Saturday, January 9, 2010
Bagram, the other Guantanamo
Mukul Sharma
In the absence of judicial oversight, the detentions in Bagram have been marked by torture and other ill-treatment. Like Guantanamo, Bagram should be closed.
Images of caged and shackled detenus at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, of torture at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, and of the Gulfstream jets that were used to transfer detenus to secret prisons around the world, have been seared into the public consciousness and become indelibly linked to the U.S. response to the attacks of September 11, 2001. The news that the Guantanamo detention facility, a symbol of injustice and abuse, will no longer be operating after January 22, 2010 is to be welcomed. Guantanamo will be consigned to history, as will be, it is to be hoped, the “enhanced” interrogation techniques and secret Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) prisons. But these positive changes do not obscure the fact that hundreds of others languish in U.S. custody in Afghanistan with no means to challenge their detention, and that the U.S. continues to reserve the right to use rendition and allows the CIA to hold individuals on short-term and transitory basis without the legal framework governing such detentions being made clear.
Nor can the positive changes mask the reality that the U.S. administration continues to invoke the spectre of an ill-defined and perpetual “war”, where the battlefield could be anywhere from Peshawar to Peru, to claim the right to detain people until hostilities have ended, whenever that may be.
On January 22, 2009, President Barack Obama signed three executive orders on detentions and interrogations. One of them committed his administration to closing the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay within a year and directed officials to conduct an immediate review of all cases of detenus being held there to determine what should happen to them. However, the new administration continues with the detentions in Afghanistan; in particular, the long-term detention facility operated by the U.S. Department of Defence at the Bagram airbase where hundreds of detenus are being held. New detentions by the U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan have been occurring regularly .
Since 2002, an unknown number of people — believed to be more than 2,000 — have been held at the detention facility at the Bagram airbase, currently known as the Bagram Theatre Internment Facility (BTIF). Most of the Guantanamo detenus were held in Bagram and/or the Kandahar airbases before being transferred to the naval base in Cuba. Some were held in these U.S. facilities in Afghanistan for many months. Today, several hundred people — the majority of them Afghan nationals — are being detained there. They are being held without charge or trial, or access to courts or lawyers — some for several years. Some were taken into custody inside Afghanistan, some outside. Four habeas corpus petitions pending before U.S. courts involve nationals of Yemen, Tunisia, and Afghanistan reportedly taken into custody in Pakistan, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and Afghanistan. For some detenus, their transfer to and detention in Afghanistan marked the first time they had been in that country.
As at Guantanamo, in the absence of judicial oversight the detentions in Bagram have been marked by torture and other kinds of ill-treatment of detenus. Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) deployed in Afghanistan between late-2001 and the end of 2004 reported personally having observed military interrogators in Bagram and elsewhere employing stripping , sleep deprivation, threats of death or pain, threats against detenus’ family members, prolonged use of shackles, stress positions, hooding and blindfolding other than for transportation, use of loud music, use of strobe lights or darkness, extended isolation, forced cell extractions, use of and threats of use of dogs to induce fear, forcible shaving of hair for the purpose of humiliating detenus, holding detenus in an unregistered manner, sending them to other countries for “more aggressive” interrogation and threatening to take such action.
If anything, detenus at Bagram suffered more deprivation and had less legal protection than those at Guantanamo. As in the case of Guantanamo, accountability for such abuses has been minimal. As at Guantanamo, detenus at Bagram have included children, denied their rights under international law to special treatment considering their age. As at Guantanamo, detenus have been subjected to transfers to and from the base without judicial or other independent oversight or notification to family members. As at Guantanamo, the CIA is believed to have conducted secret detentions and interrogations at Bagram, and both facilities have served as hubs for unlawful “renditions”. At least two cases currently before U.S. courts concern individuals allegedly subjected to enforced disappearance at unknown locations by or on behalf of the CIA before being taken to Bagram.
The U.S. detention of Afghans and non-Afghans in Afghanistan without a proper legal framework or accountability has fostered significant popular resentment in Afghanistan. Afghan President Hamid Karzai, as well as the country’s Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), have repeatedly called for and failed to obtain access to, or at least monitor conditions at, U.S. detention facilities.
