Afghanistan-Pakistan: Top Insurgent's Son Killed; Taliban Leaders Captured

Juan Cole looks over the breaking news from the US-led military-covert offensive in Afghanistan and Pakistan:

A US drone strike on N. Waziristan has allegedly killed Muhammad Haqqani, a son of guerrilla leader Jalaluddin Haqqani. The Haqqani network is considered particularly skilled insurgents, and is the faction closes to both the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence and to al-Qaeda. Jalaluddin's health is said to be poor and he may have already turned most decisions over to his other son, Siraj. The Telegraph hinted that the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence has ceased supporting the Haqqanis behind the scenes, and may even have helped the Americans target their drone strike.

Afghanistan Mystery: What’s Behind the US, Pakistan, and the Captured Mullah?

According to Dawn, the governor of the Afghan province of Qunduz is reporting that Pakistan has "arrested Mullah Abdul Salam and Mullah Mir Mohammad, respectively the shadow governors of the northern Afghan provinces of Kunduz and Baghlan" in Pakistani Baluchistan (presumably in Quetta). Islamabad has yet to confirm the report.


The New York Times revealed that Pakistan had captured the Old Taliban's no. 2 man, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, and it is not impossible that these two were picked up with intelligence gained from him. Pakistan and the US have still not decided whether to treat Mullah Baradar as an enemy combatant or to attempt to persuade him to back a reconciliation of the Taliban with the Karzai government in Islamabad. Gareth Porter believes that the reconciliation idea was put forward by Pakistan as a means of asserting Islambad's indispensability to any settlement between Hamid Karzai and Mullah Omar.

These actions are degrading the leadership abilities of the Taliban and the Haqqani network, and creating a sense of momentum against the Taliban.

As US special envoy to Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, arrived in Islambad Thursday for consultations with the government, a bomb was set off at a cattle market in the Khyber Agency. It killed 20 and wounded 80. One of those killed was militant leader Azam Khan, of the Lashkar-i Islam or army of Islam. The bombing may have been the work of Ansar-i Islam, a rival political grouping which has feuded for some time with the Lashkar.

Aljazeera English probes the possibility of reconciliation between the Taliban and the Kabul government, which it believes is very difficult.

Meanwhile, on the Afghan side of the border, guerrilla foes of the Karzai government and the foreign troop presence in Marjah killed 4 NATO troops with roadside bombs and sniping.

Richard Holbrooke claimed that some Taliban in the Marjah area are considering defecting to the side of President Hamid Karzai. (This assertion is not far-fetched. Some clan chieftains adopt a Taliban allegiance rather as a franchise, and they drop it just as easily.)

Al Jazeera English interviews the former governor of Helmand, now a cabinet member, about the progress of the Marjah campaign.

Brave New Films reports on the condition of Afghan women.

Nick Turse writes about US bases in Afghanistan at Tomdispatch.

Comments

[Arshama]

Scott,

Thanks a lot for your comprehensive insights in the state of the affairs in Afghanistan.

Comparing the last two entries conveys an impression of this country's absurd and atrocious situation: empoverished and mutilated women on the one hand, and a perfectly organised foreign army on the other.
Nevertheless putting the blame on American troops solely would be too simple. As Afghanistan has been a pawn of both super powers during the Cold War, Russia has to be held inasmuch eligible for the current desaster.

23 years of unrelentess civil war have largely destroyed the social and moral foundations of a society, formed by diverse competing clans and ethnics (Pashto, Tajik, Hazara etc.), and the ongoing war is only reinforcing this disintegration.
On the other hand the scene of young Afghan women, loudly protesting for equal rights in this harshly traditional and patriarchic society is reconforting and gives hope for a better future.

[Barry]

@Arshama

My simplistic understanding of the development of the "civilisation" aspect of the human species goes something like this - clans, then tribes, then City states , then Nation States, then Empires.

These days, we tend to think of the Nation State as the norm - but has Afghanistan really ever been a Nation State? - or is it still a collection of tribes.

In the late 60's, I saw in my mind the fundamental dichotomy of the human species. We seemed to be slowly splitting into two sub-species - epitomised by two very famous pictures which featured in the press of the late 60's. - perhaps not unlike Neanderthal and Homo Sapiens.

The first -- http://www.parstimes.com/spaceimages/man_on_moon.jpg

The second --- http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/biafra.jpg

There is no judgment on my part in this thought - which still persists. These images were real - one part of humanity is forging ahead, while another is not. What do I mean by "forging ahead" or "progress"? - I will not attempt to discuss that here, except to say that the second picture does not show evolutionary progress.

Can the competing tribalism, religions and cultures of places like Afghanistan , Africa and the Middle East survive for much longer? What is going to happen when, with another 3000 Million people added to the planet in the next 40 years , the two pictures above really start to rub up against one another??

Barry

[pessimist]

Simplistic perhaps but I think that microsoft and google have, and will do the most for changing that huge gap that still exists.