Bill Roggio

Tehran’s growing influence in Iraq is no accident, newly declassified interrogation transcripts show

In the wake of Osama bin Laden's death at the hands of a covert U.S. assault force, there has been plenty of specualtion in the U.S. press about Pakistan's involvement in sheltering the terror chief, followed by denials from Pakistan. But in an interview with Time magazine, CIA director Leon…

Unmanned U.S. Predator drones and the newer model Reapers have been real busy in Pakistan over the past month. The United States has launched 21 Predators strikes in Pakistan's tribal areas since Sept. 1, and with two days to go in September, is close to doubling the next most active month (the…

The pressure on WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange, from human rights groups continues to mount. One day after five human rights groups critized WikiLeaks and Assange for endangering Afghans who cooperated with Coalition forces and the Afghan government by leaking more than 76,000 U.S.…

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange reacted indignantly when members of the press, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen questioned the wisdom of releasing more than 77,000 classified memos without making an effort to remove information that could…

The Taliban's responsibility for the vast majority of civilian deaths is perhaps the most underreported story from Afghanistan since the war began. A United Nations report, which was released today, shows that more than three-fourths (76 percent) of civilian deaths in Afghanistan over the past year…

Time magazine's cover, featuring a young Afghan woman whose nose and ears were chopped off by her Taliban husband for dishonoring him, has sparked plenty of outrage from folks who should be rising to the young woman's defense. Time's cover, and the accompanying article, is seen as a propaganda ploy…

Thomas Joscelyn reported on the State Department's Country Reports on Terrorism for 2009, and noted Iran's support for terrorist groups, including the Taliban in Afghanistan. Just two days prior to Foggy Bottom's long-delayed report, the U.S. Treasury Department designated two top officers in…

The government of France is joining Britain in taking a tough stand on Pakistan for its double-dealing with the Taliban in Afghanistan. From Reuters:

Over the years, there has been plenty of handwringing over the issue of whether al Shabaab, the Islamist terror group in Somalia, is allied with al Qaeda. Despite the fact that al Shabaab announced its intent to merge with al Qaeda in September 2008,  and al Qaeda's second in command, Ayman al…

Newly appointed ISAF commander General David Petraeus has scored his first political victory in Afghanistan. The Washington Post reports that Petraeus has convinced President Hamid Karzai to back local "community police" programs in Afghanistan:

Local Afghan villagers in the southeastern province of Ghazni have defeated a Taliban force that crossed from the neighboring province of Uruzgan. ISAF tells the story:

Al Qaeda has replaced its emir, or leader, for Afghanistan, according to a report in the Asia Times. While al Qaeda hasn't officially announced the appointment, the author of the article has been adept at identifying top terror leaders in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and he has extensive contacts with…

Said Jawad, Afghanistan's Ambassador to the U.S., has publicly come out against the July 2011 timeline to begin withdrawing forces from the war-torn country. Jawad's arguments against the timeline -- it sends all of the wrong messages to the Afghan people, the Taliban, and regional actors -- is not…

In a statement made to Congress yesterday, General David Petraeus promised to review the much-disparaged rules of engagement that U.S. forces are operating under in Afghanistan. The intent of restrictive rules of engagement is to protect civilians, but these rules are widely disliked by U.S.…

Last fall, the U.S. military decided to withdraw forces from remote districts in eastern Afghanistan, particularly in the provinces of Kunar and Nuristan, where isolated outposts were routinely attacked by large forces made up of the Taliban and al Qaeda, as well as Chechen and Central and South…

Early Sunday morning, May 2, I awoke and followed my usual routine: Grabbed a cup of coffee, logged onto my computer, scanned the news for major developments in the war, and checked my email. It was no ordinary morning, though, as the evening before someone had attempted to set off a car bomb in…

Controversy over the U.S. military's conduct during an engagement in New Baghdad on July 12, 2007 continues to swirl after WikiLeaks released the video of the gun camera footage from the Apaches that fired on a Mahdi Army element that day. The U.S. Army investigated this incident after it occurred…

Yesterday I noted that the Wikileaks tape purportedly showing U.S. troops "murdering" Iraqis in Baghdad in July 2007 appeared to begin in mid-stream. A New York Times article confirms that the tape has indeed been cut. There are 21 additional minutes of tape:

Wikileaks, the website devoted to publishing classified documents on the Internet, made a splash today with a video claiming to show that the U.S. military "murdered" a Reuters cameraman and other Iraqi "civilians" in Baghdad on July 12, 2007. But a careful watching of the video shows that the U.S.…

Reports from Pakistan indicate that Adam Gadahn, the U.S. traitor who serves as a spokesman for al Qaeda, has been captured in Karachi. The Pakistani government has not confirmed the arrest, but this does look promising. Gadahn has issued videos for years, and his latest released just today has…

Pakistani and U.S. intelligence services nabbed the Afghan Taliban's second in command during a raid in the port city of Karachi. The New York Times broke the story last night:

On the evening of January 20, 2007, U.S. soldiers serving in the Provincial Joint Coordination Center in Karbala, Iraq, were attacked by an Iranian-backed terrorist squad. The raid was carried out with precision. At 5 p.m., a convoy of five vehicles made to look just like SUVs used by U.S.…

Al Qaeda has taken credit for the suicide attack that killed seven CIA operatives, including a station chief, and a Jordanian intelligence operative. In a statement released on the Internet, Mustafa Abu Yazid, al Qaeda's leader in Afghanistan, said the attack was to "avenge" the leaders and…

Did the Obama administration, by releasing Qais and Laith Qazali and more than 100 members of the Iranian-backed Asaib al Haq, violate an executive order put in place by President Ronald Reagan to prevent negotiations with hostage takers? Senators Jeff Sessions and Jon Kyl asked that very question…

The British are all smiles over the release of Peter Moore, a British citizen who was held hostage by an Iranian-backed Shia terror group in Iraq. But there is little talk about the price paid to secure Moore's release. The US military has freed Qais Qazali, the leader of the Asaib al Haq, or…

Over the weekend, Adam Gadahn, the American traitor who serves as a chief propagandist al Qaeda, released a videotape titled 'The Mujahideen Do Not Target Muslims.' Gadahn and al Qaeda are overly defensive about recent reports that the terror group primarily kills Muslims, and not Westerners.…

The Pakistani government has denied that Mullah Omar and the "Quetta Shura" -- his executive ruling council for Afghanistan -- was based in Pakistan. That is until Pakistan's defense minister said the Quetta Shura is indeed in Pakistan. But rest assured it is not a threat. From Dawn News reports:…

It isn't often that the before, during, and after images of a suicide attack are caught an camera. Al Jazeera inadvertently did just that yesterday when it captured a Shabaab suicide attack in the Somali capital of Mogadishu. The target was several Somali ministers attending a graduation ceremony…

President Obama seems set on issuing a series of conflicting messages concerning the new strategy in Afghanistan. He has said that the U.S. will be out of Afghanistan by the time his term is over (and hopefully he's assuming he'll be reelected) and apparently he will emphasize this again during his…

Switzerland's ban on the building of minarets, the tall towers attached to mosques, is sure to spark outrage among Muslim groups worldwide. Interestingly enough, AFP decided to skip the various U.S. Muslim-grievance groups that act as fronts and apologists for Islamist terrorist groups and went…

Bing West provides footage from combat engagements with the Taliban in Helmand province. "Video shows why coalition and Afghan battalions inflict few Taliban casualties. Causes include terrain, Taliban maneuver, heavy coalition armor and risk aversion to minimize casualties, while doing a…

Britain's Crown Prosecution Service has hired Azad Ali, a known Islamist who has praised Osama bin Laden's mentor and sympathized with insurgents who have killed U.S. and British troops in Iraq. The kicker is Ali has been fired by the Treasury because of his past statements but was hired by the…

If you want to see just how little credence Vice President Joe Biden's plan for Afghanistan has inside military circles, look no further than this paragraph from an article written by Peter Spiegel and Yochi Dreazen for the Wall Street Journal: People familiar with the internal debates say Mr.…

While we're continually being told al Qaeda and the Taliban are not working together in Afghanistan, Al Jazeera and al Qaeda continue to tell us differently. Last week Coalition forces and the Afghan army teamed up to kill Ghulam Yahya Akbari, a Taliban commander, in the western province of Herat.…

According to some in the Obama administration, decimating al Qaeda, not the Taliban, should be the sole focus of the war in Afghanistan. The two groups really aren't all that intertwined, these officials reckon. But Al Jazeera reports that al Qaeda has become an integral part of the Taliban's…

The Iranian military has test fired the Shahab-3, a ballistic missile that is capable of reaching Europe and is thought to be the delivery platform for a an Iranian nuke. The test has Western governments up in arms, and comes just days after news of a secret nuclear facility in Qom put the Obama…

Al Qaeda is stepping up its propaganda offensive to split the U.S. from its European allies. In his latest audiotape, al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden offers Europe an out from Afghanistan, and threatens to attack if the countries do not leave. One interesting part of the short tape is is bin…

The Telegraph has a disturbing story on Germans flocking to Pakistan's Taliban-controlled Waziristan tribal region and setting up their own village: The village, in Taliban-controlled Waziristan, is run by the notorious al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which plots raids on Nato…

Just one day after General Stanley McChrystal's report on the way forward in Afghanistan was leaked to the press, the Obama administration is floating the idea of expanding the U.S. air campaign in Pakistan to defeat al Qaeda instead of ramping up forces in neighboring Afghanistan. From the…

This highly disturbing video of Yousef al-Khattab preaching jihad on the streets of New York City just days ago comes courtesy of Jarret Brachman. It serves as a reminder of the radicalism that exists here in the United States. From Brachman's website: Here is a video from 4 September 09 of Yousef…

Today's suicide attack in Kabul comes as the debate over European involvement in Afghanistan heats up. Apparently the Taliban carefully chose their latest target well: six Italian soldiers and 10 Afghans were killed in the attack, which took place very close to a U.S. military base and outside the…

All is not well at the United Nations Mission in Afghanistan as the top diplomats battle over handling the result of the country's highly contested presidential election. The Times Online reported that the top UN representative kicked out a senior American aide after he took a tough stand on the…

Yesterday's bold raid in Somalia by U.S. Navy SEALs that kiled senior al Qaeda leader Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan was a big victory for those seeking justice in two of East Africa's most deadly terror attacks. SEALs swooped in on helicopters near the southern town of Barawe, shot up Nabhan's car,…

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari's rejection of President Obama's much-touted AfPak strategy is sure to be causing heartburn in the White House. Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan's president, has rejected the Obama administration's strategy of linking policy on Pakistan and Afghanistan in an effort to…

Tuesday's ambush in Gangigal in Kunar that killed four U.S. Marine military advisers, eight Afghan soldiers and policemen, and an Afghan interpreter will surely raise serious question about the current rules of engagement which U.S. forces operate under in Afghanistan. Jonathan S. Landay, a…

In July, the news broke that the U.S. military decided to end publishing reports on how many Taliban and allied insurgent group fighters were killed during clashes in Afghanistan. "We send the wrong message if all we talk about is the number of insurgents killed. It doesn't demonstrate anything…

NATO launched an airstrike in the northern Afghan province of Kunduz, where the Taliban have been gaining strength despite a series of Afghan and German operations designed to reestablish control. The strike is controversial: scores of Taliban fighters and civilians are reported to have been killed…

The latest edition of the British Army Review is dishing out some serious criticism of the British military's performance in Iraq and Afghanistan. Soldiers and military historians alike are critical of Britain's efforts. The Times Online provides some excerpts: A soldier is critical of the ongoing…

When it comes to putting your foot in your mouth, few exceed the skill and frequency of Rehman Malik, Pakistan's Interior Minister. While saying Pakistan is "not obliged" to arrest Hafiz Saeed, a known terrorist that leads the Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is banned by Paksitan and was designated a…

As President Obama's September deadline for Iran to conduct negotiations on its nuclear program approaches, Iran's nuclear chief indicated that his country is ready for a new round of talks. While Iran's signal must be welcome for the administration, the Economist explains that the Iranian…

I've been saying for months now that Pakistan has no desire to move into South Waziristan, the Taliban and al Qaeda stronghold in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. According to Time magazine, a Pakistani official with close ties to the military said that no such operation would occur, and in…

After nearly eight years of war with al Qaeda, the Taliban, and other Islamist extremist groups, some reporters still can't understand that these groups commit acts of violence with the goal of driving foreigners out of Muslim countries and that they feel free to kill anyone they deem to be…

Finally, after weeks of speculation about whether Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud is dead or alive, the Pakistani Taliban has confirmed he was indeed killed. Two Taliban leaders named Hakeemullah Mehsud and Waliur Rehman Mehsud phoned the AP and other news services to state Baitullah died…

For some time I've argued that the Pakistani military, despite its operation against the Taliban in Swat, has no intention of going into the real Taliban strongholds of North and South Waziristan. And just one day after Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud's death was reported, I said the Pakistani…

Despite several weeks of huffing and puffing about disrupting Afghanistan's election to decide the next president and provincial council representatives, the Taliban had a poor showing today. There were 73 recorded acts of violence in 15 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces; 27 people were killed on…

As the Obama administration presses Pakistan to continue the battle against the Taliban in the tribal areas, Richard Holbrooke, the special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, is courting Pakistan's Islamists as part of the effort to listen to critics of American policy. One of the Islamist leaders…

Hamas fighters and members of the al Qaeda-linked Jund Ansar Allah, or Warriors of God, clashed in the border city of Rafah in southern Gaza, resulting in 13 people killed and 85 wounded. Hamas fighters attacked the Jund Ansar Allah strongholds in Rafah after the latter group's leader declared an…

For all of the tough talk from Paksitan on defeating al Qaeda and the Taliban in their strongholds int he northwest, the latest strategy shows just how unserious the government is when it comes to taking on the Taliban. Syed Saleem Shahzad is a Pakistan-based reporter and has been ahead of the…

Last week, controversy erupted over the announcement of a British comedy that plans to make fun of Islamists:

Yesterday's article in the Wall Street Journal with the attention-getting headline "Taliban Now Winning" in Afghanistan has generated a lot of controversy, and according to some people I've spoken to, some anger in the Pentagon. Jim Hanson at Blackfive rightly noted yesterday that there was little…

Renowned author and CNAS fellow Tom Ricks runs a series on his blog, The Best Defense, titled "Iraq, the unraveling." The series cherry-picks the worst stories from Iraq and is used to support his assertion that Iraq is falling apart and political reconciliation failed despite the positive effects…

After last week's jubilation over the purported death of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, it is now starting to appear as if he survived the airstrike that killed his wife and several of his bodyguards. Five very senior Taliban leaders have come out and said Baitullah survived the attack…

U.S. and Pakistani intelligence officials are pretty certain that Baitullah Mehsud, the top Taliban in Pakistan, is dead. Last night my sources were skeptical, and the reports have not yet been definitively confirmed, but Pakistani Taliban leaders, including one of Baitullah's senior deputies, are…

The Pakistani government is touting its move to ban major terror groups that operate in the country.