Under the Afghanistan Constitution, the AIHRC has the right to monitor the human rights situation in Afghanistan and investigate violations. Nevertheless, the AIHRC has not had access to the Bagram detenus because it rejected the conditions placed on it by the U.S. authorities — including that its officials be accompanied at all times by U.S. military officials. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is the only international organisation that has been granted access to detenus held at Bagram. Over the years, it has not had access to all detenus in U.S. custody there or elsewhere in Afghanistan. The organisation maintains a general policy of confidentiality, but has repeatedly revealed its concerns about the lack of resolution of the legal status of the Bagram detenus, and the distress that indefinite detention causes to detenus and their families. In 2008, after prolonged negotiation between the ICRC and the U.S. authorities, programmes of family visits and telephone contact were set up.
On April 2, 2009, a U.S. federal judge ruled that three detenus at the Bagram airbase, who were transferred there by U.S. forces after being seized in other countries, could challenge the lawfulness of their detention in U.S. courts, noting that “aside from where they are held, Bagram detainees are no different than Guantanamo detainees.”
The ruling is not wide enough and leaves numerous questions unanswered — not the least of which is: what will happen to the detenus who were initially detained in Afghanistan? Nonetheless, it was a positive step by a federal judge towards ensuring the rule of law at Bagram and against the position developed by the Bush administration and adopted by its successor.
However, the Obama administration decided to appeal against this ruling. Given that detenus at Bagram do not have access to a system of effective judicial review in Afghanistan, the administration’s appeal essentially means that, like its predecessor, it seeks to deny detenus held by the U.S. outside its territory or Guantanamo any effective means to challenge the lawfulness of their detention. This will amount to continuing the arbitrary nature of the detentions in violation of international human rights law.
Like the detention facility at Guantanamo, now the subject of a presidential deadline for closure, the history of detentions at the airbase in Bagram is one of denial of human rights and human dignity. It took more than six years for the detenus at Guantanamo to be recognised as having the right to habeas corpus. It is past the time for detenus in Bagram and other locations in Afghanistan to have the basic protection provided by independent judicial review. With the new U.S. administration committed to sending more troops to Afghanistan, it is likely that U.S. detentions there will continue and may even rise in terms of numbers.
Like Guantanamo, Bagram should be closed. The theory that the U.S. is entitled to detain any individual anywhere in the world at any time, and hold them indefinitely on the premise that it is involved in an all-pervasive global and perpetual armed conflict against non-state actors, should be expressly disavowed and rejected by Mr. Obama and his administration, Congress, and the courts.
Source:http://www.hindu.com/2010/01/06/stories/2010010655610900.htm
Monday, January 4, 2010
Telling The Truth
By Yvonne Ridley in Cairo
January 03, 2010 "Information Clearing House" -- Telling the truth can be a complicated business.
It was one of the first lessons I learned at a very tender age.
Still unable to grasp the importance of the school timetable in my first week, I rolled up for class 20 minutes late having been diverted by a rather splendid game of marbles. Four black jack chews and a sherbet dip were at stake.
By the time I walked in the teacher was so fraught that lying seemed to be the best option.
Five minutes later I was before the headmistress because my colourful story about helping a blind man find his way home after his old crippled guide dog had dropped dead outside the playground gates was not believed.
At the end of the day when my mother came to collect me she was hauled in to the head's office where I was forced to recount my rather elaborate story before being made to apologise to the grown ups and promise always to tell the truth. Just as we were about to leave she reminded my mother school finished at 3.30pm and noted she had arrived five minutes after the bell.
My mother was really annoyed - angry with me for telling lies and irritated by the head's observation on the importance of time keeping.
On seeing me the next day the headmistress asked me what my mother had to say about the events the day before. "Oh," I responded brimming with determination to only tell the truth "she thinks you are an interfering, old busybody."
That evening when the school bell sounded both my mum and I were back in the headmistresses' office. To my utter amazement my mother lied and when we got home that night I was punished for telling the truth!
I was four years old and I realised then and there that telling the truth cane sometimes be painful.
The reason for me recounting this story is that I am in Egypt now following the Free Gaza Movement of 1400 peace activists who gathered in Cairo from more than 40 different countries.
Their week-long efforts to get to Gaza to give humanitarian aid and messages of goodwill and solidarity to the Palestinians have been thwarted with the utmost vigour and enthusiasm by the Egyptian Government.
