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Al-Qaeda names Zawahiri to succeed bin Laden By Lynne Nahhas (AFP) – 7 hours ago DUBAI — Al-Qaeda on Thursday named Egyptian surgeon Ayman al-Zawahiri to succeed slain leader Osama bin Laden and vowed no let-up in its deadly "jihad" against arch-foes the United States and Israel. "The general command of Al-Qaeda announces, after consultations, the appointment of Sheikh Ayman al-Zawahiri as head of the group," the jihadist network said in a statement posted on an Islamist website. Zawahiri, the group's long-time number two, succeeds bin Laden who was killed by US commandos in a May 2 raid in Pakistan....

MIRAMSHAH: A US drone attack targeting a militant compound killed 10 insurgents in a troubled Pakistani tribal region on Wednesday, security officials said. Moreover, a BBC Urdu report quoted local authorities as saying that those killed in the strike were militants from the Haqqani network. Two missiles hit the compound located in Tappi, 10 kilometres southeast of Miramshah, the main town in volatile North Waziristan near the Afghan border, a military official in Peshawar said. “The attack triggered fire in the compound and 10 militants were killed,” the official told AFP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised...

As if the Taliban wasn’t bad enough. KABUL, AFGHANISTAN — The US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan on Sunday confirmed a meeting with the Haqqani insurgent group, as signs of a dialogue between the United States and rebels continue to grow. ‘We had one meeting with Haqqani network,’ Marc Grossman told a news conference in Kabul. His remarks come after US and the Taliban militants confirmed preliminary talks for opening an liaison office for the Taliban in the Qatari capital of Doha – increasing speculation of an end to the decade-long bloody insurgency in this war-torn country.

The AP reported last week that "U.S. officials from the State Department and White House plan to continue a series of secret meetings with Taliban representatives." The AP report went on to say that "one member of the Taliban negotiating team has been publicly identified as Tayyab Aga [Agha], an emissary of Pakistan-based Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar." But sadly, and ironically, while the Obama administration is desperately reaching out to Mullah Omar, Mr. Omar is strengthening his resolve to kill US troops and to wreak havoc upon Afghanistan. From the Times of India: Taliban militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 26, 2011 – A combined Afghan and coalition security force captured a Haqqani network leader in the Sabari district of Afghanistan’s Khost province yesterday, military officials reported. The Haqqani leader distributed bombs and coordinated attacks against Afghan forces. Several suspects were detained during the operation. In other Afghanistan operations yesterday: -- In the Aliabad district of Kunduz province, a combined force detained two suspects while searching for a Taliban leader who coordinates attacks with other insurgents in Afghanistan and Pakistan. -- A combined force detained multiple suspects during a search for a Taliban leader in the Marja district...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Friday that the United States had held a preliminary meeting with representatives of the Haqqani network, a group of militants Washington has blamed for a series of attacks in Afghanistan. The revelation came soon after Clinton, in Islamabad with a heavyweight team of U.S. military and intelligence leaders, warned that tough action would have to be taken against Afghan and Pakistani militants if they did not cooperate in efforts to stabilize Afghanistan and pursue peace. Clinton was asked at a roundtable with journalists about reports that U.S. officials had met with Haqqani representatives directly,...

Mr Musharaff told The Daily Telegraph that it was important for his country to spell out to the world why the Haqqani network was being allowed to operate on its soil... "Certainly if Afghanistan is being used by India to create an anti-Pakistan Afghanistan, we would like to prevent that." He said the Haqqani group was the source of a "terrible" lack of trust and confidence and added: "The United States must understand Pakistan has its own national interest. The United States must accept the compulsions of Pakistan and give assurances." ... Mr Musharraf said Pakistan must "talk straight" about...

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: A US missile strike killed at least six suspected militants in northwestern Pakistan near the Afghan border Saturday, two Pakistani intelligence officials said, in the third such American missile attack in as many days. The officials said four missiles slammed into a compound near the border town of Angore Adda in the South Waziristan tribal region. The strike was targeting fighters of Maulvi Nazir, a militant commander who is accused of working with the Taliban and al-Qaeda to direct cross-border attacks, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Nazir is believed to have an agreement with...

