A Third Muslim-World War?

“Never allow a weak ally to make decisions for you.”

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a joint news conference with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2009. (Photo credit: Pool / Reuters)

By Christopher Dickey

Web Exclusive
March 18, 2010

Excerpts

Back when Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu was elected Israel’s prime minister for the first time, in 1996, a Jordanian political scientist with a grim sense of humor said the only way to describe him was like a villain out of an old Western: “He’s a lyin’, cheatin’, deceitin’ son of a bitch!”

The Obama administration, without using quite such colorful language, might be inclined to agree. As Aluf Benn, the respected diplomatic correspondent for Israel’s Haaretz newspaper wrote in these columns recently, when U.S. Vice President Joe Biden visited Israel last week, he “had come to offer not just friendship, but support (and protection) against Iran—Israel’s greatest bogeyman—in exchange for a few concessions from Netanyahu. Instead, he got a finger in the eye.” …

But the problem as Benn presented it was more complex than that: a combination of brinkmanship and blackmail in which Netanyahu’s government makes veiled threats to attack Iran, or not, depending on how much pressure it feels on the Palestinian issue.

U.S. military planners have little doubt that an Israeli air campaign against Iranian nuclear facilities would provoke Iranian retaliation against Saudi Arabia and other major oil producers allied with the United States. American efforts to stabilize Afghanistan and Iraq, both of which border Iran, would come under threat. And there would be no way that any U.S. administration, after so many decades pledging undying support for Israel, could make a convincing claim in Muslim eyes that it was not complicit in the attack.

One of the cardinal rules of realism in international politics — and Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton both pride themselves on their realism — is “never allow a weak ally to make decisions for you.” Political scientist Hans J. Morgenthau wrote in his classic Politics Among Nations that great powers “lose their freedom of action by identifying their own national interests completely with those of a weak ally.” And for all its bluster, Israel is, at the end of the day, a tiny country with a population smaller than that of New York City.

“Secure in the support of its powerful friend, the weak ally can choose the objectives and methods of its foreign policy to suit itself,” Morgenthau warned. “The powerful nation then finds it must support interests not its own and that it is unable to compromise on issues that are vital not to itself, but only to its ally.”

Netanyahu wants to make sure that his priorities are America’s priorities on many issues. So he and his supporters argue that if they’re forced to make concessions that would create an independent, viable, contiguous Palestinian state, Israel would feel so insecure that it would have to attack Iran to protect itself — no matter what the implications for Americans and their men and women in the field. …

As reported by Mark Perry at Foreign Policy, back in January a briefing prepared for the American Joint Chiefs of Staff by senior officers at the U.S. Central Command under Gen. David Petraeus reported “a growing perception among Arab leaders that the U.S. was incapable of standing up to Israel,” that the leaders of the many Arab governments in CentCom’s area of responsibility were “losing faith in American promises,” and that “Israeli intransigence on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was jeopardizing U.S. standing in the region.”

Humiliation, weakness, and vulnerability go hand in hand, and Netanyahu seems intent on dishing up all three to the Obama administration lest he himself be made to look like “a sucker,” according to Benn.

This sort of attitude isn’t new. Netanyahu summed up his core thinking in his 1993 book, A Place Among the Nations: Israel and the World, when he said it was naive for Israelis to believe that “Arabs loathed war as much as they themselves.” He derided Israelis who thought of peace as “a kind of blissful castle in the clouds, a Jewish never-never land in which the Jews will be able finally to find a respite from struggle and strife.” …

Even a dozen years ago, the American public was largely passive about Middle East issues. Congressmen proclaimed undying support for Israel, and their constituents asked few questions. Now, with America involved in two wars in the Muslim world, that’s not the case. …

But the decisive voices may belong to America’s generals. Are they ready to have Bibi Netanyahu’s vision of war-without-end dictate endless wars for American troops? The answer, almost certainly, is no.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — March 21, 2009

Followers of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr burn an American flag during an anti-U.S. demonstration Friday, March 20, 2009 in the Sadr City neighborhood of Baghdad marking the sixth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. (Photo credit: Karim Kadim / AP)

Iraqis Mark 6 Years Under U.S.