This prompted me to write a series of articles exposing the shameful behaviour of the Egyptian Government. I described the Cairo Government as America's rent boy in the Middle East clearly influenced by the two billion dollars of aid it receives from the USA.
And thanks to some heroic camerawork from British film-maker Warren Biggs and American journalist Jehan Hafiz I was able to back up my words about the violence of the Muharabat, or secret police, with shocking images.
Telling the truth in Cairo, as I later discovered, can be a rather precarious occupation and certainly does not endear you to people in places of power or authority. I have been told that I will never be allowed in Egypt again although, as usual, the implied threats are never put down officially.
I would be devastated if this ban is indeed official because despite the flotsam and jetsam in power, I have a deep respect for ordinary Egyptian people and their country.
Threats are something local journalists have experienced over the years and there and those who have indeed ended up in Cairo's darkest dungeons for telling the truth, but I salute my fellow scribes for their heroic determination to make sure the facts surface.
Sadly not all journalists subscribe to that ethos and they opt for something worse than telling the truth - silence.
I will not shame and name those journalists in this column ... they know who they are and they are working in positions of great influence where their words and pictures could easily tell the world about what is really happening on the ground in Cairo.
But what I would say to them is that if they are too afraid to tell the truth, or even cover the most basic stories in an open way then they are in the wrong profession and doing a great disservice to journalism.
Our profession is a noble one and hundreds of our colleagues have paid the ultimate price for trying to get the truth out in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan ... war and conflict zones right across the world as well as from within the most sinister of police states.
But those who chose to ignore the arrival of 1400 peace activists from around the world to Cairo, and the efforts they had made to get to Gaza can not call themselves journalists. They are or have become an extension of a government apparatus which uses fear and intimidation to stop the truth getting out.
At the end of the day the truth is there. The Cairo government might attack it, ignorant individuals may choose to ridicule it but it will not go away and the truth will out.
To all those Egyptian journalists who continue to defend the truth I salute you and to those miserable individuals who remained silent or twisted the facts there is a chance to redeem yourselves ... over the next 72 hours the Viva Palestina convoy will enter Egypt.
Please report exactly how they are treated and how the Egyptian Government receives them - telling the truth might be an act of courage but it is also a powerful entity which can open doors, shame governments and mobilise people to fighting for what is right and what is just.
Everyone is entitled to their opinions but there is only one truth.
British journalist Yvonne Ridley is one of the founders of Viva Palestina, as well as a member of the RESPECT Party, and presenter for Rattansi & Ridley and the Agenda shows on Press TV. She is making a documentary with Indy film-maker Warren Biggs about the Gaza Freedom March for First Witness Productions - www.1stwitness.com
Source: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24314.htm
January 03, 2010 "Information Clearing House" -- Telling the truth can be a complicated business.
It was one of the first lessons I learned at a very tender age.
Still unable to grasp the importance of the school timetable in my first week, I rolled up for class 20 minutes late having been diverted by a rather splendid game of marbles. Four black jack chews and a sherbet dip were at stake.
By the time I walked in the teacher was so fraught that lying seemed to be the best option.
Five minutes later I was before the headmistress because my colourful story about helping a blind man find his way home after his old crippled guide dog had dropped dead outside the playground gates was not believed.
At the end of the day when my mother came to collect me she was hauled in to the head's office where I was forced to recount my rather elaborate story before being made to apologise to the grown ups and promise always to tell the truth. Just as we were about to leave she reminded my mother school finished at 3.30pm and noted she had arrived five minutes after the bell.
My mother was really annoyed - angry with me for telling lies and irritated by the head's observation on the importance of time keeping.
On seeing me the next day the headmistress asked me what my mother had to say about the events the day before. "Oh," I responded brimming with determination to only tell the truth "she thinks you are an interfering, old busybody."
That evening when the school bell sounded both my mum and I were back in the headmistresses' office. To my utter amazement my mother lied and when we got home that night I was punished for telling the truth!
I was four years old and I realised then and there that telling the truth cane sometimes be painful.
The reason for me recounting this story is that I am in Egypt now following the Free Gaza Movement of 1400 peace activists who gathered in Cairo from more than 40 different countries.
