Tag: Al-Qaida

State Department Failed To Plan Or Respond Fast Enough In Afghanistan Collapse, New US Report Finds

WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department failed to do enough planning before the collapse of the U.S.-backed government in Afghanistan, according to a Biden administration review of the department’s performance during the chaotic evacuation of Americans and Afghan allies.

The review repeatedly blames the administrations of both former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden for their efforts before and after the August 2021 departure of U.S. forces from Kabul. The U.S. evacuated an estimated 124,000 Afghans from the country.

Republicans have in turn accused Biden of not taking responsibility for intelligence failures leading up to the Taliban’s seizure of the country and for the scenes of chaos at Kabul’s airport, where 13 U.S. troops and about 170 Afghans died in a suicide bombing.

Biden was defiant when asked Friday if he would admit the U.S. made mistakes before and during its withdrawal.

“Remember what I said about Afghanistan? I said al-Qaida would not be there,” Biden said. “I said we’d get help from the Taliban. What’s happening now? What’s going on? Read your press. I was right.”

The U.S. in July 2022 killed al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri in a drone strike at his Kabul home, part of what the Biden administration calls an “over the horizon” capacity to target the group after the withdrawal. But a United Nations monitoring team reported in May that al-Qaida considers Afghanistan “a safe haven” and that the Taliban had not met previous commitments on counterterrorism.

“Al-Qaida maintains a low profile, focusing on using the country as an ideological and logistical hub to mobilize and recruit new fighters while covertly rebuilding its external operations capability,” the monitors said in their report.

According to Friday’s report, a State Department task force helped bring out nearly 2,000 Afghan citizens in July and early August 2021, weeks before the Aug. 31, 2021, deadline the U.S. set for withdrawal. They were eligible for processing under a special U.S. visa program for Afghans.

But State “failed to establish a broader task force as the situation in Afghanistan deteriorated,” the report says.

And as the military planned for an evacuation of American civilians and Afghan allies, “it was unclear who in the Department had the lead,” it says.

TOPSHOT – A US Air Force aircraft takes off from the military airport in Kabul on August 27, 2021, as the Pentagon said the evacuation of tens of thousands of people from Afghanistan still faces more possible attacks like the bombing that killed scores of people outside the Kabul airport. (Photo by – / AFP) (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)

“The decisions of both President Trump and President Biden to end the U.S. military mission in Afghanistan had serious consequences for the viability of the Afghan government and its security,” the review says. “Those decisions are beyond the scope of this review, but the (review) team found that during both administrations there was insufficient senior-level consideration of worst-case scenarios and how quickly those might follow.”

As the Taliban took key cities far faster than most U.S. officials expected and the fate of Kabul became unclear, the report says, State Department personnel began receiving an “overwhelming volume of incoming calls and messages” from lawmakers, other government agencies, and the public pleading for help saving people trapped in the country.

Staff working to facilitate the evacuation also faced confusing guidance that wasn’t attuned to real-world conditions at the time, according to the report.

State has taken lessons from the failures of Afghanistan into account when evacuating people before and during the subsequent war in Ukraine and as a crisis developed in Sudan, according to a senior State Department official who briefed reporters Friday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the department.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a letter to employees that the review was “vital to building a stronger Department that is better prepared to respond to future challenges and to fulfill our missions around the world.”

The Biden administration released sections of the long-awaited State report, which was completed in March 2022, on the Friday before the July 4 holiday weekend, though it withheld most of the report from public release. It had released a National Security Council review of the withdrawal on the day before Good Friday and the Easter weekend but declined to release internal Pentagon and State Department assessments. The Pentagon’s report is still classified as secret.

Officials declined to say why they had released the report just before a holiday weekend.

Rep. Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called on the administration to release the full report. “This is another blatant attempt to hide the Biden administration’s culpability in the chaotic and deadly evacuation from Afghanistan,” he said in a statement.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to comment on the report or McCaul’s statement, but noted that administration officials have responded to bipartisan inquiries and provided “thousands of pages of information.”

“That’s being transparent,” she said. “That’s being there, answering and taking those tough questions.”

This version corrects that 13 U.S. troops, not just Marines, died in the 2021 suicide bombing at Kabul airport.

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June 30, 2023
Iran lashes out at France over new Charlie Hebdo cartoons

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran summoned the French ambassador on Wednesday to condemn the publication of offensive caricatures of the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

The magazine has a long history of publishing vulgar cartoons mocking Islamists, which critics say are deeply insulting to Muslims. Two French-born al-Qaida extremists attacked the newspaper’s office in 2015, killing 12 cartoonists, and it has been the target of other attacks over the years.

