Pakistani Role in Global Terrorism

[SSridhar]

Pres. Clinton escaped assassination attempt at Manila in 1996

Philippines goes a long way back in Pakistani connections as far as its terrorism goes. Ramzi Yousef and his uncle KSM planned the Bojnka Plot there and escaped by the skin of their teeth to Pakistan. Abu Sayyaf have been extensively trained by LeT. Hashim Salamat, the late founder of the MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front), lived in Pakistan for several years.

So, though the report does not mention Pakistan, I expect a Pakistani hand in the 1996 attempt on Pres. Clinton at Manila.

[arun]

Cartoon by Jimmy Margulies on Pakistan and Terrorism that appeared in The Record back in December 2008 :

[SSridhar]

The above cartoon is a good start, but what a lot and lot of people do not realize is the length, breadth and depth of Pakistan's global terrorism footprint.

Pakistani jihadis have taken part in fighting established governments in such places as India, the US, Britain, China (Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region), Russia(Chechenya), Uzbekistan (Tashkent, Ferghana valley), Dagestan, Tajikistan, Southern Philippines, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Iran, Maldives, in Yemen fighting Saudi Arabia, and Burma (the Arakan).

[Lalmohan]

Pres. Clinton escaped assassination attempt at Manila in 1996

Philippines goes a long way back in Pakistani connections as far as its terrorism goes. Ramzi Yousef and his uncle KSM planned the Bojnka Plot there and escaped by the skin of their teeth to Pakistan. Abu Sayyaf have been extensively trained by LeT. Hashim Salamat, the late founder of the MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front), lived in Pakistan for several years.

So, though the report does not mention Pakistan, I expect a Pakistani hand in the 1996 attempt on Pres. Clinton at Manila.

almost certainly, the bojinka trail led directly through pakistan. as per the model that was evolving on this dhaga - the ISI provides all the operational procedures for the third front - intel, logistics, financing, etc., the 'emir-arabs' provide the intellectual leadership and foot soldiers are recruited as needed. therefore rogue or otherwise, the ISI's fingerprints would be somewhere on that

[arun]

X Posted.

Two serving officers of the Army of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan with the rank of Major have been implicated by the US’s FBI in funding Pakistani origin terrorist Daood Gilani aka David Coleman Headley.

The Majors of the Army of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan have been identified by the US’s FBI as Sameer Ali and Iqbal:

2 Pak Army officers gave Headley $25,000 for India trip: FBI dossier

[Gagan]

X Posted.
2 Pak Army officers gave Headley $25,000 for India trip: FBI dossier

The analogy ofcourse is Mohd Atta getting the wire transfer from Omar Saeed Sheikh at the ISI Chief Lt Gen Mahmood Ahmed's behest.

[Amber G.]

From LA Times'recent story about how
Jet passengers overpowered would-be bomber

Al Qaeda trained Britons in Pakistan to assemble sophisticated, liquid-based bombs that would have been smuggled aboard planes in energy drinks and other containers
The investigation revealed that the ingenious technology in that plot was developed in Pakistan by Abu Ubaida al Masri, Al Qaeda's operations chief at the time

[jash_p]

SSridhar


Joined: 05 May 2001 06:01 am
Posts: 3768
Location: Chennai The above cartoon is a good start, but what a lot and lot of people do not realize is the length, breadth and depth of Pakistan's global terrorism footprint.

Pakistani jihadis have taken part in fighting established governments in such places as India, the US, Britain, China (Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region), Russia(Chechenya), Uzbekistan (Tashkent, Ferghana valley), Dagestan, Tajikistan, Southern Philippines, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Iran, Maldives, in Yemen fighting Saudi Arabia, and Burma (the Arakan).

You forgot Somalia, Eritria

[SSridhar]

You forgot Somalia, Eritria

And, Australia too.