Their week-long efforts to get to Gaza to give humanitarian aid and messages of goodwill and solidarity to the Palestinians have been thwarted with the utmost vigour and enthusiasm by the Egyptian Government.
This prompted me to write a series of articles exposing the shameful behaviour of the Egyptian Government. I described the Cairo Government as America's rent boy in the Middle East clearly influenced by the two billion dollars of aid it receives from the USA.
And thanks to some heroic camerawork from British film-maker Warren Biggs and American journalist Jehan Hafiz I was able to back up my words about the violence of the Muharabat, or secret police, with shocking images.
Telling the truth in Cairo, as I later discovered, can be a rather precarious occupation and certainly does not endear you to people in places of power or authority. I have been told that I will never be allowed in Egypt again although, as usual, the implied threats are never put down officially.
I would be devastated if this ban is indeed official because despite the flotsam and jetsam in power, I have a deep respect for ordinary Egyptian people and their country.
Threats are something local journalists have experienced over the years and there and those who have indeed ended up in Cairo's darkest dungeons for telling the truth, but I salute my fellow scribes for their heroic determination to make sure the facts surface.
Sadly not all journalists subscribe to that ethos and they opt for something worse than telling the truth - silence.
I will not shame and name those journalists in this column ... they know who they are and they are working in positions of great influence where their words and pictures could easily tell the world about what is really happening on the ground in Cairo.
But what I would say to them is that if they are too afraid to tell the truth, or even cover the most basic stories in an open way then they are in the wrong profession and doing a great disservice to journalism.
Our profession is a noble one and hundreds of our colleagues have paid the ultimate price for trying to get the truth out in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan ... war and conflict zones right across the world as well as from within the most sinister of police states.
But those who chose to ignore the arrival of 1400 peace activists from around the world to Cairo, and the efforts they had made to get to Gaza can not call themselves journalists. They are or have become an extension of a government apparatus which uses fear and intimidation to stop the truth getting out.
At the end of the day the truth is there. The Cairo government might attack it, ignorant individuals may choose to ridicule it but it will not go away and the truth will out.
To all those Egyptian journalists who continue to defend the truth I salute you and to those miserable individuals who remained silent or twisted the facts there is a chance to redeem yourselves ... over the next 72 hours the Viva Palestina convoy will enter Egypt.
Please report exactly how they are treated and how the Egyptian Government receives them - telling the truth might be an act of courage but it is also a powerful entity which can open doors, shame governments and mobilise people to fighting for what is right and what is just.
Everyone is entitled to their opinions but there is only one truth.
British journalist Yvonne Ridley is one of the founders of Viva Palestina, as well as a member of the RESPECT Party, and presenter for Rattansi & Ridley and the Agenda shows on Press TV. She is making a documentary with Indy film-maker Warren Biggs about the Gaza Freedom March for First Witness Productions - www.1stwitness.com
Source: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24314.htm
Taleban deputy leader warns of more attacks in Afghanistan in 2010
Sunday, January 03, 2010
Taleban deputy leader warns of more attacks in Afghanistan in 2010
The USG Open Source Center translates an interview with the "Old Taliban's" number 2 man, Mullah "Baradar" Abdul Ghani, on Taliban tactics against the US.
Taleban deputy leader warns of more attacks in Afghanistan in 2010
Afghan Islamic Press
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Document Type: OSC Translated Text
Taleban deputy leader warns of more attacks in Afghanistan in 2010
The deputy leader of the Taleban, Mullah Berader, has said that if the foreign "aggressor forces" persist with their activities in Afghanistan, they should not expect the Taleban to "soften their posture" either and if they wanted peace they must withdraw their forces. He also said Taleban attacks had proved successful so far and more of the same could be expected, perhaps using new tactics. The following is the text of an "exclusive" interview given by Mullah Berader to the private Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press news agency, put out by the agency on 31 December; subheadings inserted editorially:
Kandahar, 30 December:
Deputy leader of Taleban Islamic Emirate: If the aggressor forces in Afghanistan dream about invasion of the country, they should not expect us to show softness either.
Deputy leader of the Islamic Emirate of the Taleban Mullah Abdol Ghani, also known as Mullah Beradar, told the Afghan Islamic Press in an exclusive interview that if the foreigners keep dreaming about invading Afghanistan, the Taleban will not show any softening in their posture either.