Its latest issue features the winners of a recent cartoon contest in which entrants were asked to draw the most offensive caricatures of Khamenei, who has held Iran’s highest office since 1989. The contest was billed as a show of support for anti-government protests rocking Iran.

One of the finalists depicts a turbaned cleric reaching for a hangman’s noose as he drowns in blood, while another shows Khamenei clinging to a giant throne above the raised fists of protesters. Others depict more vulgar and sexually explicit scenes.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian vowed a “decisive and effective response” to the publication of the cartoons, which he said had insulted Iran’s religious and political authorities.

The French government, while defending free speech, has rebuked the privately-owned magazine in the past for fanning tensions.

Iran has been gripped by nationwide protests for nearly four months following the death in mid-September of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who had been detained by Iran’s morality police for allegedly violating the country’s strict Islamic dress code.

Women have taken the lead in the protests, with many stripping off the compulsory Islamic headscarf in public. The protesters have called for the overthrow of Iran’s ruling clerics in one of the biggest challenges to their rule since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that brought them to power.

Charlie Hebdo, which has published similarly offensive cartoons about dead child migrants, virus victims, neo-Nazis, popes, Jewish leaders and other public figures, presents itself as an advocate for democracy and free expression. But it routinely pushes the limits of French hate speech laws with often sexually explicit caricatures that target nearly everyone.

The paper drew fire for reprinting caricatures of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad that were originally published by a Danish magazine in 2005. Those cartoons were seen as sacrilegious and deeply hurtful to Muslims worldwide, many of whom nevertheless condemned the violent response to the drawings.

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January 4, 2023
UN warns terrorist threat has increased and is more diffuse

UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council warned Thursday that the threat of terrorism has increased and become more diffuse in various regions of the world aided by new technologies.

It strongly condemned the flow of weapons, military equipment, drones and explosive devices to Islamic State and al-Qaida extremists and their affiliates.

The presidential statement, approved by all 15 council members, was adopted at the end of an open meeting on counterterrorism chaired by External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar of India, who called terrorism “an existential threat to international peace and security.”

In the presidential statement, which is a step below a resolution, the Security Council expressed grave concern that terrorists are raising and transferring funds in a variety of ways, including abusing legitimate businesses and non-profit groups, kidnapping for ransom and trafficking in people, cultural items, drugs and weapons.

The council urged the 193 U.N. member states to prioritize countering terrorist financing.

It also esaid terrorist groups “craft distorted narratives that are based on the misinterpretation and misrepresentation of religion to justify violence” and use names, religion, or religious symbols for propaganda, recruitment and manipulation of followers. To tackle this, the council called for counter-narratives “promoting tolerance and coexistence.”

The statement said combatting terrorism requires governments and the “whole of society” to cooperate in increasing awareness about the threats of terrorism and violent extremism and “effectively tackling them.”

It said “strengthening cooperation in countering the use of new and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes” is needed, pointing to the increased use of the internet, social media, virtual assets, new financial instruments and the increasing global misuse of drones for terrorist attacks.

U.N. counterterrorism chief Vladimir Voronkov told the council in a virtual briefing that despite continuing leadership losses by al-Qaida and the Islamic State extremist group, “terrorism in general has become more prevalent and more geographically widespread, affecting the lives of millions worldwide.”

In recent years, he said, Islamic State, al-Qaida and their affiliates have exploited instability, fragility and conflict to pursue their agendas “particularly in West Africa and the Sahel, where the situation remains urgent as terrorist groups strive to expand their area of operations.” These groups have also contributed to deteriorating security in central and southern Africa, he said.

In Afghanistan, Voronkov said, “the sustained presence of terrorist groups continues to pose serious threats to the region and beyond.” He expressed concern that the country’s Taliban rulers “have failed to sever longstanding ties with terrorist groups sheltering in the country despite this council’s demands that they do so,” an apparent reference to al-Qaida-Taliban links.

He expressed concern at the rise in terrorist attacks “based on xenophobia, racism and other forms of intolerance or in the name of religion or belief.”

Voronkov, who heads the U.N. Office of Counterterrorism, also warned that terrorist groups use “online videogames and adjacent platforms to groom and recruit members, propagandize, communicate, and even train for terrorist acts.”

