Afghanistan – The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, as the Afghan Taliban call themselves, announced on the 8 May 14 that this year's spring offensive would, like last year's, target "the invaders and their spineless backers." Like previous spring offensives, the Taliban said they would target Coalition military forces and civilians, as well as the Afghan government, military, intelligence services, and tribal militias. This year's spring offensive, called Khaibar after the Battle of Khaibar, began on 12 May 14 the Taliban said in a statement released on their official propaganda website, Voice of Jihad. The Battle of Khaibar took place in 629 in Saudi Arabia. Muslim forces under the command of Mohammed laid siege to and defeated Jews living in Khaibar. "By taking this name as a good omen for the current year, we ask Allah (SWT) to completely cleanse our country from the filth of the infidels and let their large bases be liberated, Allah willing," the Taliban stated. The Taliban said "the main target" of Khaibar "shall be the foreign invaders and their backers under various names like spies, military and civilian contractors and everyone working for them like translators, administrators and logistics personnel." "Similarly the blessed 'Khaibar' Jihadi spring operations shall target all high ranking government officials, cabinet ministers, members of Parliament, security officials, occupation backing officers in the Interior and Foreign Ministries, attorneys and judges that prosecute Mujahideen as well as agents in the National Directorate [Afghan intelligence] that pursue and torture Mujahideen," the statement continued. The Taliban also promised to use "various modern military techniques," such as "back-breaking martyrdom strikes," or suicide assaults and bombings; "infiltrator operations," the insider, green-on-blue or green-on-green attacks, in which Taliban fighters infiltrate or turn Afghan forces against their countrymen or Coalition forces; rocket and mortar attacks on bases; and "head-on offensive operations against enemy gatherings." Military bases, "diplomatic centres," military and civilian convoys, and other "facilities of foreign, interior, intelligence and Arbaki militia" would be the primary targets of Taliban attacks. Additionally, the Taliban called on "all the workers of the crumbling Kabul regime" to turn on their government and promised to protect them if they did so. "The Islamic Emirate assures them of an honourable, safe and a peaceful life if they forgo the enemy ranks and considers your protection our moral duty," the Taliban stated. The Taliban have devoted significant efforts to stepping up attempts to kill NATO troops and foreigners by infiltrating the ranks of Afghan security forces. Additionally, the Taliban have offered refuge to government and security officials who defected. "The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has ambitions of continuing the sacred obligation of Jihad with the backing of its Muslim nation until the expulsion of every last infidel invader and establishment of an Islamic government," the statement concluded. (Taken from the Long War Journal dated 9 May 14)
361COMMENT: With the withdrawal of NATO forces this year the Afghan forces are going to be placed in a difficult position. Security may probably decline a little as the Afghans come to terms of running things on their own. No matter what the NATO commanders say, the same thing happened when the Coalition forces left Iraq. Interestingly with the statement that the Taliban recently made is who and how they will attack. Those who have sought the protection of NATO forces will no longer have that security when the military depart. The Afghan forces will have to prioritise as it seems fit to deploy their forces and groups that have been supported by the military in the past may not find that they have that overhead cover. Those civilian groups that work far away from the main towns and cities may find themselves at the centre of attention from the Taliban later in the year and after the NATO military depart. They would be well advised to rethink their security arrangements and possibly also think of their location. The threat of kidnapping of westerners who fail to enhance security, dust off the escape plan or relook at their security plan cannot be ruled out. The other interesting note regarding the Spring Offensive is that the name of the operation ‘Khaiber’ is a very careful choice of name especially as NATO has stated that it is withdrawing its forces at the end of 2014. The Taliban will claim the propaganda that the operation was a success in clearing the country of foreigners as they did in the year 629. Rather clever. 361 COMMENT ENDS
Taliban fighters opened fire and stormed a government building in eastern Afghanistan in the most serious of a string of attacks across the country, while in Kabul two rockets struck inside the grounds of the city's international airport but caused no damage it was reported on the 12 May 14. Also on the 12 May in eastern Afghanistan, groups of fighters, including some on motorbikes, attacked police checkpoints, killing three people and wounding eight. The attacks happened on the outskirts of the city of Ghazni in the province by the same name. In Jalalabad, attackers targeted a police vehicle and detonated a roadside bomb on the 12 May wounding six people, including two policemen. In addition, two rockets were fired toward the Bagram military airbase, 48km north of Kabul but also caused no damage.
