Jihadis Foiled In Pakistan, Massive Terrorist Bomb Found and Disarmed

Odds were pretty good that we would have been waking up tomorrow to hundreds of people killed in Pakistan as a result of a terrorist bomb planted near a market but the Pakistani police got lucky this time around.

The story comes from Times of India.

Terror plot foiled in Pakistan, bomb defused near market

PESHAWAR: A terror plot in Pakistan was foiled on Friday as a five-kilogramme bomb planted near a market in this northwestern city was defused.


The bomb was planted in Farooq Shah Market situated opposite a police station in Hangu district of Khyber Pakthunkhwa bordering volatile Kurram agency, police said.

The bomb disposal squad was called in by police and its officials defused the remote control attached with the explosive material.

The bomb contained five kilogrammes of explosives and if it had exploded it would have caused huge destruction.


"The BDS saved the city from massive destruction by timely defusing the explosive material," a police official said.
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A Thursday In Israel: IDF Soldier Stabbed, Pregnant Woman Hit With Rock, Travel Stop Hit By Drive By Shooting

Oh yeah, just another day in Israel where every single person living there is a target of some Arab terrorist.

But that certainly doesn't mean that the Leftists in America will withdraw their support of the Muslim terrorists in Israel and so-called Palestine - hell no, it's the damn Joooos fault!  It's the "occupiers."

The story comes from Israel National News.

Pregnant woman wounded in rock attack in Gush Etzion

A pregnant 26-year-old woman was wounded on Thursday evening when Arabs threw rocks at her car near Karmei Tzur on Highway 60, in Gush Etzion.

Magen David Adom paramedics who were called to the scene treated the woman, who was hit in the face by shrapnel, and evacuated to the Shaare Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem.

In another attack on the same highway, a rock thrown by Arabs damaged a car driven by Rabbi Re’em Hacohen, head of the yeshiva in Otniel and Yehuda Glick, the chairman of the Temple Mount Heritage Foundation. They were not injured.

Earlier on Thursday evening, a 60-year-old woman was wounded when rocks were thrown by Arabs on Route 431, between Ramle and Rishon Lezion. She was treated by paramedics and taken to the Assaf Harofeh Hospital.

An eight-month-old baby who was with her in the car was also evacuated to hospital but did not require treatment.

In addition to the rock throwing attacks, Arab terrorists on Thursday evening, around 8:00 p.m., carried out a drive-by shooting at a hitchhiking station adjacent to the town of Ofra, located in the Binyamin region of Samaria.

IDF forces on the scene responded by opening fire at the terrorists' car, which fled towards the Arab town of Yabrud.

No one was wounded in the shooting.

The incident comes less than an hour after Arab terrorists hurled firebombs at an Israeli car adjacent to Ofra.

No damage or wounds were reported in the firebomb attack.

Also on Thursday, an Arab terrorist stabbed an IDF soldier in the face and lightly wounded him in Hevron. The terrorist was shot dead by Border Police officers.

Hours later another Arab terrorist tried to stab soldiers in Hevron, but was shot dead before he could inflict any wounds.

The "Refugee" Invasion - The Mind Boggling Map of It All

I can't post the actual interactive map here but strongly encourage you all to go to this LINK and view what is an amazing snapshot of the actual flow of Islamic invaders into Europe.  It is truly mind boggling.

When you see this view of human invasion, it truly defines just what these European countries are trying to shoulder in sheer numbers.  I don't see how Europe survives this.

At the same time, I suggest that when you are on the interactive map, hover your cursor over the nations of Czech Republic and Poland and see what happens when a people close their borders and defend their culture.

The WORST Commander-in-Chief In American History: Barack Hussein Obama

First Barack Hussein Obama says he will withdraw all troops from Iraq and within a matter of months, the Iraq War is lost when it had been won.  But pushing forward with his Code Pink strategy, this brilliant commander-in-chief decides to go ahead and withdraw all troops from Afghanistan...but hold on just a second everyone!  El Dumbo apparently got the message from the catastrophic failure in Iraq and so Obama decided to keep 5,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan (like that will be enough against a force of 100,000+ Taliban).

But it gets better....now this worthless waste of skin, our nation's top military commander has decided that his brilliant strategy of "containing" ISIS may not have been the best idea - he got that idea since ISIS has been kicking everyone's ass ever since Obama decided to stick his little toe into the conflict.  So now, Obama sends his Secretary of Defense out there in front of the cameras to announce that the U.S. is actually going to try some offensive tactics against ISIS.  Oh boy.

Believe me on one thing - Obama isn't doing ANY of this because he fears for the lives and safety of our troops or allies or the safety of our very country - he's doing it because he wants to avoid, at all costs, a huge embarrassment to his Presidency if things go completely to hell in both Iraq and Afghanistan with a year left in his term.

It's all about his legacy, you see.  Hope. Change. Incompetence.

The story comes from NBC News.

Ashton Carter: U.S. to Begin 'Direct Action on the Ground' in Iraq, Syria

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Tuesday that the U.S. will begin "direct action on the ground" against ISIS forces in Iraq and Syria, aiming to intensify pressure on the militants as progress against them remains elusive.

"We won't hold back from supporting capable partners in opportunistic attacks against ISIL, or conducting such missions directly whether by strikes from the air or direct action on the ground," Carter said in testimony before the Senate Armed Services committee, using an alternative name for the militant group.

Carter pointed to last week's rescue operation with Kurdish forces in northern Iraq to free hostages held by ISIS.