U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland told the council that “last year, the world faced more than 8,000 terrorist incidents, across 65 countries, killing more than 23,000 people.” She said the U.N. estimates that racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism has increased over 320% in recent years.

“Other recent attacks around the world — the bombing of a police station in Indonesia, the coup attempt in Germany, and hateful incidents here in our country — remind us that no country is safe from this threat, and it cannot be defeated by any of us alone or by any regional bloc,” she said. “We must all work together.”

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December 15, 2022
Australia reduces national terrorism threat to ‘possible’

CANBERRA, Australia — Australia’s terrorism threat level has been downgraded from “probable” to “possible” for the first time since 2014, the head of the main domestic spy agency said Monday.

The defeat of the Islamic State group in battle in the Middle East and an ineffective al-Qaida propaganda machine failing to connect with Western youth has resulted in fewer extremists in Australia, Australian Security Intelligence Organization Director-General Mike Burgess said.

“This does not mean the threat is extinguished,” Burgess said.

“It remains plausible that someone will die at the hands of a terrorist in Australia within the next 12 months,” he added.

However, there have been increases in radical nationalism and right-wing extremist ideology in Australia in the past couple of years, Burgess said.

“Individuals are still fantasizing about killing other Australians, still spouting their hateful ideologies in chat rooms, still honing their capabilities by researching bomb-making and training with weapons,” Burgess said.

There have been 11 terrorist attacks and another 21 plots have been disrupted since the threat assessment was elevated from “possible” to “probable” in 2014, he said. Half of the foiled plots were in the first two years of the upgraded risk when the Islamic State group was more prominent.

There have also been 153 terrorism-related charges stemming from 79 counterterrorism operations in Australia since 2014.

Burgess warned it was almost guaranteed that the threat level will increase again. But this would not necessarily be the result of a terrorist attack, with the overall security assessment taking into account individuals acting alone, he said.

People are being radicalized online at an extreme pace, sometimes in as short as weeks or months, he said.

But there are fewer groups planning months- or years-long sophisticated terrorist attacks with the aim of maximum destruction, he said.

More than 50 people convicted of terrorist offenses are also due for release in the future, but only a small number will be freed by 2025, Burgess said.

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November 27, 2022
UN: Taliban has plunged Afghanistan into `dire’ conditions

UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution Thursday accusing the Taliban of violating the human rights of Afghan women and girls, failing to establish a representative government, and plunging the country into “dire economic, humanitarian and social conditions.”

The resolution also pointed to persistent violence in the country since the Taliban takeover 15 months ago and the presence of terrorist groups such as al-Qaida and the Islamic State and their affiliates as well as the presence of “foreign terrorist fighters.”

Germany’s U.N. ambassador, Antje Leendertse, had hoped the 193-member General Assembly would approve the German-facilitated resolution by consensus.

But a vote was requested and it was adopted 116-0, with 10 countries abstaining — Russia, China, Belarus, Burundi, North Korea, Ethiopia, Guinea, Nicaragua, Pakistan and Zimbabwe. Sixty-seven countries did not vote.

General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding, unlike Security Council resolutions, but they do reflect world opinion.

The adoption came the same day that the Taliban, which already banned girls from middle school and high school, prohibited women from using gyms and parks.

Before the vote, Leendertse told the assembly that since the Taliban came to power in August 2021 Afghanistan has seen “a massive economic contraction and humanitarian crisis” which has left half the population facing “critical levels of food insecurity.”

“We expect a harsh winter and levels of needs that we have not seen in the last decades with little prospect for economic recovery and reduction of poverty,” she warned.

Introducing the resolution, Leendertse told the assembly that the Taliban control the country but aren’t living up to their responsibility toward meeting the needs of the Afghan people.

“The resolution is a clear call to respect, protect and fulfill human rights, develop inclusive governance and fight terrorism,” she said. “It contains a clear message that without that, there cannot be business as usual and no pathway toward recognition.”

The resolution pledges continued U.N. support for the Afghan people “in order to rebuild a stable, secure and economically self-sufficient state, free of terrorism, narcotics, transnational organized crime, including trafficking in persons, and corruption, and to strengthen the foundations of a constitutional democracy as a responsible member of the international community.”

It calls for improved access for aid workers and recognizes the need to help address Afghanistan’s economic challenges, including efforts to restore the banking and financial systems and enabling Central Bank assets — held mainly in the United States — to be used to help the Afghan people.

