Pakistani girl shot by Taliban honored at Harvard

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — A Pakistani girl who survived an assassination attempt by the Taliban has been honored as Harvard University's humanitarian of the year.

Malala Yousafzai, an outspoken proponent for girls' education, was at Harvard on Friday to accept the 2013 Peter J. Gomes Humanitarian Award. Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust said she was pleased to welcome Malala because of their shared interest in education.

Malala was shot in the head last October. Militants said she was attacked because she was critical of the Taliban, not because of her views on education.

The 16-year-old Malala said she hopes to become a politician because politicians can have influence on a broad scale.

She spoke nostalgically about her home region, the Swat Valley, and said she hopes to return someday. She called it a "paradise" but described a dangerous area where militants blew up dozens of schools and sought to discourage girls from going to school by snatching pens from their hands. Students, she said, reacted by hiding their books under their shawls so people wouldn't know they were going to school.

"The so-called Taliban were afraid of women's power and were afraid of the power of education," she told hundreds of students, faculty members and well-wishers who packed Harvard's ornate Sanders Theater for the award ceremony.

Malala highlighted the fact that very few people spoke out against what was happening in her home region.

"Although few people spoke, but the voice for peace and education was powerful," she said.

Malala also described waking up in a United Kingdom hospital, where she was taken for emergency treatment following the assassination attempt in Pakistan.

"And when I was in Birmingham, I didn't know where I was, I didn't know where my parents are, I didn't know who has shot me and I had no idea what was happening," she said. "But I thank God that I'm alive."

The chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Peace Prize Committee, Thorbjorn Jagland, paid a special tribute to Malala in a message read publicly during her award ceremony.

"Your courage," Jagland said in the tribute, "is sending a strong message to women to stand up for their rights, which constitutes a precondition for peace."

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Marine tape reaction sets Taliban fighters against commanders

KABUL (Reuters) - Taliban fighters in Afghanistan have been enraged by a video which shows U.S. marines urinating on three corpses, believed to be insurgents, and some say they do not understand their leadership's relatively measured response to the tape.

News of the clip spread fast across Afghanistan, even though only a minority of people have electricity and the internet is restricted to a tiny urban elite.

Radio can reach remote militants and villagers and mobile phones are used by many Afghans, on both sides of the war, for storing and sharing videos even in remote areas with little communications infrastructure.

"I heard from some friends about this shameful act of the U.S. forces but could not see it at first," said one militant who called himself Qari Babar, explaining that a Pashto-language radio broadcast first alerted him to the tape's existence.

The video, posted on YouTube and other websites, shows four Marines in camouflage combat uniforms urinating on three corpses. One of them jokes: "Have a nice day, buddy." Another makes a lewd joke.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has condemned the video, describing the men's actions as "inhuman" and calling for an investigation. U.S. and NATO military commanders condemned the actions of the men, and Pentagon has acted quickly to respond to the video, in a bid to limit the fallout.

Although a Taliban spokesman criticized it last week, he said it would not harm nascent efforts to broker peace talks.

For some insurgents, their leadership's muted response to the Marines' actions was unwelcome, particularly after reports the Taliban had agreed to open a political office in Qatar to ease possible negotiation with the United States and allies.

"Our leaders overlooked this degrading and inhumane act of American soldiers because they are interested in peace talks," said Mullah Mohammad Gul, a local Taliban commander in southern Helmand province, where the video is believed to have been made.

"Our duty is to defend our sacred religion and our people and we will keep fighting, no matter what."

Insurgent fighters in other parts of the country said the video could undermine discipline and push foot soldiers to ignore orders from higher ranked fighters.

"Until now, we were following guidelines and principles laid down by our senior commanders for us to follow while fighting," said Babar, active in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province.

Young insurgents might ignore orders in future, he added.

U.S. General John Allen, who commands international troops in Afghanistan, accused the Taliban's one-eyed leader, Mullah Muhammad Omar, this week of having "lost all control" of his frontline fighters after several suicide bombings in the restive south killed almost 20 people, mostly civilians.

