EU 'losing faith' in Afghanistan

The European Union no longer believes that US and Nato forces can succeed in Afghanistan, but continues to commit troops to the fight "out of deference to the United States", the EU president is quoted as saying in leaked US diplomatic cables.

Herman Van Rompuy, who at the time was president-designate, was quoted as telling Howard Gutman, the US ambassador to Belgium, in December 2009 that 2010 would be the "last chance" for Afghanistan in European eyes.

"Europe is doing it and will go along out of deference to the United States but not out of deference to Afghanistan," Van Rompuy is quoted as saying in the cable posted by the WikiLeaks whistleblowing website on Sunday.

"No one believes in Afghanistan any more. But we will give it 2010 to see results. If it doesn't work, that will be it because it is the last chance. And if a Belgian gets killed, it would be over for Belgium right then."

The cable did not detail Van Rompuy's complaints about the conflict in Afghanistan, and did not say whether it was the government in Kabul or the drawn out war with the Taliban that was the primary source of EU frustration.

Military commitment

About 30,000 European troops are on the ground in Afghanistan as part of the Nato-led International Security Force. The total US and Nato force in the country is about 150,000-strong.

Members of the Nato military alliance, which includes the EU countries contributing troops, agreed at a summit in Lisbon last month that responsibility for security would be handed over to the Afghans from 2011, with the country's security forces taking complete control by 2014.

Nato and the US have sustained heavy losses during the nine-year conflict in Afghanistan and there are very few signs that the violence is slowing.

More than 670 foreign soldiers have been killed this year, according to a count based on figures kept by the independent icasualties.org website. That figure is up from 2009 when 521 were killed.

The latest casualties came on Sunday as the leaked cable was published as two Nato soldiers and two Afghan troops were killed in a suicide attack close to a joint military base in Gardez, the provinical capital of eastern Paktia province.

However, the EU's weariness with the conflict in Afghanistan could also stem from anger with Hamid Karzai, the president, who had been sworn in for a second term, just weeks before the Van Rompuy meeting, after an election marred by widespread fraud.

The hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks have already revealed US concerns over Karzai's reliability as a partner. In one, Karl Eikenberry, the US ambassador to Kabul, describes the Afghan president as "a paranoid and weak individual".

SOURCE

WikiLeaked Cable Confirms U.S.’ Secret Somalia Op

It was an off-hand compliment during a January 2007 dinner meeting between Abu Dhabi crown prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, plus staff, and then-U.S. Central Commander boss General John Abizaid. But Al Nayhan’s jocular praise, as reported in WikiLeaks’ trove of leaked diplomatic cables, is a rare admission that the United States played a central role in the disastrous December 2006 Ethiopian invasion of Somalia, a move that ultimately emboldened the very Islamic extremists the U.S. and Ethiopia had hoped to squash.

“The Somalia job was fantastic,” Al Nahyan interjected between discussions of Iran, Saudi Arabia and the prince’s desire to buy Reaper drones for his air force. At the time of Al Nahyan’s comment, the dust was just settling from Ethiopia’s Blitzkrieg-style assault toward Mogadishu. Some 50,000 Ethiopian troops, supported by T-55 tanks, Hind helicopters and Su-27 jet fighters, had cut a bloody swath through the lightly-armed forces of the Islamic Courts Union, an alliance of mostly nationalist Islamic fighters that prior to the invasion had controlled much of Somalia.

The Somali attack had surprised outside observers. Ethiopia and Somalia had been rivals a long time, but no one had expected such brutal fighting, and so suddenly. It was fairly obvious that Ethiopia had received significant help — even urging — for its invasion. For one, Ethiopia’s air force did not appear capable of coordinated air strikes in support of on-the-move ground troops; it seemed likely that the Su-27s were piloted by Russian or Ukrainian mercenaries — a time-honored tradition in Africa. What’s more, Ethiopia’s army didn’t possess the intelligence or logistical skill for long-range operations. Those, not coincidentally, are particular American strengths.

