Combat Journalist

February 17, 2015
Mustafa Kazemi

Hackers attack again, and this time hack an Afghan government official’s twitter account.

General Salangi’s twitter account was hacked at 08:49 am Kabul Time.

“ArabAttack” posted a message along with a logo holding Syrian flag on twitter account of Police General Mohammad Ayub Salangi, the deputy minister of Interior Affairs with (roughly) the following text in Arabic:

“This site is hacked by the Syrian electronic army. It has been hacked as a reminder of the Naksa Day and a reminder that this land will be returned.”

The second part of the above text, and the indication to Naksa Day indicates they were targeting an Israeli, and not an Afghan, a native Syrian who translated the text said.

With a verified account, General Salangi is one of the numerable officials who has an active online presence.

This is the first case where hackers attack an Afghan government official’s twitter page.

Until filing of this story, the tweet displaying the hackers’ message was still on Gen Salangi’s timeline.

—End—

February 10, 2015
by Mustafa Kazemi

Reports of ISIS presence in Afghanistan put the public in a greater worry & fear while the security agencies were alarmed about a more serious, bitter threat than the Taliban.

Security Forces in Afghanistan achieved a not-like-before victory over fighters associated with ISIS in Afghanistan on Monday.

A former Taliban commander who had detached himself from the Taliban and joined the ISIS, was killed in a special operation in southern Helmand province on Monday.

The operation that killed Abdul Rauf, known as “Khadem” is covered in a controversy while Afghan and US forces present two different accounts of the operation that killed “the guy”.

In one account, the Police Chief of Helmand province Gen. Nabi Jaan Mulakhel speaking to a ToloNews reporter, said that Abdul Rauf was killed in a drone strike by US forces in volatile Helmand’s Kajaki district.

While a spokesperson for the US-led international peacekeeping forces in Afghanistan presented the same account to the New York Times, but dodging the question of whether Abdul Rauf, known as “Khadem” was the actual target of the drone strike.

Colonel Brian Tribus did not provide further information in this report by the New York Times.

National Directorate of Security (NDS), Afghanistan’s primary intelligence organization however claim that it was the intelligence agency’s special operations unit that conducted “a series of operations” and killed Abdul Rauf.

According to an official NDS statement, “Abdul Rauf, known as “Khadem”” was killed in “a series of operations today at 10:28 am in Sadat area of Kajaki district.”

“…five companions of Abdul Rauf were also killed in these operations”.

“Commander Abdul Rauf was one of the most important targets for the security agencies of Afghanistan since months”, the NDS said.

If confirmations would later determine whether Abdul Rauf was killed in a US drone strike or Afghan forces’ operations, this will be the first operation against the Islamic State in Afghanistan.

One NDS official who wanted to remain unnamed, says “we have no place and tolerance for ISIS in here.”

Presence of ISIS-associated insurgents appeared in the media as early as September in Afghanistan with a deadly attack in which ISIS beheaded 15 family members of Afghan police officers in Eastern Afghanistan, according to this NBC report.

–End—

Mustafa Kazemi

In a moving and attentive action, the Taliban insurgent group in Afghanistan announced that they have joined three top mobile texting applications: Viber, WhatsApp, and WeChat.

Taliban spokesman in Afghanistan, Zabihullah Mujahid sent an email statement to a handful of journalists, announcing that he has joined Viber, WhatsApp, and WeChat mobile messengers and that the journalists can now interact with him over these platforms.

Taliban media wing have previously engaged in social media activities over Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Gmail and running a large sized website that publishes their propaganda videos, statements, and daily briefings.

The spokesperson provided the Afghan cell number 0093-703-944-565 for journalists to add him on Viber, WhatsApp, and WeChat messengers.

The need to Interact and connect with Afghanistan’s most notorious terrorist group is to quote their side of the stories whenever their insurgents attack a government facility or security forces in Afghanistan.

