeches about other Taliban goals, such as banning girls from attending school and urging that all women wear the full-length burqa covering. Fazullah also opposed vaccinating children against polio, arguing it was an un-Islamic practice.

Defense attorneys tried to get Saifullah Khan’s testimony suppressed as mostly secondhand information and speculation, but U.S. District Judge Robert Scola refused to block it.

The Pakistani Taliban is linked to al-Qaida and has played roles in several attacks against the U.S., including a December 2009 suicide bombing at a U.S. military base in Afghanistan that killed seven U.S. citizens, prosecutors said. The group also was connected to the attempt in May 2010 by Faisal Shahzad to detonate a bomb in New York’s Times Square.

In addition, prosecutors say Hafiz Khan founded a madrassa in the Swat Valley that was used by the Taliban to train and indoctrinate children in fighting Americans. The madrassa was shut down in 2009 by the Pakistani army....

How sweet. They're going to stay fit despite their busy schedules in Kashmir. What a glorious new age is dawning across the world!

"Pak Taliban vows to implement ‘Sharia’ in India, wage war in Kashmir," by Lalit K Jha for Niti Central, January 8:

Pak Taliban vows to implement ‘Sharia’ in India, wage war in Kashmir A top Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan leader (TTP) Wali Ur Rehman in a rare video appearance has pledged to send fighters in Kashmir and wage a struggle for implementation of Sharia rule in India.

Wali Ur Rehman, against whom the US has announced a $5 million reward for his involvement in the murder of seven CIA officials in Afghanistan in December 2009, is believed to have said this in a rare video of his along with the TTP chief Hamikullah Mehsud, in which the two militant leaders have for the first time spoken about their ambitions transcending beyond the Af-Pak border taking them to Kashmir, India and the United States as well.

“The practical struggle for a Sharia system that we are carrying out in Pakistan, the same way we will continue it in Kashmir, and the same way we will implement the Sharia system in India too. And this is the only solution for people’s problems,” said Rehman, according to the translation provided by the Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM) of Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), a Washington-based think tank.

The 45:52 minute video in Pashto with Urdu subtitles has been produced by Umar Media, the broadcasting arm of TTP. The video is titled as “The False Propaganda of the Dajjali Media Revealed.” It was released to internet on January 6.

According to MEMRI, for the first time perhaps, TTP’s official spokesman Ehsanullah Ihsan is show in the video, which devotes a section towards the last part — on Kashmir.

Claiming that the Jihad launched by the Pakistani Government inside Kashmir has failed to yield any desired result, the TTP video says that it would launch its own jihad in the Valley and talks about sending its own jihadi forces in the Valley.

“Allah willing, the mujahedeen of Tehreek-e-Taliban will arrive in Kashmir and as per the Islamic sharia will help the Kashmiris get their rights. As our ancestors sacrificed their lives for Kashmir and had got Kashmir liberated by force [in 1947-48], the same way their progenies [i.e Taliban fighters], walking in the footsteps of their forefathers, will get Kashmir liberated [from India], and will help them get their rights,” Rehman said.

“That registered [i.e government-sponsored] jihad that Pakistan had begun cannot liberate Kashmir, and even if it were to be liberated, it will be for name only, but the system will not change [in favor of Islamic sharia rule] and their fate will not be changed, and if it were to change, only Shari’a system will change it. And it is our promise to those people [in Kashmir], that we will share their grief,” the propaganda says as per the translation provided by MEMRI.

“Insofar as Pakistan’s dirty policy [on Kashmir] is concerned, as per which Kashmiris have been ruined and destroyed under the pretext of Kashmir policy, their everything has been destroyed, we strongly condemn this policy too as much as we do about India’s atrocities,” said Rehman, who has been designated as a terrorist leader by the State Department.

What could go wrong? No reason to be concerned. They're Islamic jihadists. That means they just will be working to build friendships across the aisle. What's that? They may try to wage violent jihad against the U.S. and other non-Muslim states again? Are you kidding? This is a gesture of good will, to which the Taliban are absolutely certain to respond in kind! What are you, some kind of Islamophobe?

