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Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri The Coordinator 2015 Part 4-1- TB-36-Mullah Omar-7

Mullah Omar: 'Jihad Strategies and a Future Vision’ a follow-upSo, where is Mullah Omar? The million dollar question is where is Mullah Omar.

Islamic State’s ‘Khorasan province’ threatens Taliban in latest videoBY THOMAS JOSCELYN | June 4, 2015 | The Islamic State’s so-called “Khorasan province” threatened the Taliban in a video released late last month. The video, which is more than 15 minutes long, features a lengthy speech by an unnamed jihadist (see image above) in front of armed fighters and local villagers. The speaker, citing the Prophet Mohammed, warns that there cannot be two caliphs. If one of the caliphs fulfills the appropriate criteria for being the ummah’s supposed leader — that is, the head of the worldwide community of Muslims — then the other must be vanquished, the speaker says. Cees: The hadeets are telling a different story

Although he doesn’t name Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar, the Islamic State’s man undoubtedly intended to evoke a comparison between Omar and Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, the Islamic State’s self-proclaimed “caliph.” His speech, therefore, could be seen as a call to eliminate Omar. Al Qaeda has highlighted its oath of allegiance to Omar, first sworn by Osama bin Laden prior to the 9/11 attacks, as part of its response to the Islamic State’s challenge. Although al Qaeda’s leaders typically don’t describe Omar as the “caliph,” they do refer to him as the “Emir of the Believers,” a title usually reserved for the man holding that position of authority. In the video, the Islamic State’s “Khorasan province” also accuses the Taliban of attacking its fighters at the behest of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency. The ISI has long backed the Taliban, and it is widely suspected that Omar is being sheltered by part of the ISI’s establishment, or at least lives in Pakistan with the intelligence service’s knowledge. In text scrolled across the bottom of the screen, the group alleges that the Taliban attacked its fighters in the Nangarhar province in the middle of May. The speaker says that his men will avenge their fallen comrades. Multiple published accounts since the beginning of the year have reported on the clashes between the Taliban and the Islamic State’s representatives in Nangarhar and elsewhere in Afghanistan. One account, published yesterday, claims that the

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It was also reported that the Messenger of Allah [saw] said:

Narrated AbuSa'id al-Khudri: The Messenger of Allah said: When oath of allegiance has been taken for two caliphs, kill the one for whom the oath was taken later. Sahih Muslim: Book 19, Number 4568

-- ...He who swears allegiance to a Caliph should give him the pledge of his hand and the sincerity of his heart (i.e. submit to him both outwardly as well as inwardly). He should obey him to the best of his capacity. If another man comes forward (as a claimant to Caliphate), disputing his authority, they (the Muslims) should behead the latter....[Sahih Muslim, Book 20, Hadith #4546]

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Islamic State’s men captured and then decapitated 10 Taliban fighters after they fled a battle with local Afghan security forces. Another version of the story says the Islamic State’s jihadists ambushed the Taliban fighters as they were making their way to a battle with the Afghan National Army (ANA). Other accounts point to skirmishes between the two sides in the western province of Farah, after the Islamic State established training camps there earlier this year. [For a summary of press reporting on the Islamic State’s presence in Afghanistan and Pakistan from earlier this year, see LWJ report, Mapping the emergence of the Islamic State in Afghanistan.] Despite the Islamic State’s attempt to win over jihadists in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the organization’s presence is likely still much smaller the network controlled by the Taliban, al Qaeda, and their allies. Still, the Islamic State has been itching for a fight with its jihadist rivals in the region. In January, Islamic State spokesman Abu Muhammad al Adnani announced his organization’s expansion into the Khorasan, which covers Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of the area surrounding these two nations. Adnani warned that other “factions will assemble against” the “caliphate’s” men, and they shouldn’t hesitate to fight their opposition. Although Adnani didn’t specifically name the Afghan or Pakistani Taliban, he clearly had the groups in mind. The Islamic State’s growth in the region has been fueled by disaffected Taliban commanders. A splinter group of mid-level Pakistani Taliban leaders has sworn allegiance to Baghdadi, as have some Afghan Taliban veterans who were forced out of their roles in Mullah Omar’s organization.In February, the US killed Mullah Abdul Rauf Khadim, the Khorasan province’s deputy emir, in an airstrike. Khadim, an ex-Guantanamo detainee, had served as a senior Taliban official until he was removed from his position. Infighting and leadership disputes fractured the Pakistani Taliban coalition last year. But in recent months the alliance was reestablished, with a senior al Qaeda leader, Matiur Rehman, playing a leading role. In late May, the new Pakistani Taliban coalition issued a nearly 60-page statement rejecting the Islamic State’s “self-professed caliphate.” The group praised the leadership of Mullah

Omar, deceased al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, and Ayman al Zawahiri. The statement shows that al Qaeda and the Taliban continue to exercise a great deal of influence over the Pakistani Taliban.

