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Bill Roggio Profile picture
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16 Sep, 6 tweets, 3 min read
1) The breathless so-called “reporting & analysis” on this issue is laughable. Baradar shows up on TV, denies the infighting & now @Charles_Lister is “unconvinced” that there wasn’t a fight after first tweeting Baradar was missing. Stick with Syria, quit sensationalizing rumors.
@Charles_Lister 2) I say this for a reason. These type of of rumors are more than common, and nearly always turn out to be wrong. I've studied the Afghan & Pakistani Taliban for years, and can recall numerous instances of bogus reports of infighting.
@Charles_Lister 3) Here's one, from 2015, when rumors were floated that Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, then the Taliban's emir (later killed by the US in a drone strike in Pakistan), was killed during a meeting with his commanders. Mansour obviously denied it. longwarjournal.org/archives/2015/…
@Charles_Lister 4) Here's another. In 2009, the press was reporting Hakeemullah Mehsud, the head of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, was killed by a rival Taliban faction. Defense officials were claiming this. He wasn't. He was killed in a U.S. drone strike...
longwarjournal.org/archives/2009/…
@Charles_Lister 5) Here's another classic, the so-called "battle of the Pakistani Taliban Shura," where Pakistani officials claimed Hakeemullah Mehsud and Waliur Rehman Mehsud, who were in the lead to succeed Baitullah Mehsud, killed each other. They didn't.
longwarjournal.org/archives/2009/…
6) I could go on, but won't. My advice to wannabe Afghan experts, don't be a @hxhassan and push garbage rumors.

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Bill Roggio Profile picture
17 Sep
1) The U.S. drone strike that was supposed to target an Islamic State car bomber in Kabul killed 10 civilians, including 7 children, the military admitted.

It was clear to me from the outset that this a was what used to be called a "signature strike."

nytimes.com/2021/09/17/us/…
2) I watched the @nytimes video report last weekend. It was obvious that the military made critical areas. But the military didn't have access to CCTV footage, which showed the man carrying multiple empty water jugs in a single hand, etc.
nytimes.com/video/world/as…
@nytimes 3) This was a tragic final act of the U.S. presence in Afghanistan. It also demonstrates why relying on "over the horizon" strikes to deal with AL Qaeda and the Islamic State is fraught with peril.
Read 6 tweets
Bill Roggio Profile picture
17 Sep
1) Before the fall of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, the Pakistani government constantly berated the Afghan government for purportedly sheltering the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, which is responsible for killing tens of thousands of Paksitani civilians and soldiers.
2) The Afghan government wasn't sheltering the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan (TTP), the TTP was sheltering in areas in southern and eastern Afghanistan that were under Afghan Taliban control. The TTP also fought alongside the Afghan Taliban against the Afghan government.
3) Now that Afghanistan is under control of the Taliban, where are the Pakistani government's calls for the Taliban to eliminate safe haven for the TTP? Don't hold your breath.
Read 5 tweets
Bill Roggio Profile picture
16 Sep
1) @US4AfghanPeace Zalmay Khalilzad’s explanation of what happened in the final days of the fall of Kabul is a jumbled mess. He is spinning to make himself look good but it fails. If you take his narrative at face value, he essentially green lighted the Taliban to enter the city.
2) @thomasjoseclyn notes that the idea that the Taliban was going to negotiate after it surrounded Kabul is absurd. He is of course right. foreignpolicy.com/2021/09/15/zal…
3) @husainhaqqani also nails it. Negotiations at this point were gaslighting. Zal was a fool if he believed there was anything left to negotiate.
Read 8 tweets
Bill Roggio Profile picture
15 Sep
1) Mullah Sangeen Zadran epitomized the Taliban-Al Qaeda relationship. Called Al Qaeda his "brothers". Designated by US for ties to Al Qaeda. A Haqqani Network leader, the Taliban's shadow governor & military leader of Paktika up until the U.S. killed him in 2013.
2) In 2009, Sangeen openly admitted that the bond between the “brothers” of Al Qaeda and the Taliban were unbreakable. In a As Sahab interview, Sangeen said: “We do not see any difference between Taliban and Al Qaeda,” and the two groups “are all one and are united by Islam.”
Sangeen in 2009: "Sheikh Usama [bin Laden] has pledged allegiance to Amir Al-Mumineen [Leader of the Faithful Mulla Muhammad Umar] and has reassured his leadership again and again. There is no difference between us, for we are united by Islam and the Sharia governs us."
Read 7 tweets
Bill Roggio Profile picture
14 Sep
1) Now That's Moderate! The Taliban's Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice is back in business, with its moderate punishments of stoning for the crime of “illegal intercourse,” chopping off the hands of thieves, etc.
hindustantimes.com/world-news/tal…
2) Sheikh Mohammad Khalid is the current Minister for Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice is a Taliban. He reports to Maulvi Abdul Hakim Sharia, the Minister of Justice.
3) Maulvi Abdul Hakim Sharia was the "shadow" Minister of Justice before the Taliban took control of Afghanistan and is close to the Taliban's emir, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada. He also was a negotiator at Doha.
longwarjournal.org/archives/2021/…
Read 5 tweets
Bill Roggio Profile picture
13 Sep
1) The Darul Uloom Haqqania in Akora Khattak, Pakistan is the gift that keeps on giving - to the jihad. Note that the Taliban's Minister of Justice, Maulvi Abdul Hakim Sharia, & the Minister of Hajj/Religious Affairs, Maulvi Noor Mohammad Saqib, attended.
longwarjournal.org/archives/2021/…
2) Other notable alumni who attended the Darul Uloom Haqqania: Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban's Interior Minister and arguably the group's most powerful leader. His father, who sponsored Osama bin Laden also attended the University of Jihad.
3) While Mullah Omar did not attend, he was granted an honorary degree. Darul Uloom Haqqania recognizes jihadi talent when it sees it, and rewards.
Mullah Mansour Akhund, the Taliban's second (and previous) emir, was a graduate of the University of Jihad.
Read 5 tweets

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