11/28/11 Militants Turn to Death Squads in Afghanistan (New York Times)

Militants Turn to Death Squads in Afghanistan

By RAY RIVERA, SHARIFULLAH SAHAK and ERIC SCHMITT

Published: November 28, 2011

Target killings across Afghanistan have risen. American and Afghan officials believe that many are the work of Haqqani militant network and Al-Qaeda that are charged with killing suspected informants and terrorizing the populace on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.


Military intelligence officials say that the units act as death squads, and they also say that Khurasan has been responsible for at least 250 assassinations and public executions. Khurasan operates mainly in Pakistan's tribal areas.


There is also another group, but its name is not known. The group works mainly in Afghanistan and may be responsible for at least 20 killings in Khost Province over the summer.


The article reports:

It is another indication that the Haqqanis, a mostly Pakistan-based faction, remain the most dangerous part of an insurgency that makes full use of a porous and often ill-defined border, as the NATO strike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers over the weekend showed. Though the circumstances of that strike remain murky, it has now further upset relations between Pakistan and the United States, even as it once again demonstrated how havens inside Pakistan remained a critical part of the insurgent strategy. (New York Times)

No matter what happened, the relation between Pakistan and the United Sates has not got worsened.


The percent of assassinations in Afghanistan is growing.

Across Afghanistan, assassinations have jumped 61 percent, to 131 reported killings, through the first nine months of this year, compared with the same period in 2010, according to NATO statistics. United Nations officials say they began noticing a sharp increase in 2010, with 462 assassinations according to their records, double the number from the previous year. The figures may not include many killings in remote areas, like the mass beheading, because fearful villagers never reported them. (New York Times)

Khurasan

Khurasan is a militant group that has quite newly formed and that is seen as American foe.


Khurasan is operating in Pakistan tribal areas. It is believed to have formed in early 2009 in the North Waziristan area of Pakistan. The members are said to wear black clothing with green armbands. They work closely with Al-Qaeda in the region. Estimated number of the members are from 100 to 2,000 members. The group is seen to be responsible for some assassinations in Afghanistan. ("Militants Turn to Death Squads in Afghanistan," New York Times)

12/6/11 Rare Attacks on Shiites Kill Scores in Afghanistan

Rare Attacks on Shiites Kill Scores in Afghanistan

By ROD NORDLAND

Published: December 6, 2011

The article starts, saying:

A Pakistan-based extremist group claimed responsibility for a series of coordinated bombings aimed at Afghan Shiites on Tuesday, in what many feared was an attempt to further destabilize Afghanistan by adding a new dimension of strife to a country that, though battered by a decade of war, has been free of sectarian conflict. (New York Times)

The attacks has struck down three cities in Afghanistan, which are Kabul, Kandahar, and Mazar-i-Sharif. 63 Shiite worshipers on Ashura were estimated to be killed almost at the same time.


Sunnis strikes against the minority Shiites are alien to Afghanistan. Therefore, no Afghan was surprised when responsibility was claimed by a Sunni extremist group from Pakistan.


One important point would be:

The group, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, had not previously claimed or carried out attacks in Afghanistan, however, and its emergence fueled suspicions that Al Qaeda, the Taliban or Pakistan’s spy agency — or some combination of those three — had teamed up with the group to send the message that Afghanistan’s future stability remained deeply tenuous and indeed dependent on the cooperation of outside forces.

The president of Afghanistan commented, "The enemies of Afghanistan do not want us to live under one roof with peace and harmony."


The timing of the attacks is considerable. That was a day after international conference on Afghanistan in Bonn, Germany, and that conference had been viewed as an opportunity for Afghanistan to cement long-term support from the west.


The article also tells:

Critics of Pakistan were quick to read Monday’s boycott and Tuesday’s bombings as a signal from the Pakistanis, delivered by Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, that Afghanistan could not ignore Pakistan. (New York Times)

“Pakistan is our historical enemy and wants us to never live in peace,” said Noor Mohammad, one of the wounded worshipers, who was covered in blood minutes after the attack in Kabul. “What should we do, where should we go? The terrorists are not even letting us carry on our religious practices.” (New York Times)

10/30/11 Political Shift Seen in Rally in Pakistan (New York Times)

Political Shift Seen in Rally in Pakistan

By SALMAN MASOOD

Published: October 30, 2011

Islammabad, Pakistan.

An antigovernment ralley with more than 100,000 people was led by  Imran Khan on Sunday (10/30) evening.

"The rally represented what supporters and some political analysts said was Mr. Khan’s emergence as a serious challenger to the governing Pakistan Peoples Party and its longtime rival, the Pakistan Muslim League-N." (New York Times)

"The government is not required to call a general election until February 2013, but with a sinking economy, rising inflation, power struggles and terrorism taking a toll on the nation, opposition parties have begun pushing for an earlier date." (New York Times)

"Mr. Khan led 2,000 people in a protest outside the Parliament in Islamabad on Friday, opposing American drone strikes, and he reiterated his stance at the rally on Sunday." (New York Times)

Mr. Kahn said, “My message to America is that we will have friendship with you, but we will not accept any slavery,” he said. “We will help you in a respectable withdrawal of your troops from Afghanistan, but we will not launch a military operation in Pakistan for you.” (New York TImes)