Taliban Offensive in Afghanistan Strains Ties with Islamabad

June 10, 2015 10:47 AM ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN— Afghan and Pakistani leaders have made a push to

improve their long-troubled relationship under Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, and try to broker peace with the Afghan Taliban. But this week, an open dialogue in Islamabad exposed how their fragile alliance is being strained by the Taliban’s spring offensive. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani made significant moves this year to try to improve relations with Islamabad, which cost him political support at home. A deal for improving counterterrorism cooperation between spy agencies of the two countries led to close consultations with senior Pakistani army leaders but also angered Afghan lawmakers who distrust Islamabad. In return, Afghan delegates claim that Ghani was promised that Pakistan would press the Taliban to engage in peace talks with the Afghan government instead of launching a spring offensive. But Taliban attacks have increased as the weather has warmed, prompting speculation that Islamabad is not holding up its end of the bargain. Davood Moradian is head of Afghanistan’s Institute for Strategic Studies. “Therefor the message that the Afghan delegation convey in this round of negotiation is that the next three months are very critical and President Ghani needs to

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produce result to the Afghan people that his risk, his gamble is going to pay off. Of course no one in Afghanistan expect a sudden change but what is important is that a meaningful peace process and a meaningful reduction of the violence has to be concretized,” said Moradian.

Distrust still exists Lawmakers and analysts from Afghanistan and Pakistan gathered in Islamabad this week to exchange views and proposals for shoring up commitments to improve peace and stability on both sides of the border. But the event also showed the distrust that still exists in the relationship, with Afghan participants openly accusing Islamabad of continuing to allow top Taliban leaders to take refuge in Pakistani cities. Analyst Moradian expressed the widespread belief among Afghans that the Taliban remain under the influence of the Pakistan military. “We know that even if Pakistan decides to exercise that role, the Taliban would not disappear overnight but it will send a symbolic message to us in Kabul that Pakistan is serious. So, for us the leadership of the Taliban, that as long as they enjoy the hospitality of your establishment, I don’t think any other measures will win the trust of the Afghan people,” said Moradian.While at the conference, the Pakistani prime minister’s adviser on foreign policy and national security Sartaj Aziz called the Taliban’s spring offensive a “disturbing development” that has nothing to do with Pakistan. But he said it is unrealistic to expect the group would suddenly give up fighting the first summer after the withdrawal of NATO forces in Afghanistan. He said the current friendly phase of good ties between Islamabad and Kabul is not being given enough time to change the situation on the ground. Simbal Khan is an adviser with Pakistan’s Planning Commission who acknowledged that although some Taliban leaders may reside in Pakistan, authorities here do not have great influence over them and Islamabad remains committed to policies promoting peace and stability on both sides of their shared border. “Yes, there is leadership in Pakistan. It has been there but as far as the commanders on the ground carry out the operations they have been doing that from Afghanistan. To assume that the Taliban are going to align policies exactly to what Pakistan is promising I think that’s quite fallacious at this point,” she said. Khan asserted that since the withdrawal of most NATO-led foreign forces, Taliban fighters have moved back to Afghanistan and their commanders on the ground are operating independently.

Informal talks Khan pointed to recent unofficial successive meetings Taliban officials held with Afghan politicians, civil society members and even female lawmakers in Qatar, Norway and in Dubai. She said unlike the past practice, the Islamist insurgency has confirmed all these but Khan would not say whether Pakistan played a role in facilitating these informal talks.“I think what we were promising very clearly and I think what we are trying to work very clearly was to speed up the reconciliation. We have been trying to do that, it has not really snow balled into the process that we wanted to actually happen but the effort is on,” said Khan. Afghan delegates have welcomed the Taliban talks, although they remain skeptical about their outcome. However, female Afghan lawmaker Nahid Farid said the talks, which have included women participants, are an important milestone for a country where many worry about the future of women’s rights. “Right now women are sitting with Taliban, it means Taliban are accepting women and they count women as a dynamic and as a part of the solution. This is very important for us,” said Farid. She said Afghan women will continue to support the peace process as long as they protect the basic rights they have been guaranteed in the constitution, as well as their access to justice and education.

Fighting in Afghanistan intensifies between 'Islamic State' and the Taliban"Islamic State" fighters have reportedly attacked a Taliban convoy in the country's eastern Nangarhar province, killing at least 10 militants. Is it the beginning of a long and violent battle for Afghanistan's control? "Local residents and security officials confirmed that

