Fountainhead of Jihad The Haqqani Nexus, 1973-2012

[Shamlawar Khurasani]

Fountainhead of Jihad - Hardcover - Vahid Brown; Don Rassler - Oxford University Press

Drawing upon a wealth of previously unresearched primary sources in many languages, the authors shed much new light on a group frequently described as the most lethal actor in the current Afghan insurgency, and shown here to have been for decades at the centre of a nexus of transnational Islamist militancy, fostering the development of jihadi organisations from Southeast Asia to East Africa. Addressing the abundant new evidence documenting the Haqqani network's pivotal role in the birth and evolution of the global jihadi movement, the book also represents a significant advance in our knowledge of the history of al-Qaeda, fundamentally altering the picture painted by the existing literature on the subject.

This is an interesting book for people who have little or no knowledge of who Lion of Khurasan, Jalaludin Haqqani is.

I have purchased it when it was released. Haven't found the time to read it yet.

Will comment on its content afterwards, inshaa Allah.

[Niazi]

Hahaha ,you deluded and moronic Whabi .

That Dog was the worst human being (if we can call him human) humanity ever known.

When in early 90s the so called Muhideen toke over Khost ,he and his gang went in ,they looted, burnt and plundered the town and killed innocent populace ,before the Jahadies there use to be thriving old Hindu community in Khost ,they were PAshtun in every way ,but when Mullah Haqani (may allah curse be upon him) toke over he killed ,plundered and raped defenceless Pashtun Hindus ,some of his gang according to Islamic teaching toke married and unmarried women as war bounty , he also participated in Kabul Dogs fight ,he and his gang ripped Government Factories and installation in Kabul and sold it as scrap metal in Pakistan ,

He was ISI fav Stooge and he and his son still get their money directly From ISI,

All in all he he was a disgusting person and a lot people know him by the name Kabari i.e. Scrap man.

[khushal]

Hahaha ,you deluded and moronic Whabi .

That Dog was the worst human being (if we can call him human) humanity ever known.

When in early 90s the so called Muhideen toke over Khost ,he and his gang went in ,they looted, burnt and plundered the town and killed innocent populace ,before the Jahadies there use to be thriving old Hindu community in Khost ,they were PAshtun in every way ,but when Mullah Haqani (may allah curse be upon him) toke over he killed ,plundered and raped defenceless Pashtun Hindus ,some of his gang according to Islamic teaching toke married and unmarried women as war bounty , he also participated in Kabul Dogs fight ,he and his gang ripped Government Factories and installation in Kabul and sold it as scrap metal in Pakistan ,

He was ISI fav Stooge and he and his son still get their money directly From ISI,

All in all he he was a disgusting person and a lot people know him by the name Kabari i.e. Scrap man.

http://www.pajhwok.com/en/2010/10/18...ndu-left-khost

In contrast, when the Taliban took power in 1996, Sikhs and Hindus were free to practise their religion. They had no fear about security either.

[Khostai]

Oh please read this, from the same source:

"However, the Taliban did force them to wear yellow stars to make them easily distinguishable from Muslims."

Hmm it reminds me of something, hmm who did the same thing also to peopel who had a difrent religion, oh yeah the NAZIS -_-

[khushal]

they did that in Kabul but not in khost so no one would harass them for not going to the mosque.
and the Nazis did not have a religio, they were nationalist so you would have more in common with them.

[Khostai]

^dum replay as usual. The jews had a difrent religion, and the source that you used says that they did the same **** in Khost,
So shut you filthy wahabist mouth and feel the shame of your animals mistakes.
Peopel like you give me more and more reason to hate wahabist and taliban and there suporters.

How would you feel if the same **** was happening in Europe? or US, that you have to wear a green moon on you jacket becuase you are muslim ( what I actualy doubt you must be some satan worshipper).

[khushal]

^dum replay as usual. The jews had a difrent religion, and the source that you used says that they did the same **** in Khost,
So shut you filthy wahabist mouth and feel the shame of your animals mistakes.
Peopel like you give me more and more reason to hate wahabist and taliban and there suporters.

How would you feel if the same **** was happening in Europe? or US, that you have to wear a green moon on you jacket becuase you are muslim ( what I actualy doubt you must be some satan worshipper).