Related: Master Sgt. Joshua Wheeler, U.S. Commando Killed in ISIS Raid, Ran to Gunfight

Carter and Pentagon officials initially refused to characterize the rescue operation as U.S. boots on the ground. However, Carter said last week that the military expects "more raids of this kind" and that the rescue mission "represents a continuation of our advise and assist mission."

This may mean some American soldiers "will be in harm's way, no question about it," Carter said last week.

After months of denying that U.S. troops would be in any combat role in Iraq, Carter late last week in a response to a question posed by NBC News, also acknowledged that the situation U.S. soldiers found themselves in during the raid in Hawija was combat.

"This is combat and things are complicated," Carter said.

During Tuesday's Senate hearing, Carter said Wheeler "was killed in combat."

White House deputy press secretary Eric Schultz on Tuesday said the administration has "no intention of long term ground combat". He added that U.S. forces will continue to robustly train, advise and assist.

A feisty Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, said on Tuesday in the Senate Armed Services committee hearing that the U.S. effort in Syria is a "half-assed strategy at best," and said that the U.S. is not doing a "damn thing" to bring down Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime.

Carter on Tuesday pushed back against that notion.

Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, acknowledged that the "balance of forces" has tilted in Assad's favor.

The Fight Between Al Qaeda and ISIS For Eastern Africa

The story comes from The Long War Journal.

Shabaab’s leadership fights Islamic State’s attempted expansion in East Africa

The Islamic State has made a big push to win the loyalty of Shabaab, al Qaeda’s official branch in East Africa, and fighters in its ranks. For months, Islamic State boosters on social media have predicted Shabaab’s imminent defection. And the “caliphate” recently released numerous propaganda videos encouraging Somali jihadists to switch their allegiance from al Qaeda head Ayman al Zawahiri to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, the self-proclaimed “Caliph Ibrahim.” The videos targeting Shabaab’s rank and file have starred jihadists in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and elsewhere.

Thus far, however, the Islamic State’s anti-al Qaeda push in East Africa has had little success. While additional defections are possible, or even likely, the “caliphate” has not yet won over a substantial number of Shabaab members.

The only noteworthy defection to date came last week, when Abdiqadir Mumin, a Shabaab leader in the Puntland region, purportedly announced his allegiance to Baghdadi in an audio message released online. Mumin declared his fealty to Baghdadi on behalf of the “the mujahideen of Somalia,” but that was an exaggeration.

According to Reuters, which interviewed one of Mumin’s men, just 20 jihadists out of the 300 located in the Galgala hills of Puntland, where Mumin was based, have joined the Islamic State. According to SITE Intelligence Group, the Shahada News Agency, a pro-jihadist media group that reports on Somalia, has confirmed these figures based on “independent sources.”

If accurate, this obviously means that the remaining 280 or so fighters in the area have not followed Mumin’s lead. Indeed, Shahada News Agency reported that the “rest of the soldiers are loyal to” Shabaab “in its allegiance to al Qaeda.” The follower of Mumin interviewed by Reuters said the same: “The other fighters rejected us and remained in the Galgala hills.”

It is possible that more fighters have joined Mumin than these reports suggest. Still, the Islamic State has failed to win over a large number of defectors from within Shabaab’s guerrilla army. To put things in perspective, consider the overall scale of Shabaab’s operations.

The State Department notes that Shabaab “is estimated to have several thousand members, including a small cadre of foreign fighters.” Shabaab doesn’t possess as much territory as it once did, but the al Qaeda branch still controls significant turf and remains one of the most prolific insurgency organizations. According to the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), Shabaab executed the third most terrorist attacks (nearly 500) of any perpetrator organization in 2014. Only the Islamic State and the Taliban carried out more.

By way of comparison, the Islamic State has yet to claim a single attack in Somalia, although it may do so in the near future. And while the “caliphate” may very well announce a wilayat (or province) in East Africa, there is no reason to believe, absent significant defections, that it will be nearly as strong as Shabaab.

One reason the Islamic State has been slow to expand into East Africa, even as it has declared “provinces” elsewhere on the continent, is that the “caliphate’s” men have run into stiff opposition from Shabaab’s leadership.

Shabaab’s leadership remains loyal to al Qaeda, hunts down defectors

Al Qaeda’s leadership is, of course, well aware that the Islamic State is attempting to poach from Shabaab’s ranks. In the long-delayed first episode of his “Islamic Spring” series, which was released last month, Ayman al Zawahiri recounted his communications with Ahmed Abdi Godane, who headed Shabaab until his demise in September 2014. Zawahiri explained that he and Godane had discussed the Islamic State’s attempt to split the jihadists’ ranks.

In a message sent in July or August of 2013, according to Zawahiri’s testimony in “Islamic Spring,” Godane asked Allah “to forgive the brothers” in the Islamic State for their “transgression” and to “restore them to the truth.” Godane addressed Zawahiri as “my sheikh” and asked him to be “patient” with the Islamic State and “attempt reconciliation and amendment.”

Godane was especially offended by the Islamic State’s rhetoric, because he and his men “strive for the restoration of the Islamic caliphate” incorporating Muslims around the globe. The Islamic State acts as if this is not the case, and has demanded the submission of al Qaeda’s regional branches.

In the spring of 2014, as explained in “Islamic Spring,” Zawahiri sent Godane a message of his own. “I know how sad you are about what is happening in the Levant, the eruption of blind strife there, the disdain for holy sanctities, the disavowal of settled matters such as the [Islamic] State’s pledge of allegiance to al Qaeda, their duplicity in this respect,” and “how they deem it permissible to practice takfir [labeling other Muslims as infidels] against their opponents,” Zawahiri explained to Godane, according to a translation obtained by The Long War Journal.