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"Islamic State" (IS) fighters killed between 10 and 15 Taliban members in Nangarhar province," Abdul Hai Akhondzada, deputy head of Afghan parliament's national security commission, told DW on Tuesday. Similar skirmishes are taking place across Afghanistan where these Islamist groups are fighting to gain dominance, he added. "The Taliban have been fighting for a long period of time in Afghanistan and they see their position threatened by the emergence of IS. Of course, they won't give up easily," the Afghan parliamentarian added. According to the Afghan media, IS militants ambushed a Taliban convoy last week in Nangarhar and beheaded several captured men. The killings reportedly took place on Wednesday, June 3.IS is an al Qaeda splinter group – a Sunni militant organization which has captured vast swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq. The organization, which is notorious for its extreme and violent interpretation of Shariah law and atrocities in the areas which it controls, is believed to have started expanding its influence and control in Central Asia and Afghanistan.In April, an 'IS' suicide bomber killed at least 35 people in JalalabadSince the beginning of this year, Afghan officials and police have repeatedly warned about an IS presence in several parts of the country.In April, a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a bank in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, killing at least 35 people. Contrary to initial suspicions, the attack was not carried

out by the Taliban, who denied any responsibility. Instead, the bombing was attributed to IS by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. "IS has gained a presence in Afghanistan," Farid Bakhtwar, head of the provincial council in Afghanistan's western Farah province, told DW. He said that the militant group had started recruiting new members, including former Taliban fighters, in Afghanistan.

Growing rivalry While some Taliban leaders have reportedly joined the IS ranks, the organization as a whole considers the Middle Eastern group "illegitimate" and has refused to forge an alliance with it. Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Omar and IS head Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi both claim to be the caliphs of the Muslim world. "While IS is fighting to increase its presence in the whole region - not only Afghanistan - the Taliban are fighting to overthrow the Afghan government," said Akhondzada, adding that the two Islamist groups, despite being predominantly Sunni outfits, had different strategic goals. Their open fighting, however, could have dire consequences for the war-torn country, as well as for regional security. Siegfried O. Wolf, a South Asia researcher at the University of Heidelberg, believes the IS-Taliban battle could be "extremely dangerous for Afghanistan and Pakistan." "A realistic review of concrete aims and strategies of IS indicates that it will enter the region sooner rather than later. Taking into account the strategic importance of the Afghanistan-Pakistan geographical area for the global jihad, one must expect that IS is planning to gain a permanent foothold in South Asia," Wolf told DW, adding that if not directly, with the help of some Taliban factions and other extremist groups in the region, IS could achieve its goals. But Wolf said it would be naïve to think that the Taliban would give up the control of Afghanistan easily: "It is a myth that the Taliban is now a fractious movement that is facing an existential crisis due to IS' increasing presence and its own infighting. History has proven the resilience of the Taliban."Chances of an IS-Taliban alliance Experts are of the view that while there could be some cooperation between IS and the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban, a proper alliance between the two extremist groups is "highly unlikely." "There are certainly ideological convergences between the two groups, but otherwise there are simply too many factors that constrain the possibility of a partnership, much less a close alliance," Michael Kugelman, Afghanistan expert at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars, told DW. Many

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Afghans are horrified at the idea of having 'IS' fighters in their country Kugelman added that the close connections between the Afghan Taliban and al Qaeda could not be ignored while analyzing the IS-Taliban relations. "It seems unlikely that the Taliban would want to join forces with an organization that split from its ally, al Qaeda." Wahid Mazhda, an expert on the Taliban in Kabul, shares that view. He believes that while it is possible for some small Islamic groups in Afghanistan to join IS, the Middle Eastern militant group would face ideological difficulties in recruiting fighters from Afghanistan. "IS and the Taliban are very different ideologically and culturally. In Pakistan, however, they could find some supporters, and they already have," he told DW."Central Asia is more attractive for IS because there are a number of dictatorial regimes, and some extremist groups there have already shown a willingness to join them to overthrow the regional governments," he added. Muzhda said that IS was trying to establish a base in Afghanistan's northern Badakhshan province so that it could have access to Central Asian countries. "And that is why the fight in Afghanistan has moved from south to north where the Taliban are trying to gain control over this area before IS does."

Taliban captures district in northeast Afghanistan Hundreds of fighters overpower security forces in Badakhshan province's Yamgan district, reportedly killing 10 officers. 06 Jun 2015 Hundreds of Taliban fighters have wrested control of Badakhshan province's Yamgan district in northeastern Afghanistan after attacking the district headquarters from four directions, officials have said. An Afghan local police commander told Al Jazeera that 10 police officers were killed in the attack which started at about 4am on Saturday.  The toll differed slightly from that given by the parliamentary representative for the province, Abdul Wali Niazi, who told local media that seven police had been killed and three had been taken hostage. Abdullah Naji Nazari, the head of the provincial council, did not confirm the casualty figures, but said the centre of Yamgan had been captured by the Taliban.

