Well I'll be darned. This NY Times article is dead on.
"Today they have been bolstered by the foreigners among them. Those include a smaller number of hard-core Arabs, like Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri, Al Qaeda’s second in command, as well as a larger number of Uzbeks, Tartars and Tajiks who have influence them to take on new agendas, Pakistani security officials familiar with the region said."
Or another way to put it, Al Qaeda is taking over the allied Taliban. Gosh, where did I hear that before? From an article I wrote 2 months ago:
As the Times notes, many of these new foreign fighters in Afghanistan are being placed in leadership positions within the Taliban, usually under newer, younger Taliban commanders. The article even notes that this is a somewhat "new" vs. "old" battle for Taliban leadership. The Times fails to realize the obvious, that these are al Qaeda fighters, and instead refers to them as new Taliban recruits. But the timing of this "new phenomenon" makes the reality self-evident.These fighters were meant for Iraq but the core al Qaeda leadership has realized that the war there is lost. They are no longer sending the new recruits in large numbers. In the current environment, only small teams can go unmolested in the Iraqi lands al Qaeda used to control. Since al Qaeda can no longer send large numbers of fighters to Iraq and since their Taliban support base is slipping away at home they have one option left to them.
Al Qaeda is attempting a hostile takeover of the Taliban.
New York Times writer Eric Schmitt also writes:
“The only problem is these foreigners,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “You remove these foreigners and the rest is no problem.”
Yet to remove the foreigners, namely a small number of Arab leaders, who are well protected and well hidden, from among the tribesmen is a task that Pakistan so far has failed to do and according to some may not be capable of. “That can only be done with an operation,” the official said.
The Pakistani official has validated my claim that the US/Pakistan strategy is to separate the al Qaeda elements from the home grown jihadis. The fact that the MMA has been mute about operations in Swat gives a strong indication that an important element has been split. However, the ones who remain allied to al Qaeda as mentioned in this article will have to be killed. The Pakistan army must go in backed by the US and wipe them out, point blank. Bomb their villages, starve them out, as far as they need to go.
These are the people who have been hiding core al Qaeda leadership, gave al Qaeda the religious authority to attack us on 9/11, and they are at war with the US, a religious war. The gloves need to come off now. This needs to be a total war. As shown a few days ago, even impoverished villagers from the tribal areas can affect US policy if they are willing to die for it.
H/T Larwyn
Prairie Pundit has this exactly right:
While the article presents the story in ominous tones, and it could be ominous if the Pakistan army does not respond, there is something else going on.
Al Qaeda is in retreat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Its European and American operations have been thwarted over the last two years and its operatives have been captured. It is really fighting a rear guard action to protect its last remaining base. It is doing so in typical al Qaeda fashion by attempting to create chaos from which one its supporting groups can emerge. Pakistan can defeat this strategy if it has the will. The US defeated the same strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Ethiopians defeated it in Somalia.
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