Daily Summary - Wednesday, December 14, 2005

[Airbornelawyer]

Truncated, as I am swamped.

Iraq: Ongoing operations (http://www.mnf-iraq.com/releases.htm) – Miscellaneous releases from Multi-National Force Iraq (http://www.mnf-iraq.com/).
Middle East and South & Central Asia: Ongoing operations (http://www.mnf-iraq.com/releases.htm) – Miscellaneous releases from U.S. Central Command (http://www.centcom.mil/CENTCOMNews/release_list.asp).
South Asia: South Asia Terrorism Update (http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/detailed_news.asp?date1=12/14/2005) (South Asia Terrorism Portal (http://www.satp.org))
Sri Lanka: Security Situation Report (http://www.army.lk/news/index.html). (Sri Lanka Army (http://www.army.lk))
The Americas: USSOUTHCOM Headline News (http://www.southcom.mil/pa/News/AOR%20News/Today's%20News.doc) (Microsoft Word format)
The Americas: NOTIMIL: Prensa al Día (http://www.portal.fuerzasarmadasecuador.org/espanol/mostrarweb.php?id=151), defense and military news related to Ecuador and the Americas, provided by the Fuerzas Armadas Ecuatoriana (http://www.fuerzasarmadasecuador.org/). In Spanish.
The Americas: Destaques da Imprensa (https://www.defesa.gov.br/enternet/sitios/internet/clipping/index.php), defense and military news related to Brazil and the Americas, provided by the Ministério da Defesa (http://www.defesa.gov.br/). In Portuguese.

From the RFE/RL Newsline (http://www.rferl.org/newsline/):


Transcaucasia And Central Asia
SOUTH CAUCASUS FOREIGN MINISTERS HOLD TALKS WITH EU
Senior EU officials including Foreign and Security Policy Commissioner Javier Solana met separately in Brussels on 13 December with the foreign ministers of the three South Caucasus states, an RFE/RL correspondent reported. The talks focused on the three countries' respective Action Plans for implementation within the parameters of the New Neighbourhood Policy, and the possibility of greater EU involvement in efforts to resolve what Solana termed the "frozen" conflicts over Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia. The talks with the Armenian delegation headed by Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian focused in addition on the 27 November referendum on constitutional amendments -- the positive outcome of which the opposition claim was rigged -- and Armenian-Turkish relations, Noyan Tapan reported on 13 December.
GEORGIA HAILS SOUTH OSSETIAN LEADER'S PEACE PROPOSAL...
Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Noghaideli hailed on 13 December the proposal made the previous day by Eduard Kokoity, president of the unrecognized Republic of South Ossetia, that Georgia and South Ossetia should jointly draft a plan for resolving their decade-old differences, Georgian media reported. Noting that Kokoity's proposed three-stage approach largely coincides with that of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, Noghaideli proposed beginning work on the draft immediately in order to submit it to a session of the Joint Control Commission (JCC) before the end of this month. Kokoity proposed having the draft ready by late January and convening the JCC session no later than 15 February. Noghaideli attributed South Ossetia's more constructive approach to Russian pressure. Speaking at a press conference in Tbilisi on 13 December, Georgian Minister for Conflict Resolution Giorgi Khaindrava similarly termed Kokoity's initiative "important" and advocated beginning work immediately on a draft document, Civil Georgia reported.
...AS DO RUSSIA, NORTH OSSETIA
Speaking at the same Tbilisi press conference on 13 December, Ambassador Valerii Kenyaikin, who is the Russian co-chairman of the JCC, said that the entire political leadership in South Ossetia supports Kokoity's initiative, Civil Georgia reported. In Moscow, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin too greeted Kokoity's peace proposal, stressing the importance of the three-stage format, of which the first stage is demilitarization of the conflict zone. Kamynin further noted that Kokoity's initiative encompasses a number of additional points on which Kokoity and former Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania reached agreement one year ago. In Tskhinvali, South Ossetian Foreign Minister Murat Djioev told ITAR-TASS on 13 December that Teymuraz Mamsurov, president of the Republic of North Ossetia, has likewise expressed full support for Kokoity's peace plan.


Southeastern Europe
MOLDOVAN OFFICIAL SAYS TRANSDNIESTER ONLY BIG PROBLEM IN RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA
Andrei Stratan said on 13 December that the Transdniester issue is the only major problem in relations with Moscow, and he urged Russia to remove its troops in order to resolve it, ITAR-TASS reported the same day. "Chisinau has repeatedly stated that the [Transdniester] theme actually remains the only problematic one in our relations with Russia," Stratan said "Russia should withdraw its troops from the region in order to get the...problem finally settled. Moldova's sovereignty and territorial integrity cannot be the subject of any negotiations," he added.