Turning back to the teachings of Quran and Sunnah, a way of Deliverance of the Muslim Ummah All know that Islamic Ummah is grappling with colossal tragedies, foreign interventions and internal conflicts. Muslims are divided into different factions and groups. Many Muslim countries are entangled in wars in one way or the other. Existence of nations and societies are facing tremendous crisis. The economic situation is getting worse by the day, the level of unemployment is rising while level of education is declining, social set-ups are being shaken, pristine cultural values are being replaced with foreign culture and many other such troubling trends…… Meanwhile, the current situation of Muslim Ummah is intolerable because of myriad of different notions and geographical divisions; the doors of mutual understanding seems to be closed due to futile ethnical, factional and regional bias. So in such scenario it is important that every person, society and nation should strive for mutual reform and peace among Muslims as best as it can and begin to take sincere steps for salvation of Muslim Ummah. They should not submit to the ongoing untoward incidents and events. There is no room for disappointment and discouragement in Islam.  ایة ) يوسف، سوره الكافرون القوم إال الله روح من ييأس ال (۸۷إنهNone but unbelievers despair of Allah’s mercy. (Surah 12, Verse 87)Islamic Ummah has a lot of chances to catapult from the status quo and leap towards success and development. Islamic societies have such academic and intellectual principles that if applied security, peace and stability will come assuredly. Following the teachings of the Holy Book of Allah, the Almighty and the life of the Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) and practical adherence to the guidance and provision of both teachings in our life, the Muslim Ummah can vault out of the situation it grapples with. The Prophet Mohammad (Peace be upon him) says.

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) كتم تمس ما تضلوا لن أمرين فيكم :  تركت وسنة الله كتاب بهما )نبيهDifferences of views and thoughts among people are a natural and accepted phenomenon but for our internal disputes we have been instructed to turn to the teaching of Quran and Sunnah. Only the views compatible with the teachings of Quran and Sunnah should be followed.﴿ تنازعتم فإن منكم األمر وأولي سول الر وأطيعوا الله أطيعوا آمنوا الذين أيها يا

- النساء ) ا﴾ و يل أ�ا ت� ن� تس أ� ت�ا ت ر� أ� ت� ت� ول ت� و� و� �آت �أ ا و� أ ت� أل ت ا و! "# ت و$ال ت% نن و& أ' ن� أ) ن( أن ن* أ% و+ا و, ن- ت#� ت ال و! "# ت ال تلى و+ا ن/ ن0# ن� ت1 ءء أ3 ت4 ۵۹و31 )O believers obey Allah and the Apostle and those charged with authority among you. Should you disagree about anything refer it to Allah and Apostle, if you truly believe in Allah and the last Day. This will (in the end) be better and more just. (Surah 4, Verse 59) It is possible that disputes reach a point that wars will break out because of the bias, ignorance and foreign interventions. In this situation, the responsibility of mutual reconciliation rests with the beneficent believers, religious scholars and intellectuals.{ ترحمون لعلكم الله واتقوا بينأخويكم فأصلحوا إخوة المؤمنون 5إنما } )

۱۰الحجرات- )The believers are brethren. Make peace among your brethren and fear Allah, so that you may be shown mercy. (Surah 49, Verse 10) There are some habits prohibited in Islam which usher in irrational and unconstructive differences.1. Pride: it includes self-pride, not accepting the truth, considering one’s own views or actions as completely accurate and looking down upon other people.2. Exaltness: considering one’s own practices and actions better than anyone and everyone else.3. Power-mongering and egoism: considering others right performances as wrong for one’s own dominion or signing of treaties with foreigners.4. Suspicion: suspecting every Muslim’s action and leveling false accusation.5. Hatred: Nurturing hostilities in heart for others and so on……………These are the roots of tragedies and disasters.All believers are brothers. We are all one community and we all have the same rights. A conduct of humility among brothers is the way of life of the Prophets (Peace be upon all of them)

- ( { الحجر للمؤمنين جناحك (۸۸واخفضAnd lower your wing (in tenderness) for the believers. (Surah 15, Verse 88)We should not use weapons and force against our brothers except in dire need.  We should not ask for foreign troops because of our internal disputes or give them authority to make decisions on behalf of us. It is needed that we solve our disputes through understanding and on the basis of this verse of the Holy Quran { بينهم we have ,(merciful to one another) {رحماءto show tolerance, patience and flexibility to our brothers.

Remarks of spokesman of Islamic Emirate regarding meetings held in Dubai by members from Political Office Members from the Political Office of Islamic Emirate will be holding meetings with influential Afghan figures on 6th and 7th of the ongoing month of June in Dubai. These are ordinary meetings held frequently at the initiative of Islamic Emirate due to requests by Afghan figures in order to exchange views, alleviate concerns raised against the Islamic Emirate, build trust amongst Afghans and pave the way for ending the occupation and establishing an Islamic government. At the same time the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan wants to convey its political views and clear policy to the various political, cultural and scholarly figures and by clarifying the realities, wants to thwart the poisonous propaganda of the invading enemy. The Islamic Emirate has always exerted efforts to directly deliver its legitimate claims to our countrymen and the world and as the representatives of the