China – Entrenched in secret mountain bases on Pakistan's borders with Afghanistan, Uighur fighters are gearing up for retribution against China to avenge the deaths of comrades in Beijing's crackdown on a separatist movement their leader told Reuters which has reported this through Terrorism Watch 2 May 14. China, Pakistan's only major ally in the region, has long urged Islamabad to weed out what it says are militants from its western region of Xinjiang, who are holed up in a lawless tribal belt, home to a lethal mix of militant groups, including the Taliban and al Qaeda. A mass stabbing at a train station in the Chinese city of Kunming two weeks ago, in which at least 29 people were killed, has put a new spotlight on the largely Muslim Uighur ethnic minority from Xinjiang, where Beijing says armed groups seek to establish an independent state called East Turkestan. Beijing has called the Kunming bloodshed a "terrorist attack" carried out by militants, and says separatists operate training camps across the rugged border which abuts Pakistan and Afghanistan. In a rare but brief interview, Abdullah Mansour, leader of the rebel Turkestan Islamic Party, said it was his holy duty to fight the Chinese. Pakistani intelligence sources say they number about 400 fighters, and are clustered around the remote Mir Ali area, sharing bases with other foreign insurgents, particularly Uzbeks, who speak a similar language. Many Uighurs in the energy-rich Xinjiang region which borders ex-Soviet Central Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, accuse Han Chinese of stifling their culture and religion. More than 100 people there have been killed in unrest in the past year, according to Chinese
Six people were wounded in a knife attack at a train station in China on the 6 May 14 the latest in a string of violent episodes at public transport hub locations. Police shot one of the attackers at the train station in the southern metropolis of Guangzhou. Four attackers were involved they were also reportedly wearing white caps and police opened fire on them after they ignored warnings.
China’s top security official said a special anti-terrorism operation will begin after a third violent attack this year at a railway station occurred in Guangzhou, near the border with Hong Kong. China must “resolutely beat the terrorists’ arrogant brazenness,” Meng Jianzhu, head of the Commission for Political and Legal reported on the 7 May 14. The country is on high alert after a series of violent attacks that have shaken its domestic security apparatus, with more sophisticated acts of violence blamed on ethnic Uighur separatists from restive Xinjiang province in China’s northwest.
Sri Lanka – Sri Lanka's Muslim legislators on the 2 May 14 asked President Mahinda Rajapakse to protect their minority community from "Buddhist extremist elements" blamed for a recent spate of hate attacks. The Muslim Council of Sri Lanka, an umbrella organization of Muslim groups, said 16 out of the 18 Muslim parliamentarians had asked the president to intervene and halt the attacks. "Muslim parliamentarians wish to bring to your Excellency’s kind attention the continued hate campaign, intimidation and threats to Muslims, carried out by some Buddhist extremist elements," the MPs said in a joint letter. It was sent after police on Monday established a new unit to investigate hate crimes after attacks by Buddhist monks on churches and mosques last year raised concerns about religious freedom. Nationalist Buddhist groups have accused religious minorities of having undue political and economic influence on the island. The country is emerging from nearly four decades of ethnic war which according to UN estimates claimed at least 100,000 lives between 1972 and 2009. Tamil rebels were fighting for a separate homeland for ethnic minority Tamils, who are Hindu, on the Sinhalese-majority Island. Seventy percent of Sri Lanka's 20 million people are Sinhalese Buddhists, while Muslims are the second-largest religious group, making up fewer than 10 percent.