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that American flags were set on fire to chants of “No, no for occupation” as followers of anti-U.S. Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr marked the sixth anniversary of the Iraq war, which had already cost hundreds of billions of dollars – with an ultimate price tag in the trillions — dwarfing the original Bush administration estimate of $2.4 billion.

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A Victory for Obama

How we’re winning in Pakistan

Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP

By Fareed Zakaria

March 12, 2010 (magazine issue dated March 22)

President Obama gets much credit for changing America’s image in the world — he was probably awarded the Nobel Prize for doing so. But if you asked even devoted fans to cite a specific foreign-policy achievement, they would probably hesitate. “It’s too soon for that,” they would say.

But in fact, there is a place where Barack Obama’s foreign policy is working, and one that is crucial to U.S. national security — Pakistan.

There has been a spate of good news coming out of that complicated country, which has long promised to take action against Islamic militants but rarely done so. (The reason: Pakistan has used many of these same militants to destabilize its traditional foe, India, and to gain influence in Afghanistan.)

Over the past few months, the Pakistani military has engaged in serious and successful operations in the militant havens of Swat, Malakand, South Waziristan, and Bajaur. Some of these areas are badlands where no Pakistani government has been able to establish its writ, so the achievement is all the more important.

The Pakistanis have also ramped up their intelligence sharing with the U.S. This latter process led to the arrest a month ago of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the deputy leader of the Afghan Taliban, among other Taliban figures.

Some caveats: most of the Taliban who have been captured are small fish, and the Pakistani military has a history of “catching and releasing” terrorists so that they can impress Americans but still maintain their ties with the militants. But there does seem to be a shift in Pakistani behavior. Why it’s taken place and how it might continue is a case study in the nature and limits of foreign-policy successes.

First, the Obama administration defined the problem correctly. Senior ad-ministration officials stopped referring to America’s efforts in Afghanistan and instead spoke constantly of “AfPak,” to emphasize the notion that success in Afghanistan depended on actions taken in Pakistan. …

Second, the administration used both sticks and carrots. …

Full story

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Related reports on this site

Taliban Arrest Angers Karzai (March 15, 2010)

AfPak War: Bombers Strike Lahore (March 12, 2010)

Taliban’s Top Commander Captured (Feb. 17, 2010)

Obama Set to Change Course (Jan. 24, 2010)

Obama Rolls Dice on AfPak War (Dec. 2, 2009)

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — March 20, 2009

The American International Building (AIG) in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Financial analysts and federal officials warned that doing nothing to save AIG — or banks or the auto industry — would have led to catastrophe: an economic domino effect of bank losses, stock market chaos, and job cuts. (Photo credit: Timothy A. Clary / AFP — Getty Images)

Should We Turn Our Back on AIG?

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I examined what might have happened if companies deemed “too big to fail” had been allowed to do just that.

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Little Fanfare for 7th Anniversary of War in Iraq

Residents look to future with mix of trepidation, hope

The wreckage of an Iraqi military vehicle destroyed during the air campaign in the early stages of the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 still scars the landscape. Seven years after the first bombs fell, Iraqis went about their business Friday, March 19, 2010 with little observance of the anniversary. (Photo credit: Hadi Mizban / AP)

March 19, 2010

BAGHDAD – Almost seven years after the first bombs in the war to oust Saddam Hussein, Iraqis went about their business Friday with little observance of the anniversary, looking to the future with a mixture of trepidation and hope. …

There was little fanfare in Baghdad and around the country for an event many Iraqis first viewed with hope only to see it sour into sorrow and anger as the invasion unleashed rampant sectarian violence. …

While violence has plummeted since the height of the bloodshed in 2006 and 2007, attacks continue across the country, although in much smaller numbers.

On Friday, at least five people were killed in bombs and shootings across Iraq.

Three people were killed when a bomb exploded in the Sadr City slum of eastern Baghdad; gunmen killed an Iraqi soldier in southern Baghdad; and a roadside bomb in the northern city of Mosul killed an Iraqi soldier, police and hospital officials said. …

Mixed feelings

Many Iraqis view the U.S. plans to withdraw with mixed feelings — pride that their country is regaining its full sovereignty but also concern that the lull in violence may break and bloodshed return. …

In Sadr City, the stronghold of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, Sheik Suhail al-Akabi described the anniversary as the “ominous day of the invasion,” and called for a demonstration on April 9, the anniversary of the fall of Baghdad, “to call for the departure of the occupying forces.” …

At least 4,386 U.S. military personnel have died in Iraq since the war began, according to an Associated Press count. …

Lower death toll

Last year, 152 American service members died in Iraq, compared to 314 a year earlier, according to figures compiled by The Associated Press using data from the U.S. Defense Department.