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oppressed Afghan nation, gain the support of the various influential figureheads of our country in order to safeguard the fruits of our former and current sacred Jihad. Spokesman of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Zabihullah Mujahid 16/03/1394 Hijri Solar                    06/06/2015 Gregorian 

 Delegation of Islamic Emirate meets with a few countrymen in Norway A delegation from the Political Office of Islamic Emirate met with a few individuals from the Afghan society in the country of Norway in order to gauge their views because the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, as Afghans, wants to listen to the views and suggestions of each individual of Afghanistan for the higher cause of ending the occupation and establishing peace and prosperity for its nation. And at the same time the Islamic Emirate wants to convey its Shariah compliant view and policy to the various political actors so that all sides and individuals of the entire society prime themselves at lending their support for establishing a pure Islamic government and so that everyone who has reservations about the victory and authority of Mujahideen is consoled with proofs from Shariah. It must be reminded that such meetings with the opposition party should never be mistaken for negotiations. Spokesman of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Zabihullah Mujahid 15/03/1394 Hijri Solar                    05/06/2015 Gregorian

What’s Brewing Detween Afghanistan And Pakistan? – Analysis Afghanistan's Mohammad Ashraf Ghani

Ahmadzai. Photo by S.K. Vemmer (U.S. Department of State).IPCS June 8, 2015 1, Analysis No Comments By Rajeshwari Krishnamurthy*On 29 May, media reports stated that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani issued a strongly-worded letter to the Pakistani government. The letter

demands tougher Pakistani action against terrorism, increased counter-terrorism cooperation between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and in a stern tone, notes that if Pakistan fails to deliver on fighting the prolonged and now increasing insurgency, “the window of opportunity will be closed.” Fresh reports suggest that this alleged angry letter was in fact a ‘non-paper’ exchanged between Kabul and Islamabad in April 2015 that explains some discrepancies in the demands and deliveries between Ghani and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.Regardless, this development stands stark in the face of the past few months of seemingly apparent rapprochement Ghani was attempting with Islamabad in a bid to get Pakistan to genuinely address terrorism. What can be made of this tone of communication that comes after him going out of the way to end the 13-year long “undeclared state of hostility” between the two countries over the past few months – moves that were extremely unpopular among his own coalition government and the general citizenry?How did Ghani’s Rapprochement with Pakistan Play Out? Since the announcement of the National Unity Government (NUG) in September 2014 and his induction as the president, Ghani emphasised Afghanistan’s five-circle foreign policy; he placed Afghanistan’s neighbourhood in the country’s top priorities.He visited India much after he visited Pakistan (unlike Karzai who had closer ties with India); Pakistani Army Chief Gen Raheel Shareef visited Kabul thrice in the past seven months; Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif visited Kabul where he publicly condemned the Taliban, an unprecedented move; and last month, Pakistan, with Beijing’s support, brokered a round of talks between the Afghan officials and the Taliban in Urumqi, China.

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So, did tensions exist continually as he went about to mend ties with Pakistan? Yes. A large number of Afghans distrust the Pakistani government and perceive them as insincere. However, the breaking point was triggered when the Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS) signed an MoU with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) under which both countries would collaborate on counter-terrorism, intelligence-sharing and personnel training.Domestically, Ghani faced intense discontent and disapproval of this MoU from government officers, former and current politicians, and the general Afghan populace. Former NDS Chief Amrullah Saleh said, “By signing this MoU the Afghan president has actually portrayed us as half-culprit and half-perpetuator. This is an irreparable mistake.” Another former NDS Chief Asadullah Khalid said, “ISI will strive to subvert the achievements we have made in the intelligence sector and will destroy them, so I consider this agreement a shameful and unforgivable act.” There have been unconfirmed reports that the incumbent NDS Chief Rahmatullah Nabil opted out of signing this MoU. The Chief Executive Officer of Afghanistan, Abdullah Abdullah, demanded a review and amendment to the contents of the MoU. In fact, staunch Ghani supporters such as MP Shukria Barakzai too strongly opposed this MoU.This disapproval of the MoU was felt most strongly from the country’s security forces that have taken a battering in Taliban’s 2015 spring offensive, Azm. Azm is the Taliban’s most elaborate offensive since their defeat in 2001. Attacks have been taking place all over the country, especially in the Northern Provinces like Kunduz, Badakshan, Farah, Daikundi, and Southern Provinces of Helmand and Kandahar in the south; and this time, Afghan security forces are countering it without any Western military involvement.Where is All This Headed?Does the tone of the ‘non-paper’ mean Ghani’s optimism is wearing thin? The message was conveyed in April 2015 – just before the May round of talks with the Taliban. In early June, Afghan women parliamentarians and a representative of the High Peace Council partook in informal talks with Taliban representatives in Norway. The leak coincides with the kick-off of the preparations for the next round of Kabul’s talks with Taliban in Qatar, tentatively scheduled to take place in July, post Ramzan. That the travel ban on the ‘Guantanamo Five’ Taliban members who will participate in this round of talks will expire and their status is still being negotiated between Doha and Washington is pertinent here.So, are Ghani’s overtures proving futile? Maybe; unless Pakistan re-evaluates the precarious relationship it shares with the Afghan Taliban and chooses a complete turnaround, a substantial sustainable change in the situation is unlikely.While Pakistan has carried out some of the demands listed in the ‘non-paper’, there were hints that Islamabad may attempt to renege on their word. Former Pakistani Permanent Representative to the UN Munir Akram’s Op Ed ‘Afghanistan: fighting the odds’ is indicative.Faced with strong dissatisfaction from the Afghan side, Akram makes the following suggestions (and likely voices the Pakistani establishment’s opinion), among other preconditions, to ensure any movement towards the Afghan demand:1. Pakistan will have to declare support for stability in Afghanistan, even at the cost of an open break with the Afghan Taliban2. Pakistan must use all possible levers to persuade the Afghan Taliban to engage in the peace process, including direct action against dissident commanders.And other actions sought are:1. Afghanistan must retract the bounty on Mullah Omar2. China’s support the peace process via offering economic incentives to ‘regional states’,

