Everybody knows that Christianity is just as likely as Islam to inspire murderous violence in its adherents. Someday everybody will get some evidence to support this. The point is not really about Christianity or moral equivalence at all. It is about the continued evasion and refusal to confront the doctrine and ideology behind this kind […]
Progress: Jihadis dynamite schools in NW Pakistan
If the books agree with the Koran, they are superfluous. If they disagree with it, they are heretical. “Taliban dynamite schools in NW Pakistan: official,” from AFP, December 9 (thanks to James): PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) – Taliban militants on Wednesday dynamited two boys’ schools in Pakistan’s Khyber district, where troops are pressing an offensive against […]
Obama adviser to McChrystal on defeating the Taliban: “Is that really what you think your mission is?”
Of course not. We’re way beyond “victory” now. Everyone knows that enemies are defeated by building schools, roads, and hospitals. In any case, now we know that Obama’s troop surge in Afghanistan is not intended to subdue (much less “kill every member of,” as an Obama aide describes defeating them) the Taliban. What it is […]
Taliban trying to destroy Buddhist art
Imperiled Islam, of course, forbids representational art. And we all saw what happened to the Buddhas of Bamiyan. More on this story. “Taliban trying to destroy Buddhist art from the Gandhara period,” from Asia News, November 27 (thanks to C. Cantoni): Islamabad (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Pakistani and foreign archaeologists have set off the alarm bell, warning […]
Taliban misunderstands Islam, promises repeat of Fort Hood jihad massacre
“Taliban” means, of course, “students.” I.e., students of Islam. But somehow they have missed the peaceful teachings of Islam that are so plain and patent to everyone else that only “Islamophobes” have trouble seeing them. How is it that these students of Islam don’t know, as Obama put it yesterday, that “no faith justifies these […]
Taliban has penetrated Afghan National Police “at every level”
Big surprise here. “Afghan National Police penetrated by Taliban at ‘every level,’” by Thomas Harding and James Kirkup from the Telegraph, November 4 (thanks to Axel): The Afghan National Police have been penetrated by the Taliban “at every level” with officers poorly trained, corrupt and some addicted to drugs, a former Army officer has said. […]
Taliban welcomes Hillary Clinton to Pakistan with car bomb that kills 90
A welcome according to time-hallowed local custom. “Car bomb kills 90 in Pakistan as Hillary Clinton visits,” by Zeeshan Haider and Andrew Quinn for Reuters, October 28 (thanks to Maxwell): ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) – A car bomb ripped through a crowded market killing 90 people in Pakistan’s city of Peshawar on Wednesday, just hours after […]
Islamic jihadists attack UN guesthouse in Afghanistan, six dead
But the UN spokesman says that the UN will continue its good works in Afghanistan, building things for the Taliban to destroy. “Kabul Guesthouse Attack Leaves 6 Dead, Including 5 UN Employees,” by James Rupert and Gregory Viscusi for Bloomberg, October 28: Oct. 28 (Bloomberg) — Six international workers were killed and nine wounded when […]
Afghan musician hopes the Taliban will go away so he can play again
The Taliban believe music is un-Islamic. Why? Hadith Qudsi 19:5: “The Prophet said that Allah commanded him to destroy all the musical instruments, idols, crosses and all the trappings of ignorance.” The Hadith Qudsi, or holy Hadith, are those in which Muhammad transmits the words of Allah, although those words are not in the Qur’an. […]
“This war in Kunduz belongs to the narcotics mafia, which is operating in the name of Islam”
Mohammad Razaq Yaqubi said that. He must be some kind of Islamophobe. “Taliban continue to expand their reach,” by Gull Rohm Niazmand for MCT News Service, October 20 (thanks to James): KUNDUZ, Afghanistan The insignia on the door says the vehicle belongs to the provincial police. But the man behind the wheel is clearly a […]
NY Times reporter, held captive by the Taliban, gets hit with a giant cluebat
Able to observe the Taliban close up for an extended period, a New York Times reporter discovers that they aren’t actually the moderate nationalists that his own paper may have led him to believe they were. “7 Months, 10 Days in Captivity,” by David Rohde in the New York Times, October 17 (thanks to Sounder): […]
U.S. also confronted Italy about allegations of bribing Taliban
An update on this story. “United States admits tackling Italians over payments to the Taleban,” by Tim Reid for the Times Online, October 17: The US Government acknowledged for the first time yesterday that payment of protection money to the Taleban by Italian forces in Afghanistan was discussed by American officials and their Italian counterparts […]
Italy was bribing the Taliban but didn’t tell the French, French troops killed and mutilated
The Italians forgot to mention to the French that they were playing Aethelred the Unready, and so the French were ambushed and killed. “French troops were killed after Italy hushed up ‘bribes’ to Taleban,” by Tom Coghlan in The Times, October 15 (thanks to Weasel Zippers): When ten French soldiers were killed last year in […]
Pakistani Taliban leader: “We want an Islamic state. If we get that, then we will go to the borders and help fight the Indians”
Actually, Pakistan has already been extending that option to captured Taliban jihadists. “Pakistan: Taliban leader warns India will be ‘attacked’,” from AdnKronos International, October 14: Islamabad, 14 October (AKI) – The Pakistani Taliban’s new leader Hakimullah Mehsud warned India of future attacks and sent a message to Pakistan’s army that if it wanted a halt […]
Pakistan: Most hostages released from army headquarters
An update on this particularly brazen attack. “Most hostages freed in army HQ raid: Pakistan military,” from Agence France-Presse, October 10: Most hostages seized by militants after a bid to storm Pakistan’s army headquarters were rescued as the army launched an operation against the attackers Sunday, a military spokesman said. “The operation has been started […]
“They use the name of Islam, but it’s fake”
The Wall Street Journal is very pleased that the U.S. military is using ex-jihadists to fight against those who are still jihadists in Afghanistan. It’s all in “U.S. Teams Up With Ex-Mujahedeen” by Yochi J. Dreazen, October 10. And in the course of the article there is the obligatory denial that those who are waging […]
U.S. abandons Afghanistan base. Taliban: We drove you out. U.S.: no, we left.
Whatever the case may be, there is no clear mission in Afghanistan, no clear idea of victory, and no understanding of the jihad doctrine that motivates not only the Taliban but others in Afghanistan — and all that is a recipe for disaster. “U.S. troops abandon remote Afghan base where 8 were killed,” by Laura […]
Jihadists attack Pakistani army headquarters
Audacious. Brazen. Assertive. “Six soldiers dead in attack on Pakistan army HQ,” by Khurram Shahzad for AFP, October 10: RAWALPINDI, Pakistan — Heavily-armed militants tried to storm Pakistan’s army headquarters on Saturday, with six soldiers and four rebels killed in an audacious attack near the capital Islamabad, officials said. Six insurgents armed with automatic weapons […]
Candidate Obama ripped Pakistan for “making peace treaties with the Taliban”
So what has happened in the nine months that Obama has been President to lead him to reverse this stand completely? And since we went into Afghanistan in the first place in order to fight the Taliban, and Obama now accepts a role for the Taliban in Afghanistan’s government, why are we increasing our military […]
New participants in Afghanistan’s “political future” kill 17 in massive jihad/martyrdom car bomb in Kabul
Obama is ready to play ball with the Taliban, and meanwhile, the Taliban are continuing to play a game of their own. “Taliban claim Kabul bombing,” from AFP, October 9 (thanks to all who sent this in): THE Taliban have claimed responsibility for a massive suicide car bomb that targeted the Indian embassy in Kabul […]