Southwestern Asia And The Middle East
NEO-TALIBAN RENEW FATWA ORDERING DEATH OF SUPPORTERS OF U.S. IN AFGHANISTAN...
Qari Mohammad Yusof, purporting to speak on behalf of the neo-Taliban, said in a telephone interview on 13 December that a new fatwa in the "form of a pamphlet and a poster" has been issued on the present situation of Afghanistan, the Peshawar-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) reported. According to Mohammad Yusof, "a few days ago, about 100 religious scholars" discussed the current affairs of Afghanistan and based on Islamic texts, they decided that U.S. forces came to Afghanistan "not at the invitation of Afghans," but rather "they invaded" the country as "an aggressor." As such, Mohammad Yusof told AIP that "jihad against the Americans has become a duty." The fatwa orders the Afghans to have "no sympathy for infidels" and to avoid cooperating with them. Moreover, the fatwa instructs that "anyone who supports them [U.S. forces] morally or materially should be killed." The fatwa warns Afghan government employees to quit their jobs and that "anyone who has a father working for the Americans should cut their relations with them and treat them as an enemy." The neo-Taliban have issued similar fatwas in the past, starting with one in early 2003 which was issued in the name of the former leader of the Taliban regime, Mullah Mohammad Omar.
IRANIAN LEADER MEETS WITH PALESTINIAN MILITANT...
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei discussed Palestinian affairs in Tehran on 13 December with Khaled Mashal, the head of the political bureau of the militant group Hamas, ISNA reported the same day. Khamenei praised "the successes of the Palestinian nation" and Israel's "expulsion" from Gaza. He urged "continued resistance" to ensure "Palestine's freedom," and said experience has shown that "compromising" and "negotiating with" the "Zionist occupiers" will not "make the situation better" but bring "increased pressures." Victory, he added, can only come with "resistance and persistence," ISNA reported. Khamenei said he hopes militant groups will soon expel "the enemies of the Palestinian people" from Jerusalem, while he said the United States may seem powerful but "has faced defeat in the Middle East and is retreating." Mashal thanked the Iranian government for its "positions" in support of Palestinians, and said these represent the inner feelings of all Muslim governments, though "unfortunately, other Islamic states dare not express these positions."
...WHO ALSO MEETS WITH PRESIDENT, OFFICIALS
Mashal also met with President Mahmud Ahmadinejad on 11 December, with Expediency Council Chairman Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani on 12 December, and with Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Larijani on 13 December, ILNA and ISNA reported on 12 and 13 December. Ahmadinejad told Mashal that "insistence" is the "secret of victory" for Palestinians against Israel. Mashal told the press on 13 December that Palestinians "are proud" of Ahmadinejad's recent statements on Israel, which "are in coordination with" the revolutionary movement of Palestinians, ISNA reported. Ahmadinejad has denounced Israel and recently expressed doubt that Jews were mass-murdered during World War II. Rafsanjani told Mashal on 12 December that Israel has begun "its decline" and urged "resistance and persistence" for a Palestinian victory. Larijani praised Hamas on 13 December for removing "the great pressure" he said Israel has exerted on Palestinians, ISNA reported. He also dismissed recent reported threats of Israeli strikes against Iran's nuclear installations, and said "these are more for publicity and should not be taken seriously," ISNA reported.
SUNNI WAQF OFFICE CALLS ON IRAQIS, EXPATRIATES, TO VOTE
The Sunni Waqf (endowments) office in Iraq issued fatwa on 13 December calling on expatriates and Iraqis living inside Iraq to cast their ballots in the National Assembly elections, Al-Arabiyah television reported on the same day. The satellite news channel interviewed Waqf head Ahmad Abd al-Ghafur al-Samarra'i, who said the fatwa was supported by over 1,000 Sunni scholars. He told Al-Arabiyah that Iraqis should vote for the electoral list of their choosing and not feel intimidated to vote for any one particular list.

[aricbcool]

Truncated, as I am swamped.
Thanks for taking the time to post today, AL. Much appreciated.


