Word: jihadism
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
There was a time when Washington could call up Islamabad and order a jihad on the Red Army occupying Afghanistan - and Islamabad would salute. Islamabad was our loyal ally in the Cold War. Granted, no one in Washington was happy when Pakistan started developing a nuclear bomb in the '70s. Or when it finally tested one in May 1998. But still, we slept nights knowing that Pakistan's pro-American, Western-trained generals, our generals, had their fingers on the trigger...
...enlisted. Historically, they have faithfully served Pakistan, but since 9/11 their loyalty has been sorely tested. Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda and the Taliban are holed up in Pashtunistan, on both sides of the remote, mountainous, impenetrable Pakistan-Afghan border - the rear base they use to wage jihad on Islamabad and Kabul. Al-Qaeda has at least the implicit support of the local Pashtuns, and, inevitably, Pashtuns are dying, both at our hands and the Pakistan army's. It has to be taking a toll on the loyalties of Pashtuns in Pakistan's army...
...meantime, hostile debate of the Madrid bombings - who was involved; who blamed whom for what; should investigations carry on or not - continues to be the favorite sport of Spanish politicians. On Tuesday, the Congress of Deputies debated whether the opposition Popular Party had mounted a "media jihad" in its efforts to prove that ETA was indeed involved in the attacks. The uncertainty surrounding Osman's sentence will just give them one more thing to argue about...
...Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, speaking from under house arrest, questioned Musharraf's motives. "If he wants to stamp out terrorism in Pakistan, why is he arresting civil society leaders and lawyers instead of militants and religious fanatics? Why didn't he arrest Fazlullah when he first started preaching jihad? Today he has arrested hundreds of lawyers, but not a single militant, Taliban, al-Qaeda or religious fanatic. It doesn't make any sense. If you want to take the country away from the extremists, you don't do it by arresting the moderates...
They want Musharraf dead. Osama bin Laden declared jihad against the leader in a video this September...