KABUL, Afghanistan – NATO captured a senior leader of the Al Qaeda- and Taliban-allied Haqqani network active inside Afghanistan, the alliance said Saturday, describing it as a "significant milestone" in disrupting the terror group's operations. NATO said Haji Mali Khan was seized Tuesday during an operation in eastern Paktia province's Jani Khel district, which borders Pakistan. It was the most significant capture of a Haqqani leader in Afghanistan, and could dent the group's ability to operate along the porous border with Pakistan's lawless tribal areas.

WASHINGTON — When the U.S. State Department announced this week that it finally is going to designate the Haqqani network as a foreign terrorist organization, it was a nonevent for most of our countrymen. That's because few Americans know how deadly the organization is. For that we can thank those at Foggy Bottom who are wedded to the naive hope of a near-term "diplomatic breakthrough" in Afghanistan. Couple that misguided belief with the Obama administration's self-deception that the radical Islamic jihad against the West ended with the demise of Osama bin Laden and it's understandable why the Haqqani network...

WASHINGTON — They are the Sopranos of the Afghanistan war, a ruthless crime family that built an empire out of kidnapping, extortion, smuggling, even trucking. They have trafficked in precious gems, stolen lumber and demanded protection money from businesses building roads and schools with American reconstruction funds. They safeguard their mountainous turf by planting deadly roadside bombs and shelling remote American military bases. And they are accused by American officials of being guns for hire: a proxy force used by the Pakistani intelligence service to carry out grisly, high-profile attacks in Kabul and throughout the country. Today, American intelligence and...

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The U.S. ambassador to Islamabad said in remarks broadcast Saturday that there is evidence linking the Haqqani insurgent network to the Pakistani government, a charge that could raise tensions in an already strained anti-terror alliance between Washington and Islamabad. The U.S. and NATO blame the Haqqani network for many of the attacks in Afghanistan, including this week's strike on the U.S. Embassy. The group — affiliated with both the Taliban and al-Qaida — and its army of several thousand fighters is widely assumed to be based just over the Afghan border in Pakistan. U.S. officials have long...

KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug. 4, 2011 – A combined Afghan and coalition security force detained a Haqqani network leader yesterday during a security operation in the Sperah district of Afghanistan’s Khost province, military officials reported. The detained leader was responsible for directing more than 250 fighters, including Uzbek foreign fighters, in attacks against Afghan government officials and soldiers. He also planned and coordinated several attacks on the Sperah District Center. In other Afghanistan operations yesterday: -- In the Baghlan-e Jadid district of Baghlan province, an Afghan and coalition force detained a Taliban facilitator and an associate. The detained facilitator is linked...

KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug. 2, 2011 – A combined Afghan and coalition security force detained multiple suspected insurgents while searching for a Haqqani terrorist network leader in the Mata Khan district of Afghanistan’s Paktika province yesterday, military officials reported. The target of the search is responsible for kidnappings and for attacks against Afghan forces, officials said. While searching the area, the security force confiscated a machine gun, grenades, assault rifles, bomb-making materials and chest racks. In other operations yesterday around Afghanistan: -- A combined force in Baghlan province’s Pul-e Khumri district detained a Taliban leader who directed suicide-bomb attacks against Afghan...

WASHINGTON, June 30, 2011 – The International Security Assistance Force today confirmed the death of a Haqqani network leader who’s linked to the June 28 suicide-bomb attack on the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan, military officials reported. Officials said Ismail Jan and several Haqqani fighters were killed yesterday during a precision airstrike in the Gardez district of Paktiya province. Jan was the deputy to Haji Mali Khan, the senior Haqqani commander inside Afghanistan. The Haqqani network, in conjunction with Taliban operatives, was responsible for the attack on the Intercontinental Hotel which killed 12 people, including a provincial judge. Jan also...

WASHINGTON, June 10, 2011 – A combined Afghan and coalition force yesterday captured a Haqqani network leader, a Haqqani facilitator and several of their associates during a security operation in the Orgun district of Paktika province in Afghanistan, military officials reported. The leader directs Haqqani insurgents in Sar Rowzah district. The facilitator helped senior Haqqani leaders plan attacks, as well as procuring funding and supplies. The insurgents where captured during a search of the facilitator’s compound. The force cleared the compound and the Haqqani leader, the facilitator and several other individuals were taken into custody. No shots were fired and...

WASHINGTON, March 24, 2011 – A partnered Afghan and coalition security force acting on intelligence information killed a Haqqani terrorist network facilitator and captured another in the Sabari district of Afghanistan’s Khost province today, military officials reported. The terrorists were responsible for planning and carrying out roadside-bomb attacks against civilians and Afghan and coalition forces. The man who was captured also was responsible for indirect-fire attacks throughout the district. He was wounded in the encounter and was detained at a coalition forward operating base, where he had been taken for treatment. Intelligence reports led the security force to the location...