The deputy leader of the Taleban Islamic Emirate answered questions from the Afghan Islamic Press sent to him in an email in the last week of December. The Afghan Islamic Press now publishes the text of the questions and answers on the last day of the current Gregorian year:
Exclusive interview of the Afghan Islamic Press with esteemed deputy of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Mullah Beradar Akhond
Q: How do you evaluate your resistance during the current year which is almost ended?
In the name of God!
Fighting this year
A: The Americans, British and their other allies in the war in Afghanistan had expected to achieve decisive military results, suppress the Afghans' jihad resistance, recapture all the areas and parts controlled by the mojahedin and pave the way for administration and activities by the puppet Kabul government at the end of the current year by conducting various great military operations, adopting military strategies and using different kinds of weapons during the year, but with special blessings from Great God and the unsparing support and sacrifice of the mojahedin nation, the current year had many surprising and consecutive glad tidings of triumphs and victories for the mojahedin of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The mojahedin not only countered the great military operations by the aggressor forces by forcing them to withdraw and proudly defended the areas controlled by the mojahedin, they also freed and pushed the invaders out of vast areas. The casualties and financial and losses they inflicted on the invaders could be found in reports, speeches and announcements of the Pentagon and other Western sources, who said the casualties of the past seven years has been equal to the losses and casualties of the current year. That means the current year has been the bloodiest year full of calamities and fears for them in the past eight years which is a great achievement of the mojahedin.
Cont'd (click below or on "comments")
Taleban's tactics for 2010
Q: What will be your military and political strategies in the coming year (2010)?
Part 1: Will the number of suicide attacks increase?
Part 2: Will you step up the planting of mines and mine attacks?
Part 3: Will you organize frontier wars? Will you increase explosions and sudden attacks on important targets?
A: Thank God the jihad direction and strategy during the current year was more successful and full of victories than we expected, particularly roadside mines, group attacks by suicide bombers on some government and foreign important targets in Kabul and some other provinces and ambushes against foreign and local aggressor forces were very effective. Perhaps, the same attacks may continue with some new tactics. Regarding our future political strategy, I should say that if the aggressor forces continue their military bullying, dream about invading Afghanistan, stand fast or send more troops, they should not expect us to show softness either.
Increase in foreign troops
Q: In your opinion, will the foreigners be able to defeat the resistance by increasing the number of troops in Afghanistan or not?
A: It is obvious that the aggressive forces in Afghanistan are not to some extent faced with lack of troops, militias, financial and military facilities, etc, but the problems they are faced with are their soldiers' weak fighting morality and unsparing support of the Afghan mojahedin nation and their increasing coordination with jihad. Even if they (the foreigners) send more troops to Afghanistan, they will have no other achievements but heavy casualties.
Q: What is the major cause of the foreigners' lack of success in Afghanistan so far?
A: Although the Americans anticipated eight years ago that the Taleban would no longer pose a military problem for them in Afghanistan, saying they (the Taleban) were finished for ever and could no longer move around or resist, these US expectations were proved wrong very quickly. Not only did the Taleban not leave the scene, they changed every foot of Afghanistan into a stronghold of jihad and resistance against the Americans. Now, the situation in Afghanistan has reached a stage where all the areas, deserts, mountains and villages of the country have changed into hot griddles and enemies for the invaders. The invaders tried to kill the spirit of jihad among the Afghans by using all kind of weapons such as arbitrariness, force, money, etc, but since the Afghans love their faith, belief, independence and national power, the invaders are, with the blessing of God, defeated and do not have any chances of victory.
Source of Taleban weapons
Q: Where do you receive weapons and ammunitions from for the current resistance?
A: In our fight against the aggressive forces in Afghanistan, we use weapons which were used by the mojahedin against the Russians. These weapons are still in Afghanistan. Some weapons dumps built during the period of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan still exist and the mojahedin use them. The mojahedin also capture some weapons and ammunitions from the enemy from time to time as booty of war, because the enemies escape from the battlefields immediately and leave all their weapons.
Efforts to split Taleban, Al-Qa'idah
Q: The foreigners want to separate the Taleban from Al-Qa'idah and reach an agreement with the Taleban. Do you think this is possible? How close are the Taleban and Al-Qa'idah at the moment?
