Afghanistan captures son of Jalaluddin Haqqani:OfficialsBy AFP

[kaykay]

Afghanistan captures son of Jalaluddin Haqqani: Officials – The Express Tribune

 

[Gandhi G in da house]

Good job. You could have posted the article here itself. Thanks anyway.

 

[CENTCOM]

Terrorist organizations like The Haqqani network, TTP (Tehreek-e-Taliban) and LeT (Lashkar-i-Tayyaba) have been causing chaos and mayhem throughout the Af/Pak region for over a decade. Their crimes and atrocities extend to both sides of the border. It is no secret that the terrorists have been taking advantage of the long and rugged mountainous border between Afghanistan and Pakistan to orchestrate their terrorist activities in both countries. We have always emphasized the importance of shared cooperation between the regional partners, and Pakistan and Afghanistan have also voiced their desire to combat the common threat of terrorism through mutual cooperation. At the end of the day, we cannot have a peaceful region without a peaceful Pakistan and Afghanistan. The terrorists must be made aware that they will not have the freedom to freely roam the region and push their agenda forward. It is our wish to see peace prevail throughout the region, and we certainly remain fully optimistic in regard to our achieving our shared peace objectives through shared cooperation.

Ali Khan
Digital Engagement Team, USCENTCOM

 

[PunjabLion]

though i feel bad fo mr haqani becauses he n his haqani network is considered to be a pro pakistan force and a great strategic asset of pakistan

but if someone think it is a big blow of haqani he has to rethink
last one of his son nasir ud din haqani was killed in Islamabad by CIA
but that couldnt reduce haqani network resistance

haqani is a tough man and has the guts and spirit to give sacrifices for his cause which even include shahadut of his sons. he is not stranger to such pain n sacrifices but no one can deviate him from his cause. his strugle against occupied american forces will continue

 

[Green Arrow]

Haqqani's son will be used as bargaining chip and will be released at some point

 

[Afghan-India]

Major operations are conducted in these days.
Jundullah leader killed.
Haqqani top leaders arrested
Taliban leaders all over Afghanistan either arrested or killed in night operations.

Ghani's new strategy at work?

 

[Bratva]

Haqqani Leaders Detained in Persian Gulf, Not Inside Afghanistan
Detentions of Anas Haqqani and Hafiz Rashid inside Afghanistan Had Indicated Possible Shift in Attitude
By MARGHERITA STANCATI And EHSANULLAH AMIRI
Updated Oct. 19, 2014 12:57 p.m. ET

Anas Haqqani, the second-in-command of the Haqqani network, is pictured in detention on Oct. 15. AFGHANISTAN
KABUL—The two recently captured top members of Afghanistan’s Haqqani network insurgent group were detained in the Persian Gulf and not inside Afghanistan, as Kabul had claimed, Taliban and foreign officials said.


The detentions of Anas Haqqani, the brother of the Taliban-affiliated group’s chief, and Hafiz Rashid, a powerful military commander, indicated a possible shift in attitude in a region where Afghan militants have long enjoyed freedom of movement.

The Haqqanis, while acknowledging the Taliban leadership’s authority, operate independently. Unlike the mainstream Afghan Taliban movement, the Haqqani network is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. The militants’ capture was touted as an important victory for the Afghan government.

The Haqqani network was behind many of the most spectacular attacks against foreign and Afghan targets in recent years. Mr. Haqqani and Mr. Rashid are now the most senior members of the network currently in Afghan custody.

When Afghanistan’s intelligence agency announced their arrest, it said they were held during an operation carried out in the eastern Afghan province of Khost, the group’s traditional powerbase. That account is now being disputed, with new information indicating the pair was actually picked up in a Gulf country and only later taken to Afghanistan.

Hafiz Rashid, the military commander of the Haqqani network in eastern Afghanistan, on Oct. 15. AFGHANISTAN
The Taliban, in a statement released in English on Saturday, said Mr. Haqqani and Mr. Rashid were arrested on Oct. 12 in Bahrain by U.S. forces. They claim the two were then taken to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates before reaching Kabul. Several Western officials also said the arrests took place in the Gulf, but they were unaware of U.S. involvement.


A senior Afghan security official confirmed the two men were arrested abroad but declined to say in which country. He said the operation was led by Afghanistan’s intelligence service, the National Directorate of Security, and that U.S. forces played no role.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Kabul said reports of Haqqani and Rashid in Afghan custody were “welcome.”

“These dangerous men are off the battlefield. We designated the Haqqani Network a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 2012. It’s a lethal network that poses a significant threat to the United States, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and our other partners and allies,” said the spokeswoman.

It is unclear what role, if any, authorities in Qatar, Bahrain or the U.A.E. played to facilitate the arrests. Officials from the three Gulf states didn't respond to requests for comment on Sunday.

Members of the Afghan Taliban, including the Haqqanis, have long moved relatively freely in Qatar, which in the past has played a key role in mediating contacts between the U.S. and the militant group. The arrest of the two Haqqani leaders last week, however, may indicate that is changing.