The resolution expresses deep concern at human rights abuses against women and girls, including sexual violence, and calls on the Taliban to promote “full, equal, meaningful and safe participation of women in all aspects of Afghan society.”

It condemns all attacks, reprisals and violence against journalists and media workers and calls for their perpetrators to be brought to justice.

The resolution reaffirms the assembly’s expectation that the Taliban will live up to its commitments to allow the safe departure of all Afghans and foreign nationals that want to leave the country.

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November 10, 2022
Somalia car bombs death toll up to 120, some still missing

MOGADISHU, Somalia — The death toll from twin car bombings in Somalia’s capital has reached 120 and could rise further because some people are still missing, the country’s health minister said Monday.

Ali Haji said more than 320 others were wounded in Saturday’s midday explosions at a busy junction in Mogadishu, and over 150 of them are still being treated at hospitals.

It was Somalia’s deadliest attack since a truck bombing at the same spot killed more than 500 people five years ago. It is not clear how vehicles loaded with explosives again made it through a city full of checkpoints and constantly on alert for attacks.

The al-Qaida affiliate al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for the bombings and said it targeted the education ministry, which it accused of turning youth away from Islam.

Somalia’s government under the recently elected President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has been engaged in a new offensive against al-Shabab, including efforts to shut down its financial network. The government has said the fight will continue.

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October 31, 2022
Somalia’s president says at least 100 killed in car bombings

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somalia’s president says at least 100 people were killed in Saturday’s two car bombings at a busy junction in the capital and the toll could rise in the country’s deadliest attack since a truck bombing at the same spot five years ago killed more than 500.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, at the site of the explosions in Mogadishu, told journalists that nearly 300 other people were wounded. “We ask our international partners and Muslims around the world to send their medical doctors here since we can’t send all the victims outside the country for treatment,” he said.

The al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group, which often targets the capital and controls large parts of the country, claimed responsibility, saying it targeted the education ministry. It claimed the ministry was an “enemy base” that receives support from non-Muslim countries and “is committed to removing Somali children from the Islamic faith.”

Al-Shabab usually doesn’t make claims of responsibility when large numbers of civilians are killed, as in the 2017 blast, but it has been angered by a high-profile new offensive by the government that also aims to shut down its financial network. The group said it is committed to fighting until the country is ruled by Islamic law, and it asked civilians to stay away from government areas.

Somalia’s president, elected this year, said the country remained at war with al-Shabab “and we are winning.”

The attack in Mogadishu occurred on a day when the president, prime minister and other senior officials were meeting to discuss expanded efforts to combat violent extremism and especially al-Shabab. The extremists, who seek an Islamic state, have responded to the offensive by killing prominent clan leaders in an apparent effort to dissuade grassroots support.

The attack has overwhelmed first responders in Somalia, which has one of the world’s weakest health systems after decades of conflict. At hospitals and elsewhere, frantic relatives peeked under plastic sheeting and into body bags, looking for loved ones.

Halima Duwane was searching for her uncle, Abdullahi Jama. “We don’t know whether he is dead or alive but the last time we communicated he was around here,” she said, crying.

Witnesses to the attack were stunned. “I couldn’t count the bodies on the ground due to the (number of) fatalities,” witness Abdirazak Hassan said. He said the first blast hit the perimeter wall of the education ministry, where street vendors and money changers were located.

An Associated Press journalist at the scene said the second blast occurred in front of a busy restaurant during lunchtime. The blasts demolished tuk-tuks and other vehicles in an area of many restaurants and hotels.

The Somali Journalists Syndicate, citing colleagues and police, said one journalist was killed and two others wounded by the second blast while rushing to the scene of the first. The Aamin ambulance service said the second blast destroyed one of its responding vehicles.

It was not immediately clear how vehicles loaded with explosives again made it to the high-profile location in Mogadishu, a city thick with checkpoints and constantly on alert for attacks.

The United States has described al-Shabab as one of al-Qaida’s deadliest organizations and targeted it with scores of airstrikes in recent years. Hundreds of U.S. military personnel have returned to the country after former President Donald Trump withdrew them.

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October 29, 2022
Two explosions rock Somalia’s capital, leaving “scores” dead

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Two car bombs exploded Saturday at a busy junction in Somalia’s capital near key government offices, leaving “scores of civilian casualties” including children, national police said. The attack came five years after a massive blast at the same location.