The number of troops in Iraq has also dropped significantly since the height of the war in October 2007, when the U.S. had about 170,000 troops in the country. About 95,000 remain, and that number is expected to fall to 50,000 by the end of August under a plan by President Barack Obama to remove all combat troops from the country. All American troops are scheduled to leave by the end of 2011.

According to figures compiled by Iraq’s Human Rights Ministry and released last fall, 85,694 people were killed from the beginning of 2004 to Oct. 31, 2008 and 147,195 were wounded. The figures include Iraqi civilians, military and police but do not cover U.S. military deaths, insurgents, or foreigners, including contractors. And it did not include the first months of the war after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. …

The war in Iraq has cost more than $712 billion, according to the National Priorities Project.

 Video

Iraq ‘more peaceful,’ but not stable yet (March 19, 2010) – “All the hard work we’ve done over the past few years has paid off,” one U.S. soldier tells NBC News’ Richard Engel in a discussion about the U.S. military’s role in Iraq. He added that knowing his friends “didn’t die in vain is a big pay-off.” (10:40)

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — March 19, 2009

NBC News

Iraq — Six Years After

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that six years after the U.S. invaded Iraq on March 20, 2003 — March 19 in the United States — the end of America’s costly mission was in sight, but the future of Iraq much less clear.

What’s Obama’s Iraq policy?
See if he’s keeping his word

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Missile Strike Kills Top al-Qaida Leader

Planner thought to have role in bombing of CIA base in Afghanistan

Humam Khalil Abu Mulal al-Balawi killed seven CIA officers and contractors, a Jordanian intelligence officer, and a driver when he blew himself up at a CIA facility in Afghanistan, on Dec. 30, 2009. (Photo credit: IntelCenter via EPA / AP)

Robert Windrem and Jim Miklaszewski

March 17, 2010

WASHINGTON – A missile strike in Pakistan last week killed a top al-Qaida leader believed to have been a key player in the suicide attack that killed seven CIA operatives in Afghanistan, U.S. officials told NBC News Wednesday.

According to officials, Hussein al-Yemeni was a “top al-Qaida planner, facilitator and bomb maker.”

The Hellfire missile strike took place in a “densely populated area” of Miram Shah in North Waziristan, Pakistan, the location of a bomb-making facility.

U.S. officials also report that besides his al-Qaida connections, al-Yemeni was tied to the Haqqani Taliban network out of Afghanistan, but was headquartered across the border in Pakistan.

In the Khost attack on Dec. 30, a Jordanian suicide bomber killed seven CIA employees — four officers and three contracted security guards — and a Jordanian intelligence officer. It was the worst CIA loss of life since the 1983 Beirut Embassy bombings, when eight CIA officers were killed.

Increased attacks

The report of al-Yemeni’s killing is yet another indicator of a dramatically increased tempo of Predator attacks on suspected al-Qaida and Taliban encampments in the tribal areas of western Pakistan.

The tempo has been driven in part by the CIA’s desire to avenge the deaths of its officers in Khost. 

The number of attacks since January, many in direct retaliation for the Khost attack, has now reached 20, officials say. That’s already half the number carried out all of last year. Rather than focus on top leadership, say U.S officials, the latest wave of attacks is focusing on training camps, bomb-making facilities and safe houses.

List of al-Qaida leaders killed

The U.S. believes the attacks are having a qualitative effect on al-Qaida. A list of those killed in Predator attacks in the past two years was provided to NBC News.

