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Taliban claims to leak security details of crucial Afghan meeting
Taliban claims to leak security details of crucial Afghan meeting - CNN.com
By Nick Paton Walsh and Ruhullah Khapalwak, CNN
November 13, 2011 -- Updated 2052 GMT (0452 HKT)
The conclusions of a meeting of tribal elders in Kabul next week will likely influence Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- The Taliban says it has detailed security plans of upcoming meeting with tribal elders
- The government has dismissed the Taliban's claims
- The meeting, known as the loya jirga, is considered significant
- Afghanistan's relationship with the U.S. and peace talks are among the topics to be discussed
Kabul (CNN) -- A Taliban-affiliated website published on Sunday what it claimed was a leaked document containing confidential government security plans for a vital meeting of tribal elders in Kabul next week, one that is set to discuss Afghanistan's long-term relationship with the United States and possible peace talks with the insurgency.
The plans included a detailed satellite map of the area and purported details of the security arrangements, but the Afghan Interior Ministry immediately dismissed them as fake.
The tribal elder meeting -- or loya jirga -- is considered by many an important step in harnessing Afghan consent to both a long-term U.S. military presence in Afghanistan and any possible peace deal with elements of the insurgency. It is due to begin Wednesday and continue for several days; hundreds of community leaders have been invited from across the country. Their conclusions will likely influence Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
The Taliban have long threatened to disrupt the event. Sunday's alleged leak was interpreted in Kabul as anything from a desperate insurgency resorting to fraudulent propaganda to a new sign of the Taliban's enhanced ability to elicit confidential information from government ministries. Regardless, they are a sign of the information war between coalition forces and the insurgency, both of which regularly trade blows and accusations on social media.
A translated statement on the website read: "The vigilant Mujahedeen of Islamic Emirate have acquired the security plans, maps and other documents related to the upcoming supposed loya jirga (National
Assembly) by means of its personnel embedded inside the enemy ranks."
The Interior Ministry dismissed the post, saying it only served as part of a failing propaganda campaign aimed at intimidating people from attending the loya jirga.
"This is yet another huge lie by the Taliban," said Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Seddiqi. "It is part of a propaganda campaign and it is what we can expect. The Taliban are under pressure -- they have tried to disrupt and have failed to do so. That is why they are resorting to this propaganda."
He rejected the notion of jirga delegates due avoiding the meeting because of the alleged leak.
The document said the following could be "probable threats" posed by the Taliban:
-- "Suicide attacks with new and dangerous tactics in one or several places continuing for several hours";
-- "Rocket attacks from Kabul city sub-districts or districts outside";
-- "Infiltration of enemy into the lines of security forces."
The statement on the website also said, "These important secrets which you will see in the below pages have been acquired by Mujahedeen of Islamic Emirate from two ministries and from the special security corps of the government. Our upcoming attacks will become even more lethal and precise with the acquisition of such intelligence material, if God wills it."
The statement went on to promise further details: "Note -- The original security plans which consist of 28 pages and six pictorial maps have been recomposed and rewritten by us for intelligence and policy purposes. We will release the second, third, 28th sides of the plan and a map to show its validation and will also release the pictorial part of it in the near future, if Allah Wills it."
NATO's International Security Assistance Force was aware of the message on the website, but could not confirm the accuracy of it, spokesman Lt. Col. Jimmie Cummings said.
"The Taliban have said they would go to all extremes to disrupt the loya jirga," he said.
Taliban claims obtaining Afghan security plan - Central & South Asia - Al Jazeera English
The Afghan Taliban claims to have obtained highly classified documents detailing the security plan for next week’s Loya Jirga, a traditional assembly of elders called to discuss a crucial strategic agreement with the United States.
In an email sent out to journalists from a verified Taliban account, the group’s spokesman said that "with help of infiltrators, we have obtained the security plan, maps, and some other important documents for the so called Loya Jirga."
The claims were immediately denied by Sediq Seddiqi, spokesman for the Afghan ministry of interior, saying the Taliban were desperate for attention.
"The plan is highly classified, with only four or five members of the assembly’s security committee having access to it," Seddiqi told Al Jazeera.
"This is a continuation of their baseless propaganda and it is an indication that they are under tremendous pressure from the Afghan security forces."
Lieutenant Colonel Jimmie Cummings, a spokesman for the NATO-led military coalition, told Al Jazeera the coalition was aware of the Taliban's claim but could not confirm its accuracy.
The consultative Loya Jirga, scheduled to begin on November 16, brings together representatives from Afghan provinces, ethnic groups, and civil society to discuss the future of the stalled peace talks with the Taliban as well as a crucial agreement with the United States.
Both the US and the government of President Hamid Karzai are hoping this meeting will provide the legitimacy necessary to sign the agreement, paving the way for relations beyond 2014, when US forces are scheduled to withdraw.
The Taliban has not been invited to take part.
Opposition members as well as a number of parliamentarians boycotted the assembly, calling Karzai’s move to hold such a meeting illegal.
Leak plausible
In their email, the Taliban also circulated the content of the alleged security plan, totalling 20 pages, with purported signatures of an ISAF commander, Lieutenant-General Curtis Scaparrotti, the deputy minister of interior, General Abdul Rahman Rahman, and the army chief of staff, General Sher Mohamed Karimi.
But a NATO official told Al Jazeera that the signature of Scaparrotti was not authentic.
In great detail, the document also charts the deployment of various forces, including the special force protecting the president, the police, the army, and the national intelligence agency.
It goes as far as giving the alleged number of soldiers in each security belt extending far into the city, and the name and phone numbers of commanders leading the various divisions.
Al Jazeera called several of the names mentioned in the report. The phone numbers were authentic, but none answered their phones.
Analysts believe leaking the plan is plausible, but it might not help the Taliban. It may, however, give them a propaganda victory.
“The plan is circulated to ministries and many government organisations,” General Hadi Khaled, a former deputy minister of interior, told Al Jazeera.
"It is very easy for someone to get a photo copy."
Khaled said he believes that even if the Taliban’s claims turned out true, it would not help them in carrying out attacks.
“Such security plans only map the physical details of who will be deployed where, but no operational information of intelligence.”
He said he had been impressed with the security arrangements around the city.
Tight security
Amid increasing threats, Afghan forces have deployed extra layers of security across the city. Reports also suggest that the government has banned the selling or renting of houses around the assembly areas, with fears of Taliban attackers moving in.
Reports also emerged that some members planning to attend the assembly had received threat letters from the Taliban, warning them not to attend the meeting.
Infiltration of Afghan security forces by the Taliban has long been a concern, and if the authenticity of the plan is verified, this could be the latest and most remarkable of it so far.
In the most recent of such an incident, on October 31, an Afghan soldier opened fire on his Australian trainers, killing three of them.
The Taliban targeted last summer’s Loya Jirga with suicide bombers and rockets as the president addressed the assembled crowd of nearly 1600 leaders.
Loud explosions were heard outside as security forces engaged suicide bombers in the vicinity of the meeting, but Karzai tried to laugh of the incident, broadcast live on national television.
“Sit down, nothing will happen," Karzai told the leaders, some of whom left their seats, "I have become used to this".
The minister of interior and the chief of intelligence were fired immediately after the Jirga for failing to protect it.
It is impossible to verify the Taliban's claims that the document is authentic.
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