Washington certainly had a motive to get involved in Somalia. There was growing concern in the White House and the Pentagon that Somalia’s Islamists might ally themselves with Al Qaeda and turn to international terrorism. Already with two escalating wars on its own plate, the U.S. was in no position to openly lead its own large-scale attack on Somalia. It’d have been far simpler to simply sponsor somebody else to do the dirty work. Enter Ethiopia.

In early January following the invasion, USA Today’s Barbara Slavin reported on Washington’s extensive behind-the-scenes support for Ethiopian troops. “The ties include intelligence sharing, arms aid and training,” Slavin noted. A couple days later, The Washington Post’s Pauline Jelinek, citing anonymous sources, described U.S. Special Forces accompanying Ethiopian troops. CBS news revealed that U.S. Air Force gunships were active over southern Somalia during the Ethiopian blitz. Through all the reporting, U.S. officials remained vague or silent on the subject of Washington’s involvement. All the same, evidence was mounting that the U.S. had played a leading role in the Ethiopian invasion. Journalists only strongly suspected it, but Abu Dhabi prince Al Nayhan apparently knew it for certain, if his praise of “the Somalia job” was any indication.

Three years later, it’s clear the Ethiopian invasion was a bad idea. The attack rallied Somalis of all stripes and politics against the invaders, ultimately boosting support for fringe Islamic groups that now had a clear enemy in the Ethiopians and their suspected American puppet-masters. Violence mounted as the Ethiopians settled in for a bloody, two-year occupation.

When the Ethiopians withdrew in 2009, the Islamists rushed to fill the vacuum. A year later, the Al Shabab Islamic group, successor to the Islamic Courts, conducted its first international terror attack. Last month, a Somali-born American teen plotted to explode a bomb in Portland. Today, U.S. Special Forces continue to target terrorists in Somalia. There are arguably more of them than ever, thanks in part to the botched Ethiopian invasion. “We’ve made a lot of mistakes and Ethiopia’s entry in 2006 was not a really good idea,” U.S. diplomat Donald Yamamoto said in March.

Fantastic job, indeed.

Link

Witness - Chechen Fighters

Congratulations Ummah! Victory will come with more of you watching other people play Fuutball- Duh!

DOHA, Qatar – A prominent Islamic scholar says he is overjoyed that Qatar defeated the United States to host the 2022 World Cup.

Sheik Youssef al-Qaradawi told worshippers in Doha that he was "filled with joy" after soccer's governing body FIFA selected Qatar on Thursday over the U.S. and three other bidders.

Al-Qaradawi's Friday sermon was quoted in Qatar newspapers Saturday.

The cleric says Qatar humbled the United States, which he claims seeks to dominate every aspect of world affairs. Al-Qaradawi is considered a moderate and co-founded the popular IslamOnline website.

President Barack Obama said Qatar's selection was the "wrong decision."

But Arab leaders call it a groundbreaking move that will change perceptions of the Middle East.

In Pursuit of Allah’s Pleasure

Download PDF HERE

New statement from the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan: “The Negotiation Ploy Boomerangs On The Enemy”

Zilhajj 27, 1431 A.H, Saturday, December 04, 2010

In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

The esteemed Amir-ul-Mumineen, Mullah Muhammad Omar Mujahid, in his Eid ul Adha message, re-affirmed the stance of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan regarding talks with the puppet Kabul regime and the American invaders.

