28 June 2011
A senior leader of an al-Qaida-linked terror group has been captured in northern Afghanistan dressed up like a woman — the latest in a recent series of cases involving male militants disguised as females, the U.S.-led military coalition said Tuesday. A joint Afghan and coalition force apprehended a senior figure from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and two of his associates during a nighttime operation Monday in Kunduz city, NATO said. It...
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US Confirms Talks with Taliban as UN Splits Taliban, Al-Qaeda on Sanctions List
20 June 2011
Outgoing US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has confirmed that the US is holding "outreach" talks with members of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Mr Gates said talks were "preliminary" but that a political solution was the way "most of these wars end". It is the first time the US has acknowledged such contact and comes a day after Afghan President Hamid Karzai said peace talks had started. The US is due to start withdrawing its 97,000 troops from Afghanistan...
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Al-Zawahiri Named New al-Qaeda Chief
16 June 2011
Al-Qaeda has named Ayman al-Zawahiri as its new chief following the killing of Osama bin Laden, the group has said in a statement issued in the name of the group's general command. "The general command of al-Qaeda announces, after consultations, the appointment of Sheikh Ayman al-Zawahiri as head of the group," the statement, posted online on Thursday, said. US special forces killed bin Laden in a raid on the Pakistani city of Abbottabad on May 2. Al-Qaeda...
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Al Qaeda Deputy Vows Jihad in bin Laden Eulogy
09 June 2011
Ayman al-Zawahiri, Al-Qaeda's long-time number two, has vowed in a video eulogy to Osama bin Laden that he will pursue his late leader's jihad against the West, SITE Intelligence Group reported on Wednesday. "We will pursue the jihad until we expel the invaders from Muslim lands," he was quoted as saying in the eulogy to bin Laden who was killed in a US raid in Pakistan on May 2. "The man who terrified America in his life will continue to terrify...
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"Ominous Signs" Suggest Rising Insecurity in Afghanistan's North
08 June 2011
The north was once the most peaceful part of Afghanistan. But as Nato prepares to transfer control of parts of the country to Afghan forces in July, riots, suicide bombings and high-profile killings point to an ominous decline in security. The BBC's Bilal Sarwary reports. Last week the memorial service for one of the Taliban's most determined opponents in northern Afghanistan took place in Farkhar, home to pistachio forests and a serene valley with...
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bin Laden Tried to Establish "Grand Coalition" of Militant Groups
30 May 2011
Osama bin Laden spent much of his last weeks alive planning a new attempt to bring the disparate factions among insurgents and militants fighting in Pakistan and Afghanistan together under the umbrella of al-Qaida. The terrorist leader, who had made repeated efforts to unify militant groups, was even considering risking leaving his safe house in Abbottabad, the northern Pakistani garrison town, to try to build a fresh alliance through face-to-face...
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Foreign Fighters in Pakistan's Tribal Regions Plan Attacks in Afghanistan: Captured Al-Qaeda Member
25 May 2011
A Moroccan al Qaeda operative captured in Afghanistan told coalition forces earlier this month that foreign fighters were "converging" in Pakistan in hopes of carrying out attacks across the border in Afghanistan, the International Security Assistance Force said late Monday. The unnamed captive, who is described as a "Germany-based Moroccan al Qaeda foreign fighter facilitator," was captured by coalition and Afghan forces on May 8 in southeast Afghanistan. "After...
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Egyptian Saif al-Adel Picked as Acting Leader of al Qaeda: Ex-militant
18 May 2011
An Egyptian who was once a Special Forces officer has been chosen "caretaker" leader of al Qaeda in the wake of Osama bin Laden's death, according to a source with detailed knowledge of the group's inner workings. Al Qaeda's interim leader is Saif al-Adel, who has long played a prominent role in the group, according to Noman Benotman. Benotman has known the al Qaeda leadership for more than two decades. He was once a leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting...
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Al Qaeda "Cadres" Support Afghan Taliban with "Resources, Technical Skills": US
16 May 2011
Fewer than 100 al Qaeda members remain inside Afghanistan, but they form a core group providing the Afghan Taliban with resources and technical battlefield skills, the second most senior U.S. commander in the country said Monday. U.S. Lieutenant General David Rodriguez also said it was too early to say if the death of Osama bin Laden had had an impact on the Taliban or would affect a gradual U.S. troop drawdown due to begin in July. "We still think...
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Taliban Leaders Aid Hunt for al Qaeda, Afghans Say
12 May 2011
Senior Afghan officials say some Taliban leaders are offering intelligence about al Qaeda to prove they are serious about peace talks with the Afghan government. [...] Amid suspicions of Pakistani complicity in providing a haven for bin Laden, the claims of Taliban outreach serve to assert Afghan authority in peace efforts and play down the notion that only Pakistan can bring Taliban leaders to the table. The Afghan officials who described the outreach...
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