Embarrassing: Peace talks with Taliban imposter

The New York Times: KABUL, Afghanistan — For months, the secret talks unfolding between Taliban and Afghan leaders to end the war appeared to be showing promise, if only because of the appearance of a certain insurgent leader at one end of the table: Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, one of the most senior commanders in the Taliban movement.

But now, it turns out, Mr. Mansour was apparently not Mr. Mansour at all. In an episode that could have been lifted from a spy novel, United States and Afghan officials now say the Afghan man was an impostor, and high-level discussions conducted with the assistance ofNATO appear to have achieved little.

“It’s not him,” said a Western diplomat in Kabul intimately involved in the discussions. “And we gave him a lot of money.”

American officials confirmed Monday that they had given up hope that the Afghan was Mr. Mansour, or even a member of the Taliban leadership.

NATO and Afghan officials said they held three meetings with the man, who traveled from in Pakistan, where Taliban leaders have taken refuge.

The fake Taliban leader even met with President Hamid Karzai, having been flown to Kabul on a NATO aircraft and ushered into the presidential palace, officials said. [MORE] 

Try as I could, I never understood the logic of negotiating with the Taliban.  It isn’t like the Taliban is an official nation, with an official leadership.  I think the reason why this happened was twofold. First, I don’t think the Bush administration thought this whole thing through. While talking out the Taliban was the right thing to do, I don’t think the Bush administration thought about what to do after the Taliban was removed. This mistake was further enhanced by the Obama administration’s political need to please the left’s desire to cut and run.

I can only imagine how ridiculous the west must look to the Taliban after this.  Considering how much money this guy got away with, I would not be the least bit surprise if someone tries to punk us again.

How embarrassing!

Via: Memeorandum

Via: The New York Times

Mullah Omar Captured?

Brad Thor at Big Government is reporting that Taliban leader Mullah Omar has been captured: 

Big Government: Through key intelligence sources in Afghanistan and Pakistan, I have just learned that reclusive Taliban leader and top Osama bin Laden ally, Mullah Omar has been taken into custody.

According to the State Department’s Rewards for Justice Program there is a bounty of up to $10 million on Omar for sheltering Osama bin-Laden and his al-Qaeda network in the years prior to the September 11 attacks as well as the period during and immediately thereafter.

They know all right and so do we, at least when it comes to Mullah Omar. We have known since the end of March and we had it confirmed ten days ago by the Pakistanis. So why didn’t the State Department and the CIA know?

While this is certainly great news, there seems to be some doubt. Namely, no one else is confirming the story.  Allahpundit see even more doubt. 

Any reasons not to believe? Yeah — namely, how come this hasn’t leaked? Nothing against Brad Thor, but this is so tippy top secret that he knows about it when the NYT, WaPo, and even Hillary Clinton don’t? Five weeks seems an awfully long time to keep something like this quiet. Also, why wouldn’t the White House or Pakistan or even the Taliban itself have announced the capture?  [ …] 

For now, take this story with a grain of salt and let’s all hope it turns out to be true.

Via: Memeorandum

Via: Big Government

Via: Hot Air

Eric Holder: Pakistani Taliban Behind Times Sq. Plot

Today on This Week, Attorney General Eric Holder admits that the Pakistani Taliban is behind Faisal Shahzad’s failed Times Square car bomb attack. 

The New York Times: […]“We’ve now developed evidence that shows the Pakistani Taliban was behind the attack,” Attorney GeneralEric Holder said in an interview on ABC television’s news program “This Week.”

Later, appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” he said theTaliban in Pakistan “directed this plot” and may have also financed it. The Pakistani Taliban, he said, was “intimately involved” in the attempt on May 1 by Faisal Shahzad, an American citizen of Pakistani descent, to blow up gasoline and propane tanks secreted inside a Nissan Pathfinder parked on West 45th Street just yards from the heart of Times Square.