The Iraqi government, led by Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, has agreed to reconcile with one of the most dangerous Shia terror groups in Iraq: The prime minister, Nouri Kamal al-Maliki, met with members of the group, Asa'ib al-Haq, or the League of the Righteous, over the weekend, said Ali…

If you thought the Brits were going soft on Afghanistan, the UN has one-upped them by demanding direct negotiations with the senior most leaders of the Taliban, including, presumably, Mullah Omar himself. The Brits have also been aggressively pushing for negotiations with the Taliban, but last…

For several years Pakistani government and military elites have accused India, Israel, and even the United States of backing Taliban leaders such as South Waziristan's Baitullah Mehsud and Swat's Mullah Fazlullah. This week, Pakistani officials claimed the government handed over evidence of Indian…

As the United States prepares to draw down in Iraq, the military has begun to free senior-level Iranian Qods Force detainees captured over the past two years. In return, Iran has begun turning over the bodies of British hostages its proxies captured in 2007. Last month, the U.S. military released…

Well, that didn't take very long. Less than one day after officials touted the peace agreement with the Taliban in Badghis province, the Taliban denounced it. Some of us never saw this one coming. The Christian Science Monitor reports: Within hours, however, clashes broke out in the region, and a…

Less than a month after the U.S., Britain, and a smattering of Coalition and Afghan forces launched a limited operation to secure central and southern Helmand province, some are looking for the "exit." A concerted effort to start unprecedented talks between Taliban and British and American envoys…

As the U.S. and Britain are pushing for greater "integration" of the Taliban into Afghan society, the Afghan government cut a deal with the Taliban in the northwestern province of Badghis. The ceasefire agreement calls for the Taliban not to interfere with the upcoming elections in one district in…

We're constantly told that the "surge" of U.S. forces into Iraq failed because Sunni, Shia, and Kurds have refused to look past sectarian views and have rejected reconciliation. So when news of some real attempts at reconciliation arise, it is often ignored, but not here. Today, the Iraqi…

The military has decided to stop reporting enemy casualties in Afghanistan and to put out positive press releases. The Los Angeles Times reports: Under the order, issued last month by Navy Rear Adm. Gregory J. Smith, the military will not release specifics on how many insurgents are killed in…

This should come as no surprise to those who closely watch Pakistan's military operations in the tribal areas. According to a senior politician, the government is conducting a faux offensive against Baitullah Mehsud, the Taliban leader behind the assassination of Benazir Bhutto and scores of…

If you are concerned the Obama administration may be heading for the exit in Afghanistan, Secretary of Defense Gate's statements to the Los Angeles Times should worry you: "After the Iraq experience, nobody is prepared to have a long slog where it is not apparent we are making headway," Defense…

The day the news broke that the Taliban captured a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan, it was noted here that the media would fall all over itself to give out the details of the soldier's life. The Associated Press, CBS News, and most every other news outlet failed to disappoint. About the only thing the…

The Bagram Four: Abu Abdallah al Shami (upper left); Abu Nasir al Qahtani (upper right); Abu Yahya al Libi (lower left); Omar al Farouq (lower right).

After the US military and intelligence services put years of hard work into dismantling Iran's Qods Force activities in Iraq, these efforts are now being flushed down the drain: Five Iranian diplomats held by the US military in Iraq since January 2007 were freed on Thursday, the official IRNA news…

One hopes the irony of today's protests to Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Iraq are not lost on the vice president himself. Biden is in Iraq to help further reconciliation between Sunnis, Shia, and Kurds just three years after pushing his his plan to divide Iraq into Sunni, Shia, and Kurdish…

Remember how the media conspired to hide the capture of New York Times reported David Rohde by the Taliban? We were told the media did the right thing to deliberately not report on his capture in order to ensure the reporter's safety and not allow the Taliban to use the media to manipulate the…

The U.S. military has taken a lot of heat in Afghanistan over airstrikes that target Taliban leaders but in some cases kill civilians. In the most recent airstrike in the remote Afghan province of Ghor, the U.S. military targeted a Taliban commander they say has links to Iran's Qods Force. The U.S.…

While the Pakistani military is quick to tout the success of its military in Swat, other developments show the country has a long way to go in tackling the native terrorist problem. Today, the Lahore High Court released Hafiz Saeed, the leader of the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba /…

As the Taliban moved into the district of Buner in April after securing the peace agreement that humiliated the Paksitani government, Pakistani political and military leaders rushed to assure the world that there was no threat to Islamabad or Pakistan's nuclear weapons. But Ahmed Rashid, the author…

Counterinsurgency gurus David Kilcullen and Andrew Exum wrote an op-ed over the weekend on the U.S. Predator campaign against al Qaeda, the Taliban, and allied terror groups based in the region. Essentially Kilcullen and Exum argue that the campaign is misguided because it hampers the Pakistani…

One of the main reasons large swaths of Pakistan has fallen under Taliban control is that the military has nearly no capacity to fight a counterinsurgency operation. The Pakistani Army is built to battle the Indians on the eastern plains, not the Taliban in the mountainous northwest. The Pakistani…

Over at The Long War Journal, I've been putting together what I call the Pakistan Red Map for almost three years. The purpose of the map is document the Taliban takeover of the Northwest Frontier Province, one of Pakistan's four provinces (the map has since expanded into Punjab and Baluchistan).…

Husain Haqqani, Pakistan's Ambassador to the U.S. appeared on The Daily Show with John Stewart last evening to explain his government's fight against the Taliban. The interview highlights the schizophrenia that is Pakistan. Haqqani describes the Taliban as "a nuisance" and tries to convince us that…

Counterinsurgency gurus David Kilcullen and Andrew Exum wrote an op-ed over the weekend on the U.S. Predator campaign against al Qaeda, the Taliban, and allied terror groups based in the region. Essentially Kilcullen and Exum argue that the campaign is misguided because it hampers the Pakistani…

If you're wondering why Afghan policy is so muddled, look no further than the actions of Kai Eide, the chief of the UN mission in Afghanistan. First, Eide was "saddened" and "disturbed" by Karzai's choice of Mohammad Qasim Fahim, a former warlord who previously served as a defense minister and vice…

The Economist published a good article on the state of play with the potential Taliban takeover in Pakistan. Give it a read. The article was close to perfect, but there is one point that is incorrect and needs to be clarified so the situation in Pakistan is understood. The Economist claimed that…

Pakistan's latest excuse for its inability to put down the the Taliban insurgency is lack of "capacity," which means they don't have the proper military equipment. Every senior Paksitani politician has claimed that if only the United States would provide items like night vision goggles and…

Husain Haqqani, Pakistan's Ambassador to the United States, wants you to believe there is nothing to worry about in Pakistan and his country is taking the fight to the Taliban. And everything would be fine if the U.S. would just give Pakistan more money and weapons and stop being so critical of his…

The U.S. Department of Defense is delighted to see the Pakistani military -- or at least the poorly trained Frontier Corps -- take on the Taliban in Buner and Dir, two districts neighboring Swat, where the Taliban run the show. The DoD "hopes for sustained effort" by the Pakistani military against…

As Pakistan wrestles with the Taliban takeover of large swaths of its territory and the encroachment on Islamabad, its Inter-Services Intelligence agency tells us that Osama bin Laden is dead. President Asif Ali Zardari said Monday that Pakistani intelligence believes Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin…

Remember the near-revolt at the State Department when then-Secretary Rice announced that diplomats might be compelled to take assignments there in late 2007? Here is what a senior diplomat said at the time. Note his revulsion in being deployed to a war he doesn't believe in: "Incoming is coming in…

Earlier today, Pakistan's prime minister said the situation in Swat is "returning to normal," despite the fact that four members of the security forces were kidnapped, and the cleric that the government negotiated the peace deal with called the Pakistani government illegitimate and advocated for…

Not only do Pakistani leaders often make statements on the security situation that contradict the reality on the ground, they make them at the most ill-advised times. Take Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani's statements about Swat, the district the government recently turned over to the Taliban…

Remember how the video of the flogging of a young woman who had the temerity to leave her home with a man who wasn't her husband or relative was supposed to change the psyche of the Pakistani people and give them the fortitude to fight the Taliban? Here's what Husain Haqqani, the Ambassador to the…

While al Qaeda in Iraq has suffered serious setbacks over the past two years, the terror group still has the capacity to carry out suicide attacks in central, northern, and western Iraq. Yesterday's suicide attack at a military base in Habbaniyah in Anbar province is the ninth major attack in Iraq…

Kamran Shafi, a Pakistani journalist, provides the most scathing and revealing look at just how the recent negotiations and the legalization of sharia in northwestern Pakistan have emboldened the Taliban. After their blitzkrieg takeover of the district of Buner, which is just 60 miles from the…

From the department of "now, who could have really guessed this?": The Pakistani government's peace accord with the Taliban in the Swat Valley (or to be more precise the Malakand Division) has led to an influx of terrorists, expanded recruitment, and the establishment of new terror camp. The Wall…

Last late week, Husain Haqqani, Pakistan's Ambassador to the U.S., wagged his finger at critics of the peace negotiations with the Taliban in Swat. He assured us that President Zardari wouldn't sign the bill that would impose sharia, or Islamic Law, in a large region of northwestern Pakistan until…

Spencer Ackerman passed along statements made by Husain Haqqani, Pakistan's Ambassador to the United States, at a forum in Washington yesterday. Ambassador Haqqani has been a vocal critic of Islamist extremists operating in Pakistan, so it is very disappointing to see him defend the government's…

The two-month old peace agreement that essentially ceded more than 1/3 of one of Pakistan's four provinces to the Taliban collapsed today after the pro-Taliban negotiator complained that the government wouldn't sign the law allowing for sharia. Sufi Mohammed, the leader of the radical pro-Taliban…

Yesterday's hijacking of the U.S. owned and manned cargo ship in the Indian Ocean has created quite a stir. Somali pirates overtook the ship and its crew of 20 Americans about 400 miles off the coast of Somalia. The crew regained control of the ship, although the ship's captain is being held by the…

Monday's Washington Post noted that the war between Israel and Hezbollah during the summer of 2006 has sparked concern in the U.S. military: U.S. military experts were stunned by the destruction that Hezbollah forces, using sophisticated antitank guided missiles, were able to wreak on Israeli armor…

The video of a young woman being beaten in Pakistan's Taliban-infested district of Swat has sparked considerable controversy inside Pakistan. The Pakistani president and prime minister ordered an investigation of the incident, and even Pakistan's Supreme Court got involved. The newly restored chief…

Just over six weeks ago, the Pakistani government cut a deal with the Taliban to impose sharia, or Islamic law, in a region that encompasses more than one-third of the Northwest Frontier Province, one of Pakistan's four provinces. The government claimed the agreement was negotiated from a position…

The not-so-covert U.S. air campaign has expanded yet again beyond the traditional hunting grounds of the Taliban-controlled tribal agencies of North and South Waziristan and Bajaur. Earlier today, at least one unmanned Predator strike aircraft struck in the Arakzai tribal agency. Twelve Taliban…

The media is conducting serious mental gymnastics in an attempt to tout reconciliation with the Taliban. This headline from Reuters, "U.S. holds out olive branch to non-violent Taliban," really takes the cake. This headline raises the question: If there are non-violent elements of the Taliban, why…

Once again, Pakistan is the origin of another military-styled assault on civilian or government installations in South Asia. Today's terror assault on a police academy in Lahore, Pakistan, is the latest in a string of such attacks, which include the strike on the city of Mumbai, the storming of…

Unconfirmed reports from Britain and Iraq indicate that a deal may have been struck to free five British hostages who were kidnapped almost two years ago in an Iraqi ministry in the heart of Baghdad. According to the Telegraph, the group that kidnapped the Britons said U.S. has agreed to turn over…

Has the U.S. government really re-branded the Global War on Terror as the nebulous and clumsy "Overseas Contingency Operation" as was reported at the Washington Post two days ago? An email circulated by a beaurucrat at the Office of Management and Budget claimed the name had indeed changed:…

Anand Gopal of the Christian Science Monitor kindly responded to last week's post on the so-called negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban and the Haqqanis. Anand notes that last year's "negotiations" in Saudi Arabia clarified that what really is going on here is simply contact…

You have to hand it to the Pakistanis for their capacity for denial. In the wake of last year's terror assault on Mumbai--which was planned, launched, and directed from Pakistani soil--elements of the military and the government have gone out of their way to deflect blame and put the spotlight on…

The Obama administration is clearly turning up the heat on the Pakistani government in an effort to get them to tackle the Taliban leaders operating in the Quetta region. Last week, administration officials leaked that they are mulling airstrikes against the Taliban leadership in the southwestern…

The news outlets just can't seem to stop falling for the stories about high-level negotiations with the Taliban. Last fall's reports of talks in Saudi Arabia turned out to be false, just as reports of a split between the Taliban and al Qaeda. Another report last week also claimed Mullah Omar…

Yesterday's New York Times reported that the Obama administration is considering the expansion of its not-so-covert air campaign against the Taliban into Pakistan's southwestern province of Baluchistan. Quetta, the provincial capital, is known to host the Taliban Shura Majlis, or executive council,…

Noah Schactman's scoop on the U.S. shootdown of an Iranian Unmanned aerial vehicle has been confirmed by both the U.S. Army and the Iraqi Army. The UAV was shot down on February 25 about 60 miles north of Baghdad in Diyala province. The UAV was about 25 miles inside Iraq and U.S. fighters observed…

Yesterday Danger Room's Noah Schactman reported that U.S. fighter planes shot down an Iranian unmanned aerial vehicle in Iraqi airspace, and Iraqi security forces detained three Iranian Qods Force operatives in Diyala province, just north of Baghdad. Qods Force, the special operations branch of the…

Here we go again. According to the Los Angeles Times, the United States is responsible for the rise of religious extremism and the al Qaeda-linked Shabaab terror group. If we just hadn't targeted the well-meaning, though slightly radical, Islamic Courts Union, everything in Somalia would be just…

After authoritatively and wrongly claiming the United States would go to war to halt Iran's nuclear program six times during the Bush administration, The New Yorker's Seymour Hersh is back at peddling conspiracy theories. His latest: Former Vice President Dick Cheney personally ran an "executive…

The news that the Mamond tribe in Bajaur has signed a "peace agreement" with the Pakistani government is sure to cause some in the "let's negotiate" crowd to jump with joy. On the face of it, it looks like a great deal: the fighting ends, al Qaeda won't be sheltered, the Taliban will lay down their…