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among others3. Dissenting voices from the NUG and Karzai’s circle must be quelled.He is probably hinting that tasks 1 and 2 are too radically far from Pakistan’s current approach to achieve. Ghani’s might try to take recourse in China’s supposed leverage over Pakistan, but at the moment, Beijing appears to be falling short of that by a bit.So, were Ghani’s advances based on his own ill-informed calculations? Yes, he did ignore the general negative sentiment towards his over-enthusiastic efforts for rapprochement with Pakistan. The ‘non-paper’ raises a lot of questions – regarding his plan of action as well as Pakistan’s capability (irrespective of the nature of intent) to deliver on their promises. And this episode confirms that fissures between the two countries run too deep and are too complex to be resolved with mere one-sided optimism. *Rajeshwari Krishnamurthy Research Officer, IPCS

Redeeming the Pashtun, the ultimate warriors Lasting peace in Afghanistan won’t just need talks with the Taliban. It will also require rescuing a shattered Pashtun culture Adnan R. Khan June 1, 2015

The severity in the eyes of the Taliban commander hammered home his point: “Kandaharis are the fiercest fighters in Afghanistan,” he said. It was February 2006, just as Canadian soldiers were arriving in Afghanistan’s southernmost province. “Fighting is in our blood,” he told Maclean’s. The twentysomething fighter was a hulking mass of a man who, by his own reckoning, had participated in jihad for more than a decade of his short life. He was a Pashtun who seemed to embrace a culture of violence and revenge, and exhibited a fearlessness that bordered on the insane.After nearly four decades of war, the Pashtun people in both Afghanistan and Pakistan have developed a reputation for violence. It’s an image—partly based on fact, but mostly fictitious—that comes up any time there is talk of a peace deal with the Taliban. Detractors, largely from Persian-speaking ethnic groups from Afghanistan’s north, inevitably fall back on the warrior argument: The Taliban, a political group mainly made up of the Pashtuns, will never surrender, nor will they negotiate, they say. Their culture leaves no room for peace because they, as a people, have never known peace.The myth persists, even at a time when negotiating with the Taliban seems more of an inevitability than it ever has before. Most Afghan experts now agree that the Taliban will play a political role in a future Afghanistan. Last month, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, a Pashtun himself and an anthropologist with a more subtle understanding of Pashtun history and culture than most, called on the more intransigent members of Afghanistan’s power brokers (mainly former Northern Alliance commanders) to accept a peace process with the Taliban. “Anyone who has a political reason for being against our government must enter the political process,” he said during a speech on April 30. “This is not preferred, but rather, is compulsory.”The Pakistanis, for the first time in more than three decades, seem to be on the same page. On the same day as Ghani’s speech, Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokesperson condemned the