It seems pretty obvious that Faisal Shahzad would have had some Pakistani Taliban connections. The video put up on YouTube the day after the failed attack was clue number one. Why authorities so quickly dismissed it is a mystery to me. Shahzad’s cash flow should have been another clue. He was not able to pay his mortgage, yet he had the money to pay for the Pathfinder with cash and buy a one-way ticket to Dubai.  Someone must have been helping him then.

Just given these two facts, why is it so many officials were so quick to assert that Faisal Shahzad was a “lone wolf”.  It seems like “lone wolf” is the automatic default position whenever these jihadists strike.

When it comes to fighting terror, it is almost like this administration wants to will their political beliefs to life. They want to believe that there is no war on terror and simply take actions like that were true. However, reality keeps asserting itself and then they are forced to deal with the obvious … Al Qaeda and the Taliban are still at war with us.

Via: Memeorandum

Via: The New York Times

Via: Gateway Pundit

Pakistani Taliban take credit for failed Times Square car bomb

A commander of the Pakistani Taliban is taking credit for the failed Times Square car bomb plot. They released a YouTube video earlier today. The video has since been taken down.

The Long War Journal: Qari Hussain Mehsud, the top bomb maker for the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, said he takes "fully responsibility for the recent attack in the USA." Qari Hussain made the claim on an audiotape accompanied by images that was released on a YouTube website that calls itself the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan News Channel.

The tape has yet to be verified, but US intelligence officials contacted by The Long War Journal believe it is legitimate. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan News Channel on YouTube was created on April 30. Officials believe it was created to announce the Times Square attack, and Qari Hussain’s statement was pre-recorded.

All indications are the tape is legitimate. YouTube has pulled the video and shut down the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan News Channel since this article was published.

"This attack is a revenge for the great & valuable martyred leaders of mujahideen," Qari Hussain said. He listed Baitullah Mehsud, the former leader of the Pakistani Taliban who was killed in a Predator strike in August 2009, and Abu Omar al Baghdadi, the former leader of al Qaeda Islamic State of Iraq who was killed by Iraqi forces in mid-April. And although he was not mentioned, an image of Abu Ayyub al Masri, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, was also displayed in the images accompanying the audiotape. [MORE]

Well it is official(?); the Taliban is now targeting NYC. What I find frightening is that this amateurish attempt is probably only the beginning.  I fear that we are about to see a lot more of these attempts in the coming months.

Earlier today there was talk that the car bomb might have been revenge against Comedy Central. Comedy Central’s parent company Viacom is located right around the corner from where the car bomb was found. However NYPD is saying that is not an angle they are working on. The YouTube tape pretty much rules out this idea.

I am very grateful, that I do not have to travel during rush hour tomorrow morning. While I must go into the city, I am going to do so during off hours. Stay safe everyone.


UPDATE: Taliban claim unsubstantiated?


From Hot Air:Update: A promising lead from this afternoon’s NYPD presser:

Police and federal agents on Sunday were reviewing surveillance footage that shows a possible suspect in the failed Times Square car bombing, describing him as a white man in his 40s who was walking away from the area where the vehicle was parked, looking furtively over his shoulder and removing a layer of clothing, officials said…

Federal authorities said the incident appeared to be an isolated one, and that there was no evidence of an ongoing threat to the city.

Upon opening the gun locker found in the car, cops discovered eight bags of what could be fertilizer, which of course is what McVeigh used to bring down the Murrah building. There’s also this, which sounds like a crank call but who knows:

On Sunday, police and F.B.I. officials were also investigating a 911 call placed at around 4 a.m. on Sunday, several officials said. The caller, who one official said sounded intelligent, admonished the 911 dispatcher not to interrupt him until he was finished and then said there would be a massive explosion soon and the car in Times Square was only a diversion.

Kelly says there’s no evidence to substantiate the Taliban’s claim of responsibility. Stay tuned.

A white man? You all know where the left is going to try to take this. If true the Tea Party will be blamed in ... 3,2,1.