Like Tom Joscelyn, I question Vice President Biden's percentages of Taliban leaders and fighters who are reconcilable and irreconcilable. I have yet to hear an intelligence agency or the military describe the Taliban as such, and in fact most people I've spoken to think just the opposite. And as…

On February 20, the New York Times published an article claiming that U.S. airstrikes against Taliban supremo Baitullah Mehsud inside Pakistan's tribal areas were a "broadening of the American campaign inside Pakistan." Here is what the Times wrote: The missile strikes on training camps run by…

We're constantly told that the U.S. Predator attacks against the Taliban and al Qaeda are turning the vast majority of the Pakistani people against America. A while back I noted that not all Pakistani want to see the strikes end. A survey that was taken in Pakistan's Pashtun tribal belt backs this…

In the Wall Street Journal, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari attempts to convince the West that his nation's "fight against terrorism is relentless" and negotiations with the Swat Taliban are not actually occurring, but instead are taking place with "traditional local clerics." In the highly…

After years of watching the slow deterioration of the Pakistani state at the hands of the Taliban, al Qaeda, and allied jihadi groups, I've come to one conclusion: just when you think things in Pakistan can't get any worse, they probably will. Just two weeks after the government essentially ceded…

After last year's reported talks with the Taliban met a dead end and were mocked by Mullah Omar, more negotiations are underway. Al Jazeera reports "secret" talks between Hezb-i-Islami leader Gulbaldin Hekmatyar and the Western and Afghan officials are underway. The talks, between Taliban-linked…

As Senators John Kerry and Richard Lugar push a 10 year, $15 billion non-military aid package for Pakistan as well as a one-time aid package estimated between $4 and $5 billion, Senator Carl Levin has questioned the wisdom of such a move. The Press Trust of India reports: An influential US Senator…

Pakistan continues to complain about the U.S. Predator campaign against al Qaeda and Taliban leaders and operatives in Pakistan's tribal areas, even after it has been disclosed that bases inside Pakistan are being used to conduct the strikes. Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence agency told the…

As one of the conditions to ending the fighting in Swat, Taliban chieftain Mullah Fazlullah has demanded the government pay reparations to the Taliban. And the guy who is footing the bill? The U.S. taxpayer, according to Pakistani reporter and Taliban expert Syed Saleem Shahzad. At least $6 million…

Yesterday's New York Times blockbuster article on the secretive U.S. military trainers in Pakistan isn't quite the secret it was made out to be. Here's what the Times reported: More than 70 United States military advisers and technical specialists are secretly working in Pakistan to help its armed…

The Pakistani establishment is going out of its was to promote Sufi Mohammed, the man behind the peace agreement in northwestern Pakistan, as a moderate cleric only interested in peace. This article, passed along by Chidu Rajghatta at The Times of India, who is closely following the Pakistan peace…

While a lot of criticism of Pakistan's agreement to impose sharia and end military operations in the Malakand division focus on the government's ceding of territory, Pakistan's unwillingness to confront the extremists, and the extension of a safe haven in the northwest, few analysts have explained…

The Telegraph is reporting that U.S. officials in Islamabad have secretly backed the ‘peace agreement' between the Pakistani government and the Taliban which ends military operations in Swat in exchange for the implementation of sharia or Islamic law: American officials in Islamabad said they…

Tom Ricks believes that the peace accord between the government and the Taliban is a good idea. Here's why: I know it looks like a setback but I suspect this might be a smart move. Give the people of Swat sharia law, and see how they like it. Meanwhile, bolster your security forces in the area so…

Just two days after a Predator strike in South Waziristan, the United States conducted yet another strike, this time in the tribal agency of Kurram. The target was a camp run by an Afghan Taliban commander who trains fighters inside Pakistan for attacks against NATO and Afghan forces. More than 30…

I've written quite a bit in the past about the Pakistani government's misguided negotiations with the Taliban. Agreements from 2006-2008 only allowed the Taliban and al Qaeda to regroup, rearm, and consolidate their power in the tribal areas and the greater northwest, while serving to demoralize…

The United States conducted an airstrike on a Taliban compound in Pakistan's tribal agency of South Waziristan Saturday. The attack, which killed at least 25 people, largely Uzbeks fighters and a few Arab al Qaeda members according to reports, is the third such strike inside Pakistan since…

From one of my favorite blogs, Information Dissemination, comes the news that Senator Dianne Feinstein has divulged that the United States is conducting strikes in against al Qaeda's network in Pakistan's tribal areas from a secret base inside Pakistan: A senior U.S. lawmaker said Thursday that…

Yesterday Pakistani police detained a New Zealander as he attempted to enter South Waziristan. He was captured in Tank, a district that borders South Waziristan, the center of gravity for the Taliban and one of al Qaeda's primary havens. The New Zealander, identified on his passport as Mark Taylor,…

The Paksitani government has asked Richard Holbrooke, the envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan to "talk to Taliban moderates," Reuters reports. Pakistan advised President Barack Obama's special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan on Tuesday to reach out to reconcilable elements of the Taliban movement…

Should the United States continue the policy of striking at al Qaeda's network inside Pakistan? Over at Danger Room, Noah Shachtman interviews Dr. David Kilcullen, a counterinsurgency expert who has advised CENTCOM commander General David Petraeus and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Dr.…

Last week, Tom Ricks asserted that al Qaeda isn't behind the Afghan insurgency because the United States has taken out an inordinate amount of senior leaders. I laid out the reasons why I disagreed with Ricks' assessment in this post. Now there's one more reason why his premise is false: al Qaeda…

Last year's assassination of Imad Mugniyah, Hezbollah's military commander who was wanted for his role in scores of high-profile attacks, was facilitated by the capture of a senior Hezbollah officer in Iraq, an Israeli newspaper reported. The report claimed that important details used to plan the…

Over at Foreign Policy's blog, Tom Ricks gives us a prime example of making a correlation between two pieces of information that aren't necessarily related, then drawing a bad conclusion from the correlation. Ricks endorses the idea that since attacks in Afghanistan are increasing even though the…

CNN has a story on the situation in Swat, the Taliban-controlled region in Pakistan's northwest outside of the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. Hina Khan, a 14-year-old Pakistani girl, talks about how the Taliban are in control of the region and are expanding thier influence: "Right now, [Swat…

The results of Iraq's provincial elections are in, and the parties backed by Muqtada al Sadr's political movement fared poorly in regions of southern and central Iraq where he is considered to be influential. In Maysan province, which used to be run by the Sadrist movement, the Sadrists received…

The news that Saudi Arabia has now released a wanted list for 85 jihadis that have cycled through the jihadi "rehabilitation program" has caused quite a stir in the ongoing controversy on closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. Eleven of the 85 wanted jihadis were released from Guantanamo to…

Here we go again. CIA officials are gloating over the effectiveness of the U.S. airstrikes in Pakistan's tribal areas. NPR reports: CIA-directed airstrikes against al-Qaida leaders and facilities in Pakistan over the past six to nine months have been so successful, according to senior U.S.…

The Pakistani military is yet again on the offensive against the Taliban in the district of Swat, which is well outside of the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. This is the third time the military has tried to eject the Taliban in the past two years. The two previous efforts ultimately failed,…

Somewhere a war is raging between a government and a terrorist group that pioneered the use of suicide tactics, which it uses often against the civilian population. The terrorist group claims it has a right to land and is oppressed by the government. The government, tired of years of suicide…

Earlier this week, the Pakistani government claimed it took control of the radical Markaz-e-Taiba, the headquarters and campus for the Jamaat-ud-Dawa in the city of Muridke. Jamaat-ud-Dawa is the front group for Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist group that was behind the November 2008 terror assault in…

Last weekend, a U.S. raid in a region north of Kabul led to the killing of 15 Afghans. The local villagers and the Afghan government claimed all of those killed were civilians, while the United States said Taliban fighters, including a target leader, were among those killed. The incident, like many…

We're constantly told that the U.S. airstrikes against Taliban and al Qaeda operatives and leaders taking refuge in the tribal areas angers the Paksitani people and is creating more terrorists. The sentiment below repeatedly creeps up in press reporting: "The people know that there is a tacit…

At Foreign Policy's blog, Marc Lynch notes that a senior Islamist from Egyptian al-Gama'a al-Islamiya (the Egyptian Islamic Group) is calling for a four-month truce between al Qaeda and the United States "to test Barack Obama's pledges to establish a new relationship with the Islamic world and to…

While President Obama is keen on rolling back the Bush administration policies on Guantanamo Bay, black detention sites, and all related legal decisions pertaining to the war, one area he has not backed away from is targeting al Qaeda operatives inside Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal areas.…

The election of President Barack Obama led many to believe that the Europeans would change their tune on Afghanistan and beef up the NATO forces deployed there. Just one day after President Obama's inauguration, both France and Germany, Europe's two largest powers, have signaled that no additional…

The Pakistani Taliban in North Waziristan executed six more "US spies," continuing their campaign to remove any opposition to their rule in the Taliban-controlled tribal areas. One of the "spies" was publicly hanged in Mir Ali, which is one of the two large towns in North Waziristan. The locals…

Plenty of criticism has been heaped on the Israeli Defense Forces for firing on United Nations and media headquarters during the operation inside the Gaza Strip. During these incidents, UN employees and reporters claimed it was impossible for Hamas to fire rockets from these compounds and intimated…

The U.S. Treasury Department dropped a bombshell today when it sanctioned four al Qaeda operatives known to be operating in Iran. Osama bin Laden's son Sa'ad along with Mustafa Hamid, Muhammad Rab'a al Sayid al Bahtiti, and Ali Saleh Husain have been designated as terrorists under Executive Order…

Goldfarb noted that the captured Hamas fighters have been stunned bey the ferocity of the Israeli assault on Gaza. That same article notes that the Israeli Defense Force has taken out on of Hamas's elite military units: The so-called "Iranian Unit" of Hamas has been destroyed, according to Gaza…

Have you ever wondered what Iraq might have looked like had the United States quit the country Iraq in 2006 after it was on the brink of civil war? Look no further than Somalia, where the Ethiopian Army has completed its withdrawal of Mogadishu and is preparing to pull out from other bases in the…

Joe the Plumber, PJTV's media correspondent in Israel, clearly does not know the first law of holes: once you are deep in one, you should stop digging. The other day Joe told us the media has no place in a warzone and harkened back to the days when war news was shown in theaters on grainy film.…

The 18-day old Israeli operation in Gaza appears to be on the cusp of intensifying as Israeli troops are preparing to conduct the third phase of the operation and enter the urban sprawl of Gaza City. Intense fighting is expected as Hamas has dug in and planted mines and booby traps along the roads…

There has been no shortage of coverage of Joe the Plumber's foray into reporting on the Israeli military operation in Gaza. As someone who started reporting on the war as an independent reporter, I could understand PJTV's decision to support citizen journalism by sending Joe to Israel. Sure, the…

While much of the reporting on the rise of the Islamists in Pakistan focuses on Pakistan's tribal areas and the spread of the Taliban into the northwest, the problems within Pakistan run far deeper than that. Over the years, the spread of radicalism has extended far beyond the tribal areas, into…

The followers of Muqtada al Sadr have held the obligatory Friday protest today to denounce Israeli operation. The protest featured the regular agitprop: the stomping on and burning of Israeli and US flags, chants of "No, No, to the Occupier," etc. AFP reported that 2,000 Sadrist supporters showed…

The Washington Post reported that the New Year's Day missile strike in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of South Waziristan resulted in the death of two senior al Qaeda operatives. The al Qaeda operatives killed were Fahid Mohammed Ally Msalam, al Qaeda's operations chief, and Sheikh…

Yesterday The Hindu, an Indian newspaper, released a leaked copy of the dossier the Indian government put together on the Mumbai attacks and sent to the Pakistani government. Included in these documents are recorded phone conversations between the Mumbai terrorists and their handlers in Pakistan.…

The Associated Press confirmed the Israeli Defense Force's claim that Hamas fighters were firing from the UN school in Gaza, which lead to Israeli troops to return fire and tragically kill more than 30 Palestinian civilians. As with much of the reporting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, many…

The Pakistani Taliban have stepped up their murder campaign against what they term "U.S. spies" in the tribal agency of North Waziristan. Over the week, the bodies of eight men accused of spying for the United States have turned up in the Taliban-controlled tribal agency. The men are often…

After ten days of Israeli offensive operations in the Gaza Strip, Hamas' command and control appears to be in disarray, Palestinian analysts told the Jerusalem Post. Hamas leaders are in hiding, and conflicting messages are being put out by Hamas's leadership under Khalid Mashal, who is based in…

You've got to love the Pakistani government's sense of humor, which is so vividly on display with its official position on Ajmal Amir Kasab, the surviving terrorist involved in the execution of the Mumbai terror assault. Pakistan has repeatedly denied that Kasab is even a Pakistani, let alone a…

The Pakistani government has shut down NATO's vital supply link to forces based in Afghanistan as the military has launched an offensive to clear the Taliban in a region just on the outskirts of the provincial capital of Peshawar. This is the second such operation launched in this area by the…

In an effort to combat skewed media reports on the current fighting in Gaza, the Israeli Defense Forces launched a YouTube channel. The IDF has video of airstrikes on smuggling tunnels and rocket launch sites, the movement of humanitarian aid into Gaza, the deployment of IDF tanks to the Gaza…

Yesterday the Taliban conducted a heinous suicide attack in the eastern Afghan province of Khost. A suicide car bomber detonated his explosives outside of a government center just as a group of school children was passing by. A U.S. military surveillance camera captured the bombing, and the…

After the expiration of a "truce" with Hamas, terror groups in Gaza pounded the Israeli south with rocket attacks. The Israeli government has responded forcefully, with waves of air strikes targeting Hamas's security infrastructure. More than 280 Palestinians, mostly Hamas members, have been killed…

One month after the Mumbai terror assault, Pakistan and India appear to be moving closer to war. Tensions have been high the past two weeks as both nations' militaries have been placed on high alert. Pakistan has refused to hand over terror suspects and has taken minimal and token action against…

One day after a jury convicted five Muslim immigrants of conspiring to kill U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix, New Jersey, two Muslim groups claimed the outcome of the trial was unfair. Mohamad Younes, president of the American Muslim Union, questioned the jury's decision. "I don't think they actually mean…

Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban who is accused of being behind the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, said he'd back the government if war breaks out with India. Baitullah promised the Taliban would to send "thousands of our well-armed militants" and hundreds of suicide bombers…

Recent reports from Afghanistan claimed the Taliban are willing to negotiate with the Afghan government and NATO forces. A report in Iran's Press TV said Mullah Omar offered a seven point plan to end the insurgency, which was sent to Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah. The plan, according to the news…

The United States is planning to surge an estimated 30,000 additional troops into Afghanistan in an attempt to beat back the resurgent Taliban. The Economist details the plan to utilize the troops: secure the Ring Road, the vital roadway the links the major cities throughout the country; provide…