If a war happens in the US, it would happen. don't you know history. they put Japanese americans in camps during WW2 and the Taliban didn't do anything similar to that.

The jews in Europe during WW2 did not have a religion, they were secular like the Nazis, so the reason was not religion, they were a scapegoat for the problems germans were facing at the time.

get an education fool. If you think that americans or any ethnicity is more superior than others, then you belong in the mental institution.

[Khostai]

OMG you dumness is just overwhelming, taliban claimed to be better that all those kafirs but stil they do the same ****, and you dum paki defend them , becuase you are a brain damaged dog.

And I said how would you FELL if the same thing was heppend to you? And not that those peopel are not capable of doing something like that.

Maybe its ramadan, becuase dum peopel become even dummer when they are hungry, or you are just really brainless, becuase this days you spread some much garbage, its not even funny anymore.

[khushal]

Im not defending anyone, Im just telling the truth. the Taliban released the western women they had captured unharmed and the americans raped women they had captured. they gang raped and video taped the raping of Iraqi general's wives.

and yes you are an idiot.

[BarakzaiAbdali]

Oh please read this, from the same source:

"However, the Taliban did force them to wear yellow stars to make them easily distinguishable from Muslims."

Hmm it reminds me of something, hmm who did the same thing also to peopel who had a difrent religion, oh yeah the NAZIS -_-

The historicity of the two events is entirely different. Here is what the leader of the Sikh community at the time said regarding the decree (This is before the war so less susceptible to pro and anti Taliban propaganda... on the whole the article depicts those from the hindus against the measure and from the sikhs pro the measure):

http://www.afghanistannewscenter.com/news/2001/may/may23d2001.html

"But Andar Singh Majboor, a Sikh who represents the 520 Sikhs and Hindus still living in Kabul, said they were happy with the Taliban ruling and would follow it."

The article goes on to say:

"Majboor endorsed the Taliban idea for a badge to distinguish non-Muslims, echoing the official explanation that it would save Hindus from harassment by Taliban religious police enforcing their Islamic interpretation on the nation's Muslims"

Regarding the actual status of minority women:

"Majboor said there was no mention in the edict of how Hindu women must dress. He said, unlike Muslim women, Hindu women had never been ordered to cover themselves in the all-enveloping burqa when outdoors."

This article from the English Telegraph is more recent and supports other one:

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/montymunford1/100046230/taliban-victory-in-afghanistan-would-be-good-news-for-sikhs/

This article from Reuters circa 2010 quotes their current leaders :

http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCATRE6610BM20100702

Here is the commentary from the ONLY Sikh Senator and community leader, Awtar Singh:

Here is how they are treated by Karzai's governance currently:
"We have no shelter, no land and no authority," says Awtar Singh, a senator and the only non-Muslim voice in Afghanistan's parliament."

Here is his statement:

"The Taliban did not suppress us -- they respected our religion and if we had any problem they would resolve it immediately, let alone delay it until the next day," says Singh

So we have TWO statements, one from the community leader in the late 90s and the other much more recently agreeing with eachother that they were not mistreated and actually were better off.

Regarding your specific contention of the badge being equivalent to the Nazi practices, once again, the more recent Reuters (not an ISI source) article says the following:

"Some Afghan Hindus were baffled by Western outrage at one Taliban decree -- ordering them to wear a yellow tag to identify their religion -- saying in practical terms it spared their clean-shaven faces from the wrath of the Taliban religious police, who insisted Muslim Afghan men must grow beards."

This agrees with the Telegraph article written more recently AND the article from the 1990s.

* Three sources, quoting groups of Sikh Community leaders, well placed, and well known and authenticated.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Why does this matter?

It matters because generally what has happened is that Afghanistan needed to be left alone. It didn't need shiny 5G alpha dawg wireless networks as a prelude to empowering former communists, militant secularists, former warlords, technocrats who fled the conflict trying to work out their inferiority complexes since they were usually just pumping gas in the West or running convenient stores thinking they were worthy of more.

Since the invasion, things have actually radicalized these groups... because that is what war and removal of indigenous governments does - it creates more conflict. In fact that is why radicals were created in other nations as well and that is why we will see more turmoil and radicalization in Egypt. This very process created the very same radicals that found their way to Afghanistan in the first place.

So we have SOLID irrefutable evidence above from two sikh community leaders of how they fared under the old gaurd movement before Western interventionalism.