[arun]

Sridhar,

Permit me to add:

1. France (Mustapha Ghulam Rama)
2. Spain (9 of this Lot)
3. Canada (Many of the so called “Toronto 18”)
4. Norway (Arfan Qadeer Bhatti)
5. Tunisia (Ahmed Rukhsar) Sentenced in Spain

Pakistanis are nothing if not a hardworking bunch when it comes to being the foot soldiers of Jihadi Islamic Terrorism.

[shyamd]

'Sleeper cell plotter' revealed in UK court papers

The High Court has re-imposed a control order on a previously unknown terrorism suspect who is alleged to be part of a suicide bomb "sleeper cell" in the UK.

The man, known only as AM, is alleged to have been an associate of the foiled 2006 plane bomb plotters, even though he was never arrested.

The court says the man remained willing to kill and keep in touch with al-Qaeda figures after the plot was smashed.

The British Indian man, who lives in northern England, denies wrongdoing.

In an unusually detailed judgement, Mr Justice Wilkie reveals a two-year courtroom battle over the restrictions placed on AM's movements and freedoms.

The document reveals that AM came to attention as the security service and police investigated the network of extremists around the transatlantic airliners bomb plot.

AM had travelled to Pakistan in 2004 and 2005, where MI5 believes he received terrorism training in camps linked to al-Qaeda.

'Preparing in UK'

Back in the UK, AM was said to have been preparing to receive detailed instructions for his own suicide attack when police broke up the airlines bomb plot in August 2006. Earlier this year, the plot's three ringleaders were jailed for life.


He is an intelligent, capable, well trained, individual who remains committed to terrorist activity
Mr Justice Wilkie

The judgement reveals that at the time of the arrests, the security service thought that AM "did not show the typical characteristics of an individual preparing to martyr himself". But they later changed their mind.

In April 2007, the Royal Navy stopped a boat off the coast of Oman which included AM and another man. The incident set alarm bells ringing in London and led to further investigations. (part of anti piracy operations I presume or monitoring the Oman - balochistan sea route known for human trafficking and the preffered route for Jihadi's from the peninsula into Pak-Af)

Two months later, AM was subjected to a control order, which included a curfew, and a ban on visiting his parents' home.

The Crown Prosecution Service says there is "no realistic prospect" that AM can be put on trial because of insufficient evidence for a conviction.

According to the judgement, officials believe that while he was in Pakistan, AM may have met Abu Obaidah Al Masri, the senior al-Qaeda commander said to have planned the airliners bomb plot.

He is also said to have met Rashid Rauf, a Birmingham man who is also believed to have played a key part. Both men are reported to have since died in Pakistan, although there is no independent confirmation.

AM denies being an al-Qaeda plotter, and told his control order challenge that he opposed suicide bombings. He said that although he was Muslim by heritage, he was not particularly religious, drank beer and went to nightclubs with friends.

But in re-imposing the control order, Mr Justice Wilkie said AM posed a very high risk to the public and national security. The judge said that the man would seek to contact al-Qaeda plotters again, were his movements not restricted.

"In my judgment there is overwhelming evidence that he was a person prepared to martyr himself and, in so doing, to kill large numbers of other people," said the judge.

"He has repeatedly, systematically and carefully lied. It is my judgment that he is an intelligent, capable, well trained, individual who remains committed to terrorist activity."

[Satya_anveshi]

9/11 attackers still in Af-Pak region: US officials

"We are drawing down in Iraq and focusing on Pakistan and Afghanistan, the place where the attacks of 9/11 originated and where people sit in caves and in houses today planning more attacks on this country," Gibbs said

"The president certainly has taken steps in his time in office to re-orient our priorities as it comes to fighting that war on terror," Gibbs sid.

Obama, in my view, has taken the most lineant approach on Pakistan as he could possibly take given his pre-election rhetoric. I don't know where I read about Obama sharing room or hostel with a paki. If true, I can only imagine what type of influence he is under or whether it is possible for him to be open to understand our issues/stand.

[enqyoob]

What's with these Nigerians, usurping TSP's monopoly? No links to TSP announced.

[ArmenT]

What's with these Nigerians, usurping TSP's monopoly? No links to TSP announced.