He made it clear that the solution of the Afghan issues lies only in full withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan. The recent developments as regards our country show the far-sightedness of the Amir-ul-momineen, by not responding to the war stratagem being launched by the enemy time and again under the name of peace talks overtures. With the passage of time, it becomes more and more exposed that the enemy is only trying to create rifts among the ranks of Mujahideen through their publishing false reports of peace talks with the senior officials of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

On 22nd Nov. 2010, the New York Times wrote: “the so called “high -ranking member of Taliban” was actually a lowly shop keeper from Quetta. He had introduced himself as Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour to the British Intelligence MI6; His credentials had been confirmed by US intelligence agencies. Then, he was flown by NATO to Kabul to meet with Hamid Karzai who gave him large amount of money. The man apparently had long talks with the M16 for several days before he was whisked away to Kabul. In fact, the enemy has no clear strategy for diplomatic solutions of the issue. Instead, they resort to some hypocritical tactics aimed at weakening the Mujahideen. A western writer writes: “But wait. If we did want to weaken Taliban resolve—and surely we do—and if individual Taliban leaders aren’t really sure what the others are doing, then even a fake Taliban talker might do the trick. Isn’t it possible the false Mansour served our interests–by putting the real Taliban leaders “on edge,” worried that some of their colleagues might be cracking? If the fake Mansour didn’t exist, it might be worth paying someone take the role, no?”

After flaunting its military surge and much publicized operations in Helmand and Kandahar, the enemy has realized that their increased military presence has actually backfired by inciting resistance to their presence even in areas that were relatively peaceful in the past. By their own admission, attacks on the foreign forces from April to October 2010 have increased by 300% compared to the same period in 2009. By the Grace of Allah, the Operation Al Fath (Operation Victory) has successfully been forging ahead. Next phase of the Mujahideen operations, as pointed out by the Commander of the Faithful, will deal dashing blows at the enemy, Inshallah.

In the recent Nato summit in Lisbon, the occupying Nato forces confirmed the end of 2014 as their final withdrawal date from Afghanistan. Since the invaders has proved unable to defeat then Mujahideen militarily (as they themselves admit), they are trying fatuously to create dissension and distrust among the ranks of Mujahideen by spreading the rumor of talks. After the 9/11 attacks on America, the United States did not bother to open a comprehensive and neutral investigation of the 9/11 event to find the real culprits but instead of presenting concrete evidence, the Americans simply said that the Afghans should give in to their demands or they will invade our country. Soon, they started a barbaric aerial bombardment of Afghanistan, without regard to any principle of International law. The Nato allies, repeating mistakes of past empires, considered Afghanistan as a weak nation that they could invade and utilize for their designs in the region.

After the fall of Kabul, the Amir ul Mumineen, Mullah Muhammad Mujahid, in an interview with BBC Radio had predicted that Afghanistan would prove as a graveyard of the American Empire. Today, the Americans have been in Afghanistan for more than nine years, the same length of time that the Soviets had been in Afghanistan, and they are in no better condition than the Soviets. Their puppet regime is weak and corrupt and holds no sway beyond Kabul. They have displaced hundreds of thousands of innocent Afghan civilians; tens of thousands of Afghans have fallen prey to the enemy’s indiscriminate bombing, and an even higher number have been wounded by them.

Their brazen lies about the ground realities have spiraled to such an extent that even their puppet President does not believe in them anymore. But most important of all, the myth of American supremacy has been shattered. America has been demoted from a supposedly “hyper-power” or “super-power” to just another regional power, unable to impose its will on other nations without the backing of other regional powers. The irony is that America was instigated into attacking Afghanistan by other regional powers, and Americas presence in the country served their interests more than it served America’s interests. And today, because of their military and political losses in Afghanistan, America does not have the strength and stomach to confront their real enemies. America’s invasion of Afghanistan will be judged as a unique moment in history when America abandoned its own principles of “Realpolitick” and decided to pull someone else’s chestnut out of the fire. The longer it stays in this fire, the more it will be burnt.

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

PDF - Abdul Salam Zaef - My Life with the Taliban

LINK HERE

This “freedom” put a proud people in chains

And turned free men into slaves

“Independence” made us weak

And slaughtered us

In the name of kindness

This is democracy by the whip

And the fear of chains

With a whirlwind at its core

Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef

(written in Guantánamo*)