Now post Western interventionalism, here is the degree of radicalization amongst some of the foot soldiers:

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-02-22/india/28137374_1_pak-gurdwara-hindus-and-sikhs-religious-tax

So we went from a period of reasonable welfare for these communities to local youth being much more radical in their approach thanks to the presence of outside powers. Its always been that way with any invaded indigenous population. Its the reason American Natives would scalp even their women hostages after they had to face mass extinction and colonization.

Bottom line: Remove all support for Karzai and his cronies, NATO returns home to use its riches and resources on its own populations that deserve it more, let the natives work out their differences in their own way. Let time pass as it should and watch an initial phase of heavy radicalization and bloodshed eventually (decades maybe even a century) phase out.

The other option is basically watching as the situation worsens as a few folks benefiting from the situation continue to point to a shopping mall in Kabul as evidence of progress while the social fabric continues to degrade.

[Catya Sher]

From the book's official description, I wonder how reliable the point of view is.

If there are useful historical facts, then it is very worth reading.
But if it's another extra-sensationalist / false account like almost
every OTHER one written by Westerners during the past couple decades,
that would be very disappointing.

Except for the book about the life of Mullah Zaeff by the 2 unknown authros,
and maybe the sequel though I didn't feel inclined to read that, at least yet,
there is almost nothing REAL in the literature either by Afghans [the Kite series]
or about Afghans "Kabul Beauty Shop" - shown to be a near-fraud.

Scholarly accounts are so biased that they are not worth even looking at.

So this may be better. I wonder who Vahid Brown is ? Afghan first name,
English last name. Never heard of him : have any of you?

Thanks for posting this, SK. I am glad to know of the existence of the book.

[Shamlawar Khurasani]

The book about zaeef is a watered down version of his autobiography in Pashto.

The authors felix keuhn and strick van linschoten both live in Kandahar and are the best western authors on taliban. They have a few other very good books. Like an enemy we created.

Vahid brown is a terrorism expert at princeton. His sources are far better than most other authors. I use to read his blog. But his book is quite good.

Obviously this is written from a western perspective. But their research prior to publishing was quite good. Definately worth reading.

[Khostai]

Im not defending anyone, Im just telling the truth. the Taliban released the western women they had captured unharmed and the americans raped women they had captured. they gang raped and video taped the raping of Iraqi general's wives.

and yes you are an idiot.

So if US soldier rape and kill peopel its oke for your monkey also to kill and rape and discriminate? Why do you talk bull**** again, you are the only idiot here, your so dum, that I really wonder sometimes how in the world you managed to turn on you pc and type????

[Khostai]

The historicity of the two events is entirely different. Here is what the leader of the Sikh community at the time said regarding the decree (This is before the war so less susceptible to pro and anti Taliban propaganda... on the whole the article depicts those from the hindus against the measure and from the sikhs pro the measure):

http://www.afghanistannewscenter.com/news/2001/may/may23d2001.html

"But Andar Singh Majboor, a Sikh who represents the 520 Sikhs and Hindus still living in Kabul, said they were happy with the Taliban ruling and would follow it."

The article goes on to say:

"Majboor endorsed the Taliban idea for a badge to distinguish non-Muslims, echoing the official explanation that it would save Hindus from harassment by Taliban religious police enforcing their Islamic interpretation on the nation's Muslims"

Regarding the actual status of minority women:

"Majboor said there was no mention in the edict of how Hindu women must dress. He said, unlike Muslim women, Hindu women had never been ordered to cover themselves in the all-enveloping burqa when outdoors."

This article from the English Telegraph is more recent and supports other one:

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/montymunford1/100046230/taliban-victory-in-afghanistan-would-be-good-news-for-sikhs/

This article from Reuters circa 2010 quotes their current leaders :

http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCATRE6610BM20100702

Here is the commentary from the ONLY Sikh Senator and community leader, Awtar Singh:

Here is how they are treated by Karzai's governance currently:
"We have no shelter, no land and no authority," says Awtar Singh, a senator and the only non-Muslim voice in Afghanistan's parliament."

Here is his statement:

"The Taliban did not suppress us -- they respected our religion and if we had any problem they would resolve it immediately, let alone delay it until the next day," says Singh

So we have TWO statements, one from the community leader in the late 90s and the other much more recently agreeing with eachother that they were not mistreated and actually were better off.

