Daily brief: 4 jailed in German terror plot

Southeast by southwest

The international coalition in Afghanistan is moving toward a U.S.-led new regional command structure in southern Afghanistan that would concentrate exclusively on military operations in Helmand province, while the existing British-led command would shift its focus to neighboring Kandahar (WSJ, Reuters). The Journal has the best account of the new plan, which would be headquartered at Camp Bastion, a sprawling American base near Lashkar Gah, Helmand’s capital. And Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Adm. Mike Mullen said yesterday that it’s "too early to tell" what Afghan President Hamid Karzai has done to combat the pervasive corruption in the Afghan government (Reuters).

The British general in charge of Taliban reintegration gave a rare public estimate yesterday of the Taliban’s strength in Afghanistan, pegging the number of "fighters" between 25,000 and 36,000 and estimating that there are around 900 in the movement’s leadership (Times). And McClatchy runs a follow-up to the Feb. 21 air strike that left 21 Afghan civilians dead in Daikundi (McClatchy).

Coming and going to the battlefield

A former Guantanamo detainee who was released in December 2007 has reportedly returned to Afghanistan and runs the Taliban resistance for the southern provinces, including Helmand, the site of the Marjah battle (AP). Abdul Qayyum, who gave U.S. authorities the name of his father Abdullah Ghulam Rasoul when he was arrested in 2001, is believed to be running operations from the Pakistani city of Quetta and has been mentioned as a possible successor to the recently captured Afghan Taliban number two leader Mullah Baradar.

Mullah Baradar, reports Rahimullah Yusufzai, is unlikely to be handed over to Afghan or U.S. authorities despite their recent requests, and the "decision is final" according to a senior Pakistani government official (The News). Afghan Taliban sources claim that replacements have been named for Baradar and several other commanders arrested recently.

A German court has sentenced four self-confessed Islamist militants to between 5 and 12 years in prison for plotting to attack U.S. facilities in the country in 2007, after training in Pakistan with the al-Qaeda linked Uzbek militant group the Islamic Jihad Union (Times, AJE, CNN, AP, DW, BBC, Reuters). For more on the ‘Sauerland group’ and other serious plots against the west, see a comprehensive, newly released paper by terrorism expert Paul Cruickshank (NAF).

Words of war in Pakistan

Around 4:00am this morning local time, more than 100 Taliban fighters attacked a Frontier Corps checkpost in Chamarkand in Mohmand, a tribal area in northwest Pakistan a mile from the Afghan border, killing one soldier and sparking retaliatory cannon fire that killed as many as 30 militants (Geo, AFP, AP, BBC). Meanwhile, phase two of Operation Spring Cleaning, a week-old Pakistani military offensive in Frontier Regions Kohat and Peshawar, has reportedly been completed and 38 Taliban fighters killed, while airstrikes continue in Orakzai (AFP, The News).

And tanks arrived yesterday in Miram Shah, the administrative capital of North Waziristan, which has locals concerned about a possible Pakistani Army offensive there, while intra-Taliban fighting left ten dead in clashes between the self-proclaimed interim chief of the Pakistani Taliban Mullah Toofan and commander in Kurram Muhammad Rafique (Daily Times, Daily Times).

Carlotta Gall profiles a U.S.-trained former colonel in Pakistan’s powerful spy agency, Col. Imam, who she writes "personifies the double edge of Pakistan’s policy toward the Taliban…and also embodies the deep connection Pakistan has to the Afghan insurgents (NYT). Western officials claim Col. Imam, who spent two decades running militants in and out of Afghanistan during the 1980s and 90s, is still helping finance, train, and recruit fighters.

Not your father’s Taliban

This week’s New Yorker "Shouts and Murmurs" features the "New Taliban," complete with focus groups and free weekly podcasts from Mullah Omar (New Yorker). The "New Taliban" is also on Twitter.

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