Zawahiri noted that he “even found” a video on the Internet “debating whether God’s humble servant [as Zawahiri referred to himself] is an infidel.”

“The one who declares God’s humble servant [Zawahiri] to be an infidel and blows up Abu Khalid al Suri, may God have mercy on him, will not abstain from blowing up, or declaring to be an infidel, anyone who criticizes him or opposes his projects,” Zawahiri continued. (Abu Khalid al Suri, an al Qaeda veteran, was Zawahiri’s representative in Syria and a senior leader in Ahrar al Sham until his death in February 2014.)

Zawahiri told Godane that he ordered Al Nusrah Front to avoid any “aggression” against the Islamic State and that he would also encourage Abu Bakr al Baghdadi’s organization to return to Iraq for the sake of unity. After summarizing these messages to and from Godane, Zawahiri eulogized Shabaab’s fallen emir. The al Qaeda leader praised Godane’s “martyrdom.”

Turning to more recent events, Zawahiri used his first appearance in the “Islamic Spring” series to address his “brothers, the lions of Islam in East Africa,” telling them to “stand firm on the path.” Zawahiri also approved of Godane’s successor as Shabaab’s leader.

“I endorse their [Shabaab’s] choice of the noble brother, Shaykh Abu Ubaydah Ahmad Umar, as their emir, and I ask God to grant him success in bearing the responsibility of dawa [Islamic proselytizing] and jihad,” Zawahiri declared. “I request of him to exert all of his efforts to institute sharia as the undisputed ruler and master in East Africa.”

Al Qaeda’s most senior leader went on to offer Shabaab’s new emir advice, speaking as if Ahmed Umar rules over an emirate (state) or province. “May he seek recourse to gentleness, patience, and kindness, for they are the best helpers of the governor over his wilayat [province] and of the emir over his emirate,” Zawahiri said.

Shabaab’s leaders have repeatedly made their loyalty to al Qaeda’s leadership known. Just days after Godane’s death last year, the group reaffirmed its oath of fealty to Zawahiri. Shabaab’s propaganda throughout this year has routinely featured pro-al Qaeda messaging as well.

All of this means that the Islamic State has to overcome Shabaab’s role in al Qaeda’s international network in order to spawn a new “province” for the “caliphate” in East Africa. Shabaab is not making it easy.

Voice of America (VOA) reported in late September that Shabaab’s leadership had “issued an internal memo aimed at silencing pro-IS elements, who are accused of stirring up dissent.” The memo “reportedly stated the group’s policy is to continue allegiance with al Qaeda and that any attempt to create discord over this position will be dealt with according to Islamic law.” Any “speech made in public or in mosques about policies, operations and guidance first must be cleared with [Shabaab’s] media office,” VOA reported.

There is little doubt that some of the Shabaab’s younger members want to join the Islamic State. There may be additional figures like Mumin as well. But there is no way to accurately assess how many jihadists in Somalia belong to this pro-Islamic State category. And, to date, the Islamic State has little to show for its efforts.

While the Islamic State has loudly tried to woo Shabaab, the al Qaeda branch has been quietly silencing dissent. Shabaab’s Amniyat, an internal security organ that protects the group’s leadership, has been hunting down fighters who refuse to give up their pro-Islamic State ambition. Shabaab has reportedly detained or killed dozens of members who have gravitated to the Islamic State’s camp.

And Mumin’s decision to switch his allegiance has already provoked a backlash. On October 24, Al Muhajiroun, a group of “emigrant” fighters in East Africa, released a statement in English objecting to the “unhelpful pronouncement of a minority of individuals and their so-called bayat [allegiance] to those that have thus far failed to follow the Sunnah but expect to [unite] the Mujahideen.” Although Al Muhajiroun did not explicitly mention the Islamic State or Mumin, its statement was clearly aimed at them.

“As stated previously, the Emigrants of East Africa remain united behind our beloved brothers in Al Qaeda and [Shabaab],” Al Muhajiroun’s propaganda arm wrote.

Police: Beersheba attacker was in contact with Hamas, planned attack well in advance

The attacker in one of the most brutal terrorist attacks in Israel lately was found to have been in contact with Hamas prior to the attack showing that the attack was well-planned in advance.

The media will lead you to believe that these are just random attacks by poor, oppressed Palestinians but in essence, this is a coordinated wave of Islamic terror attacks against their mortal enemy, the Jews.

The story comes from The Jerusalem Post.

Police: Beersheba attacker was in contact with Hamas, planned attack well in advance

An Israeli Beduin who carried out a deadly attack last week at the Beersheba central bus station was in contact with Hamas before the attack, which was planned well in advance, Negev police said Sunday.

Investigators working the case found that before the attack – during which Muhand al-Uqbi, a 21-year-old native of Hura, shot and killed IDF soldier Omri Levi and wounded several other Israelis – al-Uqbi had been in contact with Hamas for a long period of time before the attack and that on his phone he had pictures of Hamas members, weapons, and other materials.

That information came to light in a statement put out by the Negev police on Sunday, as they presented a pre-indictment motion against al-Uqbi’s brother, who will be charged with failing to prevent a crime, after investigators determined that he knew his brother had acquired a pistol and was “going through a process of radicalization due to the events on the Temple Mount and did not report it.”

The statement on Sunday also revealed a series of details about the attack that had been under a gag order up until then.

