Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Rise of the Neo Taliban - part 2


"And then nobody will be able to stop our march...."

Straight from the mouths of the mujahideen in the mud huts, Syed Saleem Shahzad discusses the "dynamics of the new Afghan resistance", the latest "Islamic Emirate" org chart, nukes, and the "real showdown" shaping up in the tribal regions of Pakistan.

"... soon all the people in the mud hut had gathered around and the conversation turned to the new dynamics of the Afghan resistance. So I launched a series of questions.

"It is still not clear who is in whose command. What is the command of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar [leader of the Hezb-i-Islami]? Is [veteran Afghan resistance figure] Jalaluddin Haqqani under [Taliban leader] Mullah Omar, or is he commanding separately? Who do the Pakistan Taliban answer to? To Mullah Omar? And what are Pakistani jihadis up to?
Sadiq smiled at the barrage of questions and responded with some breaking news, "Mullah Omar, the Taliban shura [council], al-Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban have resolved this issue once and for all. Soon the mujahideen will announce the revival of a [region-wide] Islamic emirate, and after this - like all fighting groups gathered under a single command in Iraq - all commanders in Afghanistan will fall under the umbrella of the Islamic emirate.

"The Islamic emirate will govern [operations in] Afghanistan and Pakistan, and whether it is Gulbuddin Hekmatyar or any other, they will be under a single command and will not be able to defy the emirate because this is Islam," Sadiq said.

The pronouncement of an emirate would be a major development, and I jumped to my feet. "Are you sure that an Islamic emirate will be announced soon?" "Yes, indeed," said Sadiq smiling. "Sadiq, you know what this means? It would challenge both Pakistan and Afghanistan. Are the Taliban capable of doing this?" I asked. "Of course we are," Sadiq replied calmly.

Even the mud hut mujahideen knows the stakes involved in Pakistan

The Americans know exactly how near we are to Islamabad and they are aware of defections in the Pakistani army, and they are also aware that only one or two defections at the level of colonel will mean that the mujahideen will get their hands on some batteries of missiles which can carry nuclear warheads. "And they [Americans] know the moment the mujahideen get that, the game will turn in favor of the mujahideen both in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and then nobody will be able to stop our march. So the Americans want a big battle between the army and the mujahideen so that the end game will be that they can step in and destroy Pakistan's nukes under the pretext that the Pakistani army cannot protect them from the mujahideen," Sadiq said.

Sounds like a plan to me...

Rise of the Neo Taliban - part 1 can be found here.