Sir, AmberG already posted the paki connection a few posts above.

[A_Gupta]

Indian/Pakistani connection alleged:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nationa ... sport.html

Kurt and Lori Haskell, both bankruptcy lawyers, told the Daily News they saw a sharply dressed Indian man in his 50s - who did not get on the flight - trying to talk an Amsterdam gate agent into letting the suspect board Northwest Airlines Flight 253 without his passport....

.....
The Haskells, who were returning to Newport, Mich., from a safari in Uganda, said the passengers were held in the Detroit airport for six hours. While waiting, they say, they saw a different Indian man taken away in handcuffs after a bomb-sniffing dog was alerted to his carry-on bag.

Justin Raimondo at antiwar.com, with some more speculation based on Haskell's account:
http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2009 ... r-mystery/

In any case, given the veracity of Haskell’s account, it is clear that, contrary to news reports, Umar was no "lone nut," but had at least one accomplice with him on board the plane. Furthermore, both of his accomplices – the one who got him on the plane without a passport, and the one nabbed by the bomb-sniffing dog – may have been Indians.

What India has to do with all this is sheer speculation. While India’s foreign intelligence service, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), stands accused by Pakistanis of being behind much of the sectarian strife that riles the region, it’s unclear – to me, at least – what interest they would have in stirring the pot in faraway Yemen, the supposed source of the plot. If, however, it should suddenly be discovered that the "real" source of all this lies in the tribal regions of Pakistan, where Washington insists Osama bin Laden & Co. have set up their world headquarters, the Indian connection would make sense.

and

I’m not buying it, and, furthermore, in the context of Haskell’s testimony, another narrative seems just as likely: that this was a staged incident, a false flag operation, launched by those who have everything to gain by ramping up the atmosphere of hysteria and fear that regularly precedes America’s wars.

He further writes:

Whether Nigerian, or Indian, something is up here, and it seems to have little to do with al-Qaeda, which – breaking its past habit of promptly taking "credit" – has yet to claim responsibility for the attempted attack. More grounds for suspicion: allegations that the Detroit incident was planned and carried out by al-Qaeda in Yemen can be traced back to "IntelCenter," a mysterious private contractor with a dubious reputation [.pdf] (see frames 89-100) that does business with the intelligence community.

Unfortunately for his theories, Al Qaeda Yemen has claimed credit.
e.g. http://clevelandleader.com/node/12401

[enqyoob]

AmberG already posted the paki connection a few posts above.

Nope: That's about the Londonistan Hydrogen Peroxide Rocket Power Drink project.

This is the BumPak Diaper project.

[Lilo]

25 british born suspects, of Pakistani and Somali descent,getting trained to blow up Airliners

[arun]

Looks like the suicide attack targeting the US’s CIA in Afghanistan was linked after all to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

Claims of involvement by Hakimullah Mehsud of the Pakistani Taliban are finding off the record corroboration with the news that a Jordanian national, as claimed by the Pakistani Taliban, was indeed the suicide bomber,:

Source: Jordanian double-agent killed 7 CIA officers in suicide blast

By Barbara Starr, CNN
January 5, 2010 -- Updated 0214 GMT (1014 HKT)

Washington (CNN) -- The suicide bomber who killed seven CIA officials and a Jordanian military officer last week in Afghanistan was a Jordanian double-agent, a former U.S. intelligence official told CNN Monday.

The bomber was a source who came to the base camp in Khost near the Pakistan border for a meeting on December 30, a senior U.S. official also confirmed.

The man had been used by both countries' intelligence services in the past, and had provided information about high-value targets, the senior U.S. official said.

"Yes, it was a joint U.S.-Jordanian source who had provided over the period of his cooperation a lot of very detailed good information that was of high interest at the most senior levels of the U.S government," the former U.S. intelligence official said. ………………………

On Sunday, however, Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud said in an e-mail that "we claim the responsibility for the attack on the CIA in Afghanistan."

