Daily brief: Key al-Qaeda figure arrested in Pakistan

Event notice: Please join New America Foundation president Steve Coll, AfPak Channel editor Peter Bergen, and Foreign Policy editor in chief Susan Glasser TOMORROW, September 7, as they look back on the enduring impact of the 9/11 attacks (NAF).

Pakistan’s army announced Monday that they had arrested three senior al-Qaeda figures with American "technical assistance" in the southwestern city of Quetta, including Younis al-Mauritani, a shadowy figure the army said had been tasked by Osama bin Laden to strike economically important targets in the West as well as American shipping (AP, Post, CNN, BBC, Tel, NPR, LAT, AFP, Reuters). Little is known publicly about al-Mauritani, who was reportedly arrested along with Abdul Ghaffar al-Shami and Messara al-Shami, though he was considered an important operational planner, and was said to be involved in plots against Europe last year (CNN). Yassin Muharbash reveals new details about al-Mauretani’s real identity and past militant history (Der Spiegel – German).

In its statement announcing the arrest, Pakistan’s army said its relationship with American intelligence was "strong" and "historic," a marked shift in tone from the acrimony that has increasingly clouded the relationship between the two countries (NYT, ET). Responding to the news, the White House praised the "longstanding partnership" between the United States and Pakistan in fighting terrorism (Reuters, ET). And in other news, the Pakistani judicial commission investigating the American raid that killed bin Laden has barred a doctor who allegedly worked with the CIA on a vaccination program designed to help confirm the terror leader’s presence in Abbottabad, Dr. Shakil Afridi, from leaving the country without special permission (AP).

The Post this weekend reports on materials seized at bin Laden’s compound that have prompted security concerns as the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks approaches, as Greg Jaffe looks at the period of "endless war" that the attacks ushered in (Post, Post). The Post also has a detailed piece on the Joint Special Operations Command, while the Times profiles U.S. undersecretary of defense for intelligence Michael G. Vickers, who has played a key role in hunting down al-Qaeda leaders (Post, NYT). The AP reports on how Americans have moved on since 9/11, while revealing that approximately 35,000 people have been convicted on terrorism charges around the world since the attacks, with a third of them in Turkey alone (AP, AP).

The Guardian has a must read-series, "Living with 9/11" while the Times looks at how the media have covered the anniversary (Guardian, NYT). The Guardian also investigates how private corporations have profited as a result of the attacks, while the Telegraph visits bin Laden’s former base at Tarnak Farms (Guardian, Tel). And PBS and RFE/RL analyze how the attacks are seen in Pakistan and Afghanistan (PBS, RFE/RL).

The FBI on Friday arrested an American permanent resident born in Pakistan, Jubair Ahmed, on charges of providing material support to the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) by allegedly posting a YouTube video last year praising the group (Post, AP, Reuters, AFP, Dawn). Court documents also say that Ahmed was in contact with Talha, the son of LeT founder Hafiz Saeed, and briefly attended an LeT training camp as a teenager, though the group on Monday denied any relationship with Ahmed (AFP). Pakistan’s intelligence agencies are reportedly investigating Ahmed’s potential militant ties (ET).

The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) said Saturday that it was holding nearly 30 boys from Pakistan’s tribal areas hostage, calling the kidnappings punishment for the cooperation of the Mamund tribe with Pakistan’s government (AP, Reuters, Dawn, BBC). Tribal elders are reportedly negotiating with the Taliban in Afghanistan for the boys’ return, as Pakistan’s government called on Afghan president Hamid Karzai to help secure their release (Reuters, AP, VOA). Pakistan’s army clashed with militants in the Swat Valley Monday, as the Tribune looks at how the region has recovered from widespread flooding last year (ET, ET). And police continue to investigate the kidnapping last month of Shahbaz Taseer, the son of slain Punjab province governor Salman Taseer (The News, ET, ET, Dawn).