According to police, last Sunday at 7:24 pm, al-Uqbi – armed with a handgun - slipped into the bus station by way of an entryway next to the McDonald’s at the station. Moments later Levi passed through the same entrance and al-Uqbi began to follow him, police said, in order to kill him and steal his assault rifle.

Police said al-Uqbi then saw Levi head towards a bathroom at the station and he followed the soldier into the bathroom, pulled out his pistol, shot him dead at point blank range and stole his rifle.

After stealing the rifle, al-Uqbi opened fire at a group of police officers who heard the gunshot and were on their way to the bathroom. He then fled towards the dumpsters behind the station, where he was shot by YASSAM special patrol officers.

Next to his body a knife was found, but it was not used in the attack, police said.

At that same time, as pandemonium gripped the station, there were reports that a second attacker was still on the loose. A security guard named Ziad shot Eritrean asylum seeker Haptom Zarhum, 29, badly wounding him. Lying incapacitated on the floor, Zarhum was then set upon by a mob that mistook him for a terrorist and beat him mercilessly. Later that night he was ruled dead of his injuries, which days later police said an autopsy revealed was caused by the shooting.

Last week, four suspects in the beating of Zarhum were arrested, including two Israel Prison Service employees.

Taliban threatens provincial capital of Helmand

The dominoes in Afghanistan keep falling.  You think keeping 5,000 troops is going to do the trick, Barry?

The story comes from The Long War Journal.

Taliban threatens provincial capital of Helmand

The Taliban continues to press its offensive in southern Afghanistan and is reported to have advanced within miles of the city of Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital of Helmand province.

Within the past week, the Taliban has stepped up attacks in the districts of Laskhar Gah, Nad Ali, and Nahr-i-Sarraj in central Helmand, according to Afghan press reports and the jihadist group’s propaganda.

The Taliban seized control of the town of Babaji and “all the checkpoints up to Gereshk” in Nahr-i-Sarraj on Oct. 20, the leader of provincial council’s security committee told Afghan Islamic Press. The jihadist group also claimed it seized Babaji in a statement released on its propaganda website, Voice of Jihad. Babaji is less than five miles north of Lashkar Gah.

Additionally, the Taliban claimed it “liberated” areas in the district of Nad Ali, which is due west of Lashkar Gah. On Oct. 20, the jihadist group claimed that it overran “a large strategic ANA [Afghan National Army] outpost located in Ismat Bazaar” in the town of Marja in Nad Ali.

Afghan officials confirmed the Taliban has taken control of areas around the provincial capital and that Afghan security personnel, including an “Afghan special police unit,” from the Ministry of Interior have arrived in Lashkar Gah to stage a counterattack. According to Pajwhok Afghan News, the police spokesman for Helmand said that “operations were underway in [the Babaji] area of Lashkar Gah, Nad Ali and Gereshk districts and the forces had advanced while the insurgents had lost courage to put up resistance.”

The Taliban denied reports that it lost control of areas it seized in Nahr-i-Sarraj and Nad Ali. “Mujahideen of Islamic Emirate are still in control over those areas of Nad Ali and Babaji districts liberated by Mujahidden amid 3 days long operation,” according to a statement on Voice of Jihad.

The Taliban offensive around Lashkar Gah is similar to the offensive that allowed the group to take control of Kunduz city in the Afghan north for more than a week at the end of September. The Taliban seized control of outlying districts in Kunduz and neighboring province before assaulting the provincial capital. The offensive to seize Kunduz city began in April 2015.

In Helmand, the Taliban control or contest six of the province’s 13 districts, according to data compiled by The Long War Journal. All of the districts due north of Laskhar Gah — Baghran, Musa Qala, Kajaki, Sangin, and Now Zad — are controlled or heavily contested by the jihadist group. The Taliban uses these districts to assemble its forces and assault Lashkar Gah and neighboring districts.

If Lashkar Gah falls to the Taliban, it would be the second city to do so this year. Lashkar Gah isn’t the only provincial capital that is under direct threat. The Taliban pressed an offensive to take control of Ghazni city two weeks ago, but failed to do so, and remains on the outskirts of the city. Additionally, Tarin Kot, the capital of Uruzgan province, which borders Helmand to the north, is also imperiled. Four of the six districts in Uruzgan are heavily contested by the Taliban.

Video: From the mouths of babes

And She Wants To Be Your President

When asked what she did after the hearing, Hillary said, “Well, I had my whole team come over to my house, and we sat around eating Indian food, and drinking wine and beer. That’s what we did. … We were all talking about sports, TV shows. It was great, just to have that chance to, number one thank them, because they did a terrific job, kind of being there behind me, and getting me ready, and then just talk about what we’re going to do next.”  

Link


Meanwhile, the families of Chris Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty, spent the night remembering this:

Eight Iranians, including two Revolutionary Guards killed in Syria

                                                 Syrian Regime Soldiers

I said it - that Syria would not be kind to the rusty Iranian troops that have been committed there to help Assad.  I also said that it wouldn't take long to see all of the Iranians pack up and turn tail for home once they've lost a few dozen men.

I stand by that. 

The story comes from DAWN.

Eight Iranians, including two Revolutionary Guards killed in Syria


TEHRAN: Eight Iranians, two of them Revolutionary Guards forces, have been killed in Syria in recent days after Tehran increased its advisory missions to help Damascus, a guards spokesman said on Friday.

“Two guards forces, Abdollah Bagheri and Amin Karimi, were killed yesterday and today on a mission in Syria,” General Ramezan Sharif was quoted by Fars news agency as saying.

Bagheri, 33, was former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's personal bodyguard and was killed in the northern city of Aleppo.

