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The following are eight reports from MEMRI’s Urdu Pashtu Media Project. MEMRI’s Urdu-Pashtu Media Project tracks evolving security threats in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region 24/7. Monitoring a wide range of websites, newspapers, television channels, magazines, and pamphlets, the project translates materials from the Dari, Pashtu, Urdu, and Hindi languages, and brings security threats and issues of cultural freedom to the attention of journalists, politicians, think tanks, U.S. troops, and government policymakers in the West in a timely manner. Be sure to visit the MEMRI Urdu Pashtu Media blog daily for the latest news from the regionhttp://www.thememriblog.org/urdupashtu. To read the full reports of the following dispatches you must be a registered member of MEMRI’s Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). To register as a JTTM subscriber, visithttp://subscriptions.memri.org/content/en/member_registr_jttm.htm. Special Dispatch No. 2661 Al-Qaeda Presents Ahmad Farooq, Head of Its Pakistani Media Department
On November 17, 2009, Al-Qaeda's media wing Al-Sahab released an Urdu-language audio interview with Ustadh Ahmad Farooq, described as "Al-Qaeda's [official] in charge of the Da'wah and Media Department for Pakistan." Al-Qaeda has recently invested much energy in translating its releases into Urdu, and Al-Sahab has likewise released Urdu- and Pashtu-language material from the Pakistani Taliban; this, however, appears to be the first time that a native Urdu-speaker, presumably a Pakistani, has been appointed to a senior position in Al-Qaeda itself. The 46-minute recording is labeled "Part 1" of the interview; according to an English-language transcript that was released together with the audio, the interview dates from Sha'ban 1430 / July 2009. Following are excerpts from the interview taken from the Al-Sahab transcript. The English has been lightly edited for clarity, and expressions appearing in Arabic script have been transliterated or translated, as appropriate: To view the full report, visit http://www.memrijttm.org/content/en/report.htm?report=3751¶m=APT. To view this report you must be a member of the Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor Project (JTTM). Special Dispatch No. 2660 Pakistani TV Channel Airs Program on Taliban Militants, Shows Chinese, Uzbek, and Arab Children Receiving Training at Pakistan-Afghan Border On October 29, 2009, the Pakistani independent television channel GEO aired a special episode of its popular current affairs program Jirga ("meeting") that traced the background of the Taliban militants and analyzed their current strength. Aired against the backdrop of the Pakistan army's anti-Taliban operation, which began October 17, 2009 in the tribal district of South Waziristan, the program notes that Chinese, Uzbek and Arab children are receiving military training in the tribal region on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The program also shows the "training at this time of suicide bombers," though the exact timing of the footage cannot be ascertained. To view the full report, visit http://www.memrijttm.org/content/en/report.htm?report=3750¶m=APT. To view this report you must be a member of the Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor Project (JTTM). Special Dispatch No. 2659 Taliban’s Assessment of Western Military Strategy In Helmand: 'The Enemy was Able to Build a Military Base in a Desert There, But Now They are Not Able to Procure Their Logistics Through Land Routes' On November 13, 2009, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the Taliban’s shadow government in the country, issued a statement, describing the Western military strategy in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province as "a complete failure." In the southern Helmand province, where the Taliban are in a strong position, the British troops carried out an offensive, called the Operation Panther’s Claw, while the U.S. marines conducted the Operation Sword. Both operations were launched in July 2009. The Taliban statement notes that despite the British and U.S. operations, the international troops are not able to deliver logistics supply using land routes and have to often rely on the air-delivery of supplies to various military bases inside the province. To view the full report, visit http://www.memrijttm.org/content/en/report.htm?report=3749¶m=UPP. To view this report you must be a member of the Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor Project (JTTM). Special Dispatch No. 2658 Jihadist Urdu Weekly Reminds Pakistani Leaders of 'Advance Instructions in the Holy Koran' on the Kerry-Lugar Bill, Urges 'Peace and an Agreement of Reconciliation' Between Pakistan Army, Local Taliban The Urdu-language Pakistani weekly Haftroza Al-Qalam recently published an article describing the Kerry-Lugar legislation passed by the U.S. Congress as a "document of slavery." The legislation provides an annual $1.5 billion in aid to Pakistan for next five years. The weekly, which owes its allegiance to the Al-Qaeda-linked militant organization Jaish-e-Muhammad, also accused the government of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani of not heeding the message of the Holy Koran regarding the Kerry-Lugar legislation's motive to enslave