A five-judge panel headed by Pakistani Supreme Court chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry continued its investigation into the violence in Karachi Monday and Tuesday, criticizing the government’s failure to resolve the crisis and ordering the Sindh police inspector general to create an independent task force to stamp out the killings that have roiled the city (Dawn, ET, Dawn, ET, The News, The News, DT, ET, DT, ET, DT). Conflicts over local government laws in Sindh continue to stall reconciliation between the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), while the Post looks at the rise of cricket star-turned-opposition political figure Imran Khan (ET, DT, Dawn, ET, Dawn, Dawn, Dawn, DT, Post). And Dawn reports on the increase in bulletproof cars in Karachi (Dawn).

Four stories round out the weekend: Officials said Monday that flooding in Sindh had killed at least 136 people in the past week (Dawn, AP, AFP). The L.A. Times discusses the frequency of suicide bombings in Pakistan (LAT). A student at Rawalpindi University shot and killed the school’s vice principal Tuesday (ET, Dawn). And the Sindh government announced its intentions to make Mandarin a part of the mandatory school curriculum in the province after 2013 (BBC, The News, ET, DT).

Wikileaked

A U.S. diplomatic cable from 2008 released by the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks quotes Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh telling U.S. officials that he had reached an "understanding" on a deal over the disputed region of Kashmir in 2006 with then-Pakistani dictator Pervez Musharraf (NDTV, PTI). Other cables released recently detail American efforts to maintain a ceasefire along the heavily militarized border between India and Pakistan in 2005, and Singh’s fury following the 2008 Mumbai attacks (Dawn, ToI).

Back to the battlefield?

NATO forces in Jalalabad on Friday killed a man they identified as Sabar Lal, an alleged insurgent facilitator and funder believed to be former Guantánamo Bay detainee Sabar Lal Melma, who was released in 2007 (NYT, Reuters, VOA, AP). While NATO contends that Lal was an insurgent figure with ties to al-Qaeda, his death has sparked protests from Afghanistan’s High Peace Council, whom they contend was not involved with the insurgency (NYT).

Afghan officials announced Monday that two German citizens who disappeared nearly three weeks ago while hiking in Afghanistan’s Parwan province have been found shot to death in sacks near the Salang Pass (AJE, Reuters, DW, AFP, AP, Bloomberg, CNN, BBC, WSJ). Afghan authorities have reportedly arrested four nomadic Kuchis in relation to the killings (Pajhwok). Meanwhile, an American contractor working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been found beheaded in eastern Kabul (CBS, AP). And a suicide attack on a NATO logistics convoy in Kandahar province has killed two private security guards (AFP).

Dion Nissenbaum pores over the differences in data that lead the United States and the United Nations to different conclusions about whether or not the "surge" of U.S. forces in the country has helped reduce violence (WSJ). Joshua Partlow reports that according to NATO statistics, at least one in seven Afghan soldiers deserted in the first six months of 2011 (Post). And Maria Abi-Habib has a chilling must-read on corruption and neglect at the main Afghan military hospital in Kabul (WSJ).

Also this weekend: The brother of slain BBC and Pajhwok journalist Ahmad Omaid Khpalwak tells the L.A. Times about the final text messages his brother sent, before Khpalwak was killed under mysterious circumstances during a Taliban raid on a government compound in Uruzgan (LAT). Afghan president Hamid Karzai swore in eight controversially-reinstated parliamentarians, as dozens of other parliamentarians protested outside (NYT). Norway is reportedly freezing more than $55 million in aid to Afghanistan until issues surrounding the failure of the Kabul Bank are resolved (Reuters). And Der Spiegel notes how a tip from Germany’s intelligence service helped avert an ambush against Karzai in November 2001 (Der Spiegel).

Internet genius

The AP talks to Pakistani technology researcher Umar Saif, who was recently named one of the world’s leading young technology innovators by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (AP). Saif has helped pioneer a process of social networking by text message in Pakistan, which may have a major political impact in the country.

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