"The suicide bomber was a Jordanian national. This will be admitted by the CIA and the Jordanian government" the message said. ………………………

CNN

[SSridhar]

Looks like the suicide attack targeting the US’s CIA in Afghanistan was linked after all to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

Claims of involvement by Hakimullah Mehsud of the Pakistani Taliban are finding off the record corroboration with the news that a Jordanian national, as claimed by the Pakistani Taliban, was indeed the suicide bomber

TTP has been claiming credit for everything. We need to take this with a pinch of salt. The question is whether Hakeemullah made this claim much before the involvement of the Jordanian was a commonplace knowledge.

[arun]

^^^^^^ True the TTP has been wont to making all sorts of claims.

Having said that IIRC the claim of the Jordanian nationality of the suicide bomber by the TTP predates media reports suggesting the Jordanian nationality of the suicide bomber by more than a clear day. That suggests either the TTP made a very lucky guess on the suicide bombers nationality or that they indeed played a part as claimed.

[SSridhar]

Rahimullah Yusufzai's take on the Khost Bombing

It was clear that the Haqqani Network, named after the legendary Afghan mujahideen and Taliban commander Maulvi Jalaluddin Haqqani but now run by his son Sirajuddin Haqqani, was behind the suicide bombing even though the Pakistani Taliban commander Qari Hussain unconvincingly claimed responsibility for the attack to avenge the assassination of Baitullah Mehsud. The US army, or the CIA to be specific, and the Haqqanis were already involved in a deadly war of revenge against each other and their blood feud has now become deadlier and personal.

[arun]

Afghanistan's intelligence service the National Directorate of Security in an article datelined December 29, 2009 says that the September 02, 2009 killing of its deputy head Abdullah Laghmani along with 23 others in a suicide attack is linked to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

The suicide attack was reportedly carried out by a Pakistani national Abdul Jabar and was ordered by two Taliban leaders who live in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Shahid Khel and Maulawi Kabir.

Deutsche Presse Agentur via Earthtimes:

Pakistani Links to the killing of Afghan Deputy Intelligence Chief

[arun]

X Posted.

The US’s Congressional Research Service (CRS) has released a report on Jan 5, 2009 titled “International Terrorism and Transnational Crime: Threats, Policy, and Considerations, for Congress”.

The CRS report links the ISI to terrorist acts committed in India.

Extract from page 15 of the CRS Report:

Reportedly with assistance from the Pakistan government’s intelligence branch, the Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI), D-Company launched a series of bombing attacks on March 12, 1993, killing 257 people.65

Following the attacks, Ibrahim moved his organization’s headquarters to Karachi, Pakistan. There, D-Company is believed to have both deepened its strategic alliance with the ISI and developed links to Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT), which was designated by the United States as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) in 2001. ……………………

65 Treverton et al., p.121.

CRS Report

[arun]

X Posted.

Hmm ……………. In the Army of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan the urge for committing “Jihad fi Sabilillah” or “Jihad in the path of Allah” even overides the hippocratic oath.

Tahawwur Rana claims to have deserted from the Pakistan Army where he served as a physician.:

Chicago terror suspect is Pakistani army deserter

[arun]

X Posted.

'Terrorists in Srinagar were in touch with Pak handlers'

STAFF WRITER 19:7 HRS IST

New Delhi, Jan 7 (PTI) The Lashker-e-Taiba terrorists, who were killed by security forces during the siege at Lal Chawk in Srinagar, were in constant touch with their handlers in Pakistan when they were holed up inside a hotel there........................

PTI

[Vivek_A]

No excrement, character played by Robert Downey Jr...

Pakistani links to Haqqani militants again under spotlight

The revelation that the Haqqani network may be behind the deadly CIA bombing throws the spotlight back on to Pakistan’s connivance with militants operating on its soil.

Pakistan has refused to make any moves against the Haqqanis, who control one of the most powerful Taleban groups fighting in Afghanistan. The Pakistani military has long been in league with such groups to help to guard its interests in Afghanistan against Indian influence. In 2008 the Pakistani army chief General Ashfaq Kayani was caught on CIA intercepts referring to the Taleban commander Jalaluddin Haqqani as a strategic asset and tipping off his men about a raid.