KABUL, Afghanistan (Jan. 25, 2011) — Coalition forces detained a Haqqani Network facilitator at an Afghan Border Patrol checkpoint in Paktika province yesterday. The now detained Haqqani Network facilitator operated in Orgun area, Wardak province. He was responsible for the movement of supplies, improvised explosive devices and vehicle-borne IEDs. He was in direct contact with other Haqqani Network leaders in the area. Security forces set up at the Afghan Border Patrol checkpoint in the district where the Haqqani Network facilitator traveled frequently according to recent reporting. The Haqqani Network insurgent was detained based on initial questioning at the scene.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 18, 2011 – Coalition and Afghan forces have removed dozens of insurgents from the fight across broad sections of Afghanistan in recent days, including 15 in the past 24 hours, military officials reported. International Security Assistance Force members have killed 15 insurgent fighters in separate operations in eastern Afghanistan since yesterday. In Kunar province, a coalition air weapons team killed numerous insurgents after they engaged a coalition foot patrol with small-arms fire in the Dangam district. In a separate clearing operation in Kunar’s Shigal wa Sheltan district, another ISAF patrol was engaged by insurgents with small-arms fire and...

KABUL, Afghanistan (Jan. 18) – Afghan and coalition forces detained a Haqqani Network leader along with several suspected insurgents during a security operation in Khost province yesterday. The Haqqani Network leader was responsible for conducting ambushes and improvised explosive device attacks against Afghan National Security Forces and coalition forces operating in Khost and Terayzai districts of the province. He reported directly to other Haqqani Network leaders in the area. Security forces followed leads to a targeted location in Khost district, where Afghan forces called for all occupants to exit out of the buildings peacefully before conducting a search. The Haqqani...

wo of the US helicopter cross-border helicopter strikes that took place last month in Pakistan's tribal agency of Kurram occurred in an area where Siraj Haqqani, the operational commander of the Haqqani Network, was sheltering. The Pakistani military and government's severe reaction to the US incursions in Kurram are attributed in part to concern that Siraj, a key asset, was close to being killed in the attack, US intelligence officials and a Pakistani official told The Long War Journal. The helicopter strikes, which took place on Sept. 27, occurred near the village of Mata Sanger, after US forces pursued Haqqani...

NOTE The following text is a quote: Travel Alert U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE Bureau of Consular Affairs Europe October 3, 2010 The State Department alerts U.S. citizens to the potential for terrorist attacks in Europe. Current information suggests that al-Qa’ida and affiliated organizations continue to plan terrorist attacks. European governments have taken action to guard against a terrorist attack and some have spoken publicly about the heightened threat conditions. Terrorists may elect to use a variety of means and weapons and target both official and private interests. U.S. citizens are reminded of the potential for terrorists to attack public transportation...

MIRANSHAH: At least nine people were killed and four others injured in a US surveillance plane attack in North Waziristan Agency area of Dattakhel, Geo News reported Saturday. According to the sources, two drone planes fired at least four missiles at a house in Anzarkas village of Dattakhel, killing nine people. The house was completely destroyed in the attack The US spy planes are still making low flights in the area with local people panicked. According to a foreign news agency, the house was frequented by extremists who belonged to Haqqni group.

US attack helicopters killed more than 30 Haqqani Network fighters inside Pakistan while repelling a cross-border attack. US forces struck at the Haqqani Network fighters on Friday after they attacked Combat Outpost Narizah, an Afghan base just eight miles from the Pakistani border in the district of Tani in Khost province. The Haqqani Network fighters were hit in the Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan, which is just across the Pakistani border. "An air weapons team in the area observed the enemy fire, and following International Security Assistance Force rules of engagement, crossed into the area of enemy fire," the...

NOTE The following text is a quote: July 22, 2010 TG-782 Treasury Targets Taliban and Haqqani Network Leadership: Treasury Designates Three Financiers Operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of the Treasury today designated three key leaders and financiers for the Taliban and its affiliated group the Haqqani Network, for supporting acts of terrorism and for acting for or on behalf of the Taliban or the Haqqani Network. Today's designation, pursuant to Executive Order 13224 targets Gul Agha Ishakzai, the head of the Taliban's financial commission; Amir Abdullah, former treasurer to senior Taliban leader Mullah Berader; and...