Regarding your specific contention of the badge being equivalent to the Nazi practices, once again, the more recent Reuters (not an ISI source) article says the following:

"Some Afghan Hindus were baffled by Western outrage at one Taliban decree -- ordering them to wear a yellow tag to identify their religion -- saying in practical terms it spared their clean-shaven faces from the wrath of the Taliban religious police, who insisted Muslim Afghan men must grow beards."

This agrees with the Telegraph article written more recently AND the article from the 1990s.

* Three sources, quoting groups of Sikh Community leaders, well placed, and well known and authenticated.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Why does this matter?

It matters because generally what has happened is that Afghanistan needed to be left alone. It didn't need shiny 5G alpha dawg wireless networks as a prelude to empowering former communists, militant secularists, former warlords, technocrats who fled the conflict trying to work out their inferiority complexes since they were usually just pumping gas in the West or running convenient stores thinking they were worthy of more.

Since the invasion, things have actually radicalized these groups... because that is what war and removal of indigenous governments does - it creates more conflict. In fact that is why radicals were created in other nations as well and that is why we will see more turmoil and radicalization in Egypt. This very process created the very same radicals that found their way to Afghanistan in the first place.

So we have SOLID irrefutable evidence above from two sikh community leaders of how they fared under the old gaurd movement before Western interventionalism.

Now post Western interventionalism, here is the degree of radicalization amongst some of the foot soldiers:

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-02-22/india/28137374_1_pak-gurdwara-hindus-and-sikhs-religious-tax

So we went from a period of reasonable welfare for these communities to local youth being much more radical in their approach thanks to the presence of outside powers. Its always been that way with any invaded indigenous population. Its the reason American Natives would scalp even their women hostages after they had to face mass extinction and colonization.

Bottom line: Remove all support for Karzai and his cronies, NATO returns home to use its riches and resources on its own populations that deserve it more, let the natives work out their differences in their own way. Let time pass as it should and watch an initial phase of heavy radicalization and bloodshed eventually (decades maybe even a century) phase out.

The other option is basically watching as the situation worsens as a few folks benefiting from the situation continue to point to a shopping mall in Kabul as evidence of progress while the social fabric continues to degrade.

Thanx for the info, its supports even more my argumnet that Talibs are like the Nazis, becuase when Hitler came to power his argument for the jews to wear a yellow star was the same, to distinguishe them from the true Arians and it would be easily for them to deal whith it, and when the jews were put toghether in one big ghettos, there are even stories of how some jews were happy becuase they had there own community now -_-, but littel did they know that this small things led to one big masacre of milions peopel in camps.....
So save me you wahabi propagand of how taliban were inocent and good peopel, you didn't lived during there regime, so stop pretending like you know how it really was.

And by the way this is the most dum methode to deal whith peopel who had a difrent religion, and like you say yourself taliban did harass peopel who didn't folow there strict rules of having beards and Islamic clothes, why would a normal and good peopel haras its own civiliance just becuase they have difrent clothes???

And it was not like there were milions of hindus in Afghanistan, there were just 520 left in Kabul and in Khost even less, they could have made a list whith adres and names of those peopel and give it to there wagshi police, like here are the names if hindus, if you see them whithout beards or Islamic cloth just leave them.... or even easier they could mention it in pasports that they are hindu, so that by checking the pasport or the ID-card the Hindus would be left alone.
But no, the taliban didn't choose the most humane manner, like the animals they are, they choosed to do things like apes and true satan worshippers.

And by the way, didn't they realise that this yellow star could bring discrimintion from other Afghans? a really good methode to bring a divide in war thorne place like Afghanistan.

[BarakzaiAbdali]

Thanx for the info, its supports even more my argumnet that Talibs are like the Nazis, becuase when Hitler came to power his argument for the jews to wear a yellow star was the same,

I need a reference for this. The Nazi leadership had the Final Solution planning as well. According to Kamal Hydar, the reporter in Kandahar at the time - the central shura had not even yet approached Omar to approve the arm band.


to distinguishe them from the true Arians and it would be easily for them to deal whith it, and when the jews were put toghether in one big ghettos, there are even stories of how some jews were happy becuase they had there own community now -_-,

I would also need a reference to show the Jews viewed it as a saving measure as they already lived in ghettos littered throughout Eastern Europe thanks to centuries of pre Nazi policy.

but littel did they know that this small things led to one big masacre of milions peopel in camps.....