The list includes a number of top officials, if not the most senior and best known al-Qaida leaders:

• Khalid Habib (veteran combat leader and operations chief involved with plots to attack the West; deputy to Shaikh Sa’id al-Masri, al-Qaeda’s #3).
• Rashid Rauf (mastermind of the 2006 transatlantic airliner plot).
• Abu Khabab al-Masri (al-Qaeda’s most seasoned explosives expert and trainer, and the man responsible for its chemical and biological weapons efforts).
• Abdallah Azzam (senior aide to Sheikh Sa’id al-Masri).
• Abu al-Hassan al-Rimi (led cross-border operations against coalition forces in Afghanistan).
• Abu Sulaiman al-Jaziri (senior external operations planner and facilitator).
• Abu Jihad al-Masri (senior operational planner and propagandist).
• Usama al-Kini (Marriott attack planner and listed on the FBI’s terrorist most wanted list).
• Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan (involved in the attacks on the US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania).
• Abu Sulaiman al-Jaziri (senior trainer and external operations plotter).
• Baitullah Mehsud (leader of the Pakistani Taliban).
• Yahyo (leader of the Islamic Jihad Union of Uzbekistan).
• Saleh al-Somali (senior al-Qaeda external operations planner).
• Abdullah Said (al-Qaeda’s chief of internal operations).

It’s not a typo that two Abu Sulaiman al-Jaziris are on the list. “There were two, and now there aren’t,” said a U.S. counterterrorism official.

Beyond that list, the U.S. believes it killed Hakimullah Mehsud, who succeeded his brother as head of the Pakistan Taliban and was featured in the Jordanian bomber’s martyrdom video.

The attacks in which he was targeted took place two months ago, and he has not been heard from since.

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Related reports on this site

CIA Bomber’s Tangled Web (March 4, 2010)

New Details in CIA Bombing (Jan. 10, 2010)

Balawi Fit Suicide Bomber Profile (Jan. 5, 2010)

CIA Zawahiri Team Decimated (Jan. 4, 2010)

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — March 18, 2009

The Princess of Pork

Photo: Paul Sancya / AP

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that MSNBC “Countdown” featured a segment titled “Pork Princess: Bachmann’s Earmark Delusion,” in which anchor Keith Olbermann berated U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) for signing a “No Earmarks” pledge, violating her own pledge by shamelessly requesting millions of dollars in earmarks, and then dishonestly claiming she had not requested any earmarks.

Pat Kessler reporting on WCCO

Reality Check: Bachmann’s Earmarks

On March 18, 2009 WCCO political reporter Pat Kessler fact-checked the Bachmann pork “no-earmark” story on the “Reality Check” segment of WCCO 4 News at 10.

Watch video: Bachmann’s Earmarks (02:17)

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The New ‘Forgotten’ War: Iraq Occupation Falls into Media Shadows 

By Dahr Jamail
Global Research
March 16, 2010

“The Western world that slaughtered Iraq and Iraqis, through 13 years of sanctions and seven years of occupation, is now turning its back on the victims. What has remained of Iraq is still being devastated by bombings, assassinations, corruption, millions of evictions and continued infrastructure destruction. Yet the world that caused all this is trying to draw a rosy picture of the situation in Iraq.”
– Maki al-Nazzal, Iraqi political analyst

As Afghanistan has taken center stage in U.S. corporate media, with President Barack Obama announcing two major escalations of the war in recent months, the U.S. occupation of Iraq has fallen into the media shadows.

But while U.S. forces have begun to slowly pull back in Iraq, approximately 130,000 American troops and 114,000 private contractors still remain in the country (Congressional Research Service, 12/14/09),  along with an embassy the size of Vatican City.

Upwards of 400 Iraqi civilians still die in a typical month (Iraq Body Count, 12/31/09), and fallout from the occupation that is now responsible, by some estimates, for 1 million Iraqi deaths (Extra! 1/2/08) continues to severely impact Iraqis in ways that go uncovered by the U.S. press. …

Full story

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — March 17, 2009

A Key to Success for Obama?

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I featured a report from Oprah Magazine regarding the personal qualities of President Barack Obama: “‘Boring’ might not be the first adjective that comes to mind to describe [Obama], but it was ‘No Drama Obama’ who assured the nation with his steady composure and won the White House. Aubrey Immelman, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology at the College of Saint Benedict / Saint John’s University in Minnesota, says the variable that most distinguishes Obama from the two previous presidents is conscientiousness.”

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U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq

As of Tuesday, March 16, 2010, at least 4,385 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Since the start of U.S. military operations in Iraq, 31,732 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action, according to the Defense Department’s weekly tally.

