Share this page!

Bill Roggio Profile picture
Twitter logo
18 Sep, 5 tweets, 4 min read
1) @bpolitics should be ashamed of publishing this article that authoritatively states that Khalil Haqqani began punching Mullah Baradar, and then a gunfight broke out between security details.
bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
@bpolitics 2) I noted here that this rumor mill reporting of so called clashes between Taliban leaders is a mainstay of the region, and it nearly always wrong:
@bpolitics 3) If you want to report that there was a gunfight between two senior Taliban leaders, you better have more than just "my sources said it was true." This is how the world ate up @hxhassan's "Zawahiri is dead" narrative. It was of course wrong:
@bpolitics @hxhassan 4) There is a tell in the story that that author of the @bpolitics reporter, Eltaf Najafizada, doesn't even understand the group he is reporting on. Here it is:
"The Taliban and Haqqani groups merged around 2016."
That of course is garbage, see here:
@bpolitics @hxhassan 5) Garbage in, garbage out. Sadly, this is all too common in the fields of journalism and counterterrorism.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Bill Roggio

Bill Roggio Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @billroggio

Bill Roggio Profile picture
20 Sep
"Extraordinary success" - @POTUS

Those trapped in Afghanistan, to @AP: "All say they are scared the ruling Taliban will find them, throw them in jail, perhaps even kill them because they are Americans or had worked for the U.S. government."

mercurynews.com/2021/09/20/fea…
@POTUS @AP "And they are concerned that the Biden administration’s promised efforts to get them out have stalled."
@POTUS @AP "The California family, which includes a 9-year-old girl and two boys, ages 8 and 6, say they have been on the run for the past two weeks after the Taliban knocked on the door of their relative’s apartment asking about the Americans staying there."
Read 5 tweets
Bill Roggio Profile picture
19 Sep
1) Pakistani jihadi cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz, who led the 2007 insurrection at the Red Mosque or Lal Masjid in Islamabad, raised the Taliban's white flag over the mosque after the Taliban's victory.
en.dailypakistan.com.pk/18-Sep-2021/la…
2) Aziz is threatening policemen with violence if they take the flags down. He has been charged by the Pakistani police, but don't expect those charges to stick. More than 100 people were killed in the Lal Masjid crisis, but Aziz only spent two years in jail. A Teflon Cleric.
3) After his release in 2009, Aziz continued his anti-state jihadist activities. In 2014, the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan chose Aziz and other pro-Taliban clerics to negotiate on their behalf with the Pakistani government. You can see Aziz accompanied by armed guards.
Read 5 tweets
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
16 Sep
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/…
Read 6 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Like this author's thread?

Get emails when @billroggio has new unrolls!

Check out other threads from @billroggio!

Read all threads by @billroggio

:(