Pakistan. It also criticized the prime minister's roots in a family of mystics, saying that the Pakistani rulers are allowing the performance of qawwalis inside various shrines in Pakistan. The article, by one Saadi, perhaps a pen name, urges Muslims to pray for the end of military operations against the Taliban in South Waziristan and other tribal districts of Pakistan, and underlines the need for a peace agreement between the army and the militants. To view the full report, visit http://www.memrijttm.org/content/en/report.htm?report=3748¶m=UPP. To view this report you must be a member of the Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor Project (JTTM). Special Dispatch No. 2657 Taliban in Afghanistan Urge Support from Journalists, Re-State Their Aims: 'As an Islamic Liberation Force, the Mujahideen... Want to Establish an Islamic System Based on Justice and Equality and to Gain Independence of the Country Where the Afghans Will Be Owners of Their Own Country and Fate'
On November 14, 2009, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the Taliban’s shadow government in the country, issued a statement, accusing the foreign intelligence agencies of launching a media campaign to confuse the people about the Taliban’s aims. In the statement, titled "The Aims of Mujahideen," the Taliban asserted that after Afghanistan is freed from the foreign powers, they will establish an Islamic system in the country. In order to convey the Taliban’s viewpoint to the masses, the statement also urges journalists to form mujahideen support groups and wage media campaigns against the Taliban. To view the full report, visit http://www.memrijttm.org/content/en/report.htm?report=3747¶m=UPP. To view this report you must be a member of the Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor Project (JTTM). Special Dispatch No. 2656 Taliban Spokesman Warns of Attacks on Pakistani Spy Agencies: 'We Cannot Leave the Innocent Public at the Mercy of Blackwater and Their Hosts [i.e. Pakistan Intelligence]' In a new video released by As-Sahab, the Al-Qaeda media company, Azam Tariq, spokesman for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (Movement of the Pakistani Taliban), warned of attacks against the private security firm "Blackwater and their hosts" in Pakistan." Blaming the Blackwater and Pakistani secret agencies – a reference to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) – for recent bomb explosions targeting the general public at the Islamic International University of Islamabad and markets in Peshawar, the Taliban spokesman denied that the organization had carried out the attacks. The statement notes that these attacks were aimed at creating "mistrust and hatred" in the Muslim community, especially among the Pakistani people, against the Taliban. To view the full report, visit http://www.memrijttm.org/content/en/report.htm?report=3746¶m=UPP. To view this report you must be a member of the Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor Project (JTTM). Special Dispatch No. 2655 The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan on the Taliban’s Success in Afghanistan: 'What the So-Called Protectors of Human Rights Are Doing is Not Democracy But Terrorism'
On November 16, 2009, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, which is the Taliban’s shadow government, issued statement noting that they had triumphed over the most advanced army in the world in Afghanistan. Accusing the U.S. and Britain of human rights violations in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as at Guantanamo, it said that these nations' policies were destroying the "values of humanity" that were achieved after long struggles. The statement also notes that U.S. and foreign troops were using schools and clinics as security outposts, forcing the Taliban to attack them. To view the full report, visit http://www.memrijttm.org/content/en/report.htm?report=3745¶m=UPP. To view this report you must be a member of the Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor Project (JTTM). Special Dispatch No. 2654 Editorial in Pakistani Daily Urges President Obama to Seek 'Negotiated Peace with Taliban Leader Mullah Omar' and to 'Recognize the Pulsating Reality of the Afghan Taliban Being Inside Afghanistan Lock, Stock and Barrel Since Day One' In a recent editorial, titled "Stuck in quagmire," the Peshawar-based newspaper The Frontier Post urged U.S. President Barack Obama to work for a grand reconciliation between the various ethnic and tribal groups of Afghanistan and withdraw the U.S. troops. Warning that the U.S. is stuck in a quagmire, the regional Pakistani daily noted that the U.S. is confronted by a "boiling Pashtun nationalism" in Afghanistan as the Pashtun community is disappointed by the U.S. as well as Afghan President Hamid Karzai. It warned that the U.S. proposal to pay the Taliban to quit fighting will not work and urged the U.S. to recognize the reality of the Taliban’s presence in Afghanistan and agree to a negotiated peace with Taliban leader Mullah Omar and Hizb-e-Islami chief Gulbadin Hekmatyar. This dispatch is available to read in full for free, visit http://www.memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP265409.
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Wednesday, 18 November 2009
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