Karzai Assassination Plot Foiled: Officials

[High_Gravity]

Karzai Assassination Plot Foiled: Officials

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Afghan intelligence officials said Wednesday that they had broken up a cell that plotted to kill President Hamid Karzai, arresting six people in Kabul whom they claimed were affiliated with al-Qaida and the Haqqani militant group.

Intelligence service spokesman Latifullah Mashal said that that the cell included one of Karzai's bodyguards, as well as a professor at Kabul university and three college students.

Mashal described the cell as the "most sophisticated and educated group in Kabul", and said that it had assisted Pakistani militants sent to the Afghan capital to carry out terror attacks. He did not say when they were arrested.

He said the group, which also allegedly planned attacks in Kabul, the United States and Europe, was recruited by an Egyptian and a Bangladeshi based in Pakistan.

Afghan officials have been increasingly vocal in publicly accusing Pakistan and its ISI intelligence agency of maintaining ties with militants, including the Haqqani group. On Tuesday, they claimed that Pakistani officials had advance knowledge of the Sept. 20 assassination of former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani.

Pakistan has denied the charges, but the accusations have further strained relations between the two nations that share a 1,500-mile (2,430-kilometer) border.

The Haqqani militant group, a lethal threat to U.S.-led coalition forces, has been blamed by U.S. intelligence officials and others for a number of high-profile attacks in Kabul in recent years, including hotel bombings and the September 12 assault on the American Embassy.

Mashal identified the two recruiters as an Egyptian named Sayifullah and a man from Bangladesh named Abdullah, who were based in Miram Shah, the capital of Pakistan's North Waziristan region, where the Haqqani group and other militants operate with relative freedom.

Mashal said that the six Afghans were recruited "to carry out suicide attacks in Kabul, plan and coordinate bigger international attacks in the U.S. and parts of Europe and a luxury hotel in Kabul."

"They also were responsible for recruiting one of the key security guards of President Karzai's protective services. They had a plan to assassinate President Karzai maybe during his travels or trips to the provinces," the Afghan intelligence spokesman said.

He did not disclose details about attacks the cell reportedly planned in the United States or Europe.

Those arrested were:

_Dr. Emal Habib Asadullah, a medical professor and director of microbiology at Kabul University.

_Mubullah Ahmadi, who is from Karzai's hometown of Karz in southern Afghanistan. Ahmadi worked as a guard at the presidential palace.

_Rahmatullah Ramin, a fourth year medical student at Kabul University.

_Parwez, identified by only one name, who was studying at a private university in Kabul.

_Abdul Hamid Mashal, a university student.

_Abdul Bashir, a man from Kapisa province in eastern Afghanistan, who was living in Kabul.

Several of the individuals received explosives and weapons training in Peshawar, Pakistan, Mashal said.

The group had access to $150,000 in a bank account in Kabul, he said, as well as access to computers and high-tech equipment. With its university ties, the cell was also well positioned to win more recruits, he said.

"The main purpose of the group was to kill high-ranking Afghan figures and identify guest houses used by foreigners or other potential targets in Kabul," he said.

Karzai has escaped at least four attempts on his life since he took power in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001.

In April 2008, militants opened fire with automatic weapons and rockets on a ceremony in Kabul. Karzai, Cabinet ministers and ambassadors scrambled for cover and escape unharmed. Three people were killed, including a lawmaker.

In June 2007, Taliban militants fired six rockets that landed near a school yard where Karzai was meeting with local leaders and residents in Ghazni province. No one was hurt.

In September 2004, militants fired rockets at an American helicopter taking Karzai to the eastern city of Gardez in Paktia province. The rockets missed the chopper as it approached a landing zone.

In September 2002, a former Taliban fighter dressed in an Afghan army uniform fired at Karzai as he traveled in a motorcade in Kandahar in southern Afghanistan. Karzai was not hurt, but the governor of Kandahar province was wounded. The attacker was killed by Karzai's bodyguards.

Separately, the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan said Wednesday that a senior leader of the Haqqani network had been killed in an airstrike in the eastern part of the country.

Karzai Assassination Plot Foiled: Officials

 

[freedombecki]

I'm sorry to hear of this, High Gravity. Karzai lost his brother not long ago. Didn't he climb down into the tomb or something in his sorrow? What a terrible toll being leader in Afghanistan after the Taliban has been. That cell organized attacks by Pakistanis in Afghanistan? Don't those people know they have pushed the envelope a little too far already?