Haqqani was one of the Mujahidin favoured with millions of dollars of weapons to fight the Soviet Union. He and the CIA are now bitter enemies after the agency killed scores of his people with drone attacks in the Pakistani tribal belt. Official Pakistani support for the Haqqanis goes from top to bottom as Tahir Ludin, the Afghan reporter of The Times, found when he was kidnapped by the group last year along with the New York Times reporter David Rohde. Crossing into Pakistan in a Haqqani convoy bristling with arms, Mr Ludin saw Pakistani border guards accept 4,000 rupees and salute their captors through. Mr Rohde later recounted how a senior commander, Badruddin Haqqani, transported them through the tribal belt under the noses of the Pakistani military.

“He explained that under a ceasefire agreement all civilians were required to get out of their cars when an army convoy approached. For Taleban vehicles, though, only the driver had to get out,” Mr Rohde wrote. “The practice allowed the Taleban to hide kidnapping victims and foreign militants from the Pakistani Army.” While they were captive, fighting broke out between the military and the so-called Pakistani Taleban, who are fighting to overthrow the Government. But Pakistan still refused to tackle the Haqqanis. When Mr Ludin and Mr Rohde escaped and sought refuge at a Pakistani border post, they said they had been prisoners of the Pakistani Taleban, not the Haqqanis. “If I had told them that, they would have sent us back,” Mr Rohde said.

[Vivek_A]

Did Pakistani Spies Help CIA Bomber?

Afghan spy officials tell The Daily Beast’s Gerald Posner that the chemical fingerprint of the bomb that killed seven CIA agents matches the kind produced by Pakistani intelligence.

Early evidence in the December 30 bombing that killed seven CIA agents suggests a link to Pakistan, two senior Afghan sources, including an official at their spy agency, told The Daily Beast. The pair said that U.S. has already taken a chemical fingerprint of the bomb used by a Jordanian double agent in the attack, and that it matches an explosive type used by their Pakistan equivalents, the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI.

The bomb’s provenance was an immediate concern after the attack, which took place in a remote base in eastern Afghanistan called Camp Chapman, because of its compact power. Most suicide attacks involve a bulky vest or belt. “It is not possible that the Jordanian double agent received that type of explosive without the help of ISI,” a senior government aide to President Hamid Karzai told me. “The problem is that CIA trusted a Jordanian but not the Afghan operatives we offer to them. If the U.S. forces recruit, they must recruit Afghans who do not have family members in Pakistan.”

[arun]

Looks like the suicide attack targeting the US’s CIA in Afghanistan was linked after all to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

Claims of involvement by Hakimullah Mehsud of the Pakistani Taliban are finding off the record corroboration with the news that a Jordanian national, as claimed by the Pakistani Taliban, was indeed the suicide bomber,:

Source: Jordanian double-agent killed 7 CIA officers in suicide blast

................... On Sunday, however, Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud said in an e-mail that "we claim the responsibility for the attack on the CIA in Afghanistan."

"The suicide bomber was a Jordanian national. This will be admitted by the CIA and the Jordanian government" the message said. ………………………

CNN

X Posting Reuters article with a hat tip to Shravan.

Reuters reports that the Jordanian perpetrator of the Khost suicide bombing has been filmed with Hakimullah Mehsud beside him.

Together with post by Vivek A Iimediately preceeding this post, the Pakistani connection to the Khost bombing is getting stronger all the time:

CIA bomber shown on TV with Pakistan Taliban leader

Sat Jan 9, 2010 2:28pm IST

By Zeeshan Haider

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A Pakistan television station showed on Saturday what it said was the suicide bomber double agent who killed CIA agents in Afghanistan sitting with the Pakistani Taliban leader, and reported he shared U.S. and Jordanian state secrets with militants.

Private television station AAJ showed a video of the bomber, speaking in English but hardly audible, with Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud beside him.