Taliban have two spokespersons in Afghanistan, Zabihullah Mujahid and Qari Yosuf Ahmadi. The latter is less active on social media since two years. Back then he was Taliban’s senior spokesperson.

Intelligence agencies of the government of Afghanistan have not yet commented on this, but in the past they have told the media on multiple occasions that they have tried to trace and track the phone numbers that the Taliban use to communicate with the media inside and outside Afghanistan.

It is now changed into a fashion for the Taliban and other terrorist groups to take responsibility of a security incident or an attack against afghan government forces – discard the old SIM card – and buy a new one.

Intelligence agencies have said that one of the problems that they face while trying to identify these individual or triangulate on their locations is because their SIM cards are not registered under any individual and are purchased at price of as low as $2 (INR 100) per SIM card from the black markets around Afghanistan.

By Mustafa Kazemi

    Conspiracy wise the ISIS or Islamic State of Iraq & Syria isn’t much different from what we witnessed during the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Differences like culture, government system, and economy might make us think that there are barely anything common between the two terrorist groups – but there are enough analogy between the two.

When Taliban came into existence, it was merely known as a resistance group. It later transformed into a group that wanted to establish an Islamic government in Afghanistan and finally one of the groups responsible for the 9/11 attacks. It was no longer government of Afghanistan – but was “the Taliban”. ISIS – which also goes with its brand new name the “Islamic State” displayed a very similar show on its appearance. Still labelled as a Sunni resistance group that is fighting the “injustice” in Iraq by the Shiite government of Noori Al-Maliki, the Islamic State is by far proved itself anything but a sectarian movement.

1. Taliban and the Islamic State both became who they are out of a few stained AK-47s and cold war weapons. Islamic State managed to get Russian BMP and American Abrams tanks along with relatively plenty of other armaments provided to the Iraqi government by the US – once – to fight groups like ISIS with. But the Taliban used 90% Russian arms.

    

2. Islamic State is after printing passports. Taliban had taken a parallel step: Get independent as far as it can. Taliban used different currency banknotes, which decreased the value of the Afghani currency from 1 to 100. One Afghani before Taliban’s Afghani currency (which was printed in an allied Arab country), turned to 100 – the smallest bill. It fell well into the place, and until one and half year into the Transitional Government, the same was used. They though failed to print their own passports. One reason could be attributed to the fact that they didn’t need them. Afghans were travelling to neighboring Pakistan & Iran with no documents, and wherever the Taliban officials went, they needn’t to show passports.

    

3. Going to mosque for prayer – Jama’at – was as mandatory during the Taliban regime as Islamic State is enforcing it. When its prayer time, whether you were on a street, in the hospital, in a park, a farm, or in a car, you were forced to offer prayer with everyone else. I spent many weeks in a Taliban detention center for not going to the mosque for prayer and opting to offer the prayer at my workshop. As did many other Afghans. In extreme cases the Taliban would lash, beat, and fine those who’d avoid going to the mosque – the exact that Islamic State is enforcing upon Iraqi citizen.

    

4. No woman was allowed to go out without a confidant (mostly a sibling) in any case. Women were lashed, beaten or punished in a different style if they were seen without a man in the public. Difference with Islamic State rule is that Afghan women were forced to wear a Burqa, but Islamic State hasn’t yet punished anyone for not wearing a veil to cover full body. Although their law says so.

    

5. Being a cross-border rule is another common habit of the two groups. In Islamic State, its Syria as second home for them, and Afghanistan shared the Taliban with Pakistan during their rules.

    

6. US Government – or the biggest “anti-terrorism” government opposes both groups – for national and international interests. Islamic State has so far only made threats against the U.S., but Taliban did what they could to cause a terrible grief being developed in America’s heart for them, a grief that cost the Taliban their rule.

    

7. Tendency to share politics with Arab countries of the Gulf area. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Qatar are some examples which both Taliban and the Islamic State have either proved their political propensity with, or are going to do so. Even years after overthrowing of the Taliban government, their peace talks and other legal matters which required a table and a chair to sit and discuss them are taking place in either of the countries.