General Sharif said five or six volunteers were also killed, according to the Youth Journalist Club, a state television website.

General Sharif also rejected rumours on social media that 15 Iranians were killed recently in Syria.

Iran is a key ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, standing by him since an uprising against his regime broke out in 2011.

It provides him with financial aid and military advisers against a range of opposing forces in a civil war that has that has killed more than 250,000 and displaced millions.

Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said this week that Tehran has increased the number of its military advisers in Syria.
Kerry sees Iran role in new Syria talks

US Secretary of State John Kerry said he expects new talks on Syria to begin as soon as next week, and did not rule out participation by Iran, President Bashar al-Assad's closest ally, which has been kept away from past peace conferences.

Along with counterparts from allies Saudi Arabia and Turkey, Kerry met for two hours on Friday in Vienna with Sergei Lavrov, foreign minister of Russia, which has transformed momentum in the 4-year-old Syrian civil war by bombing Assad's enemies.

So far all diplomatic efforts to end the conflict have foundered over the demand by the United States, European countries, Arab states and Turkey that Assad leave power as a pre-condition for peace, which he refuses to consider.

“What we agreed to do today is to consult with all parties and aim to reconvene, hopefully as early as next Friday, with a broader meeting in order to explore whether there is sufficient common ground to advance a meaningful political process,” Kerry told reporters.

“I am convinced ... that today's meeting was constructive and productive and succeeded in surfacing some ideas, which I am not going to share today, but which I hope have a possibility of ultimately changing the dynamic.”

Asked if a meeting next week could include Iran, Kerry said he would not speculate on who might attend.

But he added: “We want to be inclusive and err on the side of inclusivity rather than exclusivity.” Iran has not been invited to previous international peace conferences on Syria, all of which ended in failure, while the war, which has so far killed more than 250,000 people and driven millions from their homes, has raged on.

Russia has long maintained that Iran should be included in Syrian peacemaking. Lavrov said he hoped Iran, as well as Egypt, would be invited to the next round of talks.

“We requested that future contacts take place in a more representative format,” he said in comments broadcast on Russian television.

Barack Obama Has Lost His Second War

In a relatively short time after Barack Hussein Obama unbelievably snatched victory in Iraq and fed it to the jaws of defeat, this worthless excuse of a President has lost the War in Afghanistan.  He's 0 for 2.  He's batting 1.000 as a loser commander-in-chief.  He's never won a war.  He's never won a battle. He's never won a damn thing in his life.  (Now some moron from the Left will say.."Hey asshole! He won 2 Presidential elections!" and I'll respond with "no, the color of his skin won him 2 Presidential elections").

This is an excellent article about the complete mess in Afghanistan which is 100% the fault of Barack Hussein Obama.

Who else.  The guy could fuck up a wet dream.

The story comes from The Long War Journal.

Are we losing Afghanistan again?

“ALLAH has promised us victory and America has promised us defeat,” Mullah Muhammad Omar, the first head of the Taliban, once said, “so we shall see which of the two promises will be fulfilled.” When his colleagues admitted this summer that Mullah Omar had died, Al Qaeda and affiliated groups around the globe remembered those words — victory is a divine certainty — in their eulogies. And in Afghanistan today, though the majority of Afghans still do not identify with the Taliban or Al Qaeda, Mullah Omar’s bold defiance in the face of a superpower is beginning to look prescient.

Since early September, the Taliban have swept through Afghanistan’s north, seizing numerous districts and even, briefly, the provincial capital Kunduz. The United Nations has determined that the Taliban threat to approximately half of the country’s 398 districts is either “high” or “extreme.” Indeed, by our count, more than 30 districts are already under Taliban control. And the insurgents are currently threatening provincial capitals in both northern and southern Afghanistan.

Confronted with this grim reality, President Obama has decided to keep 9,800 American troops in the country through much of 2016 and 5,500 thereafter. The president was right to change course, but it is difficult to see how much of a difference this small force can make. The United States troops currently in Afghanistan have not been able to thwart the Taliban’s advance. They were able to help push them out of Kunduz, but only after the Taliban’s two-week reign of terror. This suggests that additional troops are needed, not fewer.

When justifying his decision last week, the president explained that American troops would “remain engaged in two narrow but critical missions — training Afghan forces, and supporting counterterrorism operations against the remnants of Al Qaeda.” He added, “We’ve always known that we had to maintain a counterterrorism operation in that region in order to tamp down any re-emergence of active Al Qaeda networks.”

But the president has not explained the full scope of what is at stake. Al Qaeda has already re-emerged. Just two days before the president’s statement, the military announced that it led raids against two Qaeda training camps in the south, one of which was an astonishing 30 square miles in size. The operation lasted several days, and involved 63 airstrikes and more than 200 ground troops, including both Americans and Afghan commandos.

“We struck a major Al Qaeda sanctuary in the center of the Taliban’s historic heartland,” Brig. Gen. Wilson A. Shoffner, a military spokesman, said. General Shoffner described it as “one of the largest joint ground-assault operations we have ever conducted in Afghanistan.” Other significant Qaeda facilities are already being identified in local press reporting.

Recently, Hossam Abdul Raouf, a chief lieutenant of the Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri, confirmed in an audio message that Qaeda’s senior leadership has relocated out of northern Pakistan — no secret to the military and the C.I.A., which have been hunting senior Qaeda figures in Afghanistan and elsewhere throughout the year.