There is plenty of criticism to direct at the Bush administration for its failure to develop a coherent strategy to deal with the al Qaeda-backed insurgency. But Matthew Yglesias's criticism is far wide of the mark. Yglesias demonstrates a clear lack of understanding of the situation in the region,…

Johnny Walker Lindh, the "American Taliban" who was captured by U.S. forces and was at the prison uprising that resulted in the first U.S. combat casualty after September 11, 2001, is back in the news. His parents are petitioning President Bush to issue a pardon after Johnny has served nearly seven…

The New York Times seemingly dropped a bombshell this morning, reporting that Iraq's Counter-Intelligence Bureau, which is exclusively under the command of Prime Minister Maliki, rounded up 35 Interior Ministry officials, including a senior general. The officials, according to the New York Times,…

Pakistani security officials have uncovered a plot to murder former President Pervez Musharraf. The plot was organized from a Pakistani jail in Hyderabad, and was led by none of than senior al Qaeda leader Omar Saeed Sheikh, The News reported. Omar contracted out a local Pakistani terror group…

The Taliban has been actively targeting the disparate tribal groups that have been formed in Pakistan's northwest to oppose the expansion of the extremists. The Taliban has been effective at destroying these groups by targeting leadership with suicide attacks and kidnappings, and in some cases with…

The New York Times's Baghdad Bureau Blog does a good job of rounding up opinions of Iraqis on yesterday's shoe-throwing incident by an Iraqi "journalist" that targeted President Bush during a press briefing in Baghdad with Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki. Clearly there is a wide range of opinions by…

Over the weekend, I noted that Pakistan's "house arrest" of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba / Jamaat-ud-Dawa leader Hafiz Saeed was largely for show. Today, the London Times notes that the Jamaat-ud-Dawa headquarters in the city of Muridke is still open for business. Pakistan claims that it ordered the…

Pakistan is complaining that it needs more weapons from the United States in order to fight the Taliban insurgency in the northwest regions bordering Afghanistan, Newsweek's Ron Moreau and John Barry report uncritically. "We are on a war footing," Pakistan's national-security chief, retired Army…

I've been particularly hard on Pakistan the past several weeks. Watching the developments in Pakistan closely the past four years, I've learned that all is not what it seems, and there is significant institutional support for the Taliban, al Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and the alphabet soup of jihadi…

Pakistan is making a big show of its "crackdown" on Jamaat-ud Dawa, the charity that serves as a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba. The government claims to have rounded up scores of members and closed multiple offices since the United Nations declared the group behind the Mumbai attacks a terrorist entity…

For much of this week and last, I've noted that the Pakistani government's action against the Lashkar-e-Taiba and its front group, the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, would tell us much about their seriousness in rooting out the multitude of terror groups operating withing its borders. The New York Times report on…

The United Nations Security Council has stepped up to the plate and declared the Pakistan-based Jamaat-ud-Dawa a front group for the Lashkar-e-Taiba terror group. The UNSC has placed Hafiz Saeed and three other senior leaders of Lashkar-e-Taiba / Jamaat-ud-Dawa on the list of terrorists associated…

As U.S. forces prepare to "surge" an estimated 20,000 soldiers and Marines into Afghanistan, the focus in the media has largely centered on where the forces will deploy. Will they be placed in the East along the border with Pakistan to stem the flow from the Taliban infested tribal areas? Will they…

Just three days after the Mumbai attacks, a senior U.S. military intelligence officer described the Lashkar-e-Taiba to me as "al Qaeda junior." Lashkar-e-Taiba has vast resources, an extensive network, and is able to carry out complex attacks throughout its area of operations, the official…

Over the past two days Pakistani security services have targeted offices and camps run by Lashkar-e-Taiba, the terror group behind the Mumbai terror siege. At least nine operatives, including Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi, a senior Lashkar leader and one of the operational masterminds of the Mumbai attack,…

The U.S. military and NATO received a rude awakening this weekend after Taliban military units raided three separate terminals in Peshawar. More than 200 Humvees and trucks carrying supplies to NATO forces in Afghanistan were destroyed in the attacks, which took place over the course of two days.…

Hafiz Saeed, the Lashkar-e-Taiba leader who is wanted by the Indian government for his involvement in last week's Mumbai terror assault, has given an interview. Saeed, the founder of Lashkar, denied involvement with the group, claiming he relinquished his leadership after the Pakistani government…

For the past year, we've been inundated with news of radical Iraqi cleric Muqtada al Sadr's power and influence. Last year, the American Spectator's George H. Wittman asked if Sadr was a kingmaker or a king. This spring, just days after the fighting in Basrah began, Time magazine's Charles Crain…

This morning I mentioned the difficulty Pakistan would have in turning over senior leaders from the Lashkar-e-Taiba, as the group has essentially become a state within the Pakistani state. Today, India expert Shlok Vaidya said Pakistan has the same problem dealing Dawood Ibrahim, the South Asian…

Robert Kagan offers an interesting potential solution to Pakistan's problem of Islamist extremist groups threatening the viability of the state: "Have the international community declare that parts of Pakistan have become ungovernable and a menace to international security. Establish an…

The Indian government issued a diplomatic protest to Pakistan yesterday, requesting that Pakistan turn over about 20 senior terrorists in response to last week's attacks in Mumbai. At the top the list are Laskhar-e-Taiba leader Hafiz Saeed, Jaish-e-Mohammed leader Maulana Masood Azhar, and mafia…

Beyond the possibility of a war breaking out between India and Pakistan over the Mumbai terror siege, how might this event impact the security situation in South Asia? The short answer is the security situation in Pakistan's northwest could spiral out of control, impacting NATO's ability to…

India's foreign minister called the Pakistani ambassador to the foreign ministry to deliver the Indian government's demands in the wake of the Mumbai terror attack. "He was informed that the recent terrorist attack on Mumbai was carried out by elements from Pakistan," Reuters reported, based on a…

There is a lot of talk about Lashkar-e-Taiba, the group that is strongly suspected of being behind last week's terror assault in Mumbai, India. Below is a quick primer on Lashkar-e-Taiba I've excerpted from an update on the situation in Mumbai I wrote yesterday. There is far more to the terror…

The terror assault on Mumbai is in its second day as Indian security forces struggle to regain control of the city and clear the remaining terrorists from two hotels and a residential complex. Hundreds of Indian Naval and National Security Guards commandos have been rushed into the capital to help…

Thomas Joscelyn is absolutely correct in suspecting the Pakistan and Kashmiri-based terror groups as being behind today's terror attacks in Mumbai. A group called the Deccan Mujahideen, or Indian Mujahideen, has taken credit for today's strike, the Times of India just reported. While it is…

The Boston Globe published an interview with Admiral William Fallon, the former CENTCOM commander who was relieved of command in March 2008 after just one short year. Admiral Fallon discusses the situation in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. In a portion of the interview on Pakistan, he…

The London Times has written an over-the-top story on the recent airstrike this weekend that is reported to have killed Rashid Rauf, the al Qaeda operative behind the foiled London airlines strike. The headline alone says it all: Top al-Qaeda terrorist Abu Zubair al-Masri ‘was missile target in…

Over the weekend, the U.S. special operations teams of Task Force 88 took another shot at al Qaeda's network operating inside Pakistan's tribal areas. The target of the Predator strike was Rashid Rauf, the man behind the failed bombing in 2006 of London airlines. The plan was for al Qaeda…

Muqtada al Sadr's political party held a rally in Baghdad to protest the U.S.-Iraqi agreement on the posture of U.S. forces in Iraq. Sadr, who has toed the Iranian line on the agreement, and coincidentally lives in Iran, says the agreement is invalid as it brings "shame and humiliation" on the…

British intelligence has reestablished links with Syrian intelligence at the highest level on terrorism issues and other matters after a visit by Foreign Minister David Miliband. "Mr Miliband's visit, the first by a British foreign secretary for seven years, was touted as an opportunity to test…

The Pakistani military's reaction to the unmanned U.S. Predator airstrikes in its northwest would be funny were it not that al Qaeda is plotting their next attack on the West from there. Supposedly outraged over the U.S. violations of its sovereignty, the Army has conducted exercises to shoot down…

As noted Monday, elements within Pakistan's dysfunctional Inter-Services Intelligence agency (or ISI) continue to support the Taliban and al Qaeda inside Afghanistan. The ISI also supports the extremists inside Pakistan. U.S. intelligence and the leadership of the ISI plan to dismantle the…

U.S. Special Operations Forces / the CIA struck yet again in Pakistan's northwest. A senior al Qaeda leader named Abdullah Azzam al Saudi is thought to have been killed in the unmanned Predator/Reaper airstrike, but this has not been confirmed by U.S. intelligence. Azzam serves as a liaison between…

Afghanistan's president raised quite a few eyebrows yesterday when he insisted he would provide safe passage to senior Taliban leaders for negotiations, including Taliban supreme leader Mullah Omar. The Taliban responded immediately to Karzai's offer, rejecting it of course. Mullah Bahadar, the…

Is Pakistan's shadowy Inter-Services Intelligence agency supporting and even fighting alongside the Taliban and allied groups against NATO and Afghan forces? Defense Tech's Christian Lowe posted a snippet of an interview with Eric Edelman, the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, which suggests…

Over the weekend, the Pakistani government closed down the vital border crossing to Afghanistan in the Khyber tribal agency. The decision was made after the Taliban hijacked and looted a convoy of vehicles transporting supplies and two Humvees to NATO forces in Afghanistan. The crossing was…

One day after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki's cabinet approved the proposed U.S.-Iraqi status of forces agreement, Iran is signaling it is changing its tune on supporting the pact. From the Associated Press: Iran and Syria, longtime adversaries of Washington, have said an immediate…

As the security situation in Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province continues to deteriorate, the Taliban are threatening to take control of Peshawar, the provincial capital. As the Taliban grow bolder, they have begun to target foreigners of all stripes. Even one of their own. Today, two…

The U.S. military has struck yet again inside Pakistan's lawless tribal areas. U.S. Predators hit an al Qaeda safe house in the Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan. Twelve people, including five "foreigners" were killed in the attack. The strike occurred just one day after…

Pakistani politicians continue to blame U.S. airstrikes against Taliban and al Qaeda camps in the lawless tribal areas for alienating the public, but refuse to address their own problems in conducting counterinsurgency operations. The latest objection to U.S. military airstrikes comes from…

The Taliban is urging the United Nations, the European Union, and the Red Cross to intervene to halt the execution of three Taliban fighters on death row. "We strongly request the U.N., the EU, the Red Cross and human rights groups to earnestly prevent this barbaric act," the Taliban said in a…

As the security situation in Afghanistan continues to spiral downward, the notion that the United States and her allies should open talks with the Taliban has gained wide acceptance in Washington. Anonymous aides to President-elect Obama have indicated that talking to the Taliban (as well as Iran,…

As the security situation in Afghanistan continues to spiral downward, the notion that the United States and her allies should open talks with the Taliban has gained wide acceptance in Washington. Anonymous aides to President-elect Obama have indicated that talking to the Taliban (as well as Iran,…

The FBI has arrested Tarek Mehanna and charged him with lying in an affidavit about his relationship to Daniel J. Maldonado, "a former Methuen resident who was suspected of training at an Al Qaeda terrorist camp to overthrow the Somali government." Maldonado pled guilty to receiving training from a…

The Pentagon is planning to expand the number of air bases in the remote regions of Afghanistan's south and east, USA Today reports. The bases will allow the U.S. military to sortie more of the deadly unmanned Predator and Reaper aircraft that provide surveillance and striking power for U.S. forces…

While Pakistan's president thinks the war against the Taliban in the tribal areas is going well, several reports from the frontlines tell a different story. The London Times, the Washington Post, and the New York Times all share grim accounts of the fighting in Pakistan's tribal agency of Bajaur.…

The New York Times tells us today that the Bush administration granted approval for the U.S. military "to use new authority to attack the Qaeda terrorist network anywhere in the world, and a more sweeping mandate to conduct operations in countries not at war with the United States." The U.S.…

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari believes the war against the Taliban and al Qaeda in the troubled Northwest Frontier Province is going well. "I think from where it was when we took over, we are in a much better place," Zardari told the Associated Press. "We used the force of the government and…

The pace of the U.S. military drawdown in Iraq has been accelerated by the Bush administration, according to the New York Times: "The Bush administration is considering the withdrawal of additional combat forces from Iraq beginning in September, according to administration and military officials,…

On June 20, Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) released a video promoting its attacks throughout the country. In one segment, AQI promotes attacks by two Kuwaitis, one of whom was a former detainee at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The former Guantanamo detainee was responsible for a…

Last week's fighting between the U.S. military and the Taliban, which spilled over from Afghanistan's Kunar province into Pakistan's Mohmand tribal agency, has sparked a diplomatic mess. Pakistan maintains the United States targeted an outpost of the paramilitary Frontier Corps, killing 11. The…

Three weeks ago, Moktada al-Sadr called for demonstrations to protest the talks over a status of forces agreement between the Iraqi government and the U.S. government. Sadr called for demonstrations to take place on Fridays after Muslims attend services at the mosque (note: This is an excellent…

CNN's Michael Ware has a must-read piece on Al Qaeda in Iraq and its organization. Ware obtained captured documents from the Anbar Awakening that outline Al Qaeda in Iraq's organization, planning, operations, recruiting, shadow legal system, and targeted propaganda campaign, as well as the outright…

As the government of Pakistan continues to negotiate with the Taliban, it has ramped up its public relations effort to sell the talks to the West. In Sunday's Boston Globe, Nadeem H. Kiani, the Press Attaché for the Pakistani Embassy, assures us that there are no negotiations with terrorists or…

Just one day after Pakistani officials told the Wall Street Journal that negotiations with the Taliban in South Waziristan were put on hold, the governor of the Northwest Frontier Province said that negotiations are continuing. In fact, the governor expects that a deal will be completed in a matter…

The Pakistani government's recent negotiations in the Northwest Frontier Province and the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan have sparked objections from U.S. military and intelligence officers. In the June 9 edition of THE WEEKLY STANDARD, Daveed Gartenstein-Ross and I explained why the deals are…

Last week, Muqtada al Sadr, the leader of the Mahdi Army and the Sadrist political movement, called for massive demonstrations against the negotiations between the US.. and the Iraqi government over the basing of U.S. troops in the country beyond 2008. This Friday, the Sadrist movement carried out…

We know that elite German commandos are not permitted to kill known Taliban commanders, even if they are behind the most gruesome suicide attacks in Afghanistan to date or are directly targeting German soldiers or civilians. The Taliban, on the other hand, are eager to kill German soldiers and…