So save me you wahabi propagand of how taliban were inocent and good peopel, you didn't lived during there regime, so stop pretending like you know how it really was.

I spent every summer visiting my ancestoral village. As Kawun Kakar notes, the way of life never really changed (except for worsened poverty).

Its not about how they were good and innocent - its about how if one is to criticize them - it has to be done historically and honestly and not with propaganda that attempts to make it seem as if they were solely responsible for that era's ills. We have to have a panaromic view into what went wrong in all prior eras and in that region in general to identify what would be the best way forward for all the people, rural and urban alike.

And by the way this is the most dum methode to deal whith peopel who had a difrent religion, and like you say yourself taliban did harass peopel who didn't folow there strict rules of having beards and Islamic clothes, why would a normal and good peopel haras its own civiliance just becuase they have difrent clothes???

I agree to an extent. I myself had my ankles beat (lightly) for my partug being a slight bit below the ankles. But the ardent hardcore Najibites offer Najib a thousand excuses.

These same people also offer Amanullah Khan (who by the way would never have agreed with Najibullah) a thousand and one and praise his era even though he did the exact same thing in reverse - he made shinwari tribal elders shed their traditional clothes and threatened them with prison if they did not wear vests and top hats.

Here is the biography of Hamid Karzai, page 38:

"Upon Returning from a grand tour of the West, Amanullah managed to further enrage tribal leaders at a loya Jirga in 1928. He insisted that the thousand assembled leaders wear their hair and beards neatly trimmed, not in the long and traditional bushy style. He ordered that instead of traditional wear, they wear black coats, vests, and pants, shirts and ties, black boots and even homburg hats. His days as a king were numbered."

http://books.google.com/books?id=36P...0vests&f=false

But the minute this HISTORICAL FACT is shown to you guys suddenly you guys go rabid, frothing, claiming this was not true and not real and British propaganda.

Taliban's dress code resembled what Afghans have been wearing for hundreds of years.

Amanullah's dress code was devised by an inferiority complex laden piss poor excuse for a leader who was such a numskull fool that he thought he could import Europe into Afghanistan in a single day and you guys dismiss anything against him as if the Prophet himself were insulted.

Its not Brit propaganda, its all fact and he did the same thing as the Talibs. In fact, he did worse if they disobeyed him. Whats worse? Imprisonment for not wearing a gay top hat or a beating?

I hope one of those Shinwari gets a good punch at Amanullah's face in the afterlife for his stupid policy

And it was not like there were milions of hindus in Afghanistan, there were just 520 left in Kabul and in Khost even less, they could have made a list whith adres and names of those peopel and give it to there wagshi police, like here are the names if hindus, if you see them whithout beards or Islamic cloth just leave them.... or even easier they could mention it in pasports that they are hindu, so that by checking the pasport or the ID-card the Hindus would be left alone.

Half of the even on Taliban country side in the north could not read. It was an easy identifiable symbol and those community leaders amongst Sikhs and Hindus felt that it served the purpose when they were out and about. For that matter, how many Afghans themselves had passports or ID cards?

But no, the taliban didn't choose the most humane manner, like the animals they are, they choosed to do things like apes and true satan worshippers.

And by the way, didn't they realise that this yellow star could bring discrimintion from other Afghans?

If you live there and have visited there, you and I know that a person from a different region (East -West), different city (Kandahar, Jalalabad, Kabul, Peshawar, Tribal areas, Farsiwan areas), and these minority groups were easily already told apart by the locals. That is why Afghanistan and FATA to an extent have been hard places to spy in according to the CIA. Not only can language allow natives to pinpoint you as an outsider - it can also, if they have traveled allow them to identify where you might derive from.

Everywhere I went from Peshawar to Kabul - it was not at all hard for locals when they were buying from Sikh vendors etc or passing through an area that they inhabited to know exactly who those people were. So an arm band was not going to make the difference.

If you were thinking about persecution, ask that of the 50,000 Sikhs that had to leave in the Najibullah era during the war that Najib himself bought onto the country.

a really good methode to bring a divide in war thorne place like Afghanistan.

x