U.S. Troop Casualties in Iraq

Latest identifications:

Army Sgt. Aaron M. Arthur, 25, Lake City, S.C., died March 8, 2010 north of Al Kut, Iraq, of injuries sustained during a vehicle roll-over. He was assigned to the 203rd Brigade Support Battalion, attached to the 1st Battalion, 10th Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Benning, Ga.

Army Spc. Lakeshia M. Bailey, 23, Columbus, Ga., died March 8, 2010 north of Al Kut, Iraq, of injuries sustained during a vehicle roll-over. She was assigned to the 203rd Brigade Support Battalion, attached to the 1st Battalion, 10th Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Benning, Ga.

Army Pfc. Erin L. McLyman, 26, Federal Way, Wash., died March 13, 2010 in Balad, Iraq, of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked her base with mortar fire. She was assigned to the 296th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Joint Base Lews-McChord, Wash.

3/19/10 update: Army Staff Sgt. Richard J. Jordan, 29, Tyler, Texas, died March 16, 2010 in Mosul, Iraq, of injuries sustained during a vehicle roll-over. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 36th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Fort Bliss, Texas.

U.S. Military Deaths in Afghanistan

As of Friday, March 12, 2010, at least 936 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. Outside the Afghan region, the department reports 76 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, for a total of 1,000 military deaths.

Latest identifications:

• Army Pvt. Nicholas S. Cook, 19, Hungry Horse, Mont., died March 7, 2010 in Konar province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using small-arms fire. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, Camp Ederle, Italy.
• Army Pfc. Jason M. Kropat, 25, White Lake, N.Y., died March 9, 2010 in Khowst province, Afghanistan, from wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using small-arms fire, indirect fire, and rocket-propelled grenades. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.
• Army Sgt. Jonathan J. Richardson, 24, Bald Knob, Ark., died March 9, 2010 in Khowst province, Afghanistan, from wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using small-arms fire, indirect fire, and rocket-propelled grenades. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.
• Marine Lance Cpl. Garrett W. Gamble, 20, Sugarland, Texas, died March 11, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
• Marine Cpl. Jonathan D. Porto, 26, Largo, Fla., died March 14, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
• 3/17/10 update: Army Sgt. 1st Class Glen J. Whetten, 31, Mesa, Ariz., died March 12, 2010 near Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan.
• 3/19/10 update: Marine Gunnery Sgt. Robert L. Gilbert II, 28, Richfield, Ohio, died March 16, 2010 of wounds sustained March 8 while supporting combat operations in Badghis province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Marine Special Operations Battalion, Marine Special Operations Regiment, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Remember Their Sacrifice

Related links

Iraq Casualties

Afghanistan Casualties

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — March 16, 2009

An Afghan police officer surveys the damage after an explosion on the outskirts of Kabul on Sunday, March 14, 2009. (Photo credit: Rafiq Maqbool / AP)

Afghanistan/Iraq Update

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that a roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan killed four NATO troops, while bombings and clashes elsewhere in the country killed 14 more people; that a suicide bomber in police uniform detonated inside a police headquarters in southern Afghanistan, killing 11 people and wounding 29; that Iraq’s prime minister Nouri al-Maliki said any U.S. withdrawals “must be done with our approval” and in coordination with the Iraqi government; that the U.S. military confirmed that U.S. forces had shot down an unmanned Iranian aircraft in Iraqi airspace; and that 4,259 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war.

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Afghanistan’s Karzai ‘Very Angry’ at Taliban Boss’ Arrest

Afghan government was holding secret talks with group’s No. 2

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, right, welcomes Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai for bilateral talks at the prime minister’s official residence and office, in Islamabad, Pakistan, on March 11, 2010. (Photo credit: B.K. Bangash / AP file)

March 15, 2010

KABUL – The Afghan government was holding secret talks with the Taliban’s No. 2 when he was captured in Pakistan, and the arrest infuriated President Hamid Karzai, according to one of Karzai’s advisers.

The detention of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar — second in the Taliban only to one-eyed Mullah Mohammed Omar — has raised new questions about whether the U.S. is willing to back peace discussions with leaders who harbored the terrorists behind the Sept. 11 attacks.