"As the Karzai administration continues to press ahead with preliminary outreach to insurgents, Pakistan has quietly stepped in to offer their assistance. The Pakistanis have reportedly offered to help reach out to the murderous Haqqani organization in the hopes of bringing the movement’s leader, Siraj Haqqani, to the negotiating table; however, any proposed deal with the Haqqanis is directly at odds with President Obama’s reaffirmed commitment to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Haqqanis rely on Al Qaeda for mass appeal, funding, resources and training, and in return provide Al Qaeda with shelter, protection and...

US and Afghan forces again battled with the deadly Haqqani Network in eastern Afghanistan, near the border with Pakistan earlier this week. The joint US and Afghan force killed "a large number of insurgents, including several key leaders for both the Haqqani network and Taliban" during a military operation in the Jani Khel district in Paktia province, according to the International Security Assistance Force. "Arabs, Uzbeks, Turks, and Chechens" were among those killed, according to the ISAF report. The fighting took place during a two-day offensive in Jani Khel that targeted the "largest insurgent camp in the area." Local villagers...

WASHINGTON, June 23, 2010 – Afghan and international security forces killed a large number of insurgents, including several key leaders for both the Haqqani terrorist network and the Taliban, in the Jani Khel district of Afghanistan’s Paktia province earlier this week, military officials reported today. The security force killed Hamiddullah, a Haqqani network commander for the Sabari district in Khost province. Hamiddullah had direct ties to Haqqani senior leaders based in Pakistan and he reportedly was responsible for an ambush of an Afghan army unit in March that resulted in the deaths of three Afghan police officers. According to intelligence...

MIRANSHAH: Two US missile strikes killed at least 12 militants in Pakistan's tribal region near the Afghan border, officials said. The first strike took place at 8:00 pm in Mizar Madakhel village, some 50 kilometres west of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan and was followed by a second strike. Eight militants were killed when the drone fired four missiles, hitting a vehicle and a compound which were being used by militants and killing four rebels, a senior security official in the area said. He added that the second strike took place after a brief interval in the same...

MIRAMSHAH: A son of veteran Afghan militant commander Jalaluddin Haqqani was killed in Thursday’s US drone attack on a village in North Waziristan.Official sources said here on Friday that Mohammad Haqqani, 22, was killed along with three other militants in the missile strike on a house and a vehicle in Derga Mendai, five kilometres west of Miramshah.They said that Mohammad Haqqani was actively taking part in the Taliban fight against US-led Nato forces in Afghanistan and that he was in the area to attend a funeral when the US drone fired two missiles at his vehicle, killing him and his...

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan (AFP) – Numerous missiles fired from US drones on Tuesday killed at least ten militants in a village in Pakistan's northwest tribal region near the Afghan border, security officials said. "Up to eight US drones fired some 18 missiles at multiple militant targets in Datta khel village," a senior security official told AFP. "Ten militants were killed in the missile strikes," the official said. Local administration and intelligence officials confirmed the deaths after the volley of strikes reportedly struck militant hideouts and a training centre in three places in the village. Residents in Miranshah, the main town of...

Pakistan Collapse Could Trigger Global Great Depression and World War III Politics / Pakistan Jan 16, 2010 - 08:47 PM By: Nadeem Walayat During 2009 the 2600 terrorist attacks resulted in the number of deaths soaring to more than 12,000 casualties in Pakistan, compared to the number killed in Iraq falling to 2,800 from the 2008 total of 5,900. The U.S. War in Afghanistan pushed the Taliban and Al-Qeeda over the border into Pakistan that has sparked an escalating insurgency and Pakistan's own U.S. backed un-popular "War on Terror" which is going just as badly as that in Afghanistan, only...

MIR ALI, Pakistan – At least one suspected U.S. drone fired on a house in Pakistan's volatile tribal region Sunday, killing 20 people in the 11th such attack since militants in the area orchestrated a deadly suicide bombing against the CIA in Afghanistan, intelligence officials said. Four missiles slammed into the house in the Shaktoi area of South Waziristan, the same region where a drone strike Thursday targeted a meeting of militant commanders in an apparently unsuccessful attempt to kill Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud. The militant leader helped organize the Dec. 30 attack against a remote CIA base in...