The attack in Mogadishu occurred on a day when the president, prime minister and other senior officials were meeting to discuss combating violent extremism, especially by the al-Qaida-affiliated al-Shabab group that often targets the capital.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Al-Shabab rarely claims attacks with large numbers of civilians killed, as in the 2017 blast.

An Associated Press journalist at the scene saw “many” bodies and said they appeared to be civilians traveling on public transport. He said the second blast occurred in front of a busy restaurant during lunchtime. The blasts left crushed tuk-tuks and other vehicles in an area of many restaurants and hotels.

The Aamin ambulance service told the AP they had collected at least 35 wounded. One of the ambulances responding to the attack was destroyed by the second blast, director Abdulkadir Adan added in a tweet.

“I was 100 meters away when the second blast occurred,” witness Abdirazak Hassan said. “I couldn’t count the bodies on the ground due to the (number of) fatalities.” He said the first blast hit the perimeter wall of the education ministry, where street vendors and money changers were located.

The Somali Journalists Syndicate, citing colleagues and police, said one journalist was killed and two others wounded by the second blast while rushing to the scene of the first.

The attack occurred at Zobe junction, which was the scene of a huge al-Shabab truck bombing in 2017 that killed more than 500 people. Police said the new attack occurred at the exact spot as the 2017 one.

Somalia’s government has been engaged in a high-profile new offensive against the extremist group that the United States has described as one of al-Qaida’s deadliest organizations. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has described it as “total war” against the extremists, who control large parts of central and southern Somalia and have been the target of scores of U.S. airstrikes in recent years.

The extremists have responded by killing prominent clan leaders in an apparent effort to dissuade support for that government offensive.

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October 29, 2022
Pakistan: Oldest prisoner freed from Guantanamo, back home

ISLAMABAD — A 75-year-old from Pakistan who was the oldest prisoner at the Guantanamo Bay detention center was released and returned to Pakistan on Saturday, the foreign ministry in Islamabad and the U.S. Defense Department said.

Saifullah Paracha was reunited with his family after more than 17 years in custody in the U.S. base in Cuba, the ministry added.

Paracha had been held on suspicion of ties to al-Qaida since 2003, but was never charged with a crime. Last year in May, he was notified that he had been been approved for release. He was cleared by the prisoner review board, along with two other men in November 2020.

As is customary, the notification did not provide detailed reasoning for the decision and concluded only that Paracha is “not a continuing threat” to the United States, according to Shelby Sullivan-Bennis, who represented him at his hearing at the time.

The DOD said in its Saturday statement that the U.S. appreciates “the willingness of Pakistan and other partners to support ongoing U.S. efforts focused on responsibly reducing the detainee population and ultimately closing the Guantanamo Bay facility.”

In Pakistan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said it had completed an extensive inter-agency process to facilitate Paracha’s repatriation.

“We are glad that a Pakistani citizen detained abroad is finally reunited with his family,” the ministry said.

Paracha, who lived in the United States and owned property in New York City, was a wealthy businessman in Pakistan. Authorities alleged he was an al-Qaida “facilitator” who helped two of the conspirators in the Sept. 11 plot with a financial transaction.

He has maintained that he didn’t know they were al-Qaida and denied any involvement in terrorism.

The U.S. captured Paracha in Thailand in 2003 and held him at Guantanamo since September 2004. Washington has long asserted that it can hold detainees indefinitely without charge under the international laws of war.

In November 2020, Paracha, who suffers from a number of ailments, including diabetes and a heart condition, made his eighth appearance before the review board, which was established under President Barack Obama to try to prevent the release of prisoners who authorities believed might engage in anti-U.S. hostilities upon their release from Guantanamo.

At the time, his attorney, Sullivan-Bennis, said she was more optimistic about his prospects because of President Joe Biden’s election, Paracha’s ill health and developments in a legal case involving his son, Uzair Paracha.

The son was convicted in 2005 in federal court in New York of providing support to terrorism, based in part on testimony from the same witnesses held at Guantanamo whom the U.S. relied on to justify holding the father.

In March 2020, after a judge threw out those witness accounts and the U.S. government decided not to seek a new trial, the younger Paracha was released and sent back to Pakistan.

In its statement on the elder Paracha’s repatriation, the DOD said 35 detainees remain at Guantanamo Bay as of Saturday, and that of 20 of them are eligible for transfer.

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Associated Press writer Thomas Strong in Washington contributed to this report.

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October 29, 2022