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Taliban for pursuing their perennial spring offensive. “We have already condemned the spike in violence, and we would like to see a national reconciliation process in Afghanistan,” Tasneem Aslam said in her weekly press conference.The overtures, while heartening, are only a first step on a very long and difficult road. Negotiating a political peace is one thing; rehabilitating Afghanistan’s shattered Pashtuns is quite another. The damage caused by four decades of conflict, mostly affecting the Pashtun belt in Afghanistan and Pakistan, has transformed an entire culture. The detritus from those tragic years has obscured the fact that the Pashtuns and, by extension, the Taliban, have historically embraced negotiations and compromise. Their culture was once celebrated for its poets, storytellers and musicians, but has now become best known for its warriors and religious fanatics. So how did the Pashtuns reach such a nadir—and can the process be reversed?A few months after the run-in with the Taliban commander in Kandahar, on a windswept mountaintop in a remote part of northeastern Afghanistan, a different side of the Pashtuns was on display. A man named Mewajan, after weeks of boasting, finally broke out his dance moves. To the beats of Nazia Iqbal, Pashtun music’s most beloved popular singer, Mewajan unfurled his arms like a bird, raised his densely bearded face to the sun, and began tracing out circular patterns on the rock-strewn earth, twirling his hands and bobbing gently to the beats of the traditional dhol drum.It was a surreal sight, considering Mewajan’s history: A hard-edged Pashtun villager from the northeast, he embodied all the characteristics for which the Pashtuns have become infamous. Mewajan had once been a driver for the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, working with senior commanders during their short-lived government in the late 1990s. Since 2002, he’d used his vast network of contacts to help Maclean’s access those same commanders. Over the years to come, he would provide access to some of the most dedicated fighters in Afghanistan’s south, including the ones in Kandahar.He had worked hard on his image; after so much war and instability, it paid to be tough in Afghanistan. But when the facade fell, what was left was an intellectual and artistic depth most Westerners rarely see among the Pashtuns. Mewajan was also a music aficionado (despite living through a Taliban ban on music); he could recite classical Pashtun poetry and ancient parables by heart, and would spend hours a week tending to the rose garden he’d planted in the courtyard of his mud-brick house. “You can’t really look soft in Afghanistan these days,” he said. “In the past, it was different. My father taught me to dance, recite poetry and appreciate music; my mother taught me the old Pashtun stories. When they were young, before the Soviets invaded, life was different. Then everything changed.”During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, military dictator Zia ul Haq, with the help of Saudi Arabia’s Wahhabis and funding from the U.S., had embarked on a Machiavellian program to create an army of holy warriors that would cause havoc for the Red Army in Afghanistan. The guinea pigs for this cynical social experiment were the Pashtuns. Religious seminaries in the Pakistani Tribal Areas became the centre of jihad ideology, incorporating elements of Wahhabi religious doctrine into the predominantly Deobandi Islam practised by the Pashtuns.Pashtun religious culture has never recovered. Madrasas in Pakistan’s northwest continue to churn out young jihadists with a single-minded mission of toppling what they perceive as puppet governments in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The shrines of Sufi saints—poets and philosophers venerated by Pashtuns—now sit empty and dilapidated in Pakistan’s Tribal Areas.

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The mullahs who rose to power in northwest Pakistan in the wake of the political chaos of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan were the products of Zia’s social

engineering. They wasted little time in using their newfound political influence to impose their moral code on society. In one of their first acts, they banned music from public transport vehicles; then movie cinemas were ordered to take down posters depicting the heroes and scantily clad heroines of the Pashtun film industry. Not long after, the Taliban threats began: Owners of CD shops were ordered to shutter their doors or face the consequences; singers were abducted and killed.

“They came to my shop. They burned everything,” says Muhammad Waseem, a 52-year-old master tabla-maker. His family had operated its musical instrument shop in Dabgari bazaar, the music district in Peshawar’s riotous old city, for decades. After the 2004 attack, he managed to re-establish a more modest version of his workshop in another district of the old city. He was a lucky one. Many musicians who made a decent living playing at wedding parties and festivals have now resorted to working as day labourers.The Taliban’s crusade against music strikes many Pashtuns as ironic. “Let me tell you: The Taliban themselves listen to music,” says Nasrullah Jan Wazir, director of the Pashto Academy at Peshawar University. “Many of them will have recordings stashed away at home that they will listen to in private. Music is an integral part of Pashtun culture.”“These bans make no sense in the context of Pashtun tradition,” says a senior member of the Abasin Arts Council in Peshawar, requesting anonymity because he fears a Taliban backlash. “Even poetry has been deemed un-Islamic by the Taliban, but Pashtuns have been composing poetry for hundreds of years, poetry that celebrates Islam and the Prophet Muhammad. How can this be un-Islamic?”Rolling back the damage inflicted on Pashtun culture is more urgent now than ever before, says Abaseen Yousafzai, a professor of Pashto language and literature at Islamia College in Peshawar. Both Afghanistan and Pakistan “have realized that bringing peace means creating a cultural space in which Pashtuns can rediscover their roots,” he says. “We are a peaceful people, but people around the world are wondering what is wrong with us.”There is some hope: The mullah-led government in Pakistan’s northwest fractured in 2005 and ultimately collapsed in 2008. The damage it perpetrated remains deeply embedded in the Pashtun psyche, but the atmosphere is changing. Pashtun intellectuals are banding together, uniting around institutions such as the Pashto Academy in a concerted push to revive Pashtun intellectualism.“Our mission is to rebuild a Pashtun intellectual class,” says Moazzam Jan Moazzam, chief executive of the World Pashto Congress in Peshawar. “Malala Yousafzai [the teenage Pakistani education activist who was nearly killed by the Taliban] is a Pashtun who lifted her pen against guns. I think this gun culture is on its way out. I promise you: In two years, you will see, this will not be Mullah Omar’s Pakistan. This will be Malala Yousafzai’s Pakistan.”

