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KABUL (USA-Today/AP) — Eight Taliban militants attacked three government buildings and a U.S. base in two eastern cities in near-simultaneous attacks — a signature of major Taliban assaults. Eight insurgents and six Afghan security forces died.
Using suicide bombings, gunfire and rockets, the militants attacked the governor’s compound, the intelligence department and the police department in the eastern city of Gardez just before 11 a.m. (2:30 a.m. ET), officials said.
Tribal elders and government officials had just finished a meeting at the governor’s compound about security for the country’s Aug. 20 presidential election when gunfire broke out at the nearby intelligence department, said deputy Gov. Abdul Rahman Mangal (pdf).
A rocket fired into the intelligence department killed three officers, said Ghulam Dastagir, the province’s deputy police chief, while a suicide bombing in front of a police station killed two police officers. A rocket was also fired at the governor’s house, he said.
A total of four attackers were shot and killed at the police station and the governor’s compound, including at least two bombers clothed in women’s burqas, Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary said.
KANDAHAR AIR FIELD, Afghanistan, July 17 (Reuters) – The United States may have taken too long to cut Afghan civilian casualties but even junior troops now understand protecting ordinary Afghans is paramount, Washington’s top military officer said.
After visiting military bases in southern Afghanistan, the scene of major operations by thousands of U.S. Marines and British troops, Admiral Mike Mullen gave an upbeat assessment of the prospects for success against the Taliban.
Mullen said he was pleased the Marines had not caused any civilian casualties in their push into the Helmand River valley over the past few weeks and British forces had reported very few in their simultaneous operation further north.
The issue of civilian casualties caused by U.S. and NATO operations, particularly air strikes, became a source of increasing outrage and frustration among ordinary Afghans and their leaders over the past year.
Washington, July 10 (ANI): The US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, Admiral Mike Mullen has said that the United States is in the process of nurturing a long-term relationship with Pakistan to help the troubled nation counter the threat emanating from extremist organizations like the Taliban and Al-Qaeda better.
Admiral Mullen highlighted that Pakistan military must focus on both the two fronts, rather than paying attention to Kashmir only.
“This is a military that’s got focus on two different fronts, whether it’s the Kashmir area in the east, and they recognise there is a significant internal extremist threat to their country that they’re now attacking and dealing with, and it’s very much counterinsurgency-based,” he said.
Referring to the Swat military operation, Mullen said: “They’ve made an awful lot of progress.”
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CIA waterboardingFBI interviewaNEW YORK (AP/NY Times) – American-born al-Qaida recruit Bryant Neal Vinas was captured in Pakistan late last year, he wasn’t whisked off to a military prison or a secret CIA facility in another country to be interrogated.
While an American citizen captured in Pakistan certainly presents a unique case, the circumstances of Vinas’ treatment may point to a new emphasis in the fight against terror, one that relies more on FBI crimefighters and the civilian justice system than on CIA interrogators and military detention.
Vinas was given all the rights of American criminal suspects. And he talked.
The official said Vinas provided “an intelligence gold mine” to U.S. officials, including possible information about a suspected militant who was killed in a Predator drone strike last November.
At first after his capture, Vinas appeared scared and dejected. When he was brought back to the United States, an official said, he “started to turn the corner” and trust them, little by little.
Once Vinas was placed in U.S. custody, FBI agents spent a period of months conducting approximately 100 interviews with the man, a Muslim convert who spoke Arabic, Dari and Urdu.
Read more …
U.S. Recruit Reveals How Qaeda Trains Foreigners
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence.".
Police in Pakistan have arrested a former right-wing parliamentarian Shah Abdul Aziz, known for his close links to the Taliban and Islamic militants. He is accused of ordering the murder of a Polish engineer by the Taliban.
The engineer, Peter Stanczak, was kidnapped by the Taliban in September 2008. Mr Stanczak had been working on a project in the volatile north west area of Pakistan. He was beheaded by the militants in February after talks with the government for the release of captured Taliban members broke down.
Identification
Ataullah Khan, a Taliban militant, was speaking in an anti-terrorism court in the northern garrison city of Rawalpindi. He said in a confessional statement before a magistrate:
“I kidnapped the Polish engineer with the help of Commander Tariq, Mufti Ilyas and others. Later, we killed him on the orders of Shah Abdul Aziz after negotiations broke down.”
Aziz had gone missing in May after allegedly being detained by security agencies.
Radical cleric Sufi Mohammad detained in Swat valley
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."