A: The current jihad in Afghanistan is led by the Islamic Emirate. What the international community says about separating the Taleban and Al-Qa'idah is meaningless, it is just a pretext.
Q: Where are the Taleban leaders and Usamah Bin-Ladin? Is it true they are in Pakistan? Is the Taleban Leadership Council in Quetta or not?
A: So far as the leadership of the Islamic Emirate is concerned, they are not in Pakistan. We can also say that the leadership of Al-Qa'idah is not in Pakistan.
Peace talks
Q: They say some Taleban commanders and leaders support talks with the government which has caused differences and conflicts among the Taleban. Is it true?
A: I think the weapons and propaganda to split and separate the Islamic Emirate have lost their value by now. Over the past eight years, they have just been pointless rants by America and other aggressor forces.
Q: Have you ever talked to the government or the foreigners?
A: No.
Q: They say Abdollah Anas has negotiated representing the Taleban. Is he your representative?
A: We have neither permitted anyone to negotiate nor do we have any representative by the name of Abdollah Anas.
Q: If you are ready to negotiate, with whom will you negotiate and on what conditions?
A: Afghanistan has been attacked and invaded. If the aggressor forces take steps to end their invasion and put an end to their aggression and if we have guarantees of that, we will then explicitly announce our stance.
Q: After the new forces are deployed, the total number of the foreign forces in Afghanistan will be more than 130,000 soldiers. How and with what strategies will you and other resistance groups confront these forces?
A: The previous jihadi strategy has been very effective and efficient against the aggressive forces. Continuing the same strategy with some new initiatives will beat the Americans' military arrogance and defeat them.
Q: If the foreigners leave Afghanistan, will you be able to negotiate with Hamed Karzai and his other allies?
A: Karzai's administration is a symbol and unclean sign of the Americans. The Afghans are very sensitive about and strictly hate the administration. Still, this is a question which could be answered when the aggressors leave Afghanistan.
Q: As an Afghan, what do you think is the solution for the problem in Afghanistan?
A: Withdrawal of the aggressors and establishment of an Islamic system.
Q: When you come closer to power in the future, what kind of a system will you suggest?
A: The Afghans always demand and hope for an Islamic system in Afghanistan.
Q: How can you assure the Afghans that there will be no civil and domestic wars after the foreigners leave Afghanistan?
A: If the foreigners, particularly our neighbouring countries give up their obvious and secret conspiracies and stop interfering in domestic affairs of Afghanistan, the Islamic Emirate has the pride and initiative to ensure peace and stability all around the country. Meanwhile, thank God unity and single leadership of the jihad line is also present which can avoid such calamities.
Q: How can you assure the world that no country will be attacked from here after the foreigners leave Afghanistan and you come to power?
A: We had given the world such an assurance also during the Islamic Emirate's previous era. We have and will have the same stance in the future as well.
Q: Are you ready to include former communists, the mojahedin groups which fought amongst each other and members of the current administration in the future system?
A: This will be decided later depending on conditions.
(Description of Source: Peshawar Afghan Islamic Press in Pashto -- Peshawar Afghan Islamic Press in Pashto -- Peshawar-based agency, staffed by Afghans, that describes itself as an independent "news agency" but whose history and reporting pattern reveal a perceptible pro-Taliban bias; the AIP's founder-director, Mohammad Yaqub Sharafat, has long been associated with a mujahidin faction that merged with the Taliban's "Islamic Emirate" led by Mullah Omar; subscription required to access content; http://www.afghanislamicpress.com
http://www.juancole.com/2010/01/taleban-deputy-leader-warns-of-more.html
Taleban deputy leader warns of more attacks in Afghanistan in 2010
The USG Open Source Center translates an interview with the "Old Taliban's" number 2 man, Mullah "Baradar" Abdul Ghani, on Taliban tactics against the US.
Taleban deputy leader warns of more attacks in Afghanistan in 2010
Afghan Islamic Press
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Document Type: OSC Translated Text
Taleban deputy leader warns of more attacks in Afghanistan in 2010
The deputy leader of the Taleban, Mullah Berader, has said that if the foreign "aggressor forces" persist with their activities in Afghanistan, they should not expect the Taleban to "soften their posture" either and if they wanted peace they must withdraw their forces. He also said Taleban attacks had proved successful so far and more of the same could be expected, perhaps using new tactics. The following is the text of an "exclusive" interview given by Mullah Berader to the private Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press news agency, put out by the agency on 31 December; subheadings inserted editorially:
Kandahar, 30 December:
Deputy leader of Taleban Islamic Emirate: If the aggressor forces in Afghanistan dream about invasion of the country, they should not expect us to show softness either.