Karzai “was very angry” when he heard that the Pakistanis had picked up Baradar with an assist from U.S. intelligence, the adviser said. Besides the ongoing talks, he said Baradar had “given a green light” to participating in a three-day peace jirga that Karzai is hosting next month. …

The capture was part of a U.S.-backed crackdown in which the Pakistanis also arrested several other Afghan Taliban figures along the porous border between the two countries, after years of being accused by Washington of doing little to stop them. …

Top United Nations and British officials emphasized last week that the time to talk to the Taliban is now. The Afghan government, for its part, has plans to offer economic incentives to coax low- and midlevel fighters off the battlefield. Another driving force is President Barack Obama’s goal of starting to withdraw U.S. troops in July 2011. …

The U.S. has said generally that it supports efforts to welcome back any militants who renounce violence, cut ties with al-Qaida and recognize and respect the Afghan constitution, but it is keeping details of its position closely held. …

During his trip to Afghanistan last week, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said it was premature to expect senior members of the Taliban to reconcile with the government. He said until the insurgents believe they can’t win the war, they won’t come to the table. …

A U.S. military official in Kabul, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss reconciliation, said the top commander in Afghanistan, U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, has not yet solidified his opinion on this issue.

He said the U.S. is still debating the timing of the Afghan government’s outreach to senior leaders of three main Afghan insurgent groups — Omar; Jalaluddin Haqqani, who runs an al-Qaida-linked organization; and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the boss of the powerful Hezb-e-Islami. …

Karzai won’t discuss his administration’s talks with Taliban members or their representatives, but several Afghan officials confirmed that his government was in discussions with Baradar, who hails from Karzai’s Popalzai tribe of the Durrani Pashtuns in Kandahar. …

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3/16/10 Update

Afghanistan denies talks with Taliban No. 2 (MSNBC.com, March 16, 2010) — Afghanistan’s government denied a report that it had been holding secret peace talks with the Taliban’s number two leader, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, when he was arrested in Pakistan. … Full story

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Related reports on this site

AfPak War: Bombers Strike Lahore (March 12, 2010)

Taliban’s Top Commander Captured (Feb. 17, 2010)

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — March 15, 2009

Recount Trial Closing Arguments

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I featured a live video feed of the closing arguments in Minnesota’s U.S. Senate recount trial to decide the winner of the race between incumbent Republican Norm Coleman and Democratic challenger Al Franken.

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Taliban: Kandahar Bombings a ‘Warning’ 

Insurgents claim they’re ready for coming NATO offensive

Video

Taliban message (NBC Nightly News, March 14, 2010) – According to insurgents, the deadly bomb attacks were a warning to NATO’s top general that the they’re prepared for the looming battle in their stronghold. ITV’s Alex Thomson reports from Afghanistan. (02:46)

March 14, 2010

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – Deadly bomb attacks in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar were a warning to NATO’s top general that the Taliban are ready for a coming offensive in their heartland, the insurgents said Sunday.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi said the bombings show the insurgents are still able to operate despite the buildup of Afghan and international troops in the south in preparation for a push into Kandahar province.

A separate, Taliban-linked Web site called the attacks a “warning” to Gen. Stanley McChrystal. The top NATO general has said Kandahar province is the next target for coalition forces who recently drove the insurgents from a key stronghold in neighboring Helmand province. …

The multiple explosions — there were at least five blasts, four of them suicide attacks — killed at least 35 people, according to the Ministry of Interior. …

President Hamid Karzai condemned the attacks, which hit the city’s prison, police headquarters, a wedding hall next door and other areas on roads leading to the prison.

The main target was the prison, where investigators have found eight suicide vests, three rockets and AK-47 ammunition, police said. …

The assault mirrored a 2008 suicide bombing at the Kandahar prison gates that freed hundreds of prisoners, many of them suspected insurgents. No inmates escaped this time from the lockup, which Canadian troops reinforced with cement block after the 2008 attack.

Among the dead were 13 policemen and 22 civilians, including six women and three children, the interior ministry said. Most of the casualties occurred at the police headquarters and at the wedding celebration in a hall next door.

Another 57 people were wounded, including 17 policemen, and 42 homes were damaged, the ministry said. …

Kandahar city, population 800,000, was the seat of government for the Taliban when it ruled Afghanistan, imposing its vision of Islamic theocracy for five years before being toppled by U.S.-backed forces in 2001.

