Behind Taliban Lines?

I thought the video where Al Jareea was showing the insurgents arresting people who voted in the Afghanistan election to a quite possibly a painful death was bad enough. One guy wanted to take it further.

Late last summer, while reporting a story for FRONTLINE, veteran Afghan journalist Najibullah Quraishi through channels put out word that he would like to interview one of the new Taliban commanders leading a growing insurgency in the country’s northern provinces.

Yep for those who where in Afghanistan out on patrols this guy was chatting it up with those that wanted to kill you.

In this excerpt from Behind Taliban Lines, the militants — members of an extremist group called Hezb-i-Islami, which fights alongside the Taliban throughout the country — have holed up in a safe-house near their target and are beginning to build the bombs that they hope will stop an American supply truck and a jeep filled with Afghan police, both of which they plan to subsequently attack with rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.

The excuse that the writer gives is that he is helping the West better understand these groups. In his own words:

At the time he filmed this scene, Quraishi did not know the target of the attack, but it was clear to him — as it was throughout his time with the militants — that it was critical for a Western audience to see for themselves what was taking place here, deepening our understanding of the tactics, training, and mind-set of the insurgents who control vast regions of the country beyond the reach of the central government.

There are so many lines in this story to quote it was hard not to just post the entire story but one thing that should be noted is that even with the obvious free publicity and propaganda, they had no issues about having though of beheading him.

“Mirwais took my hand; he took me aside,” Quraishi says. “He said: ‘Brother, I invited you here as a guest. I know your plan is to be here for 14 days, but I’m really sorry.’” Two men had arrived from Pakistan—likely from Hezb-i-Islami and Al Qaeda—and they demanded to know why an outsider had been allowed in to film among the fighters. “‘They keep telling me that you are a spy and we have to behead you.’”

But he found out that once again the overall truth with these groups.

Indeed, as the men of Central Group proceed toward their target, Quraishi meets a young bomb maker from Uzbekistan who says he was trained by Al Qaeda.

“America started this war in Afghanistan so that European countries like England and America would be safe,” he tells Quraishi. “But they should know that once the mujahideen conquer Afghanistan, … we’ll aim for the Middle East and Europe.”

Their words now ours.

Category: General Whackos, Terror War