Deputy leader of the Islamic Emirate of the Taleban Mullah Abdol Ghani, also known as Mullah Beradar, told the Afghan Islamic Press in an exclusive interview that if the foreigners keep dreaming about invading Afghanistan, the Taleban will not show any softening in their posture either.
The deputy leader of the Taleban Islamic Emirate answered questions from the Afghan Islamic Press sent to him in an email in the last week of December. The Afghan Islamic Press now publishes the text of the questions and answers on the last day of the current Gregorian year:
Exclusive interview of the Afghan Islamic Press with esteemed deputy of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Mullah Beradar Akhond
Q: How do you evaluate your resistance during the current year which is almost ended?
In the name of God!
Fighting this year
A: The Americans, British and their other allies in the war in Afghanistan had expected to achieve decisive military results, suppress the Afghans' jihad resistance, recapture all the areas and parts controlled by the mojahedin and pave the way for administration and activities by the puppet Kabul government at the end of the current year by conducting various great military operations, adopting military strategies and using different kinds of weapons during the year, but with special blessings from Great God and the unsparing support and sacrifice of the mojahedin nation, the current year had many surprising and consecutive glad tidings of triumphs and victories for the mojahedin of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The mojahedin not only countered the great military operations by the aggressor forces by forcing them to withdraw and proudly defended the areas controlled by the mojahedin, they also freed and pushed the invaders out of vast areas. The casualties and financial and losses they inflicted on the invaders could be found in reports, speeches and announcements of the Pentagon and other Western sources, who said the casualties of the past seven years has been equal to the losses and casualties of the current year. That means the current year has been the bloodiest year full of calamities and fears for them in the past eight years which is a great achievement of the mojahedin.
Cont'd (click below or on "comments")
Taleban's tactics for 2010
Q: What will be your military and political strategies in the coming year (2010)?
Part 1: Will the number of suicide attacks increase?
Part 2: Will you step up the planting of mines and mine attacks?
Part 3: Will you organize frontier wars? Will you increase explosions and sudden attacks on important targets?
A: Thank God the jihad direction and strategy during the current year was more successful and full of victories than we expected, particularly roadside mines, group attacks by suicide bombers on some government and foreign important targets in Kabul and some other provinces and ambushes against foreign and local aggressor forces were very effective. Perhaps, the same attacks may continue with some new tactics. Regarding our future political strategy, I should say that if the aggressor forces continue their military bullying, dream about invading Afghanistan, stand fast or send more troops, they should not expect us to show softness either.
Increase in foreign troops
Q: In your opinion, will the foreigners be able to defeat the resistance by increasing the number of troops in Afghanistan or not?
A: It is obvious that the aggressive forces in Afghanistan are not to some extent faced with lack of troops, militias, financial and military facilities, etc, but the problems they are faced with are their soldiers' weak fighting morality and unsparing support of the Afghan mojahedin nation and their increasing coordination with jihad. Even if they (the foreigners) send more troops to Afghanistan, they will have no other achievements but heavy casualties.
Q: What is the major cause of the foreigners' lack of success in Afghanistan so far?
A: Although the Americans anticipated eight years ago that the Taleban would no longer pose a military problem for them in Afghanistan, saying they (the Taleban) were finished for ever and could no longer move around or resist, these US expectations were proved wrong very quickly. Not only did the Taleban not leave the scene, they changed every foot of Afghanistan into a stronghold of jihad and resistance against the Americans. Now, the situation in Afghanistan has reached a stage where all the areas, deserts, mountains and villages of the country have changed into hot griddles and enemies for the invaders. The invaders tried to kill the spirit of jihad among the Afghans by using all kind of weapons such as arbitrariness, force, money, etc, but since the Afghans love their faith, belief, independence and national power, the invaders are, with the blessing of God, defeated and do not have any chances of victory.