WASHINGTON -- There is no doubt that the terrible earthquake in Haiti -- the worst disaster in the history of the Western Hemisphere -- is a tragedy of profound proportions. The good news is that the "first responders" on-scene were wearing American uniforms. The U.S. Coast Guard -- motto: "Semper Paratus" (Latin for "Always Ready") -- was "firstest with the mostest" and began providing emergency assistance within hours of the Tuesday night quake. The White House quickly ordered reinforcements. A veritable armada -- consisting of U.S. Navy ships and aircraft, Air Force cargo and aeromedical flights, a brigade of the...

President Obama has announced his intention to conduct a review of U.S. strategy in Afghanistan from first principles before deciding whether or not to accept General Stanley McChrystal's proposed strategy and request for more forces. This review is delaying the decision. If the delay goes on much longer, it will force military leaders either to rush the deployment in a way that increases the strain on soldiers and their families or to lose the opportunity to affect the spring campaign. The president's determination to make sure of his policy before committing the additional 40,000 or so forces required by General...

PESHAWAR: Backed by gunship helicopters, several hundred security forces Tuesday raided a madrassa run by well-known Afghan mujahideen and Taliban commander, Maulvi Jalaluddin Haqqani, at Danday Darpakhel village in North Waziristan tribal agency. This was the eighth time that the madrassa was raided and searched. Official and tribal sources told this scribe from Danday Darpakhel, a town near Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan, that a large number of troops from Pakistan Army and the paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) along with Khassadars and Levies personnel first besieged the village and then raided the huge and famous madrassa known as “Manba-ul-Uloom”. Witnesses said...

Combine Hustler’s Larry Flynt with Coppola’s Don Corleone and what do you get? Siraj Haqqani, the Taliban’s Godfather of Porn. Allow me to set the stage for one of jihad’s bravest, most pious Muslim warriors. Siraj Haqqani is the chief operating officer of the deadliest terror network in the Afhanistan/Pakistan (Af/Pak) theater, the Haqqani terror network. It was established by Siraj’s father, the senile Jed Clampett of jihad, Jalaluddin Haqqani. A heretofore remorseless criminal organization, the Haqqanis realized the real growth industry (i.e. money) for the group laid in embracing the jihad. In a stunning come to Jesus, (whoops) come...

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – Suspected U.S. missiles killed four people in northwest Pakistan on Friday, the latest in a surge of such attacks since a suicide bomber staged a deadly assault on CIA employees just across the frontier in Afghanistan. The attack was the sixth in just over a week in North Waziristan, an unusually intense bombardment that also follows repeated calls by the United States for Pakistan to do more against militants there blamed for attacks on American and NATO forces in Afghanistan. The area is the stronghold of the Haqqani network, an Afghan Taliban group with links to al-Qaida....

MIR ALI, Pakistan – A suspected U.S. missile strike killed three people Saturday in a northwest Pakistani tribal region where militants focused on fighting the West in Afghanistan are concentrated, two Pakistani intelligence officials said. The missile strike was apparently the latest in a lengthy campaign of such attacks by the U.S., which rarely discusses the covert program but has in the past said it has taken out several top al-Qaida operatives. Pakistan publicly opposes the strikes but is believed to secretly aid them. Saturday's strike occurred in the Babar Raghzai area of North Waziristan and also wounded two people,...

Suspicions by Pakistan's powerful army that the country's civilian leadership is growing too close to the United States are fueling a political crisis that analysts here believe threatens the survival of the government and could divert attention from the battle against Islamic extremists. Military officials believe that secretly taped conversations between Pakistani President Asif Zardari and his ambassador in Washington, prove that it was at Zardari's insistence that a $1.5 billion U.S. aid package passed by Congress in September contained several provisions that angered the Pakistani military. The military publicly protested the aid package last month. "The reaction (from the...

The CIA has paid millions of dollars to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) since 9/11, "accounting for as much as one-third of the foreign spy agency's annual budget", says a media report. The ISI also collected "tens of millions of dollars through a classified CIA programme", which pays for the capture or killing of wanted militants, a newspaper reported on Monday citing current and former US officials. An intense debate has been triggered within the US government due to "long-standing suspicions that the ISI continues to help Taliban extremists who undermine US efforts in Afghanistan and provide sanctuary to Al Qaeda...