“If they were important and that’s why they were arrested, it would mark a turning point for the Haqqanis and their ability to travel—and perhaps indicate a further erosion of their support and backing,” said Anand Gopal, an author and Taliban expert.

Better resourced than other Taliban factions, the Haqqani network has long represented one of the biggest threats to U.S. and allied interests in Afghanistan. U.S. and Afghan officials have said the group was behind some of the most spectacular assaults in Afghanistan in recent years, including a 2011 attack against the U.S. Embassy in Kabul that killed 16 people, and another that same year on the city’s Intercontinental Hotel that left more than 20 dead.

U.S. and Afghan officials have said Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency covertly backed the Haqqanis to extend its influence Afghanistan, an accusation Islamabad has repeatedly rejected.

While they still represent a formidable threat for foreigners and Afghans, the Haqqanis appear weaker now than they did in the recent past, partly due to the targeting of their leadership and to advances Afghan security forces made in their territory. “They are a shell of their former selves,” Mr. Gopal said.

The youngest son of Jalaluddin Haqqani, the movement’s founder, Anas Haqqani rose through the ranks of the group after two of his brothers were killed, and was the second-in-command after his brother Sirajuddin Haqqani at the time of his arrest, according to Afghan officials. They say Anas Haqqani was in charge of fundraising for the network, which is partly financed by private donations from the Gulf.

The Taliban disputed this description of the younger Haqqani, saying he played no formal role in the organization, and that he was a final-year student of religious studies.

They said that before their arrest the two men had traveled to Qatar to visit Mr. Rashid’s brother: Mohammad Nabi Umari. Mr. Umari was one of five Taliban prisoners the U.S. released from Guantanamo Bay prison in May in exchange for U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, whom the Haqqani held captive for five years. As part of the prisoner-swap deal, the so-called Guantanamo Five now live in Qatar.

The Taliban said the arrests of Messrs. Haqqani and Rashid was against the terms of that agreement.

“Both men were handed over to Kabul despite the freed Guantanamo detainees being assured that their relatives may visit them unharmed,” the Taliban statement said. “The American and Kabul administrations aren't bound by any international law when it suits their political objectives and neither are they truthful in their calls of peace and reconciliation.”

Last year, the Taliban opened a political office in Qatar to host peace talks with the U.S. and Afghan governments. While the office was shut down days after it opened as it got bogged down in controversy, many former Taliban officials still live in the Gulf state.

But with the rise of extremist groups like Islamic State in the region, Qatar may be less willing to tolerate militants, says Riad Kahwaji, a senior analyst with the Dubai-based Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis.

“Qatar is the one that has the undeclared blessing of the U.S. to have ties with the Taliban,” Mr. Kahwaji said. “But any country in this period will be very sensitive and careful about what it allows when dealing with extremist groups.”

Qatar’s relations with its Gulf neighbors, such as Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E., have already suffered over the gas-rich emirate’s vocal support for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and elsewhere in the region, its links with radical groups in Syria, and its involvement in the Libyan conflict.

Separately, Afghanistan’s intelligence agency on Sunday said a senior member of al Qaeda who they identified as Abul Bara Al Kuwaiti was killed in an airstrike in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar.


—Asa Fitch in Beirut contributed to this article.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/haqq...ersian-gulf-not-inside-afghanistan-1413733878

Taliban claims captured Haqqani leaders visited ex-Gitmo detainees in Qatar
By THOMAS JOSCELYNOctober 19, 2014


Anas Haqqani and Qari Abdul Rasheed Omari (a.k.a. Hafiz Rashid). NDS photos via Khaama Press.

The Taliban has released a statement concerning the recent capture of two Haqqani Network leaders, claiming that the Afghan government has lied about the circumstances surrounding the raid that netted them. The Taliban also claims that the pair had recently visited the senior Taliban leaders freed from Guantanamo earlier this year.

The Taliban's statement could not be independently verified.

On Oct. 16, the Afghan government announced the capture of Anas Haqqani, who is the youngest son of veteran jihadist leader Jalaluddin Haqqani, and Qari Abdul Rasheed Omari, the network's military commander for southeastern Afghanistan. They were detained on Oct. 14.

Omari is the younger brother of Mohammad Nabi Omari, a senior Taliban official who was held at Guantanamo from late 2002 until May when he, along four other Taliban commanders held in US custody, were exchanged for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. The "Taliban Five," as they've been dubbed in the US, were transferred to Qatar, where they are supposed to live for one year after their release.

The Taliban says in its statement that the younger Omari had recently met with his more infamous older brother in Qatar.

According to the Taliban, Anas Haqqani had been in Qatar as well. Anas Haqqani was captured after "he embarked on his first foreign visit to meet the freed Guantanamo detainees after an invitation by the family of Mawlawi Mohammad Nabi Omari (former Guantanamo detainee)."