Source of Taleban weapons
Q: Where do you receive weapons and ammunitions from for the current resistance?
A: In our fight against the aggressive forces in Afghanistan, we use weapons which were used by the mojahedin against the Russians. These weapons are still in Afghanistan. Some weapons dumps built during the period of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan still exist and the mojahedin use them. The mojahedin also capture some weapons and ammunitions from the enemy from time to time as booty of war, because the enemies escape from the battlefields immediately and leave all their weapons.
Efforts to split Taleban, Al-Qa'idah
Q: The foreigners want to separate the Taleban from Al-Qa'idah and reach an agreement with the Taleban. Do you think this is possible? How close are the Taleban and Al-Qa'idah at the moment?
A: The current jihad in Afghanistan is led by the Islamic Emirate. What the international community says about separating the Taleban and Al-Qa'idah is meaningless, it is just a pretext.
Q: Where are the Taleban leaders and Usamah Bin-Ladin? Is it true they are in Pakistan? Is the Taleban Leadership Council in Quetta or not?
A: So far as the leadership of the Islamic Emirate is concerned, they are not in Pakistan. We can also say that the leadership of Al-Qa'idah is not in Pakistan.
Peace talks
Q: They say some Taleban commanders and leaders support talks with the government which has caused differences and conflicts among the Taleban. Is it true?
A: I think the weapons and propaganda to split and separate the Islamic Emirate have lost their value by now. Over the past eight years, they have just been pointless rants by America and other aggressor forces.
Q: Have you ever talked to the government or the foreigners?
A: No.
Q: They say Abdollah Anas has negotiated representing the Taleban. Is he your representative?
A: We have neither permitted anyone to negotiate nor do we have any representative by the name of Abdollah Anas.
Q: If you are ready to negotiate, with whom will you negotiate and on what conditions?
A: Afghanistan has been attacked and invaded. If the aggressor forces take steps to end their invasion and put an end to their aggression and if we have guarantees of that, we will then explicitly announce our stance.
Q: After the new forces are deployed, the total number of the foreign forces in Afghanistan will be more than 130,000 soldiers. How and with what strategies will you and other resistance groups confront these forces?
A: The previous jihadi strategy has been very effective and efficient against the aggressive forces. Continuing the same strategy with some new initiatives will beat the Americans' military arrogance and defeat them.
Q: If the foreigners leave Afghanistan, will you be able to negotiate with Hamed Karzai and his other allies?
A: Karzai's administration is a symbol and unclean sign of the Americans. The Afghans are very sensitive about and strictly hate the administration. Still, this is a question which could be answered when the aggressors leave Afghanistan.
Q: As an Afghan, what do you think is the solution for the problem in Afghanistan?
A: Withdrawal of the aggressors and establishment of an Islamic system.
Q: When you come closer to power in the future, what kind of a system will you suggest?
A: The Afghans always demand and hope for an Islamic system in Afghanistan.
Q: How can you assure the Afghans that there will be no civil and domestic wars after the foreigners leave Afghanistan?
A: If the foreigners, particularly our neighbouring countries give up their obvious and secret conspiracies and stop interfering in domestic affairs of Afghanistan, the Islamic Emirate has the pride and initiative to ensure peace and stability all around the country. Meanwhile, thank God unity and single leadership of the jihad line is also present which can avoid such calamities.
Q: How can you assure the world that no country will be attacked from here after the foreigners leave Afghanistan and you come to power?
A: We had given the world such an assurance also during the Islamic Emirate's previous era. We have and will have the same stance in the future as well.
Q: Are you ready to include former communists, the mojahedin groups which fought amongst each other and members of the current administration in the future system?
A: This will be decided later depending on conditions.
(Description of Source: Peshawar Afghan Islamic Press in Pashto -- Peshawar Afghan Islamic Press in Pashto -- Peshawar-based agency, staffed by Afghans, that describes itself as an independent "news agency" but whose history and reporting pattern reveal a perceptible pro-Taliban bias; the AIP's founder-director, Mohammad Yaqub Sharafat, has long been associated with a mujahidin faction that merged with the Taliban's "Islamic Emirate" led by Mullah Omar; subscription required to access content; http://www.afghanislamicpress.com
http://www.juancole.com/2010/01/taleban-deputy-leader-warns-of-more.html
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