rssPakistani Taliban Leader Pledges Attack on D.C.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009 at 10:55 am
- 7 Comments
It’s difficult to see how Beitullah Massoud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, has the capability to launch attacks against the United States, but consider yourself on notice about his intentions:
The leader of the Pakistani Taliban, a man with a $5 million U.S. bounty on his head, threatened Tuesday to carry out a terror attack on the U.S. capital, and said his forces were behind the assault on a police academy in eastern Pakistan.
Baitullah Mehsud said fighters loyal to him raided the police academy on the outskirts of Lahore on Monday to avenge U.S. missile strikes against Islamic militants based along the border with Afghanistan, a region largely controlled by the Taliban and al Qaeda. …
“Soon we will launch an attack in Washington that will amaze everyone in the world,” he said in separate remarks to the Associated Press.
There’s little doubt that the drone strikes carry a great risk of alienating a Pakistani populace that the Pakistani government and the U.S. needs to bandwagon with it against the Taliban, though there are some indications that the Pakistanis hate the Taliban worse than the strikes. But Massoud’s rise to power over the last several years has come entirely through intimidation, coercion, and bloodshed, and through substituting an ascetic version of Islamic authority for the organic one that exists in the Pakistani tribal areas. If he didn’t have the pretext of the drone strikes, he’d use another. That’s not to dismiss the real concerns raised by the seemingly promiscuous use of the drones — concerns raised by premier counterinsurgents like David Kilcullen — only to place Massoud’s use of them in context.
More broadly, whether Massoud himself can fulfill his charming little boast, his comments are a reminder of the threat emanating from the Af-Pak border that Friday’s strategy from the administration aims to “disrupt, dismantle and defeat.”
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7 Comments
Comment posted March 31, 2009 @ 9:41 am
I wonder how many Pakistani Talibanis it would take to close a nightclub in DC on a Saturday night?
Pingback posted March 31, 2009 @ 10:41 pm
[...] He didn’t get the memo. Pakistani Taliban Leader Pledges Attack on D.C. [...]
Comment posted March 31, 2009 @ 10:48 pm
There is this site http://www.himalmag.com. This issue of the magazine is abt Taliban and Afghanistan.It has stuffs from its history to everything. See if you are interested. Good article…
Comment posted April 2, 2009 @ 2:11 am
Taleban in Afganistan and Pakistan are not only the threat to these countries but to the whole world, especially USA and India, who are the main targets of this group. Unfortunately, Pakistan has done very little in its war against terror and instead covertly helped these terror organisations, who now are threatening to take over Pakistan which appears inevitable as of now. This is a frightening scenerio for the whole world and should the nuclear arsenal falls in the hands of Taleban, it will be a terrible disaster for the whole world. USA must put adequate pressure on Pakistan to dimantle its terror organisation and its army should take decisive action against Taleban.
Comment posted April 2, 2009 @ 9:11 am
Taleban in Afganistan and Pakistan are not only the threat to these countries but to the whole world, especially USA and India, who are the main targets of this group. Unfortunately, Pakistan has done very little in its war against terror and instead covertly helped these terror organisations, who now are threatening to take over Pakistan which appears inevitable as of now. This is a frightening scenerio for the whole world and should the nuclear arsenal falls in the hands of Taleban, it will be a terrible disaster for the whole world. USA must put adequate pressure on Pakistan to dimantle its terror organisation and its army should take decisive action against Taleban.
Pingback posted April 3, 2009 @ 12:21 pm
[...] new risk of a joint Afghan and Pakistani Taliban militant campaign against NATO forces, as well as Baitullah Mashud’s recent threats for increased violence in Pakistan, were assessed as well. All this being [...]
Comment posted June 3, 2010 @ 12:46 am
Thanks for this interesting post,i like it.
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