"Afghanistan Frees Hundreds of Militants," from the Associated Press, January 4 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Some 250 prisoners formerly held by the U.S. have been released by Afghan authorities in hopes that this will lead to reconciliation in the 11-year conflict, a Defense Ministry spokesman said Friday.

Police Maj. Jalal Uddin said that 80 were freed from prisons across the country that day, the latest batch of a total of 400 to be released this week. The released prisoners had been captured in operations against the Taliban and other groups.

"We are certain they can help to bring peace in Afghanistan and will support the government," he said. Uddin said that members of the Afghan High Peace Council as well as relatives were at the Kabul prison for the release. The council is tasked with seeking a peace agreement with the Taliban and other militant groups before NATO, including the United States, withdraws most of its forces by the end of 2014.

The council also hopes that the release of 26 Taliban prisoners by Pakistan over the past two months will help end the conflict, with the freed serving as intermediaries between Kabul and the Taliban leadership.

The U.S. military held thousands of prisoners at a facility on its base in Bagram near Kabul but, since an agreement with the Afghan government last March, more than 3,000 were transferred to Afghan control. President Hamid Karzai has criticized U.S. forces for still keeping some prisoners under custody....

Don't these imams know that jihad is just making sure your kids brush their teeth?

"Prosecutors portray South Florida Muslim clerics as terrorist supporters in federal trial," by Jay Weaver for the Miami Herald, January 4 (thanks to Darcy):

Hafiz Khan, a hunched man with a flowing white beard, was called the “Santa Claus imam” by the youngsters who attended his modest Flagler Mosque in Miami.

But on Friday, a federal prosecutor portrayed the 77-year-old Muslim cleric as an evil man who spewed hateful words about his adopted country and funneled at least $50,000 to support the Pakistani Taliban terrorist organization in violent attacks against U.S. interests overseas.

His goal, Assistant U.S. Attorney John Shipley said in opening statements of Khan’s terrorism trial, was to help arm the Taliban militants with weapons for their mission to topple the Pakistan government and carry out terrorist attacks against the U.S. military abroad.

“This is no man of peace,” Shipley told the 12-person federal jury Friday. “This is not a religious leader that any of you would respect.’’

Khan and his 26-year old son, Izhar Khan, a Muslim scholar who served as imam of a mosque in Margate, are standing trial on charges of conspiracy and providing material support to terrorists. Both imams, who have been detained without bail since their arrests in 2011, say their financial support was intended not for terrorists, but for relatives, friends and school children in Pakistan who have struggled for survival. Each count carries a maximum prison sentence of 15 years.

Charges were dismissed last year against another son, Irfan Khan, because of a lack of evidence. Two other Khan family members charged in the case, Amina Khan, a daughter, and Alam Zeb, her son, are in Pakistan. Another defendant, Ali Rehman, accused of distributing Hafiz Khan’s funds to the Taliban, is also in Pakistan.

The FBI investigation, launched in early 2009, was built on recordings of Hafiz Khan’s phone conversations, a confidential informant who infiltrated Khan’s mosque, and Khan’s bank records in South Florida and Pakistan.

Hafiz Khan’s attorney, Khurrum Wahid, said in opening statements that prosecutors have created a “caricature” of his client, asserting that his words were “hyperbole” and “contrary” to the Taliban’s violent campaign. Wahid said his client was driven by a “love” for the people in the Swat Valley region of Pakistan, near the Afghanistan border, where he was born and raised before becoming a Muslim leader and founder of a madrassa religious school.

“You’re going to hear he loved helping the poor and needy,” Wahid told jurors. “You’re going to hear he’s not pro-Taliban. In fact, it’s quite the contrary. ... You’re going to hearing of no evidence that the money went for guns. ...You’re going to hear it was for the madrassa, the love of his life.”