The Taliban are not hiding their continuing alliance with Al Qaeda. In August, Mr. Zawahri pledged his allegiance to Mullah Omar’s successor, Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour. Within hours, Mullah Mansour publicly accepted the “esteemed” Mr. Zawahri’s oath of fealty. And Qaeda members are integrated into the Taliban’s chain of command. In fact, foreign fighters affiliated with Al Qaeda played a significant role in the Taliban-led assault on Kunduz.

The United States made many mistakes in the 9/11 wars. After routing the Taliban and Al Qaeda in late 2001, President George W. Bush did not dedicate the resources necessary to finish the fight. President Obama was right in December 2009 to announce a surge of forces in Afghanistan, but it was short-lived. Al Qaeda is not nearly as “decimated” in South Asia as Mr. Obama has claimed.

We don’t think 5,500 troops is enough. No one is calling for a full-scale occupation of the country. But a force of as many as 20,000 to 25,000 would far better support our local Afghan allies, helping them defend multiple provincial capitals at the same time and fight Al Qaeda and the Taliban in their strongholds.

While many believe that Al Qaeda is solely focused on attacking the West, it has devoted most of its efforts to waging insurgencies. This is the key to understanding how it has been able to regenerate repeatedly over the past 14 years. Al Qaeda draws would-be terrorists from the larger pool of paramilitary forces fighting to restore the Taliban to power in Afghanistan or to build radical nation-states elsewhere. Therefore, the mission of the United States is bigger than the one Mr. Obama envisions. Drones and select counterterrorism raids are not enough to end the threat.

Al Qaeda and like-minded groups were founded on the myth that the Soviet Union was defeated in Afghanistan because of the mujahedeen’s faith in Allah alone. This helped spawn a generation of new wars and terrorist attacks, most of which have targeted Muslims. Should the Afghans suffer additional territorial losses, Mullah Omar’s words will appear prophetic. And a new myth, one that will feed the Taliban’s and Al Qaeda’s violence for years to come, will be born.

Biden Says It's Too Late In the Process To Run For President....Yeah Right

I posted this over at The Gateway Pundit and either Gateway is too chicken to have it up or Disqus edited the comment or whatever but this was my comment, the real story of Biden's decision:

"No surprise here.  Joe Biden just lost a son.  He doesn't want to lose his other one and the Clintons threatened to murder his other son if he ran.  It is simple.  That's how the Clintons roll."

And there you have it.

Secretary of State John Wilkes Booth Kerry Finally Admits Obama Has Booted Syria

So, I'm reading a somewhat non-connected article concerning John Kerry and his stance on the sovereignty of the Temple Mount in Israel when I get to the last section of the article and I see this:

He also said he would meet counterparts from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Russia in Europe to explore “real and tangible options” for a peaceful political transition in Syria, whose civil war has intensified with Russia’s intervention last month in support of the Damascus government against insurgents.

“This is a human catastrophe unfolding before our eyes and it is a catastrophe that now threatens the integrity of a whole group of countries throughout the region,” Kerry said.

And I read that over and over again and come to the same conclusion - that it's taken all of this time, taken all of this blood, taken all of this treasure for a moron like Kerry to finally admit ISIS isn't a "jayvee" team, that ISIS cannot be "contained" and that the Obama administration's handling of ISIS and Syria has led to EXACTLY what Kerry admitted:  "a human catastrophe"

Yes, a human catastrophe CAUSED by one Barack Hussein Obama.

Game. Set. Match.

The article this comes from is here at Al Arabiya.

Kerry calls for clarity on Aqsa to help end violence

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday Israeli and Palestinian leaders need to clarify the status of Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque compound to help end a spate of bloodshed and restore stability.

Kerry, preparing for meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Germany and then with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Jordan’s King Abdullah, likely in Amman, also rejected a proposal by France at the United Nations for an international observer presence at the holy site.

Israel called in France’s ambassador on Monday to make clear its opposition to the idea, a foreign ministry spokesperson said.

“Israel understands the importance of the status quo and ... our objective is to make sure that everyone understands what that means,” Kerry told a news conference in Madrid.

The Palestinians’ unrest, the most serious in years, has been stirred in part by anger over what they see as increased Jewish encroachment on the mosque compound, Islam’s most sacred site outside Saudi Arabia and also revered by Jews as the location of two destroyed biblical Jewish temples.

Netanyahu has said his government is committed to maintaining the status quo at the compound, which has long been under Muslim religious administration while Jews are permitted to visit the site but not pray there.

“We are not seeking a new change or outsiders to come in, I don’t think Israel or Jordan wants that and we’re not proposing it,” he said. “What we need is clarity.”

Israel has deployed troops in and around Jerusalem and erected roadblocks in Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem to try and stop the most serious outbreak of Palestinian street attacks since an uprising in 2000-2005.

Kerry said Israel had a right to protect citizens against random acts of violence. Netanyahu had told him he was committed to preserving the status quo at al Aqsa, he added.

“I don’t have specific expectations except to try to move things forward,” Kerry said of the upcoming meetings. “That will depend on the conversations themselves as to what it is that we’re able to define in the context of steps that might be taken so people understand that in fact leaders are leading and making a serious effort to try and resolve the current ... conflict.”

Some U.S. and Israeli officials have said that now is not the time for diplomacy, but Kerry stressed that security and diplomacy should go hand in hand. “There is not a time for one and then the other. There is an importance to both.”

He also said he would meet counterparts from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Russia in Europe to explore “real and tangible options” for a peaceful political transition in Syria, whose civil war has intensified with Russia’s intervention last month in support of the Damascus government against insurgents.