Note: The following text is a quote: Combined Force Detains Suspected Militants American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Oct. 30, 2009 – Afghan and international security forces detained several suspected militants in Afghanistan’s Paktia and Helmland provinces today and yesterday, military officials reported. A combined force detained a group of suspected militants in Paktia province today after searching buildings known to be used by a Haqqani network leader responsible for the financing and supply of terrorist camps in the Khowst-Gardez Pass area. The security force targeted the buildings near Kandaw Kalay village after intelligence indicated militant activity. The joint force detained...

Note: The following text is a quote: Department of Public Information • News and Media Division • New York SECURITY COUNCIL AL-QAIDA AND TALIBAN SANCTIONS COMMITTEE ADDS NAME OF ONE INDIVIDUAL TO CONSOLIDATED LIST On 27 May 2009, the Security Council Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee approved the addition of the entry specified below to its Consolidated List of individuals and entities subject to the assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo set out in paragraph 1 of Security Council resolution 1822 (2008) adopted under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations. C. Individuals associated with Al-Qaida QI.H.269.09....

An unmanned US strike aircraft fired missiles at the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani Network in Pakistan’s Taliban-controlled tribal area of North Waziristan. Three people were killed in the attack, which took place near a madrassa run by Jalaluddin Haqqani, the patriarch of the notorious Haqqani family, Reuters reported. The exact location of the strike has not been identified at this time, and no senior Taliban or al Qaeda leaders have been reported killed. The Haqqanis run the Manba Ulom madrassa in the town of Danda Darpa Khel just outside of Miramshah in North Waziristan. The US has conducted several strikes on...

American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Sept. 21, 2009 – Afghan soldiers and police, working with international troops, in recent days have detained insurgents in southern and eastern Afghanistan and seized large amounts of weapons and explosives, military officials reported. Yesterday, a joint force of Afghan and international troops detained several suspected insurgents after searching a series of buildings in Khost province and compounds in Kandahar province. The buildings in Khost were known to be used by a Haqqani terrorist cell responsible for distributing improvised explosive devices and IED-making material throughout the region. In a compound search north of Kandahar City,...

ISLAMABAD – A suspected missile attack early Friday destroyed a militant hideout in northwest Pakistan, killing at least seven people, two intelligence officials said. The officials said some people also were wounded when the two missiles hit a compound in the village of Dande Darpa Khel, near Miran Shah in troubled tribal region of North Waziristan. ... The area is also believed to be frequented by associates of an Afghan Taliban leader, Siraj Haqqani, whose network is powerful in eastern Afghanistan.

A combined Afghan and US strike force killed 18 Haqqani Network fighters during a raid on a "stronghold in the remote mountains" of Afghanistan's eastern province of Khost. The intelligence-driven raid, which took place on Aug. 4, targeted "a Haqqani commander responsible for facilitating foreign fighters, weapons, IEDs, and other explosive materials in the region," a press release by the International Security Assistance Force stated. The Haqqani commander was not named. The combined force took heavy fire from the Haqqani Network fighters as they advanced on the Haqqani Network's mountaintop base. A Haqqani suicide bomber unsuccessfully attempted to attack the...

Senior al Qaeda and Afghan Taliban leaders are reported to have met with Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud to advise him to move his group's operations into Afghanistan and halt attacks against the Pakistani state. Several meetings were said to have been held last week after an 11-man delegation of al Qaeda and Taliban heavy hitters arrived in Waziristan to deliver a request from Mullah Omar, the Amir al Mumineen, or the leader of the faithful in Pakistan and Afghanistan, according to a report in The Nation. The Taliban dispatched Sirajuddin Haqqani, the powerful military commander of the Haqqani Network,...

WASHINGTON, June 4, 2009 – Afghan and coalition forces detained four suspected militants in Khost province overnight during an operation to capture a key Haqqani terrorist network leader in eastern Afghanistan. In the province’s Sabari district, a combined force searched a rural compound after credible intelligence sources indicated the wanted man was located near Zambar village. After entering the targeted compound, Afghan forces called for all occupants to come out, and without incident, forces detained the targeted man and three of his suspected associates. A search of the compound revealed an AK-47 assault rifle and a magazine. On June 2,...

The US Department of State has issued multi-million dollar rewards for two senior Taliban leaders and an al Qaeda leader and propagandist. Up to $5 million dollars has been offered "for information leading to the location and/or capture" of Pakistani Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud or Taliban and al Qaeda ally Sirajuddin Haqqani. A $1 million bounty has been offered for information leading to the capture or conviction of al Qaeda propagandist and ideologue Abu Yahya al Libi.