The younger Khan’s defense lawyer, Joseph Rosenbaum, minced the prosecution’s case against his client, saying that Izhar rarely came up in FBI-recorded phone conversations and was not personally responsible for sending any money to the Taliban.

Rosenbaum said that Izhar never heard a potentially incriminating voice mail message left on his answering machine by his father to pick up $300 from a South Florida donor, that the father said had been “approved for the mujahideen,” or Taliban militants.

“It was impossible for Izhar to hear that voice mail,” Rosenbaum told jurors, noting that the July 11, 2009, message lasted one minute and 58 seconds and that Izhar called his father back 19 seconds after it was left on his answering machine.

“The government has no evidence that Izhar listened to the voice mail message,” the lawyer said. “The government is asking you to assume Izhar heard the voice mail.”

Then Rosenbaum told the jurors that they were the only thing “standing between the government steamrolling someone who is not guilty.”...

Central to the prosecution’s case against the Khans are more than 1,000 phone calls and other communications intercepted by the FBI from 2009 to 2010. Based in large part on those calls, prosecutors say the Khans wired at least $50,000 to help finance the Pakistani Taliban’s acquisition of guns and ammunition.

In addition, Shipley, the prosecutor, said Hafiz Khan’s Swat Valley religious school, which he had founded in the 1970s, was used by the Taliban to train and indoctrinate children in fighting Americans. The madrassa was shut down in 2009 by the Pakistani army.

Court documents also show that the recorded conversations contained anti-American rhetoric and strong support for the Taliban, mainly on the part of the older Khan.

In July 2009, for example, the FBI said Khan “cursed the leaders and army of Pakistan, and called for the death of Pakistan’s president and for blood to be shed in violent revolution.”

What murderous ideology was behind this? What made the Taliban think murdering these policemen would be a meritorious act? Why do they oppose the Pakistani government, and what kind of government do they want to put in its place?

Don't ask such questions! They are "Islamophobic"!

"21 missing Pakistani policemen found shot dead," by Riaz Khan for the Associated Press, December 30 (thanks to Kenneth):

Peshawar, Pakistan • Twenty-one tribal policemen believed to have been kidnapped by the Taliban were found shot dead in Pakistan’s troubled northwest tribal region early Sunday, government officials said.

Officials found the bodies shortly after midnight in the Jabai area of Frontier Region Peshawar after being notified by one policeman who escaped, said Naveed Akbar Khan, a top political official in the area. Another policeman was found seriously wounded, Khan said.

The 23 policemen went missing before dawn Thursday when militants armed with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons attacked two posts in Frontier Region Peshawar. Two policemen were also killed in the attacks.

Militants lined the policemen up on a cricket pitch late Saturday night and gunned them down, said another local official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but suspicion fell on the Pakistani Taliban, who have been waging a bloody insurgency against the government for the past few years. The tribal region is the main sanctuary for the Taliban in Pakistan.

On Saturday, an explosion ripped through a passenger bus at a terminal in the southern city of Karachi, killing six people and wounding 52 others, some of whom were in critical condition, said Seemi Jamali, a doctor at the hospital where the victims were being treated.

Police were trying to determine whether the blast, which reduced the bus to a charred skeleton, was caused by a bomb or a gas canister that exploded, said police spokesman Imran Shaukat. Many buses in Pakistan run on natural gas....

"It also said that any religious scholar will confirm that the defence of dignity, self-respect, life, property and faith was the right of every Muslim and fighting for this right is called Jihad, according to the report." Jihad? The Taliban, a brutal and bloody force for oppression, call what they are doing "jihad"? But...but...I thought "jihad" was just getting in your exercise and taking the kids to school. Surely Hamas-linked CAIR's Ahmed Rehab is jetting over to Pakistan as we speak, so as to disabuse Ehsanullah Ehsan and other Taliban members of their misunderstandings of jihad.