The Taliban claims that Omari and Haqqani were "returning home on 12th October after spending about a week." They were both allegedly "captured by the American forces in Bahrain from where they were sent back to Qatar and then handed over to Kabul via United Arab Emirates."

Relying on this version of events, the Taliban criticizes the US, arguing that it had no justification for detaining the two and that the Taliban Five were promised their family members would be allowed to visit them without interference.

The Afghan government's description of the pair's capture was entirely different, saying that the two were detained by intelligence officials in Afghanistan's national directorate of security (NDS). There was no mention of the US first detaining them.

The Taliban also seeks to downplay the significance of Anas Haqqani in its statement, whereas the Afghan government says he played a prominent role in the Haqqani Network.

Anas Haqqani was merely "a Talib-ul-ilm (student) in his last year of studies who does not have an affiliation with any current political movements," according to the Taliban.

The Afghan government describes Anas as an influential jihadist and deputy to his older brother, Sirajuddin Haqqani, who leads the Haqqani Network. Anas has "special" computer skills and "was considered one of the masterminds of this network in making propaganda through social networks," the NDS said, according to Khaama Press. Anas "was responsible for collecting and preparing funds from Arabic countries to carry out operations of this network."

The latter accusation is especially intriguing, as Qatar is a known hotbed for jihadist fundraising.

The Afghan government says that Qari Abdul Rasheed Omari was "a shadow governor" for the Haqqanis in "the Ismailkhil district of Khost province." He also oversaw suicide bombing operations.

A Haqqani leader who served multiple roles prior to detention at Guantanamo

The Taliban says that the family of Mohammad Nabi Omari, the ex-Guantanamo detainee, invited Anas Haqqani to Qatar. US officials found that Mohammad Omari was a well-connected Haqqani leader who worked with al Qaeda prior to his detention in Sept. 2002.

In a leaked memo dated Jan. 23, 2008, JTF-GTMO analysts recommended that the older Omari brother be held in "continued detention" by the Defense Department. Omari "was a senior Taliban official who served in multiple leadership roles," according to JTF-GTMO. Omari "had strong operational ties to Anti-Coalition Militia (ACM) groups including al Qaeda, the Taliban, the Haqqani Network, and the Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin (HIG), some of whom remain active in ACM activities."

Intelligence reports cited by JTF-GTMO indicate that Omari was a "member of a joint al Qaeda/Taliban ACM cell in Khowst and was involved in attacks against US and Coalition forces." Omari also "maintained weapons caches and facilitated the smuggling of fighters and weapons."

Prior to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Omari worked for the Taliban's border security and in this capacity had "access to senior Taliban commander and leader of the Haqqani Network, Jalaluddin Haqqani." Haqqani was the Taliban Minister of Frontiers and Borders at the time and this is what gave Omari the opportunity to become Haqqani's "close associate," according to JTF-GTMO.

Thus, it is entirely possible that Mohammad Nabi Omari invited Jalaluddin's son, Anas, for a visit to Qatar given the two families' historically close ties.

One "sensitive contact" told authorities that Omari was one of "three former Taliban commanders loyal to Haqqani."

A source cited in the JTF-GTMO file told authorities that Omari participated in a Jan. 26, 2002 "planning session to identify a new Governor of Khowst and to propose a list of members for the Khowst City Shura Council loyal to Haqqani." Several other high-level Taliban and Haqqani officials attended the meeting. One of them "directed the group to reconvene after members discussed names with al Qaeda members in their provinces." The leaked JTF-GTMO memo notes: "The plan was to have all personnel identified and vetted to prepare for future al Qaeda control of the area under Jalaluddin Haqqani."

Beginning in February 2002, according to another intelligence report cited by JTF-GTMO, Omari and "three al Qaeda affiliated individuals held weekly meetings to discuss ACM plans and to coordinate Haqqani loyalists."

Then, in July 2002, an "Afghan government employee" reported that Omari had joined "a new Khowst province ACM cell comprised of Taliban and al Qaeda commanders who had operated independently in the past." The list of cell members provided by this source included not only Taliban and al Qaeda leaders, but also individuals affiliated with the HIG and the Haqqani Network.

The JTF-GTMO file includes an intriguing detail about one member of Nabi's cell - a Haqqani money courier named Malik Khan. "Ayman al Zawahiri, the number two leader of al Qaeda" at the time, and now al Qaeda's emir, "has stayed at Khan's compound located outside Miram Shah," Pakistan.

In August 2002, Omari reportedly helped two al Qaeda operatives smuggle "an unknown number of missiles along the highway between Jalalabad and Peshawar," Pakistan. The missiles were smuggled in pieces, with the intent of rebuilding them for attacks near the Jalalabad airport. On Aug. 28, 2002, JTF-GTMO analysts noted, "two Americans were killed during attacks against the Khowst, Gardez, and Jalalabad airports."

Omari was captured in September 2002, detained at Bagram, and then transferred to Guantanamo. Omari was transferred to Qatar earlier this year and, if the Taliban's statement is accurate, then he has been hosting other veteran jihadists.