Bill Roggio

In a primetime speech Monday evening, President Trump is expected to announce the deployment of several thousand more American troops to Afghanistan. We doubt this will be enough to win the war, but it is better than the alternatives offered to the president. A complete withdrawal would have been…

Secretary of State John Kerry believes that al Qaeda’s “top leadership” has been “neutralize[d]” as “an effective force.” He made the claim while discussing the administration’s strategy, or lack thereof, for combating the Islamic State (ISIS), which is al Qaeda’s jihadist rival. Kerry believes…

We have been anxiously awaiting the release of the documents captured in Osama bin Laden’s Abbottabad, Pakistan compound. According to informed U.S. intelligence officials, thousands of documents were captured in bin Laden’s lair, as was video and other types of media.

The killing of Osama bin Laden was a monumental tactical success in the war against al Qaeda. For millions, bin Laden had come to symbolize American weakness. His mere existence was a reminder that the United States, for all its military might and economic dominance, could not bring to justice a…

Joe Biden finally won an argument. President Obama’s decision to draw down U.S. forces in Afghanistan seems to move American policy toward Biden’s long-held view that the U.S. military should narrow its approach to a selective, counter-terrorism-focused mission. In this view, targeted raids, like…

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:

When CIA director Leon Panetta declared on a Sunday talk show in late June that “we’re looking at maybe 50 to 100” al Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan, “maybe less,” some commentators took this as a political turning point. British journalist and author Stephen Grey commented via his Twitter account,…

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…

Just two days after the gunmen's siege in Mumbai ended, Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari went on CNN's Larry King Live to plead his case. Even before the Indian authorities had brought the rampage to an end, they were laying blame on their neighbor to the north. And Zardari wanted the world to…

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…