Expert Zone
Straight from the Specialists
Osama bin Laden’s ideology thriving a year after his death
(The views expressed in this column are the author’s own and do not represent those of Reuters)
One year after the elimination of al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden by U.S. special forces in the daring Abbottabad operation of May 2, 2011, it is evident that while the terror group has been considerably weakened, it has been consolidating over the last few months and the ideology that bin Laden espoused is thriving in the Af-Pak region.
The appointment of Farman Ali Shinwari, a resident of the Khyber tribal region, as the new chief of the al Qaeda in Pakistan on the eve of the first death anniversary of bin Laden is indicative of this consolidation.
Furthermore, the fact that Shinwari is deemed to be among the more computer savvy of his compatriots would suggest that the al Qaeda is likely to enhance its outreach through the use of computers and cyberspace.
It may be recalled that bin Laden was also deemed to be a computer-proficient leader and he used all available new technologies to increase his constituency and radicalise their thinking about Islam, its practice and the need to take recourse to violence through the terror mode.
Many of the intense exhortations by bin Laden to the extended al Qaeda fraternity were done through videos and CDs and it does appear that this outreach may receive greater impetus under the post-Laden leadership of the al Qaeda as it consolidates its brand institutionally.
More than the parent organisation, the affiliates who subscribe to the ideology of the al Qaeda have become more virulent and determined in their respective regional areas and from Af-Pak to Somalia, there are pockets where the al Qaeda and its adherents appear to be gaining in local power and influence with the existing state machinery either unable or unwilling to quarantine them and their ideologies.
Laden link to HuM shows Pakistan must do more to fight terrorism
(The views expressed in this column are the author’s own and do not represent those of Reuters)
New information revealing a Kashmir-focused militant group with links to Pakistani intelligence helped shield Osama bin Laden demonstrates the U.S. must press Pakistani authorities to take a more comprehensive approach to fighting terrorism.
Pakistan has long sought to distinguish between Kashmir-focused groups it allows to openly function in Pakistani society and al-Qaeda. However, the revelations about contacts between members of Harakat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM) and Osama bin Laden show Pakistan’s segmented approach to terrorism has failed miserably and contributed to the ability of the world’s most wanted terrorist to live undetected in a military town in the heart of Pakistan.
The U.S. must insist that Pakistan detain the leader of HuM, Fazlur Rehman Khalil, and any of his colleagues that have had contact with al-Qaeda and provide U.S. officials access to these individuals for questioning.
It is clear that Kashmir-focused militant groups like HuM and Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, responsible for the 2008 Mumbai attacks, are part of al-Qaeda’s broader militant network and thus facilitate al-Qaeda’s targeting of the U.S. and other countries.
It is time the Pakistan leadership pursue these terrorists and demonstrate they will no longer be able to operate freely within Pakistani society.
Obama’s hasty Afghanistan withdrawal risks squandering gains
(The views expressed in this column are the author’s own and do not represent those of Reuters)
U.S. military commanders on the ground in Afghanistan had reportedly requested a slower pace of withdrawal to afford them the opportunity to consolidate recent gains against Taliban insurgents. President Obama has denied his military commanders flexibility to determine the pace and scope of withdrawal based on conditions on the ground, and instead appears to have based his decision largely around the U.S. domestic political calendar.
The plan for rapidly withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan also risks upending the major achievement of eliminating Osama bin Laden across the border in Pakistan.
Bin Laden’s death and an aggressive drone campaign in Pakistan’s tribal border areas have put al Qaeda on its back foot. The administration deserves credit for accomplishing this crucial objective, but it is short-sighted to use bin Laden’s death as justification for hastening the U.S. troop drawdown in Afghanistan.
Announcing rapid withdrawal of U.S. forces will likely bolster the morale of the Taliban and encourage them to stick with the fight. Since al Qaeda has not yet dissolved as an organisation and its relationship with the Taliban remains strong, reducing military pressure on the Taliban in Afghanistan could benefit al Qaeda and provide it a lifeline at a critical juncture in the fight against terrorism.
The withdrawal plan will signal to both our Afghan allies and enemy forces that the U.S. is more committed to withdrawing its forces than the long-term goal of stabilising the country. The U.S. made a grave error in turning its back on Afghanistan after the Soviets departed in 1989. President Obama’s speech will stoke fears that the U.S. is getting ready to repeat a similar mistake.
Obama’s announcement on rapid troop withdrawals from Afghanistan will further discourage Pakistan from cracking down on the Taliban leadership that finds sanctuary on its soil. The speech will reinforce Islamabad’s calculation that the U.S. is losing resolve in the fight in Afghanistan and thus encourage Pakistani military leaders to continue to hedge on support to the Taliban to protect their own national security interests.
Toward the end of his speech tonight, Obama obviously felt the need to pathetically claim, “We stand not for empire” — which is clearly an admission that he feels a need to emphasize and, without the slightest proof, reinforce this ridiculous claim that the US is not acting as a global Empire.