"Jordanian and American intelligence had offered him millions of dollars in exchange for spying on the mujahideen (holy warriors). But he rejected wealth and joined the mujahideen," said AAJ of Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, a Jordanian.

The channel quoted him by his online persona Abu Dujana al-Khorasani as saying that he "shared all secrets of Jordanian and American intelligence with his fellow (militants)".

If the video is authentic, it points to huge intelligence failures for the United States and its key Middle East ally Jordan. .......................

Reuters

[arun]

Two former members of the officer corps of the Army of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan get taken in by the “Jihad-fi-Sabilillah” part of the institutional motto and get indicted for what else but indulgence of “Jihad in the path of Allah”, by the United States.

The two former members of the officer corps of the Army of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan indicted for “Jihad in the path of Allah” are Major (Retd.) Tahawwur Hussein Rana and Major (Retd.) Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed.

US Department of Justice press release dated Jan 14, 2010:

Tahawwur Rana and David Headley Indicted for Alleged Roles in India and Denmark Terrorism Conspiracies

[SSridhar]

The two former members of the officer corps of the Army of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan indicted for “Jihad in the path of Allah” are Major (Retd.) Tahawwur Hussein Rana and Major (Retd.) Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed.

Arun, there are three, you missed Ilyas Kashmiri.

[arun]

Sridhar,

Eeek ……….. Yes indeed, missed out on Ilyas Kashmiri who was also trained for Jihad in the path of Allah by the SSG no less.

Would you happen to known if Ilyas Kashmiri was also from the Officer Corp’s or was he an enlisted man ?.

[SSridhar]

Would you happen to known if Ilyas Kashmiri was also from the Officer Corp’s or was he an enlisted man ?.

Arun, I am not sure, but, Shri B. Raman has referred to Ilyas Kashmiri as an SSG officer in one of his articles. Ilyas was sent by the PA to train and coordinate with the Taliban. Hence I suspect he was an officer, somebody like Col. Imam.

[negi]

And yet another wannabe rakkit munna gets it

Canadian gets 12-yr-jail for 'terrorism'

A young Canadian man was sentenced on Monday to 12 years in prison for his role in a foiled 2006 bomb plot by Islamic extremists aimed at provoking a Canadian withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Saad Gaya, 21, had pleaded guilty to the "terrorism" charges in September.

He is one of 18 alleged plotters arrested during a police sting operation in 2006 and charged with participating in a "terrorist" group and attempting to "cause an explosion."

Specifically, the group aimed to "acquire explosive substances and cause an explosion or explosions for religiously-inspired political purposes," said court documents.

They allegedly sought to purchase three tonnes of the bomb-making ingredient ammonium nitrate from undercover police officers, to target the Toronto Stock Exchange, Canada's spy agency headquarters and a military base. { Ah this obsession with SE buildings }

Gaya's motivation "was to pressure Canada into withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, the religious aspect being to protect a Muslim country from attack," said prosecutors.
His lawyer Paul Slansky told reporters: "Terrorism is a terrible and heinous crime but not everyone that commits a heinous and evil crime is themselves evil.

"I do believe that he was a misguided youth who made some seriously erroneous mistakes in deciding to trust these people who were themselves misguided," he added.

Gaya was sentenced under Canada's anti-terrorism act.

Btw wiki entry on this munna leads to err... TSP.

[arun]

^^^ Besides wiki a number of other media sources have identified Saad Gaya as being of ancestry originating from the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

Canada’s National Post:

Gaya, who was born in Montreal to parents originally from Pakistan ………………….

Wire service UPI:

Gaya, who was born in Montreal to Pakistani immigrants ……………….

Indeed if memory serves me right around a half of the “Toronto 18” terrorists are of Pakistani origin.

Truly the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a global hub for "IT" and here I do not mean "Information Technology" but rather "Islamic Terrorism".

[arun]

X Posted.