Via: Memeorandum

Via: The Long War Journal

Via: UK Telegraph

Via: Newsweek
Via: Hot Air

Taliban attacks U.S. Consulate in Peshawar Pakistan (Video)

Word is just coming in that the Taliban has launched a suicide bomber attack against the U.S. Consulate in Peshawar. Information is sketchy at this time.

From Stratfor:

One attacker was able to blow up in the U.S. Consulate premises, AAJ TV reported April 5. The front side of the U.S. Consulate has been totally destroyed. Reports indicate that seven or eight security personnel in the consulate are dead. The consulate’s communication system is down. 

Intially Stratfor claimed that there were 36 killed. I am unsure if that number is revised or a total including the security guards.

The UK Telegraph has more. They are saying that 15 heavily armed militants in two vehicles set off 3 massive explosions. 

Up to 15 militants armed with explosives and driving in two vehicles targeted the heavily guarded US consulate in Peshawar, a city of 2.5 million on the edge of Pakistan's lawless tribal belt, setting off multiple explosions.

"The target was certainly the American consulate but they didn't succeed in getting there," said Pakistani police officer Ghulam Hussain.

"One of the suicide bombers blew himself up close to the gate. Police guarding the US consulate started retaliatory fire. More blasts took place. We have recovered unexploded material from four different points," he said.

Three powerful explosions and bouts of gunfire echoed through the area, where the attacks occurred at a checkpoint about 20 yards from the US consulate where heavy thick smoke spewed into the sky. 

Update 1: Videos (h/t UK Telegraph & Hot Air)

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Via: Memeorandum

Via: Stratfor

Via: UK Telegraph

Via: Hot Air

Taliban’s No. 2 guy captured by the US and Pakistan

The New York Times is reporting that a joint effort between the U.S. and Pakistan has led to the capture of the Taliban’s top military commander Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. Baradar has been in custody for several days, but the Times was asked to hold off on the story to give our guy time for intelligence gathering.

WASHINGTON — The Taliban’s top military commander was captured several days ago in Karachi, Pakistan, in a secret joint operation by Pakistani and American intelligence forces, according to American government officials. 

The commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, is an Afghan described by American officials as the most significant Taliban figure to be detained since the American-led war in Afghanistan started more than eight years ago. He ranks second in influence only to Mullah Muhammad Omar, the Taliban’s founder and a close associate of Osama bin Laden before the Sept. 11 attacks. 

Mullah Baradar has been in Pakistani custody for several days, with American and Pakistani intelligence officials both taking part in interrogations, according to the officials. 

This is excellent news with many benefits. First, this joint operation signals that Pakistan has finally decided to really help the U.S. in the War on Terror. Prior to now, the Pakistani intelligence forces, the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) has been sympathetic to the Taliban. This new founded cooperation will vastly improve our chances of success in Afghanistan and could help to make sure the Taliban does not reemerge after we leave.

Another benefit is that Baradar’s capture will certain set the Taliban back significantly. It could not come at a better time, just as American forces are undertaking new initiatives in Afghanistan we have the Taliban’s top military commander is on ice.

For the Obama administration this could not come at a better time either. Republicans have been making a very strong case that this administration has gone soft on fighting terror. This capture will offer the administration a little more defense to that charge.

What is troubling though is the interrogation of Baradar. Pakistan obviously has the lead since Obama stopped all enhanced interrogations. While Pakistan will be far more brutal in interrogating than the U.S. the question does remain will they share everything? The Times article does state that the CIA is involved in the process, but how far that involvement goes remains to be seen. I would imagine that given Eric Holder’s scrutiny of the CIA, the CIA is probably making sure their guys are not around for the extreme stuff.

I am also curious as to what made Pakistan change their minds about helping us in the War on Terror. The Times story states that Pakistan now sees how the Taliban is a treat to their interest, but I think there maybe something else going on. The Taliban was always a threat to Pakistani interest, what changed to make Pakistan finally see the light?