As Shakespeare famously wrote of the human nature of the guilty “(S)he protesteth too much”.
So tonight, the ever smooth Obama, seems clearly to be protesting too much about an issue that a fast increasing number of Americans beyond Chomsky, Bacevich, Berman, Parenti, Kolko, Chalmers Johnson, Korten, Hedges, Harvey, Hardt, Wolin, Zinn, et al have known for years. That our former country is now the seminal part of a disguised global corporate/financial/militarist Empire, which hides behind the facade of its bought and paid for Two-Party “Vichy” sham of democratic government.
Which means that today even the faux-Emperor himself seems to know that he has no clothes on, and that the global Empire that he fronts for is today becoming very naked to very many people here and abroad.
So, tonight’s speech by faux-Emperor/president, Obama, was very good news for all of us who know that our former and now captive country “stands precisely for Empire” — although “we” certainly do not!
Alan MacDonald
Sanford, Maine
Liberty & democracy
over
violent
empire
New America People’s Party 2012
After bin Laden: Do not retreat from Afghanistan
(The views expressed in this column are the author’s own and do not represent those of Reuters)
The killing of Osama bin Laden should strengthen U.S. resolve to stabilise Afghanistan and ensure that it does not return to serving as a safe haven for terrorists intent on attacking the U.S. homeland.
While the death of bin Laden marks a turning point in the fight against global terrorism, al-Qaeda and its affiliate organisations will not dissolve immediately.
U.S. troop withdrawals from Afghanistan beyond that which may be justified by conditions on the ground would squander the gain of eliminating bin Laden, who appears to have played a major role in directing attacks against the U.S. up until his death two weeks ago.
Instead, the U.S. should build on bin Laden’s death to advance its Afghanistan strategy by seeking to convince the Taliban leadership to finally break ties to al-Qaeda and join a legitimate peace process in Afghanistan.
AL-QAEDA VS THE TALIBAN
The Taliban’s initial public reaction to the killing of bin Laden shows no sign of compromise. Indeed, the Taliban said bin Laden’s death would provide new impetus for its “jihad against the invaders.”
After bin Laden: Bringing change to Pakistan’s counterterrorism policies
(The views expressed in this column are the author’s own and do not represent those of Reuters)
The U.S. unilateral operation to track and kill Osama bin Laden deep inside Pakistan has raised several questions about the sustainability of the U.S.- Pakistan partnership in the fight against global terrorism.
Relations between Islamabad and Washington were already strained, and the bin Laden operation has deepened the rift. It laid bare the enduring mistrust between the two nations and demonstrated that each side is willing to edge closer to the other’s red lines in pursuit of its own goals.
The killing of bin Laden marks not only a watershed in the U.S. global fight against terrorism, but also a turning point in U.S. relations with Pakistan. Americans and Pakistanis alike are asking the crucial question of how bin Laden could have lived in a large, conspicuous compound in a military cantonment town — swarming with security officials — undetected for nearly six years.
After years of denying bin Laden’s presence in Pakistan and complaining that Pakistan was unfairly labelled the “epicentre of terrorism,” Pakistani military officials must now accept the reality that the world’s most wanted terrorist was found in their backyard.
U.S. Director of Central Intelligence Leon Panetta admitted that the U.S. had conducted the operation unilaterally because Washington decided that any effort to work with the Pakistanis could jeopardise its success.
The onus is now on Pakistan to demonstrate that it is willing to work more closely with the U.S. to target other terrorists sheltered within its borders and to cooperate more fully with the U.S. goal of stabilising Afghanistan.
Dear Mr Bhaskar
Please do not ruin your wonderful articles with mischievous rumors of any sort. I’m talking about the part on “farewell intercourse”. Had you shown only a little more diligence and patience in conducting your online research you would have discovered that it was a plain hoax and nowhere close to reality. Here, have this link:
http://www.christianpost.com/news/egypt- farewell-intercourse-law-a-hoax-by-mubar ak-supporters-74025/
Who spread it and what was their intention is something I’m not in a position to find out and so i’d practice restraint in this regard. And I would also advice you not to be rumor-monger!
Islam already has such a tarnished image that if people try to spread rumors about such insane “legislations”, people tend to give no second thoughts to them and start babbling them right away.
I agree that a lot needs to be done by the muslim societies all around the world to deal with the myriad problems that mire the everyday lives of millions of people living out there, the role of the non-muslim societies, in trying to give them a positive environment of trust and support, can not be undermined.
Talking about the regions where militancy is wide-spread and is only increasing with every passing day, the international society needs to understand that making efforts to bring about economic developments and removing despotic and dictatorial governments is the only way to bring the entire masses of the muslim population to a “peaceful mainstream”.
Just as the non-muslim world thinks of the muslim world as a threat to their existence, the insecure muslim world thinks of the rest of the world as a threat to their existence and this cold war is not going to end if the leaders from both the sides are not going the extra-mile of sorting out their own internal differences and making the best of efforts to build mutual trust and confidence followed with creating trade links.