“This is a human catastrophe unfolding before our eyes and it is a catastrophe that now threatens the integrity of a whole group of countries throughout the region,” Kerry said.

Former BBC journalist found hanged at Istanbul airport - but hey! Her Hanging is a "mystery"

I just don't understand what might be "mysterious" about a female journalist found dead hanging in a toilet at a Turkey airport.  Doesn't that happen everywhere in the world, every single day of the year?  It certainly can't have something to do with a damn female, sub-human having the nerve to expose the exploits of Muslim men....now, would it?

The story comes from DAWN.

Former BBC journalist found hanged at Istanbul airport

ISTANBUL: A former BBC journalist, Jacky Sutton, was found dead in a toilet at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport under mysterious circumstances, according to a report published on the BBC website.

The 50-year-old woman is believed to have been working as the acting Iraq director for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) and was travelling to Irbil, northern Iraq. The London-based IWPR supports local journalism in countries affected by conflict and crisis.

The previous director of the institute was killed earlier in May this year in a car bomb attack in Iraq. A memorial service for the former director was held in London last week.

The British Foreign Office said it was "providing consular assistance to the family at this time" and did not provide any other details.

BBC correspondent Ben Ando said that the ex-BBC journalist had missed a connecting flight which was due to depart for Iraq two and a half hours after her arrival at Ataturk Airport from London on Saturday.

"Local media are reporting that she didn't have enough money to purchase a replacement ticket and then she was found dead in the toilets a couple of hours later," Ando was quoted in the BBC report adding that, "What exactly happened though is not known."

She had held various positions in International Non Governmental Organisations (INGOs) including the United Nations. The former journalist, who spoke five languages, was also studying for a PhD at the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies at the Australian National University.

Sutton's research focused on international development support to female media professionals in Iraq and Afghanistan between 2003 and 2013.

The Be'er Sheva Bus Station Massacre

The world watches in horror as Palestinians continue to be unleashed on innocent Jews in Israel.  When will the first real nation of this world offer Israel a hand in wiping out this menace?

The story comes from Israel National News.

Shooting and Stabbing Attack at Be'er Sheva Bus Station

One person was killed and seven people have been injured in a shooting and stabbing terror attack at Be'er Sheva's Central Bus Station. One of the casualties was seriously injured and four more have suffered moderate wounds. The seventh casualty is lightly wounded, according to Magen David Adom chief Eli Bin.

One terrorist carried out the attack. He was armed with a handgun and knife.

The terrorist shot a soldier and killed him. He took his M-16 semiautomatic assault rifle and began firing it at a group of policemen, four of whom were injured.

Another man was also shot and killed by security forces, in the belief that he was a terrorist. However, he apparently is an Eritrean infiltrator and he may not have had anything to do with the attack.

A large number of Magen David Adom paramedics and police delivered emergency first aid to victims and evacuated them to Soroka hospital.

It is not clear how the armed terrorist succeeded in penetrating into the Central Bus Station, which is under heavy security.

Chief Superintendent Doron Ben Amo of the Be'er Sheva police said that the terrorists were apparently armed with a knife and a handgun. One of the terrorists stabbed a soldier and took his M-16 semiautomatic rifle from him, and then started firing it.

Channel 1 TV initially reported that the casualties were soldiers but then said that four of them are policemen.

Taliban to women in Kunduz: Don't come back or we will kill you

Okay, so you want to talk about a REAL war on women?  Spell it.... T A L I B A N.

The story comes from Times of India.

Taliban to women in Kunduz: Don't come back or we will kill you

KABUL: Hiding in her basement, a Kunduz radio presenter was paralysed with fear when the Taliban came looking for her as they conducted house-to-house searches for working women after storming the northern Afghan city.

Long condemned as misogynistic zealots, the Taliban have sought to project a softened stance on female rights, but the insurgents' three-day occupation of Kunduz offers an ominous blueprint of what could happen should they ever return to power.

Harrowing testimonies have emerged of death squads methodically targeting a host of female rights workers and journalists just hours after the city fell on September 28.

When they knocked on the radio host's door, her uncle answered, she said, requesting anonymity due to safety concerns.

"We know a woman in your house works in an office," she said they told him.

"When my uncle denied it, he was taken outside and shot dead. His body lay in the streets for days — no one dared to go out and get it."

Such testimonies hark back to the Taliban's 1996-2001 rule of Afghanistan, when women were relegated to the shadows.

Rights groups say female prisoners in Kunduz were raped and midwives were targeted for providing reproductive health services to women.

Rampaging insurgents destroyed three radio stations run by women, looted a girls' school and ransacked offices working for female empowerment, stealing their computers and smashing their equipment, according to several sources including activists and local residents.

One of their main targets were women's shelters, which give refuge countrywide to runaway girls, domestic abuse victims and those at the risk of "honour killings" by their relatives.

The Taliban have often denounced the shelters as dens of "immorality" and labelled the women who seek shelter there as "sluts".

"Where are you hiding those women from the shelter?" Haseena Sarwari recalled being asked in an abrupt phone call from the head of the Taliban's vice and virtue department soon after they took the city.

"They are safely in Kabul," Sarwari, the Kunduz director of Women for Afghan Women, a NGO which ran a shelter housing 13 women, said she told the insurgent.

"He laughed and said: 'It's good for them they managed to get away'."

That shelter has since been burned down.

The Taliban tried to project a moderate view on women's rights through informal peace talks earlier this year, where insurgent representatives for the first time sat across the table from Afghan women and even prayed alongside them.