A common narrative about the war in Iraq is that fighting against the enemy in urban environments creates more insurgents, thus it is fruitless to even try. But today's Los Angeles Times finally asked Iraqis in Sadr City what they think about the recent fighting and how it impacts their views of…

With the Iraqi Army's push into Sadr City after Muqtada al Sadr blinked and cut a deal with the government, the narrative on failure in Iraq has shifted. The latest story from the Associated Press indicates that Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani has secretly issued fatwas, or religious edicts, to select…

As noted the other day, the Germans have serious reservations about killing the Taliban in Afghanistan. So much so, that its elite commandos have been restricted from attacking known Taliban murderers. They are only allowed to detain these "fugitives." The Taliban, on the other hand, have no such…

During General David Petreaus' confirmation hearing for his appointment as CENTCOM commander, he released the latest statistics on the violence levels in Iraq (click the image to view a larger version). The data shows that the attack incident levels have largely remained constant since September…

Does killing the enemy have an impact on the outcome of a battle? Over at The Wonk Room, a blog run by the Center for American Progress, I have been criticized for conducting "body counts" of Mahdi Army fighters. The author goes on to state that killing Mahdi fights only breeds more Mahdi fighters,…

The issue of fighting as a coalition in Afghanistan has been problematic since NATO first assumed a greater role in securing the country. Goldfarb and I have discussed these issues here and here, and I've mentioned "caveats"--the restrictions NATO countries place on their troops to limit when,…

On May 15, a convoy transporting two Iranian diplomats was ambushed as it traveled to "a revered Shiite shrine" in the western Baghdad district of Kadimiyah. The two Iranian diplomats and "an Iranian and an Iraqi administrative employee" were wounded in the ambush, the AP reported. Iran's foreign…

The U.S. military appears to have conducted yet another "over-the-horizon" strike into Pakistan's Taliban and al Qaeda-controlled tribal areas. At least 14 Pakistanis and "foreigners" - which means al Qaeda - were killed in a missile attack on the home of a Taliban commander in the tribal agency of…

Just over one and a half years ago, Abu Ayyub al Masri, al Qaeda in Iraq's leader, was riding high. His terror group seemingly brought the U.S. to the edge of withdrawal in Iraq. His tactics may have cost the Republican party the 2006 midterm elections. He worked to unite disparate Sunni militants…

As noted last night, reports of the capture of al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Ayyub al Masri must be tempered with healthy a dose of caution until the U.S. military can confirmed the news. This morning, the U.S. spokeswoman in northern Iraq said al Masri was not in the U.S. military's custody, nor has…

Unconfirmed reports from Iraq indicate the Iraqi Army may have captured Abu Ayyub al Masri, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq who was hand picked by Ayman al Zawahiri to succeed Abu Musab al Zarqawi. Al Masri has reportedly been captured in the northern city of Mosul, where al Qaeda is attempting to…

Today's Iran's intelligence chief accused the U.S. and the Britain of sponsoring the bombing of a mosque in Shiraz in April. "The blast ... was caused by a bombing by a terrorist group with links to Western countries, especially Britain and America," said Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, Iran's…

The confrontation between Coalition forces and the Mahdi Army and the Iranian-trained Special Groups in Baghdad, Basra and the wider south is having some nasty consequences for the Iranian regime. The Iraqi government sent a delegation to Iran to present evidence of Iranian collusion with the Mahdi…

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After several days of heavy fighting in the Mahdi Army stronghold of Sadr City, the press tells us that over 900 "people" have been killed during fighting in Sadr City over the past five weeks. But how many of those killed were Mahdi Army fighters? AFP doesn't even try to answer these questions,…

The Battle for Sadr City is on. Several weeks ago, U.S. and Iraqi forces took control of the southern third of the city and began constructing concrete barriers to secure the area. Since U.S. and Iraqi forces moved into Sadr City, units have conducted patrols and distributed humanitarian aid to the…

The new Pakistani government has wasted no time in kicking off negotiations with the Taliban. Just two months after taking office, the government has cut a deal with a radical Taliban group in the Malakand Division of the Northwest Frontier Province. This Monday, a peace deal was struck with the…

Multinational Forces Iraq has dramatically changed it's messaging concerning the Mahdi Army and attacks in Baghdad. While MNF-I continues to refer to the Shia militias as "criminals" or Special Groups in their press releases, there are no longer any calls for the Mahdi Army to obey Muqtada al…

We keep hearing that Muqtada al Sadr has gained the upper hand after fighting "bogged down" in Baghdad and Basra. Time magazine has led the charge on this front. The April 15 article titled "Al-Sadr Tightens the Screws" epitomizes the tone of Time's coverage in Iraq. "Sadr's Mahdi Army has…

Earlier this week, much hay was made when an Iraqi Army company deserted its position in Sadr City. The next day, the New York Times interviewed an Iraqi Army company commander, also from Sadr City, who left his unit to take leave and speculated he may not come back. In two days, the narrative for…

The Iraqi government's willingness to take on the Mahdi Army in its strongholds in Baghdad, Basra, and elsewhere in the South is perhaps the most significant news story from Iraq this year. In 2006 and 2007, analysts, pundits, military officers, and politicians said the Shia militias--particularly…

Taliban conventional and suicide attacks in Pakistan have dropped dramatically since the election in February, when the new government has indicated it was willing to negotiate with the terror groups. The Taliban have largely abided by their cease-fire. Meanwhile the U.S. State Department has been…

We are continually told how the Iraqi government was beaten and humiliated in Basra after it launched an offensive to clear the Mahdi Army and other Iranian-backed Shia militias from the city. Yet when the Iraqi Army announced it was going to dismiss the approximately 1,300 soldiers and police who…

The Iraqi Interior Ministry has released the official numbers on the number of police and soldiers dismissed in the aftermath of the fighting in Basra. At first glance, the numbers may be surprising: 500 soldiers and 421 police, including 37 senior police officers, were dismissed for failing to…

The U.S. military has long worked to divide Muqtada al Sadr's Mahdi Army and force Sadr to participate in the political process. This strategy became evident in early 2007, when Sadr ordered his fighters off of the streets at the onset of the Baghdad Security Plan. The U.S. military touted Sadr's…

Four days after the Iraqi government, with the backing of the full spectrum of the political parties, moved to bar the Sadrist movement from running in provincial elections if it failed to disband the Mahdi Army, Muqtada al Sadr received yet another blow, this time from the clerical establishment.…

THE TESTIMONY DELIVERED YESTERDAY by General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker provides an opportunity to assess progress in Iraq since last September (the last time the two men were in Washington, D.C.), and evaluate what is needed moving forward. Last fall's testimonies noted the initial…

Multinational Forces Iraq released statistics on the improving security situation and the current level of violence in Iraq, al Qaeda in Iraq's area of operations, and the development of the Iraqi security forces. Violence in Iraq continues to drop as the Iraqi security forces increasingly take…

As the dusts settles in Basra, more information about Iran's involvement in the conflict comes to light. The Times reported yesterday that military and intelligence officials believe Iran's covert military command assigned to direct operations in Iraq "were operating at a tactical command level…

This is a development I have been expecting for some time. The longer Muqtada al Sadr remained outside the political sphere and used his Mahdi Army militia to attack the Iraqi security forces and government, the greater the pressure became for the government to ban his political party and militia.…

LESS THAN 48 HOURS AFTER Iraqi security forces began their campaign against militant Shia factions in Basra, the media had already declared the operations a failure. The operations, which were initiated on March 25, were designed to quell rogue factions of Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army. In covering…

Kimberly Kagan has an excellent article in the Wall Street Journal on Iran's involvement in Iraq and the recent fighting in Basra. In the article, she notes that Iran's Qods Force was instrumental in drafting Sadr's cease-fire. She also notes that Muqtada al Sadr demanded the release of Qais…

Iraqi Army applicants wait outside the army recruitment center in Basra, 550 km (340 miles) south of Baghdad on April 1, 2008. About 1,000 men from the southern cities of Basra, Amarah, and Nasiriyah trooped to the recruiting center in Basrah to apply to be government soldiers.

Michael brings up excellent points about Senator Barack Obama's vague plans to keep a measure of combat troops in Iraq. Saying an unspecified number of troops will be kept somewhere in the Middle East to tackle an unspecified problem is far from a clear policy. There are two more things to consider…

Long before the start of the Iraqi offensive against the Mahdi Army and the associated Iranian-backed Special Groups in Basra, pundits had been bending over backwards to claim Muqtada al Sadr is an Iraqi nationalist with no ties to Iran. As Matthew Duss wrote, "the repeated attempts by conservative…

The Iraqi military launched Operation Knights' Assault against the Mahdi Army and other Iranian-backed Shia terrorist groups in Basra three days ago, and the media is quick to call the operation a failure. The New York Times has declared the military offensive in Basra has "stalled" just two days…

Click the image to view the slideshow of the Spear Brigade in western Mosul.

Click to view the slideshow of the Spear Brigade in Western Mosul.

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Click the photograph to view the slideshow of Iraqi soldiers in the

Click to view the slideshow. Mosul, Iraq The 2nd Iraqi Army Division is considered one of the most mature and effective formations in the Iraqi security forces. Led by the charismatic Major General Mouta'a, the division operates in Mosul and throughout Ninewa province. The Iraqi Ministry of Defense…

Click image to view slideshow. On March 14, Brigadier General Noor Aldeen and the Military Transition Team for the 4th Brigade, 2nd Iraqi Army Division toured the combat outposts owned by the 2nd Battalion, which is commanded by Colonel Hajji. The 2nd Battalion does not have US advisors assigned to…

Click to view slideshow On March 11, the 2nd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 2nd Iraqi Army Division stopped a car in the Al Bakir neighborhood in Mosul, Iraq. After searching the car, the Iraqi Army found six improvised explosive devices (IEDs, or roadside bombs). The driver has been detained and the…

The Iraqi Army continues to push its troops into the neighborhoods to counter al Qaeda in Iraq and its allied terror groups' attempts to regain a foothold in the northern city of Mosul. The 4th Brigade of the 2nd Iraqi Army Division opened its newest combat outpost, called Knife, in the northern…

The Iraqi Army still has plenty of work to do before it can sustain independent operations, but their ability to plan and execute brigade-level operations in the city of Mosul was apparent during an operation with the 4th Brigade, 2nd Iraqi Army Division on March 9. The target was the kidnapping…

As luck would have it, I didn't have to wait any longer than six hours to catch a flight from Baghdad to Mosul. I saw a Mosul flight on the board at the passenger terminal and signed up for Space A, or Space Availability seating. It turned out that the flight was empty: I shared a C-130 with an…

Looking out the window on a night flight into Baghdad, you would hardly know there is a war going on. Iraq appears deceptively peaceful during the flight from Kuwait into Baghdad. The lights from cities and towns are clearly visible, as is the excess gas burned off from refineries in the South. As…

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Does Afghanistan have enough combat troops to secure the country? Can Afghanistan be fixed merely by adding troops to conduct humanitarian missions? The Washington Post's William M. Arkin says yes to both questions. In an article titled "Afghanistan: America Wrong, Europe Right," he argues the…

On February 7, I noted that Muqtada al Sadr, the leader of the Mahdi Army, was likely to extend the cease-fire rather than be blamed for rolling back the security progress and exposing his militia to the full weight of Iraqi and U.S. forces. Today, Reuters reported Sadr will extend the six-month…

The fictitious leader of al Qaeda's Islamic State of Iraq, Abu Omar al Baghdadi, has issued a new audiotape. Instead of addressing the very real problems his organization faces in Iraq--dwindling membership, defections, the Sunnis turning against them, a shrinking base of operation--"Baghdadi" (who…

The U.S. military continues to "communicate" with the Mahdi Army. Today, the military conducted a major raid inside Sadr City. "The U.S. said it was targeting 'criminal elements' responsible for mortar and EFP attacks on U.S. and Iraqi troops," the AP reported. Sixteen "criminals" were captured and…

Goldfarb linked the this story from USA Today about a video showing young boys "training to kill, kidnap." This comes on the heels of last week's story that al Qaeda had duped two mentally retarded women into becoming suicide bombers. Al Qaeda's reliance on children, women, and the mentally…

Iran is back at making fantastic claims about its domestically built weapons. The latest announcement, via the Iranian regime-run Tehran Times, touts the beginning of the manufacture process of a newly developed "stealth" fighter--locally made, of course: Air Force Commander Brigadier General Ahmad…

While the reports of fighting against the Iranian-backed Special Groups terror network have dried up, the intensity of the fighting hasn't. In January, Coalition and Iraqi forces encountered more of the deadly explosively-formed projectiles than at any time over the past year, Multinational Forces…

Mullah Nazir, a senior Taliban leader in South Waziristan who shelters regional al Qaeda leaders and financiers, has long been portrayed by the Pakistani government as a pro-government tribal leader. The media has been eager to repeat these claims, as have some Western Pakistan watchers. But, as…

The dust from the Jan. 29 airstrike is settling, and it appears a senior al Qaeda leader was killed in the attack in North Waziristan, Pakistan. Abu Laith al Libi was killed in the attack, according to a posting at a prominent jihadi website. The Ekhlaas forum posted a banner praising the martyrdom…

Yesterdays airstrike against a purported Taliban safe house in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal agency resulted in 12 killed just as the Taliban and the government are prepared to sign a new peace accord. But the strike may have claimed a high value al Qaeda leader, ABC News reported today.…

Red agencies/ districts controlled by the Taliban; purple is defacto control; yellow is under threat

In what can be best described as an opinion piece published on its website, CJTF-82, the U.S. military command for eastern Afghanistan, has taken Dutch politician and filmmaker Geert Wilders to task for announcing the production of a short film on the Koran. CJTF-82 begins its piece, provocatively…

Click image to view the slideshow of the leadership of al Qaeda in the Caucasus.

On Friday, I noted the open border between Egypt and Gaza threatened not only Israel, but Egypt, allowing Islamists of all stripes to freely enter the country. Yesterday an Egyptian official explained the country's predicament to the Associated Press: Cairo was now caught between the hammer and the…

The Hamas regime in Gaza scored a political coup when it destroyed the hated border wall that separated the Palestinian territory from Egypt. Established by the Israelis to halt the flow of weapons into Gaza, the wall stood as a symbol of Israeli occupation. Hamas did what Yasser Arafat, the PLO,…

The recriminations over the security situation in Afghanistan continue, but from a new corner. Afghani President Hamid Karzai has criticized the British effort in the southern province of Helmand, where the Taliban have waged a violent campaign against NATO and Afghan forces. "There was one part of…

BomberVest.jpg Suicide Vests: Deadly Fashion

The New York Times reported today an attack on the MRAP, or Mine Resistant Armored Vehicle, resulted in the first death of a U.S. soldier inside the vehicle. This is categorically false. Three U.S. Army soldiers were killed in an IED attack in Ramadi and Karmah in early 2007, and other soldiers…

After a summer and fall in which the press was filled with accounts of Muqtada al Sadr's power in Iraqi politics, Sadr and his Mahdi Army have essentially dropped off the radar. Other than brief mentions about Sadr's declaration of a cease fire and its impact on the security situation, there has…

Afghanistan-helos-training-April2007.jpg Afghan Air Force helicopters during training in April 2007.