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But, for the Taliban leaders and their supporters, the culture wars remain a powerful political tool to mobilize the masses against the spectre of foreign interference. For them, even a figure like Malala represents a threat: The Nobel prize laureate’s attempts to re-define Pashtun-ness challenges the warrior narrative. And the attempt on her life was a clear indication of how far they are willing to go to protect it. Mewajan felt it on that remote mountaintop on a warm spring day back in 2006. His dance performance, lively and liberating, was short-lived. It wasn’t long before he noticed the dust cloud kicked up by a 4×4 edging closer to our location. The change that came over him was instantaneous. Mewajan’s demeanour hardened; he transformed again into the hard-edged Pashtun villager from the northeast. He became what was expected of him: a former Taliban driver, and a man who knows exactly what it means to be a Pashtun.

Possible Taliban emergence unsettles Kashmir ValleyAuthor: Sudha Ramachandran June 9, 2015 Asia Times News & Features, South Asia By Dr. Sudha RamachandranPosters in the name of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Jammu and Kashmir that appeared in Sopore town last Friday have set off a wave of anxiety in the Kashmir Valley over the possible emergence of a Taliban wing in the strife-torn state. Calling on Kashmiris to refrain from indulging in “un-Islamic activities,” the posters threaten to attack gasoline stations fuelling police and Indian Army vehicles, cable operators screening Indian movies, shops selling alcohol and locals providing jobs and accommodation to migrant laborers. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Jammu and Kashmir was unheard of till its name appeared on posters last week. Whether such an outfit does indeed exist is unclear as is the authenticity of its claimed links to the Taliban.Only a fortnight ago, posters in the name of another unheard of outfit, the Lashkar-e-Islam appeared in Sopore, an Islamist stronghold in north Kashmir. These called on people renting out their land to host mobile transmission towers, mobile phone operators, and those running recharge outlets to shut down operations or face “dire consequences.” A string of attacks on transmission towers and people associated with the mobile phone network business — at least two people were killed and three injured in the violence – indicate that these were not idle threats. Of the 2,903 transmission towers of various telecom companies in the Valley 1,058 were shut down due to attacks or in anticipation of violence. The Kashmir Valley is the main bone of contention in the India-Pakistan dispute over the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir.  A powerful Pakistan-backed armed insurgency against the Indian State erupted in 1989. Through the 1990s, scores of militant groups emerged and fought for a share of the largesse that Pakistan extended them in the form of funds, arms and training.While the worst of that insurgency is over, the alienation of the masses from the Indian State persists. What is more, violent attacks targeting civilians, the Indian security forces and infrastructure occur from time to time. Adding to the complexity of the situation on the ground are an array of shadowy outfits: surrendered militants who are now part of pro-India militias,  extortionist gangs that pose as militant groups to add heft to their name, outfits that flex their muscles on posters and pamphlets only and so on. Do the Lashkar-e-Islam and Tehreek-e-Taliban Jammu and Kashmir fall into the poster-pamphlet category or are they new terror actors emerging in the Valley?  There have been attempts in the past to create a perception that the Taliban are coming to the Valley to boost the sagging morale of militants here.  Is this the motivation behind the recent posters issued by ‘Tehreek-e-Taliban Jammu and Kashmir.’ As for the Lashkar-e-Islam, while Indian authorities insist this is a front of the Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), the largest Kashmiri militant outfit, the United Jihad Council (UJC), a Pakistan-based umbrella grouping of anti-India militant organizations, which is headed by the HM’s Syed Salahuddin has issued a statement claiming that Lashkar-e-Islam is

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an “India-sponsored organization” that has no links whatsoever with the UJC. Kashmiri separatists maintain that India carried out the attacks on the mobile phone network to blame and discredit the separatist movement. By shutting down the mobile phone network and causing hardship to ordinary Kashmiris, and then blaming this on the separatists, India is seeking to turn public opinion against the separatist movement, their argument goes. Indian authorities have said that the attacks can be traced back to incidents in Sopore where technical staff of two mobile phone companies found high frequency transmitters on the top of transmission towers and removed these “unauthorized devices.” Apparently these were installed by militants. The removal of these devices drew the ire of the militants, who then beat up the technical staff. When some others too went to the security forces with complaints regarding “devices” on transmission towers on their land, militants acted to teach these ‘informers’ a lesson. The string of attacks on Kashmir’s mobile phone network followed. The recent surge in attacks and intimidation in the Valley will undermine livelihoods. It is only in recent years that tourism in the Kashmir Valley, after suffering huge setbacks during the 1990s, is slowly picking up momentum. And summer is the peak tourism season, when millions of tourists from other parts of India and abroad flock to the Valley. The recent attacks on the mobile phone network here would have hit business badly. It could deter tourists from visiting as well. Dr. Sudha Ramachandran is an independent journalist/researcher based in Bangalore, India who writes on South Asian political and security issues.

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