Read the whole story at the Times, it will show you what a major score this is and provide you will give you a good appreciation of Pakistan’s new found willingness to fight terror.

Via: Memeorandum

Via: The New York Times

DNC Official Says GOP Siding With Terrorist For Stating The Obvious

A Top DNC official says the GOP is siding with terrorist because Michael Steele and the Taliban have stated the obvious; Obama has done nothing to advance peace.

From Ben Smith's Blog at Politico: 

A top Democratic National Committee official reacted furiously to a statement from Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele mocking -- and describing as "unfortunate" -- President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize.

"The Republican Party has thrown in its lot with the terrorists - the Taliban and Hamas this morning - in criticizing the President for receiving the Nobel Peace prize," DNC communications director Brad Woodhouse told POLITICO. "Republicans cheered when America failed to land the Olympics and now they are criticizing the President of the United States for receiving the Nobel Peace prize - an award he did not seek but that is nonetheless an honor in which every American can take great pride - unless of course you are the Republican Party. 

"The 2009 version of the Republican Party has no boundaries, has no shame and has proved that they will put politics above patriotism at every turn. It's no wonder only 20 percent of Americans admit to being Republicans anymore - it's an embarrassing label to claim," Woodhouse said.

Here are the statements made by Michael Steele and Zabihullah Mujahid that got the DNC official all worked up:

From The Wall Street Journal: 

“The real question Americans are asking is, ‘What has President Obama actually accomplished?’ It is unfortunate that the president’s star power has outshined tireless advocates who have made real achievements working towards peace and human rights,” RNC chairman Michael Steele said in a statement this morning. “One thing is certain – President Obama won’t be receiving any awards from Americans for job creation, fiscal responsibility, or backing up rhetoric with concrete action.” 

***  

“We have seen no change in his strategy for peace. He has done nothing for peace in Afghanistan. He has not taken a single step for peace in Afghanistan or to make this country stable… We condemn the award of the Noble Peace Prize for Obama. We condemn the institute’s awarding him the peace prize. We condemn this year’s peace prize as unjust,” said Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid. 

Both statements are painfully obvious. Obama has yet to accomplish anything in regards to advancing peace.  At this early stage in his presidency, there is still a real possibility that his actions could degrade peace throughout the world. Why is pointing this out so wrong?

Even voices on the left find Obama currently unworthy of a Peace Prize. How come they are not thrown into the same lot as the Taliban? 

Via: Memeorandum

Via: Memeorandum

Via: Ben Smith's Blog Politico

Via: The Wall Street Journal

Obama Okay With Taliban In Afghan Government

I actually had to read this twice to be sure. From the UK Times Online:

President Obama is prepared to accept some Taleban involvement in Afghanistan’s political future and is unlikely to favour a large influx of new American troops being demanded by his ground commander, a senior official said last night.

Mr Obama appears to have been swayed in recent days by arguments from some advisers, led by Vice-President Joe Biden, that the Taleban do not pose a direct threat to the US and that there should be greater focus on tackling al-Qaeda inside Pakistan. MORE

My, my, my what happened to all that tough talk during the election? It is becoming pretty clear that as far as Afghanistan is concerned, Obama is looking for the path of least resistance. He has no guts to go against his party and no guts to win the war in Afghanistan.  This is pathetic.

It was the Taliban that created an atmosphere in Afghanistan that allowed Al-Queda to thrive. There is even evidence that Iran is already working with the Taliban.

Allowing the Taliban to gain any legitimacy in the Afghan government is a recipe for disaster. Rather than destroying the already fragile Afghan government with weapons the Taliban can simply work to destroy it from within.

We should not be surprised that Joe Biden supports this foolish notion.  This is the man who wanted to partition Iraq and wanted to give Iran a $200 million check shortly after 9/11.

God help us and God help our troops.

Via: Memorandum

Via: UK Times Online

H/t Protein Wisdom

Via: MSNBC

Via: Michelle Malkin