Click to view the slideshow of the leadership of Somalia's Islamic Courts and Shabab.

The fracturing of NATO over the Afghanistan deployment becomes more apparent each day. The United States has pleaded for NATO allies to deploy an additional 7,500 combat troops to Afghanistan to blunt an expected Taliban spring offensive, but with no relief available, the Washington Post reports…

Click image to view the slideshow of the Taliban Leadership in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Tensions within the Taliban ranks in South Waziristan have risen for the second time in a year. The powerful Taliban commanders Baitullah Mehsud and Mullah Nazir are close to clashing after two of Nazir's offices were attacked. Nazir is blaming Baitullah's forces for the attacks, which claimed the…

The mystery of the dismissal of two European diplomats from Afghanistan appears to have been solved. The Times of London reports the UN and European Union diplomats were expelled by the Afghan government for negotiating with none other than Mullah Mansoor Dadullah, the Taliban's southern commander.…

Osama bin Laden escorted by the Black Guard. Click image to view.

Fighting between the Taliban and the Pakistani military has been reported in the Taliban stronghold of South Waziristan and the settled district of Swat. In South Waziristan, the military is attacking Baitullah Mehsud's Taliban after the kidnapping of four soldiers, while in Swat, the army…

At the end of 2007, the Afghan Taliban made a radical leadership change which has sparked controversy in the ranks of the terror group. On December 29, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed issued a statement that Mullah Mansoor Dadullah, the commander for southern Afghanistan, was relieved of his…

Within one day of the Bhutto assassination in the military garrison city of Rawalpindi, there are multiple contradictory reports on how Benazir Bhutto was killed. The Pakistani government has changed its portrayal of her death three times in the 24 hours since her death. First she was reported to…

The Pakistani government has directly implicated the commander of the newly created Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, or Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema claimed the government intercepted a phone conversation…

The Iraqi Army claimed to have captured the minister of defense of the Islamic State of Iraq, al Qaeda's political front organization. Ahmed Turki Abbas was captured after being wounded in a skirmish near Mahmudiyah and "claimed the rank of defense minister," Qassim al Moussawi, Iraq's military…

Flash Presentation on the Ramazan Corps and the Iranian Ratlines into Iraq. Click the map to view. A Flash Player is required to view, click to download.

Al-Qaeda-Mustafa-Abu-al-Yazid.jpg Mustafa Abu al Yazid

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miniature-UAV-Iraq.jpg Iraqi soldier with captured UAV. (AFP)

Multinational Forces Iraq has confirmed it killed a senior al Qaeda in Iraq commander during a raid near Samarra on November 8. The remains of Abu Abdullah, also known as Muhammad Sulayman Shunaythir al-Zuba'i, have been positively identified by Multinational Forces Iraq. Just prior to his death,…

Not content to pull out of Basrah before the security situation there could be settled, it seems the British have again sought to conduct negotiations with the Taliban, the group that sheltered al Qaeda prior to and after September 11. On December 11, This is London reported that Prime Minister…

The Pakistani Taliban continues their terror campaign in the Northwest Frontier province. The latest suicide attack targeted former Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao while he conducted Eid prayers at a mosque in the town of Aftab Sherpao in the settled district of Charsadda in the Northwest Frontier…

With a sharp reduction in the deadly landmine attacks used by the Iranian-backed Shia terrorists known as the Special Groups, a debate has raged over whether Iran has worked to reduce the number of attacks inside Iraq. The newly released report "Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq" refutes the…

The Taliban and al Qaeda continue their relentless attacks against the Pakistani security forces. Since December 13, Taliban and al Qaeda suicide bombings and conventional attacks have claimed the lives of 43 soldiers, paramilitary soldiers, and policemen. The numbers obtained are from open source…

Sadr returns to Iraq, delivers sermon in Kufa. [AP Photo] Click to view.

Multinational Forces Iraq has released the data of he effects of the "surge." The reduction in deaths, attack trends, sectarian violence, IED, suicide and car bomb attacks is dramatic. The number of weapons caches found per year has well over doubled. The graphs below have been provided by…

Fighting between the U.S. and Iraqi government-backed Awakening movements and al Qaeda in Iraq spiked over the weekend. At least four high profile engagements and bombings occurred in Baghdad, Anbar, Ninewa, and Diyala provinces. The largest clash occurred on Sunday in the eastern region of Diyala…

U.S. forces in eastern Afghanistan have killed the second senior member of Taliban commander Siraj Haqqani's powerful network. Combined Joint Task Force-82 (CJTF-82) has confirmed that Mullah Sangeen, Siraj's deputy, was killed in an unspecified raid on December 11. "Sangeen was responsible for…

The Pakistani military continues to underreport its casualties in the tribal areas and the settled districts of the Northwest Frontier Province. The latest misrepresentation occurred in the Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan, which, along with other tribal agencies, the government…

Michael brings up some excellent points about the problems with the Afghanistan campaign. The lack of unity in the military command and the absence of a central political force to direct a coherent counterinsurgency campaign harm our efforts. These problems are compounded by a major shortage of…

An Iraqi National Policeman walks past one of the cars damaged in the triple bombing attack in Amarah. Reuters photo.

Just as Afghan and NATO forces fought to liberate the southern Afghan district of Musa Qala from nearly a year of brutal Taliban rule, Britain's Prime Minister signaled he is willing to negotiate with the Taliban. This is London reports Gordon Brown will address the Commons that "negotiation is the…

Pakistani Air Force bases, including the nuclear sites of Kamra and Sargodha.

A pair of car bombs in the Algerian capital of Algiers has killed at least 47 and wounded an unknown number of people. The death toll is feared to be over 60. The bombings occurred in front of the Constitutional Court and the UN refugee agency and a police station in different neighborhoods in…

As the Pakistani military continues the slow push to regain control of the settled district of Swat, suicide bombers struck in two locations, one of which was a sensitive weapons facility near Islamabad. The most deadly attack occurred in Swat in the Northwest Frontier Province after a suicide…

The Taliban have abandoned their former stronghold of Musa Qala in northern Helmand province. Despite boasts of over 2,000 fighters in the ranks and claims the "it will be very easy for us to resist the attack," the Taliban chose to bug out. A Taliban spokesman claimed they fled to protect the…

The assault on the Taliban stronghold of Musa Qala in the southern Afghan province of Helmand is officially underway. After a month of rumors and a feint by a British armored column to the outskirts of the town in mid-November, Afghan National Army and international troops pushed to the edge of…

Qods Force logo, click to view.

The Pakistani military's slow grind through the Taliban controlled district of Swat in the Northwest Frontier Province has finally reached Maulana Fazlullah's stronghold in the town of Imam Dheri. After Fazlullah's compound was overrun, troops found liquor and a prison. The Daily Times reports: The…

The Pakistani military continues its slow push through the Taliban controlled regions of Swat. While the government has claimed much of the settled district is under control, press reports indicate only half of Swat has been clear of Taliban fighters of Maulana Fazlullah's…

While the Pakistani military still struggles to roll up the Taliban in Northwest Frontier Province's settled district of Swat, the Taliban continues its campaign elsewhere in the troubled province. With much of the province under Taliban influence or outright control, the Taliban is flexing its…

The issue of Iranian complicity in the Iraqi insurgency has been the focus of much discussion since U.S. and Iraqi forces began heavily targeting the Iranian networks in late 2006. While news reports have touted Iran's role in reducing the violence, U.S. military officers believe Iran still serves…

The region around Samarra in Salahadin province continues to be a flashpoint for raids against senior al Qaeda operatives and propaganda cells. U.S. forces have confirmed killing a senior Syrian al Qaeda leader near the city, and another media cell was dismantled in the city. As the U.S. targets al…

Iraqi Army Col. Msfab Yousif reloads his AK-47 after using it to destroy a vehicle that was used in illegal checkpoint activities by insurgents in Ad Dawr near Tikrit; Iraq; Nov. 21.

With the return of former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to Pakistan, a dangerous new actor has now reentered Pakistani politics. ABC News's the Blotter reports that Sharif has accepted a bribe from none other than Osama bin Laden. The report is based on the interrogation of one Ali Mohamed,…

kawwaz+family.jpg Reports of the demise of the Kawwaz family were premature.

The raids on the home and offices of Adnan al Dulaimi, leader of the Accordance Front, the largest Sunni bloc in parliament, highlight the real need to hold elections in Iraq. After discovering weapons and a car bomb near Dulaimi's offices on Thursday, U.S. and Iraqi troops conducted a follow-on…

pakistan-swat-taliban-sword-11052007.jpg Taliban in Swat celebrate in the streets.

Map of Salahadin province and the Za'ab Triangle region. Click map to view.

President Musharraf has officially stepped down as chief of staff of Pakistan's army. Tomorrow he will be sworn in as the president of Pakistan. According to Pakistan's attorney general, Musharraf may drop the Provisional Constitution Order in the next several days. Pakistan's Daily Times reports:…

Image from recently released Al Furqan / Al Qaeda in Iraq execution video. Click to view.

With the withdrawal of British forces from the heart of Basra and an overall reduction of British forces in the south, the security situation in the largely Shiite city has come into question. Critics of the British move believe those forces have essentially surrendered the strategic city to the…

After a month of overt Taliban control over the settled district of Swat in Pakistan's turbulent Northwest frontier Province, the Pakistani military announced that it has begun the ground assault to retake the district. The Daily Times reports: Security forces backed by gunship helicopters and…

AS CONCERN BUILDS within Washington's political, military, and intelligence circles over the rise of the Taliban and al Qaeda in northwestern Pakistan, the search for a proper policy to deal with the threat has come to the forefront. Earlier this week the New York Times leaked details of a…

A Taliban fighter stands outside a police station in Matta. The sign states the police station is under Taliban control. AFP photo via Dawn.

With the unmistakable success of the surge in disrupting al Qaeda in Iraq's operations and significantly reducing violence throughout the country, the Iraqi Security Forces have turned their attention to the Mahdi Army in Diwaniyah. On November 17, Iraqi Army and police, backed by a U.S. brigade,…

Qayis and Layith Qazali. Click to view.

Osama bin Laden escorted by the Black Guard. Click image to view.

Map of the northern regions of the NWFP, including Swat.

The same day Multinational Forces Iraq reported it had killed Tha'ir Malik, the emir of Tarmiyah, Coalition forces fought a major battle against the terror network in the city. Twenty-five al Qaeda in Iraq operatives were killed and 21 captured after Coalition forces conducted a series of raids…

Task Force 88, the special operations hunter-killer teams assigned to dismantle al Qaeda in Iraq's leadership, took out a major link in the terror network earlier this month. Today, Multinational Forces Iraq reported "Coalition forces"--which is the code used for the Task Force-- killed Tha'ir…

Red agencies/ districts controlled by the Taliban; purple is defacto control; yellow is under threat

U.S. and Iraqi Security Forces are maintaining the pressure on al Qaeda in Iraq's network nationwide and October netted the highest number of senior terror leaders since the surge went into full effect in June. While Coalition forces have degraded al Qaeda's network inside Baghdad and in the Belts,…

Mullah Obaidullah Akhund.

As part of the new counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq, General David Petraeus directed Coalition and Iraqi Security Forces to target Iranian-backed extremists with the same intensity as they were showing in their campaign against al Qaeda in Iraq. In the process, Multinational Forces Iraq has…

In September, I embedded with US forces in Baghdad and southern Baghdad province along with David Tate. We were in Iraq as General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker updated Congress on the state of the surge. David took a slew of photos and video, and when we returned, we linked up with Matt Burden…

Afghanistan UN Security Accessability Map.Click to view map.

As Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf deploys tens of thousands of troops to the capital to put down protests, the government continues to cave into the demands of the Taliban in the Northwest Frontier Province. Over the weekend, the military released 25 Taliban fighters from custody in exchange…

PAKISTAN'S TENUOUS POLITICAL and security situation just got a whole lot worse. After days of rumors that President Pervez Musharraf would impose a state of emergency in the violence-wracked country, Musharraf followed through on Saturday in a move that is likely to plunge the county into further…

Pervez Musharraf.

Captured Pakistani soldiers. BBC photo. Click to here to view more images.

Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Barack Obama recently articulated his strategy towards Iran. In an interview with the New York Times, Senator Obama said he would "engage in aggressive personal diplomacy" with the Islamic Republic, and he excused Iranian aggression towards U.S. forces inside…

Pakistani soldier mans a checkpoint. Click to Enlarge.

Have the Afghan government and NATO forces cracked the code with dealing with the Taliban-controlled district of Musa Qala in the violent province of Helmand? A report from the em>Telegraph indicates Afghan and NATO forces may have found a pro-Taliban commander and tribal leader willing to turn on…

Iraqi police in Anbar province scored a victory against al Qaeda in Iraq's leadership in Anbar province on Monday. Iraqi police killed Abu Tiba al Karbuli and two aides and captured another during an engagement north of Ramadi. "A police patrol came under fire from two civilian cars carrying…

Just 24 hours after the capture of 11 Sunni and Shia tribal leaders in northern Baghdad, the Iraqi Army has freed eight of the sheikhs. Meanwhile, Multinational Forces Iraq has identified the Mahdi Army commander responsible for the kidnappings and has begun to name other Mahdi Army leaders as…

After days of sporadic fighting, intermixed with beheadings and ceasefires, the Pakistani military has again called for a halt in fighting with the Taliban in the settle district of Swat. Meanwhile, the Pakistani government is bragging about the number of "militants" (read: Taliban) it killed in…

Red agencies/ districts controlled by the Taliban; purple is defacto control; yellow is under threat.

The invasion in Iraq was always a gamble in that it gave al Qaeda a cause to fight the "crusaders" in the heart of the Middle East. Osama bin Laden has called the U.S. a "paper tiger" in the past, and predicted the U.S. would shy away from combat in Iraq once the fighting got tough. And the United…

Afghanistan is often referred to as 'the forgotten war," but in the case of NATO, it should be called the ignored war. Radio Free Afghanistan details NATO's lack of serious commitment to the Afghanistan mission. "As NATO's defense ministers begin a two-day meeting in the Netherlands today, the…

Just one week after the Taliban fought the Pakistani military to a standstill in the al Qaeda safe haven of North Waziristan, the military has deployed over 3,000 paramilitary forces from the Frontier Corps, Frontier Constabulary, and Frontier Reserve Police to the settled district of Swat in the…

Dean Barnett has an excellent piece on THE DAILY STANDARD today. It's the greatest story never told--the recent drop in U.S. casualties that has gone, up until now, largely unnoticed by the mainstream press. Barnett covers a lot of ground, it's well worth reading. Also worth reading is this story…

While much of the reporting around Osama bin Laden's most recent audiotape focused around the failure of leadership of al Qaeda in Iraq and the problems with cooperation between Sunni insurgent groups and tribes, a small but important detail slipped by the press. Bin Laden clearly addresses a…

Red agencies/ districts controlled by the Taliban; purple is defacto control; yellow is under threat.