"Taliban wants Sharia in Pakistan, war with India," from NitiCentral, December 27:

The Pakistani Taliban has made a conditional ceasefire offer to the Pakistan Government which calls for an end to Pakistan’s participation in the Afghan war, the imposition of Sharia law in the country, and to avenge the embarrassing defeat of Pakistan in the 1971 War, a GEO News report said.

The offer was made by Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP) Pakistan spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan in a telephonic call from an unknown place, the report said.

The letter calls for repeal of all laws in Pakistan which are repugnant to Islam and says the Constitution should be re-written in the light of the Quran and Sunnah, the report said.

The letter says the Taliban was dragged into a war with Pakistan and the Government and the army were responsible for this, the report said.

The war with the Taliban was started by the army and it was their religious right to defend themselves, the letter said.

It also said that any religious scholar will confirm that the defence of dignity, self-respect, life, property and faith was the right of every Muslim and fighting for this right is called Jihad, according to the report.

The Taliban condemned the Pakistan Army’s actions, calling them mercenaries for America. The Taliban said Pakistan should have a “Pure Islamic Army”, the report said.

“Instead of taking out guns against Muslims (Ahle Islam), the Pakistan Army should prepare to take revenge for the 1971 war (with India). This will also add the potential of Kashmiri mujahideen to our forces,” the Taliban said, according to the report.

The Taliban letter said Pakistan was its country and they “love its streets and plains and deserts, but we cannot sacrifice our faith for this love,” according to the report.

“If we are attacked even those who are now away from the fighting will take up arms and many more fronts will open,” it said. The Taliban said now the Government of Pakistan should decide what it wanted to do.

The letter asked this correspondent to convey the Taliban message to the Pakistani nation, according to the report.

A new indication of the growing power of the Taliban inside Pakistan. "Nine dead as Taliban suicide squad attacks airport in Pakistan," by Jibran Ahmad for Reuters, December 16 (thanks to Kenneth):

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A Taliban suicide squad staged an audacious car bomb, rocket and gun attack Saturday on the airport in the northwestern city of Peshawar, and Pakistani security officials said at least nine people including five attackers were killed.

The night raid was the biggest assault on a high-profile military facility since gunmen stormed an air base in the eastern province of Punjab in August and underscored the resilience and reach of Pakistan's Taliban insurgency.

"No terrorist has been able to penetrate inside (the air field)," Group Captain Tariq Mahmood, a spokesman for the Pakistan Air Force, said in a statement. "Security forces were fully alert and are in control of the situation."

A squad of attackers wearing suicide-vests began the attack by ramming an explosives-laden vehicle into a boundary wall before trading fire with security forces for more than 30 minutes. Three rockets slammed into a nearby residential area.

Health and police officials said at least four civilians had been killed and 45 wounded in the flurry of blasts and gunshots....

The airfield complex serves both commercial flights and military aircraft, including helicopter gunships and warplanes used to strafe and bomb Taliban targets in the tribal areas.

TALIBAN

Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said the movement had sent 10 suicide bombers to attack the airport, double the number of attackers reported by security forces.

"Our target was the Pakistani Air Force base, not the Peshawar airport," Ehsan said by telephone from an undisclosed location....

That's a lot of misinterpretation. But actually, there is no misunderstanding of Islam going on here at all. In Islam, zakat -- the alms required of every Muslim -- can and should be given to further the jihad. So it shouldn't surprise anyone that there are so many jihad charities.

"Terror funds linked to shady charities," by Sandeep Singh Grewal for Gulf Daily News, December 10 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

HUNDREDS of millions of dollars a year are being channelled into the hands of the Taliban - much of it from the Gulf, an expert told the GDN yesterday.

Shady charities in the GCC continue to funnel cash to Afghanistan to fund insurgents, said Afghanistan Centre for Research and Policy Studies director Haroun Mir.

He accused Gulf countries of not doing enough to monitor bogus charity operations, which he accused of filling terrorists' coffers with cash to buy weapons, equipment and conduct operations.

