Special Dispatch | No. 2596, 2597 | October 14, 2009
Urdu-Pashtu Media Project
Two Reports from the MEMRI Urdu-Pashtu Media Project About Uzbek Militants
The following are two reports from the MEMRI Urdu-Pashtu Media Project.
Be sure to visit MEMRI’s Urdu-Pashtu blog (http://www.thememriblog.org/urdupashtu) daily for breaking news and latest developments you will find nowhere else.
Special Dispatch No. 2597
Editorial in Pakistani Daily on Reports Of Killing of Uzbek Commander Tahir Yuldashev: He 'Wanted to Establish an Islamic State in The Central Asian Region... Thus Also Challenging China'
Pakistani security officials recently disclosed that Tahir Yuldashev, the Uzbek militant commander based in Pakistan's tribal region of Waziristan, died in a U.S. drone attack on August 27, 2009.(1) A few days before this disclosure, another report said that the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) had appointed Uzbek militant commander Abdur Rehman as its new Emir.(2)
The reported killing of Yuldashev (also spelled as Yeldshev) in Waziristan is not only a major setback for the Pakistan-based Uzbek militants' organization Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, but it has also weakened the Taliban, as Yeldshev was considered to be the right-hand man of former Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud.
Yuldashev's reported killing came just two weeks after another report that Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's Uzbek lieutenant Najmiddin Kamolitdinovic Jalolov was killed in a U.S. drone attack in the North Waziristan tribal district of Pakistan, on September 14, 2009.(3)
The killing of Uzbek militant commanders is also significant in view of the impending Pakistani military operation against the Taliban militants in their stronghold of the South Waziristan tribal district. After Yuldashev's killing, the Pakistani newspaper Daily Times noted in an editorial that the IMU will be hard put to find another leader like him and may therefore suffer a period of weakness.
To read excerpts from the editorial,(4) http://www.memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD259709.
Special Dispatch No. 2596
Afghan Daily Urges Action Against Uzbek Militants: Without Timely Action By Afghanistan and Pakistan, 'Northern Afghanistan Can Become a Launching Pad for Militants' Attacks against Central Asian Countries'
On September 30, 2009, it emerged that the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), comprising Uzbek militants based in Pakistan's tribal region of Waziristan, has appointed a new chief, following the death of its emir, Tahir Yeldshev, in a U.S. drone attack.
A report in a Pakistani daily noted that Uzbek militant commander Abdur Rehman has succeeded as the new chief of IMU.(5)
Tahir Yeldshev, in his late 30s, became the head of the IMU after the death of Juma Namagani in fighting against the U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan in late 2001 or early 2002. Yeldshev, who led the Uzbek militants based in Pakistan, had been the right hand man of Baitullah Mehsud, the chief of the Pakistani Taliban who was killed in a U.S. drone attack on August 5, 2009.
The IMU has not confirmed Tahir Yeldshev's killing, but unidentified Pakistani security officials have now told the Pakistani media that the Uzbek commander was killed in a U.S. drone attack on August 27, 2009.(6)
His reported killing is significant for several reasons: first, he was the key leader of the Uzbek militants in the Waziristan tribal region and it is yet to be seen whether his successor can be an effective leader; second, his killing comes at a time when several top Taliban commanders have been killed in the Waziristan region; third, the Pakistani military is about to launch an operation against the Taliban militants in the South Waziristan district.
In an editorial, titled "Uzbek Militants in Pakistan Pose Threat to Stability of the Region," the Afghan newspaper Afghanistan Times recently assessed the threat posed by Uzbek militants based in Pakistan.
To read excerpts from the editorial,(7) http://www.memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD259609.
Endnotes:
(1) Daily Times, Pakistan, October 2, 2009.
(2) The News, Pakistan, September 30, 2009.
(3) The Post, Pakistan, September 18, 2009.
(4) Daily Times, Pakistan, October 3, 2009. The text has been slightly edited for clarity.
(5) The News, Pakistan, September 30, 2009.
(6) Daily Times, Pakistan, October 2, 2009.
(7) Afghanistan Times, Afghanistan, September 15, 2009. The text has been slightly edited for clarity.
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