After almost a year of silence, Osama bin Laden has issued his third tape in less than two months. Based on excerpts from bin Laden's latest audio tape, titled "Message to the people of Iraq," he views the situation in Iraq as dire. Bin Laden is clearly concerned with the defection of Sunni…

The divisions between al Qaeda and their erstwhile Sunni allies in the insurgency intensified over the weekend as the Islamic Army of Iraq and the terror group battled in Khannasa, just south of the city of Baghdad near Salman Pak. Over 60 were reported killed in the three day battle, which…

Red agencies/ districts controlled by the Taliban; purple is defacto control; yellow is under threat.

Map of Salahadin province. Click map to view.

The Sunni insurgency continues to fracture as U.S. and Iraqi forces are on the offensive in central and northern Iraq. Izzat Ibrahim al Douri, the Sunni insurgency's most wanted Baathist leader, has formed a new insurgent front which is willing to negotiate, while a faction of the 1920s Revolution…

Just one day after the announcement of the capture of Muthanna, a senior al Qaeda facilitator of foreign fighters in the Sinjar region on the Syrian border, Multinational Forces Iraq announced the capture of a major financier in Baghdad. The yet to be named al Qaeda financier was captured by the…

Captured mortars with Iranian markings. Click to view.

The US military has long maintained that al Qaeda in Iraq is led by foreign al Qaeda. Over the past year, senior al Qaeda operatives such as Omar Farouq, one of Osama bin Laden's lieutenants and al Qaeda's operations chief in Southeast Asia, and Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi, one of bin Laden's senior…

Forward Operation Base Delta, Wasit Province: With the surge of U.S. forces in Baghdad and the Belts aiming at both al Qaeda and Shia extremists, Multinational Forces Iraq has also launched a significant effort to curtail Iranian influence in Baghdad and the southern provinces. Since early spring,…

Combat Outpost Corregidor, Baghdad Province A crucial indicator of success or failure of the "surge"--the deployment of an additional five U.S. Combat brigades and supporting soldiers--is the ability of U.S. forces to involve the local population in the provision of security. The crux of the…

Just one day after major clashes between Iraqi Security Forces and the Mahdi Army during a Shia religious celebration in Najaf, Muqtada al Sadr has ordered the Mahdi Army to halt all attacks in Iraq, including attacks against Coalition forces. The fighting in Najaf resulted in 52 killed and over…

As U.S. and Iraqi Security Forces continue to push out into the Belts surrounding Baghdad, al Qaeda and insurgent groups are attempting to push back. Two significant attacks occurred in Salahadin and Diyala province, while U.S. and Iraqi forces press the raids on al Qaeda's network and the…

Al Qaeda in Iraq has ramped up its attacks against Iraqi civilians and Iraqi and U.S. security forces over the past 48 hours. The effort demonstrates that al Qaeda in Iraq still possesses the capacity to launch a counteroffensive to the ongoing U.S. and Iraqi operations and is seeking to influence…

izzat_al-douri.jpg

Muqtada al Sadr, the leader of the Mahdi Army militia, has been on the defensive over two recent reports in the media. Just one day after Britain's Independent published excerpts of an interview with Sadr, Sheikh Ahmed al-Shibani, Sadr's spokesman in Najaf, claimed the interview never happened.…

Iraqi Security Forces and Multinational Forces Iraq are pressing hard with Operation Phantom Strike, targeting al Qaeda in Iraq, the Shia terror cells of the Special Groups, and "rogue" elements of the Mahdi Army throughout Iraq. Over the past 24 hours, U.S. and Iraq security forces conducted…

size1-army.mil-2007-08-16-082845.jpg 2nd Lt. Jacob Becker observes the streets of

U.S. and Iraqi security forces are pushing forward on two fronts against al Qaeda in Iraq and the Shia terror groups. In the regions north and east of Baqubah in Diyala province, Operation Lightning Hammer is in its third day. Nationwide, U.S. and Iraqi security forces continue intelligence-driven…

Yesterday, Multinational Forces Iraq announced the start of two major operations--Phantom Strike and Lightning Hammer. Operation Phantom Strike "consists of simultaneous operations throughout Iraq focused on pursuing remaining AQI terrorists and Iranian-supported extremist elements," while…

I recently emailed Col. Steve Boylan asking for whatever information he could provide regarding the status of the investigation of Scott Thomas Beauchamp. Here is his response: His command's investigation is complete. At this time, there is no formal what we call Uniform Code of Military Justice…

Diyala province, once the stronghold of al Qaeda in Iraq, remains a major focus of Operation Phantom Thunder, the overarching security operation to eject al Qaeda from the Baghdad Belts. As operations in Baqubah, once the capital of al Qaeda in Iraq's puppet state, have "shifted from combat…

army.mil-2007-08-08-090827.jpg Sgt. Christopher Burke provides security during

Al Qaeda has weighed in on the Pakistani government's military assault on the Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, in Islamabad last month. Sahab productions, the media outlet for al Qaeda's central leadership, released a 21 minute tape by Abu Yahya al Libi, a senior al Qaeda leader who has served as a…

The Iraqi soccer team gave the nation a reason to celebrate on Sunday with a victory over Saudi Arabia in the Asia Cup final. There were no major attacks reported during Sunday celebrations, and Iraqi Security Forces killed a suicide bomber and defused another car bomb in Baghdad. Last week's…

After a several week lull in major mass casualty suicide attack inside Baghdad, al Qaeda in Iraq struck three times against Iraqi civilians over the past 24 hours. Yesterday's attacks occurred during the celebration of the Iraqi soccer team's victory at the Asia Games, which advanced the club to…

army.mil-2007-07-20-074019.jpg A Soldier from the 3rd Infantry Division and an Iraqi Soldier

Operation Phantom Thunder and the Baghdad Security Plan continue to place pressure on al Qaeda in Iraq, allied Sunni insurgent groups, the Mahdi Army and the Iranian-backed Special Group. In Baghdad, junior al Qaeda in Iraq operatives are reportedly cooperating with Coalition forces and a series of…

Iraqi and Coalition forces remain on the offensive in the Baghdad Belts of Eastern Anbar province, Northern Babil and Diyala, as the bulk of the major suicide and bombing attacks have shifted to the northern regions of Iraq. Kirkuk has seen a massive suicide attack over the past week, while…

size1-army.mil-2007-07-16-095725.jpg Soldiers from the 5th Cavalry Regiment look

While the big story on Iraq actually occurred in Washington with the release of the Initial Benchmark Assessment Report, which assessed the progress of the Iraqi government as the Baghdad Security Plan, Iraqi and U.S. security forces pressed al Qaeda and the Mahdi Army on all fronts.…

The attempts to minimize the role played by al Qaeda in Iraq in the larger Sunni insurgency took a significant step over the past week. Clark Hoyt, the public editor of the New York Times, claimed that the media had become complicit in the government's attempts to paint the entire Sunni insurgency…

As Operations Phantom Thunder pushes forward in Baghdad and the Belts, U.S. and Iraqi forces attacked and killed an al Qaeda team attempting to take control of a rural Kurdish village in Diyala. Meanwhile, with critics claiming the U.S. is too al Qaeda focused in its operations, Iraqi and U.S.…

It's that time of the year. The U.S. is rotating its carriers based in the Persian Gulf, and the media automatically assumes this represents an "escalation of force" as the number of carriers in the region increases. Breathless reporting in the media sensationally mentions there are now three…

With Operation Phantom Thunder, the corps level operation in the Baghdad Belts, now underway, Coalition and Iraqi forces continue to work to secure Baghdad as they take on the Mahdi Army, Iranian backed cells, and al Qaeda's networks nationwide. In Anbar province, combat operations are underway in…

Operation Marne Torch, one of the two ongoing operations south of Baghdad that are part of Operation Phantom Thunder, is currently underway in the Arab Jabour region southeast of the capital. Major General Rick Lynch, the commander of Multinational Division Center and the 3rd Infantry Division,…

The news from Operation Phantom Thunder has been largely subdued over the past 24 hours. The Iraqi government and the Coalition continue to encourage local participation in Salahadin and Diyala provinces. Al Qaeda conducted two successful car bomb attacks in Baiji and Baghdad. U.S. forces maintain…

More details have emerged on the operations in the Thar Thar region of Anbar province. Meanwhile, operations in Baghdad and Baqubah continue to evolve, while the Iraqi and U.S. recruiting and training of local police south and west of Baghdad is showing some positive results. The 3rd Battalion, 1st…

Baghdad and the Belts. Red bordered units identified as active in offensive operations. Click map to view.

Baghdad and the Belts. Red bordered units identified as active in offensive operations. Click map to view.

The Baqubah region. Click map to view.

Violence in Baghdad and greater Iraq remains low as the Iraqi government is enforcing a curfew in the major population centers where the threat of sectarian backlash from the Samarra mosque bombing remains high. There have been one confirmed report of a mosque attack and no major clashes on the…

Yesterday's destruction of the twin minarets of the revered Askaria mosque in Samarra threatens to reignite the sectarian war which began in February of 2006 after the dome of the same mosque was destroyed by al Qaeda in Iraq. Almost immediately after the minarets were bombed, Iraqi and Coalition…

The Iraqi police have made arrests in this morning's twin bombings of the al Askaria mosque's remaining minarets. While early reports indicated that the Iraqi National Police were responsible for securing the mosque complex, it was, in fact, a provincial police unit that was guarding the area. As…

The Golden Dome of the al-Askaria Mosque and its two minarets prior to the bombings in 2006 and 2007.

Blackfive posted on the U.S. Navy's new mission in Iraq, patrolling the Euphrates River, including the waterways of Ramadi, on small riverine craft. In December of 2005, I embedded with the Damn Security Unit (or DSU) at Haditha Dam in Anbar province. You can see the photogallery here. The DSU was…

NEARLY FOUR MONTHS since the Baghdad Security Plan was announced, the Sunni population in the provinces continues to turn on al Qaeda in Iraq, and attempts to weaken support for the group inside Baghdad are showing early signs of success. Al Qaeda in Iraq, for its part, has focused its attacks…

Nearly four months since the Baghdad Security Plan was announced, the Sunni population in the provinces continues to turn on al Qaeda in Iraq, and attempts to weaken support for the group inside Baghdad are showing early signs of success. Al Qaeda in Iraq, for its part, has focused its attacks…

The January 20 attack on the Karbala Provincial Joint Coordination Center by the Iranian backed Qazali Network, which resulted in the kidnapping and murder of five U.S. soldiers, was long known to be an Iranian planned and sponsored strike. While Iran has insulated itself with its cutouts in the…

Qods Force logo, click to view.

Yesterday's news from Iraq was dominated by rumors of a Turkish invasion of northern Iraq. The news turned out to be false, as Ankara, Baghdad, and Washington all denied the reports from two unnamed Turkish officials. Turkey has seen an increase in attacks from the radical Kurdistan Workers' Party…

The surge is failing, according to the New York Times. The U.S. has fallen short of securing Baghdad by July, and the Iraqi Security Forces have been hopelessly infiltrated by Shiia militias.

Al Qaeda continues to attack tribal leaders in opposition to its Islamic State. "Attacks on tribal chiefs in Iraq, particularly in the Sunni-dominated areas of central and northern Iraq have increased recently," Azzaman reported. Yesterday, three prominent tribal leaders were murdered. "The attacks…

The surge is failing, according to the New York Times. The U.S. has fallen short of securing Baghdad by July, and the Iraq security forces have been hopelessly infiltrated by Shiia militias. The Times's conclusion is based on a one-page memo. The memo, actually a status update on the situation in…

In today's New York Times, David S. Cloud and Damien Cave look at the state of the Baghdad Security Plan three months in, and essentially states the operation to secure the capital has fallen short of its goal. While this issue will be addressed in a more extensive article for THE DAILY STANDARD…

Banner of the Islamic State of Iraq. Click to view.

The Awakening movement, which was started in Anbar province by local tribes and Sunni insurgents that opposed al Qaeda's attempts to Talibanize Iraqi society, has now spread to all of the provinces bordering Baghdad. Over the past month, Awakening movements formed in Diyala and Salahadin, and, this…

The provinces of Iraq. Click map to view.

According to Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebar, yesterday's kidnapping of five Britons, one adviser, and four security guards from the Finance Ministry is believed to have been carried out by elements of the Mahdi Army. Reports suggest the raid was carried out by Mahdi fighters who infiltrated…

In Baghdad, after a brief lull in major attacks, today saw two high profile bombings as well as a kidnapping of foreign workers in the capital. One bombing occurred at a Shia mosque in the Amil neighborhood in the western Rashid district. A suicide car bomber killed ten Iraqis and wounded at least…

The return of Muqtada al Sadr from a self-imposed four month exile in Iran dominated the news from Iraq today. Sadr, who leads the Sadrist movement and commands the Mahdi Army, had taken shelter in Iran, under the watchful eye of Iran's Qods Force. Today, he made a grand entrance in Kufa and gave a…

There was no major news out of Baghdad today, but we have two big stories coming out of Fallujah and northern Babil province. Multinational Forces Iraq confirmed that it has indeed recovered the body of one of the three missing soldiers near Mussayab, while al Qaeda plowed a suicide car bomb into a…

The search for the three missing U.S. soldiers abducted west of Mahmudiyah on May 11 may have taken a turn for the worse. Unconfirmed reports indicate that up to three bodies resembling American soldiers have been found in a river near the town of Mussayab, south of the search area. The bodies are…

Yesterday was a relatively slow news day in Iraq. While Coalition and Iraqi forces continue to target al Qaeda and other insurgent networks, al Qaeda conducted a mass casualty suicide attack inside the capital--the first large scale suicide bombing since May 11. But the big "story" came from the…

icon.roggio2.1.gifIt's been three months since the commencement of the Baghdad Security Plan on February 14, and the operation has been marked by both considerable progress and painful setbacks. While the violence in Baghdad has decreased to levels not seen since prior to the bombing of the Samarra…

Multinational Forces Iraq has killed a major player in the January 20 kidnapping and murder of five American soldiers during a complex attack on the Provincial Joint Coordination Center in Karbala. On May 19, Coalition forces killed Azhar al-Dulaimi during a raid north of Baghdad after he resisted…

The Baghdad Order Of Battle as of May 20, 2007. Click map to view.