 

[Ropey]

I have the belief that your military and its ISI have become like drug cartels in South America, that literally "own" countries. It is not that they were evil to begin with. Over a period of time, due to circumstances, they have gone down this path of turning into an evil and monstrous system.

Pakistan was once created for Muslims of the Indian sub-continent and it has now become a skin for a cartel that calls itself a national military. In order for it to survive and sustain itself, it needs continuous conflicts and bogeymen. It loves to be a part of any global issues that would help its causes. As a result, it has outgrown the nation it is supposed to protect and has leached away all the resources towards its own well being. It is like a cancer growth that starts taking all the nutrients meant for the regular cells.

Pakistani military is responsible for the genocide and separation of East Pakistan. It is responsible for the lack of nation building and strong democratic institutions. They have made India as their bogeyman and have misled the Pakistani public into believing in a Hindu monster ready to gobble up Pakistan at all times.

They have exploited the ignorance of the Americans to the hilt and have built this vast network of Jihadi clone factories all over the region. The puppies that they fed have now grown up and want to feed more. American presence in the vicinity has prevented the Pak military from feeding these monsters and it has resulted in the monsters biting Pakistanis from within. And they have exploited that too by making ordinary Pakistanis believe that these monsters are of external creation.

The exposure of Bin Laden's hiding place inside Pakistan, at a military facility is a good thing. It has exposed and confirmed the ugly face of your country's military cartel. Your people need to be saved from its grip. It is not protecting them. It is feeding on them. It needs to be dismantled and restructured. ISI has to be decimated unfortunately. The Americans have aptly clubbed it along with terror groups. There is no use pretending.

Pakistan has a lot of talented and wonderful people. If they need their dignity and respect restored, their nation has to be rid off these monsters. I hope the Americans do not trigger a civil war inside Pakistan in order to weaken and dismantle your military cartel. If they do not get access to the other criminals that your military is hiding inside Pakistan, they will trigger a civil war. This is because it is the easiest way to thwart an enemy that has become intransigent.

I wish you all the best and your people need not feel ashamed at what has happened. They have nothing to do with what your military has been doing.

Bin Laden's death: 'Why kill the goose?' | Tariq Ali | Comment is free | The Guardian

I found this a fine read. Far better than the piece imo.

 

[High_Gravity]

I'm sorry to hear of this, High Gravity. Karzai lost his brother not long ago. Didn't he climb down into the tomb or something in his sorrow? What a terrible toll being leader in Afghanistan after the Taliban has been. That cell organized attacks by Pakistanis in Afghanistan? Don't those people know they have pushed the envelope a little too far already?

The Pakistanis have many players on the ground in Afghanistan, all I can say if if I were Karzai I would have plans to relocate to another country once the US Military leaves. The last Afghan President that hung around after the Soviets left was gutted, hung and dragged through the streets of Kabul after the Taliban siezed it.

 

[Sallow]

Karzai's got a short shelf life once America pulls out.

 

[High_Gravity]

Karzai's got a short shelf life once America pulls out.

I have to agree, the Taliban will tear him limb from limb, even if they promise that they won't do so.

 

[RoccoR]

High_Gravity, et al,

Not that I disagree.

Karzai's got a short shelf life once America pulls out.

I have to agree, the Taliban will tear him limb from limb, even if they promise that they won't do so.

(COMMENT)

But if this is a reasonable expectation, than what is our purpose in Afghanistan?

If it is expected that the country will destabilize, then what is the plan between now and the withdrawal date? Are we expecting something devine intervention to take place?

What is the strategy here? Why are we wasting any more resources. Should we not be immediately reducing our footprint before we have to fight our way out.

Most Respectfully,
R

 

[High_Gravity]

High_Gravity, et al,

Not that I disagree.

Karzai's got a short shelf life once America pulls out.

I have to agree, the Taliban will tear him limb from limb, even if they promise that they won't do so.

(COMMENT)

But if this is a reasonable expectation, than what is our purpose in Afghanistan?

If it is expected that the country will destabilize, then what is the plan between now and the withdrawal date? Are we expecting something devine intervention to take place?

What is the strategy here? Why are we wasting any more resources. Should we not be immediately reducing our footprint before we have to fight our way out.

Most Respectfully,
R

I really wish I could answer your questions, we seem to keep moving the goal posts in Afghanistan, when we first went in there the goal was to wipe out Al Qaeda and find Bin Laden, now the goal is to help stabilize their country and train their Military and Police to carry on the fight once we leave, the problem with that is the situation on the ground seems to be getting even worse and even more complicated the longer we stay in that country.