A January 2010 study by the Center on Law and Security, New York University School of Law, shows the citizens of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan are very well represented in cases involving terrorism in the US covering the period 11 Sept., 2001 to 11 Sept., 2009.

The solid presence of citizens of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan does not just end there. For example Mohamed Junaid Babar and Iyman Faris who make it onto the terrorism list as citizens of the US happen to be of Pakistani descent.

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan - purveyors of Islamic terrorists to the world!:

The Terrorist Trial Report Card, 2001-2009

Studying the full eight years of post-9/11 federal terrorism prosecutions, the Center on Law and Security has assembled a massive relational database, a resource that exists nowhere else. Periodically we have reached into the growing data set and pulled out snapshots of the most illuminating trends. This year’s Terrorist Trial Report Card reveals much about the government’s changing legal strategies, the varied biographies of the defendants, and the nature of the threat. ………………………

D. Citizenship of Defendants

The number of nationalities of the defendants associated with terrorism has been similarly broad. At least 47 countries have been represented, although we found no indication of the citizenship of 20% of the defendants through the public record. U.S. citizenship, accounting for almost 35% of the individuals indicted, is the most common.

Most Common Citizenship, by Defendant
(804 individual defendants, only the most common citizenships listed)

United States...................................................273
Colombia...........................................................98
Pakistan...........................................................60
Palestinian Territories..........................................22
Jordan..............................................................18
Iraq.................................................................14
Egypt...............................................................13
United Kingdom..................................................12
Sri Lanka..........................................................11
Canada............................................................11
Philippines........................................................11
Yemen.............................................................10
Saudi Arabia.....................................................10
Other..............................................................84
No indication of citizenship found.........................157

Read it all:

Terrorist Trial Report Card: September 11, 2001-September 11, 2009

[shaardula]

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates warned on Wednesday that a “syndicate of terrorist operators” on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border was working to destabilize the entire region, and that singling out only one extremist group for elimination would not solve the overall problem.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/21/world ... ?ref=world

[rkirankr]

The biggest terrorist group has its HQ in Pindi and headed by kiya nahi

[arun]

Link X Posted .

The Islamic Terrorism supporting ways of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is well known to the people of Afghanistan.

Findings from a survey conducted for ABC News, the BBC and ARD by the Afghan Center for Socio-Economic and Opinion Research (ACSOR) based in Kabul. Interviews were conducted in person, in Dari or Pashto, among a random national sample of 1,534 Afghan adults from 11-23 December, 2009..

53 % of Afghans polled think the Pakistan government is allowing the Taliban to operate within its borders.(Q. 36)

See here (Checkout the stunning contrast in Afghan perceptions of India and Pakistan in Q 39 and Q 40 as well) :

ASCOR Poll

[SaiK]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/2 ... 30934.html "I think the way I will approach it is simply to ask them what their plans are," Gates said, adding that the United States has heard of plans to expand Pakistani military operations against militants in the border area of North Waziristan sometime later this year. "I'd like to explore those with them."

Leaving this to paki ways means it is a long term plan.. for the pakis rather Mr. Gates/Obama.

But, there appears to be the notion, that the khan forces are here for a long term plan, perhaps a bigger base in wazirstan after sanitizing the area, perhaps with help from paki forces as force multiplier.

The usual continues, that is pakibanism. One can see all kinds of khan mil equipments with pakis to be using against India.

[arun]

The testimony of the UK’s Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, David Miliband, to the US Senates Foreign Relations Committee.

Highlights the infestation of Islamic terrorists within the Islamic Republic of Pakistan who are targeting Afghanistan:

The Afghan Taliban leadership is based primarily in Pakistan. Senior commanders there, under the leadership of Mullah Omar, provide strategic direction to insurgents over the border, if not operational command, directed at retaking territory and power in Afghanistan.

The fighters within Afghanistan draw on external funding, support and shelter. Militants move freely across the border with Pakistan. The insurgencies in the South and East of Afghanistan are directed partly from across the border in Quetta, Peshawar, and Waziristan.

Read it all:

Testimony of David Miliband