"There has always been a serious disconnect between their vague promises and the behaviour of the Taliban on the ground, where they have continued to threaten, attack and kill women who stepped out of roles of total subservience," Heather Barr, a researcher with Human Rights Watch, told AFP.

"In Kunduz we may have caught a glimpse of how little their pledges to women are worth."

Sarwari is no stranger to threats from the Taliban, but the married mother-of-two also received an astonishing letter just before the insurgents stormed Kunduz.

Wrapped in a wedding card, the note warned that she would be married off to a Taliban commander.

Sarwari said the threat could not be dismissed lightly. In some areas overrun by the Taliban, she said insurgents are known to have married off wives of government officers to their cadres, treating the women as spoils of war.

Women who fled Kunduz said the Taliban used a "hit list", including names, photos and mobile phone clips of their targets, sparking fears there had been a large-scale identity theft from the computers and documents stolen from various city offices.

Many received calls and text messages with a clear message from the Taliban: "Don't come back or we will kill you."

As Sarwari was fleeing the city in a burqa, she recalls seeing a band of thickset insurgents wrapped in bandoliers of ammunition at Taliban checkpoints, rifling through women's purses for any government IDs and scrolling through mobile phones for contacts.

They also chastised some women for travelling without a male chaperone.

"The Taliban still adhere to the idea that women must submit to men, that they are half-brained, and offer mere ornamental value," Sarwari said during an interview in Kabul.

"The tumult in Kunduz showed us that their medieval mindset has still not changed."

Video: The French Margaret Thatcher

Video: Gaza Imam Disputes Andrea Mitchell Claim That Israelis Are Inciting Violence In Jerusalem

Taliban Tell Obama To Shove It Regarding Decision To Keep More Troops In Afghanistan

Barack Hussein Obama, perhaps trying to spare himself the complete humiliation of another botched war...decided to keep 5,000 troops in Afghanistan - breaking his promise to Code Pink to bring them home, but in all of this, the Taliban are quick to tell President Weak Knees to go pound sand.

Believe me, 5,000 American troops will not save the north, the south and much of the west in Afghanistan from falling to the Taliban.  As always, Obama's plan is to TRAIN Afghan troops - you see, Barack Obama thinks that America's fighting forces are the quality they are, simply because they had some good training.  He's full of shit.  As always.

The story comes from DAWN.

Taliban defiant over delay to US troop reduction in Afghanistan

KABUL: The Taliban on Friday brushed aside a US decision to delay withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, saying it would do nothing to save an “unwinnable war” and promising to step up its campaign against the Western-backed government in Kabul.

President Barack Obama's decision to drop plans for a radical reduction in US forces next year was greeted with relief by the administration in Kabul, which had feared being abandoned by its most powerful ally.

Afghan forces, who took over from international troops after Nato ended most combat operations last year, have struggled to contain the spreading insurgency and remain dependent on allies for air and logistical support.

The US will maintain a 9,800-strong force for most of next year, and instead of reducing it to a token presence based around the fortified US embassy in Kabul, will keep 5,500 troops from 2017 for training and counter-terrorism operations.

The Taliban, which showed its growing strength last month by seizing the key northern city of Kunduz and holding it for three days, said the forces would not be enough to halt its advance.

“Maintaining American troops in Afghanistan can in no way slow down the rapid process of our jihad and struggle,” the militant group said in a statement that promised further attacks on US troops and installations.

“If the invaders lost the war in Afghanistan with the presence of hundreds of thousands of troops, their hopes of reversing the tide with five thousand troops are also misguided,” it added.

US fears over the growing influence of the ultra-radical self-styled Islamic State in Afghanistan, as well as concerns that denying support to President Ashraf Ghani would risk the rapid collapse of his government, prompted Obama to drop a promise to pull troops out before his presidency ends in Jan 2017.

But there was no word on what political solution may be possible to end a 14-year conflict.

One militant commander close to the Taliban's leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour said Obama's move destroyed any hope of a revival in the stalled peace process.

“It means they aren't sincere about a peaceful solution to the Afghan crisis,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“It's a joke. They will have to leave Afghanistan, but they will damage the peace process through these tactics,” he said.

Thomas Ruttig, co-director of the Afghanistan Analysts Network, said Afghan troops needed more support, but he added: “The war cannot be won, otherwise 140,000 US and other troops should have won it. Conclusion? The solution must be political.”
'They should stay'

Ghani's national unity government with Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah has come under growing strain in the crisis, particularly in the wake of the fall of Kunduz and ongoing attacks in the capital Kabul.

For some Afghans, Obama's move was welcome.

“As the war continues all over Afghanistan, the presence of US troops is hugely needed and they should stay here,” said Kabul resident Haji Fahim.

But there was little optimism among Western analysts and diplomats that the troop contingent would do much to reverse a deteriorating situation, given the lack of a peace process.

Without talks involving neighbouring powers including Pakistan, blamed by many Afghans for backing the insurgency, and a sustained assault on corruption which has blighted government, there would be no lasting stability, said Afzal Ashraf, a consultant fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London.

Afghan security forces, theoretically numbering almost 350,000, have suffered heavy combat losses and desertions and still need their international allies.

US military support for the Afghan army has been in the spotlight following a deadly US air strike on a hospital in Kunduz run by medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres, prompting calls for tighter controls over such attacks.

The Taliban's ability to strike outside its main heartlands in the south and east of the country was amply demonstrated by its success in Kunduz, a region where it has traditionally not been strong.

It has also advanced in other areas, cutting off the main highway linking Kabul with the key southern city of Kandahar and threatening the provincial centre of Ghazni this week.