361COMMENT: With the withdrawal of NATO forces this year the Afghan forces are going to be placed in a difficult position. Security may probably decline a little as the Afghans come to terms of running things on their own. No matter what the NATO commanders say, the same thing happened when the Coalition forces left Iraq. Interestingly with the statement that the Taliban recently made is who and how they will attack. Those who have sought the protection of NATO forces will no longer have that security when the military depart. The Afghan forces will have to prioritise as it seems fit to deploy their forces and groups that have been supported by the military in the past may not find that they have that overhead cover. Those civilian groups that work far away from the main towns and cities may find themselves at the centre of attention from the Taliban later in the year and after the NATO military depart. They would be well advised to rethink their security arrangements and possibly also think of their location. The threat of kidnapping of westerners who fail to enhance security, dust off the escape plan or relook at their security plan cannot be ruled out. The other interesting note regarding the Spring Offensive is that the name of the operation ‘Khaiber’ is a very careful choice of name especially as NATO has stated that it is withdrawing its forces at the end of 2014. The Taliban will claim the propaganda that the operation was a success in clearing the country of foreigners as they did in the year 629. Rather clever. 361 COMMENT ENDS
Taliban fighters opened fire and stormed a government building in eastern Afghanistan in the most serious of a string of attacks across the country, while in Kabul two rockets struck inside the grounds of the city's international airport but caused no damage it was reported on the 12 May 14. Also on the 12 May in eastern Afghanistan, groups of fighters, including some on motorbikes, attacked police checkpoints, killing three people and wounding eight. The attacks happened on the outskirts of the city of Ghazni in the province by the same name. In Jalalabad, attackers targeted a police vehicle and detonated a roadside bomb on the 12 May wounding six people, including two policemen. In addition, two rockets were fired toward the Bagram military airbase, 48km north of Kabul but also caused no damage.
China – Entrenched in secret mountain bases on Pakistan's borders with Afghanistan, Uighur fighters are gearing up for retribution against China to avenge the deaths of comrades in Beijing's crackdown on a separatist movement their leader told Reuters which has reported this through Terrorism Watch 2 May 14. China, Pakistan's only major ally in the region, has long urged Islamabad to weed out what it says are militants from its western region of Xinjiang, who are holed up in a lawless tribal belt, home to a lethal mix of militant groups, including the Taliban and al Qaeda. A mass stabbing at a train station in the Chinese city of Kunming two weeks ago, in which at least 29 people were killed, has put a new spotlight on the largely Muslim Uighur ethnic minority from Xinjiang, where Beijing says armed groups seek to establish an independent state called East Turkestan. Beijing has called the Kunming bloodshed a "terrorist attack" carried out by militants, and says separatists operate training camps across the rugged border which abuts Pakistan and Afghanistan. In a rare but brief interview, Abdullah Mansour, leader of the rebel Turkestan Islamic Party, said it was his holy duty to fight the Chinese. Pakistani intelligence sources say they number about 400 fighters, and are clustered around the remote Mir Ali area, sharing bases with other foreign insurgents, particularly Uzbeks, who speak a similar language. Many Uighurs in the energy-rich Xinjiang region which borders ex-Soviet Central Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, accuse Han Chinese of stifling their culture and religion. More than 100 people there have been killed in unrest in the past year, according to Chinese
Six people were wounded in a knife attack at a train station in China on the 6 May 14 the latest in a string of violent episodes at public transport hub locations. Police shot one of the attackers at the train station in the southern metropolis of Guangzhou. Four attackers were involved they were also reportedly wearing white caps and police opened fire on them after they ignored warnings.
China’s top security official said a special anti-terrorism operation will begin after a third violent attack this year at a railway station occurred in Guangzhou, near the border with Hong Kong. China must “resolutely beat the terrorists’ arrogant brazenness,” Meng Jianzhu, head of the Commission for Political and Legal reported on the 7 May 14. The country is on high alert after a series of violent attacks that have shaken its domestic security apparatus, with more sophisticated acts of violence blamed on ethnic Uighur separatists from restive Xinjiang province in China’s northwest.
Sri Lanka – Sri Lanka's Muslim legislators on the 2 May 14 asked President Mahinda Rajapakse to protect their minority community from "Buddhist extremist elements" blamed for a recent spate of hate attacks. The Muslim Council of Sri Lanka, an umbrella organization of Muslim groups, said 16 out of the 18 Muslim parliamentarians had asked the president to intervene and halt the attacks. "Muslim parliamentarians wish to bring to your Excellency’s kind attention the continued hate campaign, intimidation and threats to Muslims, carried out by some Buddhist extremist elements," the MPs said in a joint letter. It was sent after police on Monday established a new unit to investigate hate crimes after attacks by Buddhist monks on churches and mosques last year raised concerns about religious freedom. Nationalist Buddhist groups have accused religious minorities of having undue political and economic influence on the island. The country is emerging from nearly four decades of ethnic war which according to UN estimates claimed at least 100,000 lives between 1972 and 2009. Tamil rebels were fighting for a separate homeland for ethnic minority Tamils, who are Hindu, on the Sinhalese-majority Island. Seventy percent of Sri Lanka's 20 million people are Sinhalese Buddhists, while Muslims are the second-largest religious group, making up fewer than 10 percent.
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