Iraqi-soldier-Baqubah.jpg An Iraqi soldier during operations south of Baqubah.

Thursday has been relatively quiet in Iraq, as al Qaeda in Iraq appears to have spent its energy on a major offensive conducted in Diyala, Niwena, and Kirkuk on Wednesday. A significant number of Iraqi Army units have redeployed to secure Baghdad, and al Qaeda and other insurgent groups have…

U.S. and Iraqi forces continue to scour the farming regions around Yusifiyah and Mahmudiyah in an effort to recover the three missing U.S. soldiers. As the search for the three missing U.S. soldiers enters its fifth day, the U.S. military continues to pour more troops into the region south of…

As we noted late last night, the search for the three missing U.S. soldiers has intensified in the "Triangle of Death," the region south of Baghdad, particularly in the areas near Yusifiah and Mahmudiyah. This region "has been divided into 35 zones of which 32 have been searched," according to CNN.…

Coalition forces may have narrowed the search for the missing soldiers missing since last Saturday's attack. U.S. and Iraqi security forces, backed by the local tribes in Karbala and Anbar provinces, have poured into the region known as the Triangle of Death, where three U.S. soldiers were captured…

The search for the three captured American soldiers has entered its fourth day. Over 4,000 U.S. troops, along with Iraqi security forces, are scouring the Triangle of Death regions southwest of Baghdad, as well as the desert expanses southeast of Fallujah. "We have conducted more than 450 tactical…

icon.roggio2.1.gifThe past week in Iraq has been a mixed bag of political success coupled with several successful high profile attacks by al Qaeda. The situation is heating up in Diyala, and al Qaeda conducted a highly successful assault on a U.S. Army team operating south of Baghdad. The search is…

The Baghdad Order Of Battle as of May 13, 2007.

NATO and Afghan forces have struck a major blow to the Taliban's military leadership. Mullah Dadullah Akhund, the Taliban's top military commander, has been killed during fighting in the volatile southern province of Helmand. "He was killed last night and right now I have his body before me,"…

Al Qaeda in Iraq was able to conduct three successful suicide attacks today. All three targets were bridges spanning major rivers--two were in the Shia region south of Baghdad, and one up north near Taji. Al Qaeda in Iraq attacked two bridges in Baghdad in April, and destroyed one of them. Also, al…

In Iraq, the major developments over the past two days occurred in the political realm. First, the tribes of Diyala are beginning to organize along the lines of the tribes in Anbar province and have now vowed to battle al Qaeda. "Tribesman Sheikh Wameed al-Jabouri told al-Hayat that a number of…

In March, we noted the successful model of the Anbar Salvation Council will very likely be replicated elsewhere in regions where al Qaeda has established bases of operation. We singled out Diyala in particular, as al Qaeda's campaign of murder and intimidation there was beginning to anger the…

There have been no major suicide or car bombings inside Baghdad over the past two days. Mortar, roadside bombings, and small arms attacks persist, but sectarian killings are still below the levels prior to the implementation of the Baghdad Security Plan. Much of the significant violence has…

This post was written by DJ Elliott and has been cross-posted at The Fourth Rail. DJ is a retired US Navy Intelligence Specialist with 22 years of service, the primary author of the Iraqi Security Forces Order of Battle and co-author of the the Baghdad Security Operation Order of Battle .) Most…

Bing West, an embedded reporter, former Marine infantryman, and the acclaimed author of No True Glory, the story of the Second Battle of Fallujah, has returned from his thirteenth trip to Iraq and posted an assessment on the situation there and the path forward at Small Wars Journal. Mr. West…

icon.roggio2.1.gifThe month of April was particularly hard on both U.S. and Iraqi security forces. As both forces push outward from larger, more secure bases, the casualties have increased. Iraqi security forces--both police and army--had over 300 KIA, while over 100 U.S. servicemen were killed in…

The Baghdad Order Of Battle as of May 6, 2007.

The Iraqi Interior Ministry claimed that Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the leader of al Qaeda's political front the Islamic State of Iraq, has been killed during combat in the town of Dhuluiya in Salahadin province. This comes just two days after the ministry and other government officials claims Abu Ayyub…

The status of al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Ayyub al Masri remains uncertain. The Anbar Salvation Council, the grouping of tribes and former insurgent groups united in opposition to al Qaeda, is maintaining it had good intelligence on al Masri's death after it conducted a raid outside the provincial…

The big news from Iraq is the purported killing of Abu Ayyub al Masri, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq and the newly "appointed" Minister of War for al Qaeda's political front, the Islamic State in Iraq. The claim that al Masri was killed by tribal forces near Taji in Salahadin province has yet to…

Abu Ayyub al-Masri, from a video found last year.

icon.roggio2.1.gifThe city of Baghdad continues to see a drop in sectarian violence, while suicide car bombings remain al Qaeda's most deadly tool. After the car bomb offensive by al Qaeda two weeks ago, which included 11 major suicide attacks over just five days, the past week inside the city has…

The Baghdad Order Of Battle as of April 30, 2007.

Baghdad and greater Iraq has seen yet another relatively quiet day. A major car bombing in Tal Afar was reported by an unidentified police officer, however Iraqi officials and the city's mayor later denied the report. The two major stories from Iraq are the capture of Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi, a senior…

The United States has scored a major victory against al Qaeda's global network. Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi, one of Osama bin Laden's senior deputies who was "personally chosen by bin Laden to monitor al Qaeda operations in Iraq," has been captured and transfered to the detention center at Guantanamo Bay.…

General David Petraeus, the commander of Multinational Force Iraq, completed his closed-door Congressional testimony yesterday, and has since conducted a quick press briefing and a Pentagon briefing. In this morning's Pentagon briefing, Gen. Petraeus highlighted Iran's involvement in Iraq, al Qaeda…

The violence inside Baghdad was unusually low today, with no major attacks inside the city. The pressing issue inside Baghdad continues to be the building of Adhamiya security barrier, and the upcoming modifications. The largest suicide attack occurred in Diyala province outside a police station,…

The Iraqi government of Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki has ordered a halt to the building of a security barrier around the Baghdad neighborhood of Adhamiya. There are obvious political implications to building such a barrier in the Arab world. "I've ordered it to stop and to find other means of…

IN THE CONVENTIONAL template of reporting on Iraq, glossy, controversial headlines often fail to reflect the reality of the situation on the ground. Take the latest reporting by McClatchy Newspapers' Nancy A. Youssef concerning the purported shift of U.S. military power away from training Iraqi…

In the conventional template of reporting on Iraq, glossy, controversial headlines often fail to reflect the reality of the situation on the ground. Take the latest reporting by McClatchy Newspapers' Nancy A. Youssef concerning the purported shift of U.S. military power away from training Iraqi…

Al Qaeda in Iraq conducted two successful high profile suicide bombings in the heart of Baghdad yesterday. The first attack occurred in a cafe at the Iraqi Parliament. The second occurred on the Jisr al-Hadeed bridge, which crosses the Tigris river. This attack destroyed the bridge and killed over…

The United States is maintaining the pressure on Iran for its support of both Shia militias and Sunni insurgents. Yet again, Multinational Forces Iraq has detailed the Iranian involvement in supplying weapons and support for the Shia militias. In today's press brief, Major General William Caldwell…

Iraqi security forces and U.S. troops battled insurgents in what is described as the largest fight inside the capital since the start of the Baghdad Security Plan. Omar, an Iraqi blogger in Baghdad who writes at Iraq the Model, stated the fighting began in the central districts of al-Fadh [of…

The Baghdad Order Of Battle as of April 9, 2007.

Baghdad has been relatively quiet. A suicide attack on a Joint Security Station in Sadr City was foiled, and another just south of the city was also prevented. Al Qaeda employed yet another chlorine bomb in Ramadi and major operations are ongoing in the provinces. Al Qaeda in Iraq has conducted yet…

The security situation remains relatively stable inside Baghdad for yet another day, while most of the major activity is occurring in the provinces. A U.S. helicopter was downed south of Baghdad--possibly by al Qaeda anti-aircraft fire--as Coalition and Iraqi forces continue to pursue al Qaeda in…

There have been no major attacks inside Baghdad since the suicide bombing in the Shia market on March 29. The Iraqi government has eased the curfew in the capital as security is seen to have improved since the commencement of the Baghdad Security Plan in mid February. Al Qaeda in Iraq has been…

The Baghdad Order Of Battle as of March 26, 2007.

The security situation in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province continues to deteriorate. Once again, Western pressure on the government of President Pervez Musharraf has failed to prevent Pakistan from handing over territory to the Taliban, this time to a group called the Movement for the…

The Baghdad Order Of Battle as of March 26, 2007.

icon.roggio2.gifYesterday's suicide campaigns in Baghdad and Khalis led to the most deadly day since the beginning of the Baghdad Security operation. The Baghdad attack, where two suicide bombers detonated their vests in a largely Shia market, has resulted in 83 murdered, with another 138 wounded.…

icon.roggio2.gifThe fog around the Tal Afar reprisal killings has cleared some since the Associated Press intimated the Tal Afar police force went on an organized rampage throughout the city following a devastating suicide attack that killed 83 and wounded another 104 civilians. In a conference…

icon.roggio2.gifThree major events occurred inside Iraq over the past 24 hours that merit particular attention. First, in the Shia dominated city of Tal Afar, al Qaeda conducted a double suicide attack. Subsequently, off-duty Shia police are said to have rampaged through the city, conducting…

icon.roggio2.gifIraqi and Coalition forces have been pressing hard to dismantle al Qaeda's suicide and car bomb infrastructure in and around Baghdad. Over the past week, some success has been made in attacking the leadership of these networks. Three senior commanders of al Qaeda bomb-making cells…

Pakistan has officially signed the 'Bajaur Accord' with Taliban operating in the northwestern Tribal agency. The Taliban promised to prevent 'foreign fighters' from settling and stop cross border attacks into Afghanistan in exchange for freedom from attack and arrest by the Pakistani security…

The Baghdad Order Of Battle as of March 26, 2007.

icon.roggio2.gifFriday was another relatively quiet day in Iraq. The only major attack in Baghdad was serious, however. Not because of the size of the attack, but the target. Salam al-Zubaie, one of two deputy prime ministers, was wounded after a suicide bomb was detonated in the courtyard of the…

icon.roggio2.gifThe violence in Baghdad remains low as further evidence emerges that Sadr's Mahdi Army is breaking apart. The most high profile incident in Baghdad occurred after a Katyusha rocket slammed into a building next to the one where U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was speaking. There…

icon.roggio2.gifSignificant operations occurred in the cities of Anbar province and Diyala while Baghdad remians relatively quiet. Only one significant suicide attack occurred in the city over the past 24 hours, while Iraqi and U.S. security forces found a fuel tanker filled with explosives and…

icon.roggio2.gifYesterday was the four year anniversary of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and, predictably, al Qaeda conducted a concerted attack to mark the event. Al Qaeda, however, had to settle for Kirkuk, not Baghdad, for its show of force. As we noted yesterday, the Kirkuk attack was a coordinated…

The Baghdad Order Of Battle as of March 19, 2007.

The Baghdad Order Of Battle as of March 19, 2007.

icon.roggio2.gifThe past 24 hours has seen some interesting developments in Iraq. Diyala has flared up as U.S. troops deployed to the region. Additional U.S. forces will be requested to support operations. Further, al Qaeda conducted some successful operations inside Baghdad, the Iraqi general…

icon.roggio2.gifYesterday marked the first full month since the official commencement of the Baghdad Security Plan. During joint press conference with Major General William Caldwell Brigadier General Qassim Atta Al Mussawi, the Iraqi Army spokesman for the Baghdad security operation, noted the…

icon.roggio2.gifYet another 24 hours have past and there have been no reports of major mass casualty suicide or car bomb attacks in Baghdad or the provinces. The closest incident was a suicide attack which occurred in Tuz Khormato, a town about 130 miles north of Baghdad. Eight were killed and 25…

icon.roggio2.gifThe Baghdad Security Plan continues to show some encouraging signs of progress in reducing the levels of violence in the capital and in the provinces. The sectarian attacks have been reduced significantly. There have been no major suicide or carbomb attacks in Baghdad or the…

The Baghdad Order Of Battle as of March 12, 2007.

The Baghdad Order Of Battle as of March 12, 2007.

icon.roggio2.gifBaghdad and the provinces have been quiet for the past 24 hours, after a string of deadly suicide and car bomb attacks on Shia pilgrims on Wednesday. Of the estimated 2.5 million Shia pilgrims who traveled to Karbala, about 150 were killed during the attacks. Today, Iraqi and…

icon.roggio2.gifArmy General David Petraeus, the commander of Multinational Forces Iraq, gave his first briefing from the theater early this morning. The surge in American forces to Iraq will now include an additional 4,600 troops. About 2,200 Military Police (MPs) will be deployed, along with…

icon.roggio2.gifAs we have noted several times in the past, as the Baghdad Security Plan begins to show progress inside the city, the likelihood is the attacks in the provinces will increase. Over the past 24 hours, two major attacks occurred in Hillah (Babil province) and Mosul (Niwena province).…

icon.roggio2.gifAs the Baghdad security operation takes shape, much of the violence continues to occur in the provinces outside the capital. The provinces of Diyala, Anbar, Babil, and portions of Salahadin are where many of the major attacks against Iraq and U.S. security forces, as well as Iraqi…

The Baghdad Order Of Battle as of March 5, 2007. Click map to view.

icon.roggio2.gifBaghdad has been relatively quiet over the past few days, with only one major suicide bombing, yesterday's attack in Sadr City. Much of the Iraqi and Coalition operations and insurgent attacks have occurred in the provinces. The Pentagon said upwards of 7,000 additional logistics…

icon.roggio2.gifYesterday, Iraqi security forces, backed by the tribes of the Anbar Salvation Council, fended off a major al Qaeda attack in the village of Amiriya, which is just south of Fallujah. Al Qaeda was gunning for a senior member of the Anbar Salvation Front, who was attending the funeral…

icon.roggio2.gifBaghdad has been relatively quiet over the past 24 hours, and no major mass casualty suicide attacks or car bomb atacks have been reported. It is far too soon to translate this into long term success, however, as al Qaeda has shown the capacity to 'surge' mass casualty attacks in…

icon.roggio2.gif The Baghdad Security Plan is showing some early signs of success. Deaths from sectarian related attacks have dropped dramatically since December. "The number of bodies found this month in Baghdad--most shot and showing signs of torture--has dropped by nearly 50 percent to 494 as of…

icon.roggio2.gifLess than two weeks after the official announcement of the Baghdad security plan, "reporting of sectarian murders is at the lowest level in almost a year," and "170 suspected insurgents have been arrested and 63 weapons caches of various sizes have been seized," reports Stars and…

The Baghdad order of battle as of February 26, 2007.

Barwana, Iraq