The offensive that U.S., NATO and Afghan forces are planning in Kandahar later this year is a follow-up to the ongoing military operation in Helmand province’s Marjah district. The operation is the first test of top Afghanistan commander U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s strategy to rout insurgents from areas, set up new governance and rush in development aid in hopes of winning the loyalty of the residents. …

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — March 14, 2009

Art by Ralph Steadman

Columbine: A True Crime Story   A victim, the killers and the nation’s search for answers             More information at http://www.jeffkassauthor.com/

Columbine: The Real Story

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that Jeff Kass, one of the first reporters on the scene of the Columbine High School shooting on April 20, 1999, had completed the definitive work on the tragedy, Columbine: A True Crime Story. (I collaborated on the project, developing psychological profiles of shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.)

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At Least 43 Dead, 100 Hurt in Lahore Blasts

Suicide bombers target security forces in 4th major attack in a week

Video

Twin suicide blasts (MSNBC, March 12, 2010) – Lahore is rocked by a pair of suicide bombers who targeted army vehicles. MSNBC.com’s Dara Brown reports. (01:07)

The Associated Press and Reuters via MSNBC.com
March 12, 2010

LAHORE, Pakistan – A pair of suicide bombers targeting army vehicles detonated explosives within seconds of each other Friday, killing at least 43 people in this eastern city and wounding about 100, police said.

The blasts represented the fourth major attack in Pakistan this week, indicating Islamist militants are stepping up violence after a period of relative calm.

About 10 of those killed were soldiers, said Lahore police chief Parvaiz Rathore.

Several hours later another explosion reportedly hit the city, but there were no immediate details of casualties.

In the earlier attack, the bombers, who were on foot, struck RA Bazaar, a residential and commercial neighborhood where several security agencies have facilities.

Security forces swarmed the area as thick black smoke rose into the sky and bystanders rushed the injured into ambulances.

Video being shot with a mobile phone just after the first explosion showed a large burst of orange flame suddenly erupting in the street, according to GEO TV, which broadcast a short clip of the footage shot by Tabraiz Bukhari. …

No group immediately claimed responsibility, but suspicion quickly fell on the Pakistani Taliban and al-Qaida.

The militants are believed to have been behind scores of attacks in U.S.-allied Pakistan over the last several years, including a series of strikes that began in October and lasted around three months, killing some 600 people in apparent retaliation for an army offensive along the Afghan border.

In more recent months, the attacks were smaller, fewer and confined to remote regions near Afghanistan.

But on Monday, a suicide car bomber struck a building in Lahore where police interrogated high-value suspects — including militants — killing at least 13 people and wounding dozens. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility.

Also this week, suspected militants attacked the northwest Pakistan offices of World Vision, a U.S.-based Christian aid group, killing six Pakistani employees. A bombing at a small, makeshift movie theater in the main northwest city of Peshawar killed four people. …

[The] attacks show that the loose network of insurgents angry with Islamabad for its alliance with the U.S. retain the ability to strike throughout Pakistan despite pressure from army offensives and American missile strikes. …

The violence also comes amid signs of a Pakistani crackdown on Afghan Taliban and al-Qaida operatives using its soil. Among the militants known to have been arrested is the Afghan Taliban’s No. 2 commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar [link added].

The Pakistani Taliban, meanwhile, are believed to have lost their top commander, Hakimullah Mehsud [link added], in a U.S. missile strike in January. The group has denied Mehsud is dead but has failed to prove he’s still alive. …

During the bloody wave of attacks that began in October [link added] — coinciding with the army’s ground offensive against the Pakistani Taliban in the South Waziristan tribal area — Lahore was hit several times.

In mid-October, three groups of gunmen attacked three security facilities [link added] in the eastern city, a rampage that left 28 dead. Twin suicide bombings at a market there in December killed around 50 people.

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Related reports on this site

Afghan War Expands to Region (Oct. 8, 2009)

Taliban Leader Vows Revenge (Oct. 5, 2009)

Taliban, al-Qaida Up the Ante (Sept. 21, 2008)

Al-Qaida Threatens New Attacks (Sept. 20, 2008)

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — March 12, 2009

Worshippers at the Abubakar As-Saddique Islamic Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota’s largest mosque. The mosque is suspected by the families of some missing Somali men of having a role in their loved ones’ disappearance. (Photo credit: Craig Lassig / AP)

FBI Probing Somali Terror Link

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that the FBI was investigating whether young Somali men were being radicalized in Minnesota and recruited to fight with terrorist groups such as al-Shabab in Somalia.