Southwestern Asia And The Middle East
NEO-TALIBAN RENEW FATWA ORDERING DEATH OF SUPPORTERS OF U.S. IN AFGHANISTAN...
Qari Mohammad Yusof, purporting to speak on behalf of the neo-Taliban, said in a telephone interview on 13 December that a new fatwa in the "form of a pamphlet and a poster" has been issued on the present situation of Afghanistan, the Peshawar-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) reported. According to Mohammad Yusof, "a few days ago, about 100 religious scholars" discussed the current affairs of Afghanistan and based on Islamic texts, they decided that U.S. forces came to Afghanistan "not at the invitation of Afghans," but rather "they invaded" the country as "an aggressor." As such, Mohammad Yusof told AIP that "jihad against the Americans has become a duty." The fatwa orders the Afghans to have "no sympathy for infidels" and to avoid cooperating with them. Moreover, the fatwa instructs that "anyone who supports them [U.S. forces] morally or materially should be killed." The fatwa warns Afghan government employees to quit their jobs and that "anyone who has a father working for the Americans should cut their relations with them and treat them as an enemy." The neo-Taliban have issued similar fatwas in the past, starting with one in early 2003 which was issued in the name of the former leader of the Taliban regime, Mullah Mohammad Omar.


I remember seeing a documentary on the "neo-taliban" a while back. IIRC, the big supporter back in 02-03 was the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), based out of Pakistan. Northwestern Pakistan, to be specific, used to have a large concentration of MMA/Taliban Supporters. While the Taliban is probably still using NW Pakistan/NE Afghanistan as a haven (speculation on my part), the MMA seems to be in trouble. I found two articles on the MMA. Below are segments from each. The first is about who the MMA is, from globalsecurity.org. The second is from wikipedia, and details their present troubles.

from: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/pakistan/mma.htm (beware of popups)
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (moo ta HEE da MAJ lees eh AH mal), the United Action Front, is an alliance initially headed by Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani, leader of Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan – the political representative of the Barelvi school of Sunni Muslims.

Its leaders are strongly opposed to the US-led anti-terrorism campaign in neighboring Afghanistan that ousted the Taleban(sic) from power. The group believed Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf had become a tool of US foreign policy. The MMA campaigned on promises to enforce Sharia law and in support of the withdrawal of US forces based in Pakistan in the campaign against international terrorism.

The religious alliance won an absolute majority in October 2001 regional elections. The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal now rules the North West Frontier Province and Baluchistan. On November 25, 2002 the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal formed the government in the NWFP, after the alliance’s huge success in the province, at both the provincial and national level. In June 2002 the parliament in North-West Frontier Province approved legislation to make Sharia -- or Islamic teachings -- the governing law in the region. Since taking control of the province, the ruling Islamic alliance banned music on public transport, medical examinations of women by male doctors, male coaches for women athletes and male journalists from covering women's sports.

Taliban fighters are recruited and trained in Pakistan's tribal areas of Baluchistan and North-West Frontier Province where the central government has little influence. In the 2002 general elections, both provinces voted overwhelmingly for Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, an alliance of religious parties openly critical of US-Pakistan cooperation.

The MMA has the most direct appeal of all the parties. Prior to August 2002, it venomously attacked the Musharraf government for having betrayed the Taliban and sided with the US in its supposed ‘war against Islam’. They reject any change to the Kashmir policy and have emerged as the only outright supporter of the Kashmir ‘jihad’. They attack the presence of the American troops and agencies on Pakistani soil and speak in favour of the militant groups banned by the Musharraf government. Leaders under the MMA umbrella have issued fatwas of death on Americans and have denied the 9/11 attack by Osama bin Laden. The four parties are opposed to the present fiscal system and want it Islamised together with a complete enforcement of ‘shariah’. All of them are pathologically opposed to America as a world power and its ‘handmaiden’, the IMF, and want Pakistan’s foreign policy turned around. At the verbal level, MMA is closest to the minds of the Pakistani people.

On 11 December 2003 the president of the MMA Maulana Noorani, an eminent cleric and political leader passed away, aged 78. Politicians from different political parties paid tribute to the services of the late Maulana Noorani. The death was seen as a significant setback to the MMA.


From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muttahida_Majlis-e-Amal
The MMA has not made any significant improvements in the provinces it has ruled since 2002. The NWFP and Baluchistan are 2 of the poorest and backward provinces of Pakistan, due to a lack of natural resources,poor governance and other economic factors. Widespread unemployment is currently rife. While the MMA have improved conditions slightly, no significant improvements in the quality of life in the provinces has changed. The MMA did not do very well in local government elections in 2005 and unless they can change their track record before general elections in 2007, they might lose power.

Supporters of the MMA regard it as an "Islamic" political party which does everything "Islamically" and is the only party/coalition worthy of ruling Pakistan. Opposers of the MMA regard it as poor politicians who make up for their deficiencies by going everywhere in an Islamic guise. Opposers also dispute the idea that the MMA is "Islamic" or that everything it does is "Islamic". They reject the idea that clerics have special status and are able to implement Islam on the people, and that "Islamic laws" are divine rather than man-made.