    

8. Leader of the Muslims or Amir-ul-Momenin is a disputed title. After Imam Ali, it was claimed by Mullah Omer, the one-eyed spearhead of the Taliban, and Abubakr Al Baghdadi. They both ask the Muslims to obey them, and they both said the same things: obey me if I’m right, and do not if I’m wrong. Maybe we need a 3^rd one to judge which one is right & which one is wrong.

    

9. Mullah Omer never wore a James Bond watch, as Abubakr Al Baghdadi did.

    

10. Cultural Enemies: Both the Islamic State and Taliban regime destroyed culturally-valuable sites and religiously important shrines for the minorities in Iraq and Afghanistan.

     

From 1990s onwards when the Taliban came into the spotlight until 2001 when the US military conducted a generous carpet bombing of Taliban strongholds and got rid of them, almost everything is known about the Taliban whilst the Islamic State is still under development. As weeks and months pass on, more and more is revealed about the brand new caliphate. A couple of weeks later, this list will make us read far more than 10 points of similarity.

By Mustafa Kazemi
July 2nd, 2014 — 04:10 Kabul Time

Kabul (Afghanistan) – Australian Defense Ministry confirms death of a
Special Forces soldier in Afghan capital Kabul.

Australia’s Defense Force Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin told a press
conference minutes ago that the soldier was a found dead with a fatal
gunshot wound.

It is believed to be a “non-combat related incident” as the soldier
was found dead in “an administrative building” in Kabul.

The soldier was from a Sydney-based Second Commando Unit.

“He was a highly-qualified, experienced and well-respected special
forces soldier.” “His death will impact the nation” – Marshal Mark
Binskin added.

Offering condolences to the family of the soldier on behalf of
Australian Defense Forces, he said the family has “asked for privacy.”

Air Marshal Binskin said “The ADF’s investigative service has begun
collecting evidence from the site, and that they do not have all the
facts in this “early stage.”

No further details about the soldier was disclosed with the media.

Currently Australia has 400 military troops and advisors in Afghanistan.

[Natalie Peters contributed piece].

The US Department of Defense released names of the three Marines who died while supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

Killed were:

Staff Sgt. David H. Stewart, 34, of Stafford, Virginia, died June 20, while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

Lance Cpl. Brandon J. Garabrant, 19, of Peterborough, New Hampshire, died June 20, while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

Lance Cpl. Adam F. Wolff, 25, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, died June 20, while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

By Mustafa Kazemi

Nimruz (Afghanistan) – Five Afghan teenagers are killed during a casual sports match in a shooting by unidentified gunmen in Eastern Afghanistan this afternoon.

Afghan youth play soccer on the outskirts of Herat on January 17, 2014 (AFP)

A late Thursday press release from Afghan President’s office said that the teens were playing casual sports with each other when attacked by gunmen on motorbikes in Alingar district of Eastern Laghman province.

“Gunmen on motorcycles opened fire on a number of teenagers in Sakhra Roy area of Alingar district, in result of which 5 teenagers playing sports were martyred” – the press release cited Falzlullah Mujadadi, governor of Laghman province.

“Afghan president condemns this attack in the strongest terms” – the statement added.

“Attacks of this sort have been increased recently on the innocent Afghan civilians have increased by the enemies of peace in Afghanistan” – Afghan President Hamid Karzai says while referring to a similar rocket attack on football players in southern Kandahar province.

President Karzai spoke over telephone with Governor Mujadadi and directed him to thoroughly investigate the incident and offer assistance to the victims’ families.

This is the second attack on Afghan civilians during sports matches in one week’s time interval.

On January 18^th, a rocket attack on a football stadium in volatile southern Kandahar province’s Maiwand district killed 4 football players and injured 5 others.

All four of the fatalities were Maiwand district’s football team members.

No insurgent group has yet claimed responsibility for either of the attacks.

-End-

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