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U.S. House Rejects Bill to Withdraw from Afghanistan

Afghanis protest against U.S. forces after an early morning raid in Khost province, east of Kabul on Saturday, March 7, 2009. (Photo credit: Nishanuddin Khan / AP file)

By Jim Abrams

March 10, 2010

WASHINGTON – The House of Representatives soundly rejected an effort by anti-war lawmakers Wednesday to force withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year.

The outcome of the vote, 356-65 against the resolution, never was in doubt. Nevertheless, the 3 1/2-hour debate gave those who oppose President Barack Obama’s war policies a platform to vent their frustrations.

Opposing the resolution was easy for almost all Republicans, who have been solidly behind Obama’s decision to increase U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan from 70,000 to 100,000. Only five Republicans supported the measure.

It was a harder vote for some Democrats, particularly in an election year where opposing the war can be equated with opposing the troops. Several expressed discomfort with a war that has lasted 8 1/2 years and cost the nation more than 930 American lives and the treasury more than $200 billion but said they were voting against the resolution because it was ill-timed and unrealistic.

Among the “no” voters was Democratic Rep. Patrick Kennedy, who gave an impassioned speech. The U.S. policy of needlessly sending troops into harm’s way was “shameful,” Kennedy said. He also lambasted the national media, calling their lack of attention to the loss of life in Afghanistan “despicable.”

Rep. Dennis Kucinich, also a Democrat and a former presidential candidate, wrote the resolution that would have directed the president to remove all U.S. troops from Afghanistan within 30 days of its adoption. If the president deemed that deadline unsafe, he would have had until the end of the year to end U.S. military presence in the nation.

Obama has said he wants to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan starting in July 2011.

Kucinich based his resolution on the 1973 War Powers Act, passed during the Vietnam War era to require the president to obtain congressional approval when he sends troops to a conflict for more than 90 days.

Congress authorized the use of military force to fight terrorists in 2001, after the Sept. 11 attacks, but Kucinich said both the Bush and Obama administrations had wrongfully used that authority as carte blanche to circumvent the role of Congress in sending Americans to war. …

Republicans warned that a precipitous withdrawal would be a serious mistake, allowing the Taliban to regain power and assuring that al-Qaida and other terror groups would again have a staging ground to launch attacks against the United States and the West.

“In the case of Afghanistan, President Obama has demonstrated great responsibility and a sense of the national security interests of the United States,” said Republican Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart. “He deserves our support.” …

Related link: H. Con. Res. 248

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Related reports on this site

Grim Milestone in Afghanistan (Feb. 24, 2010)

Marines carry wounded troops to a waiting helicopter after their armored vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Marja, Afghanistan. (Photo credit: Brennan Linsley / Associated Press — The Washington Post)

Public Opinion on Afghan Surge (Dec. 17, 2009)

A December 2009 poll showed Americans remained against sending more troops to Afghanistan. (Photo credit: Kevin Frayer / AP file)

Chuck Hagel on National Defense (Sept. 3, 2009)

Chuck Hagel and Aubrey Immelman

Obama War Strategy Setback (Aug. 29, 2009)

Deadliest month ever for U.S. GIs in Afghanistan (NBC Nightly News, Aug. 28, 2009) — At least 45 American troops have been killed so far this month in Afghanistan, a record in the eight-year war. NBC’s Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel reports on what is causing the uptick in casualties. (video; 01:47)

Afghanistan — Obama’s Vietnam? (Feb. 3, 2009)

Islamist militants blew up a bridge in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2009, cutting a major supply line for Western troops in Afghanistan in the latest in a series of attacks on the Khyber Pass by insurgents seeking to hamper the U.S.-led mission against the Taliban. (Photo credit: Mohammad Sajjad / AP)

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — March 10, 2009

Economy Has ‘Fallen Off a Cliff’

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that billionaire investor Warren Buffett said the economy had “fallen off a cliff” and predicted the U.S. likely would face higher unemployment and eventually inflation because of the economic crisis.

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