"The Taliban gets $200 million a year to carry out its activities and recruit young people to spread terror across the world," he said on the sidelines of the Manama Dialogue, which ended yesterday at the Ritz-Carlton Bahrain Hotel and Spa.

"This huge amount of money is coming from somewhere and one main channel is bogus charities in GCC and Arab states, which collect funds that are used for illegal activities instead of noble causes."

Mr Mir said people in the region were being conned into parting with their money by those misinterpreting Islam.

"Terrorists are using narratives based on grievances of people and misinterpreting Islam," he said.

"The funds are flowing via ghost charities."

The Muslim faith requires followers to make donations to the needy as part of an Islamic tax, known as "Zakat".

However, Mr Mir said there was still no official authority that monitored where the money was going.

"Nobody has an idea where this money goes as it is being used by extremist groups to purchase weapons or recruit suicide bombers," he claimed.....

"Savagery"! Oh, the "Islamophobia"! Mona, grab your spray paint! "Taliban Face Sick Police," by Ashfaq Yusufzai for IPS, December 7 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Dec 7 2012 (IPS) - The Taliban’s ruthless campaign against security forces has demoralised the forces, who are unable to put up a strong resistance to Islamic militants.

“Taliban militants have established a world record of savagery. They have slaughtered soldiers and common people with knives and displayed their heads in public places to send a message across the forces that they must not chase them at the behest of government,” says a police inspector in Qissakhwani bazaar in the old city area of Peshawar in northern Pakistan.

Militants have carried out 1,962 acts of terrorism since 2008 in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province adjacent to the Afghan border. These have killed 6,200 persons and injured more than 9,000 others, according to a report by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government in the north of Pakistan.

These included 146 suicide attacks that have killed 826 policemen, 222 Frontier Constabulary personnel and 300 army soldiers, the local government said.

“The police are less equipped than militants, who have rocket launchers, bombs and hand-grenades,” police inspector Jawad Ali tells IPS. He says that the militants’ ferocity against security forces have demoralised the forces to the extent that most police stations and checkpoints are locked up during nights.

Some personnel seek medical leave to stay away from duty, prompting the government to issue a notification banning vacation except in unavoidable circumstances. “Genuinely ill personnel get required leave whereas those enjoying good health should stay alert to threats,” Jawad Ali says.

“We have received about 450 applications from policemen seeking leave on health grounds,” says Dr Wasan Khan at the Police Services Hospital. “Only 15 had illnesses for which they were advised rest. Others had arrived only to get a doctor’s prescription that they were ill and couldn’t perform duty.”

About 1,400 security men from the Frontier Constabulary (a 50,000 strong paramilitary force) were sacked two years ago when they refused to take part in an anti-Taliban operation on the outskirts of Peshawar, the capital city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The government has launched a campaign to scale up morale among the security forces. “Dying while fighting the enemy is martyrdom and they shouldn’t surrender in any circumstances to the militants. They did in many instances,” police inspector Jawad Ali says. “This would only further embolden the attackers.”

He says 17 soldiers who were beheaded in Kunar province of Afghanistan in June this year after being kidnapped from checkpoints in Dir, one of the 25 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, had first surrendered. After this they were blindfolded, had their hands tied behind their backs, and were taken away to Afghanistan’s Kunar province.

Militants had beheaded seven soldiers in the same area only a week earlier.

In other recent attacks, militants attacked the Mattani checkpost near Peshawar Oct. 12 and killed six policemen including superintendent of police Khursheed Khan. The militants slaughtered Khan and took his head away. The head was found hanging in a local market the next day.

On Nov. 12 seven policemen including superintendent of police Hilal Khan were killed in a suicide attack in Qissakhwani bazaar.

“All these attacks are meant to terrify the police and security forces so they stay away from defending the people. Beheading them is a strategy to spread fear in the forces,” police officer Abdullah Shah tells IPS....

No kidding, really?