Babar said he watched the video with around 70 fighters, and said it shocked them even though previous cases of abuse by foreign soldiers in Afghanistan, including the murder of innocent civilians, had been well publicized.

"Every one is now desperately trying to find U.S. soldiers to take revenge for the desecration of the bodies," he added.

HATE WILL GROW

Several commanders also thought the Marines' actions would also help bolster the group's standing with the rural Afghans they fight among.

"It helps us to win the support and sympathy of the Afghan people," Abdul Basit, who fights in eastern Khost province where insurgents have a strong presence, told Reuters.

"You see now the entire nation, even so many people in the government and armed forces, have turned against them because of the atrocities," Basit said.

Basit added that they had been advised by their leaders not to kill their prisoners and spies but after seeing the video, many of them might not control themselves in future.

In the southern town of Marjah, a part of Helmand that has seen heavy fighting and was the centre of a U.S.-led campaign to displace the Taliban in early 2010, another commander agreed.

"It is good that such video has emerged which showed Americans' inhumane acts," Mullah Abdullah told Reuters by satellite phone. He disagreed it would sap discipline, and instead saw a groundswell of greater support.

"From now on, hate against the foreign troops will grow in the hearts of every Muslim, especially in Afghanistan."

(Additional reporting by Jibran Ahmad in PESHAWAR, writing by Emma Graham-Harrison)

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Pakistan Taliban leader believed dead: intelligence officials

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - The leader of the Pakistani Taliban, the militant movement that poses the gravest security threat to the country, is believed to have been killed by a U.S. drone strike, four Pakistan intelligence officials told Reuters on Sunday.

The officials said they intercepted wireless radio chatter between Taliban fighters detailing how Hakimullah Mehsud was killed while travelling in a convoy to a meeting in the North Waziristan tribal region near the Afghan border.

A senior military official told Reuters there was no official confirmation that the Pakistani state's deadliest enemy had been killed. The Pakistani Taliban issued a denial. U.S. officials, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, could not confirm his death.

If Hakimullah did die, it could ease pressure on security forces, who have struggled to weaken the group, which is close to al Qaeda and has been blamed for many of the suicide bombings across one of the world's most unstable countries.

But it may not ease violence in the long term in Pakistan, which is seen as critical for U.S. efforts to fight global militancy, most crucially in neighboring Afghanistan.

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For more stories on Pakistan see http://link.reuters.com/kac58m

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The death of Hakimullah's predecessor, Baitullah Mehsud, in a drone strike in 2009 raised false hopes that the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, could be broken.

"Six to seven TTP members were talking to each other through wireless radio in the conversations we heard, talking about Hakimullah Mehsud being hit by a drone when he was heading to a meeting at a spot near Miranshah," said one of the intelligence officials.

"They referred to him by his codename."

Officials refused to disclose Mehsud's codename.

"Based on our intercepts, Mehsud was heading to a meeting in Nawa Adda," said another intelligence official. Nawa Adda is a village in the Dattakhel area of North Waziristan.

PREVIOUS REPORTS OF HAKIMULLAH'S DEATH FALSE

The Pakistani Taliban said Hakimullah was still alive, but the denial was far less assertive than one issued in 2010 after media reports said he had been killed in a drone strike.

"There is no truth in reports about his death. However, he is a human being and can die any time. He is a holy warrior and we will wish him martyrdom," said TTP spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan.

"We will continue jihad if Hakimullah is alive or dead. There are so many lions in this jungle and one lion will replace another one to continue this noble mission."

The TTP launched an insurgency in 2007 after the military began a major crackdown on militants.

Fighters were particularly incensed when Pakistani security forces stormed the Red Mosque complex run by hard-line clerics in the capital, Islamabad. The government said 102 people were killed in fighting in the incident.

The TTP delivered on threats to carry out revenge attacks in Pakistan after U.S. special forces killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in a secret raid in a Pakistani town in May last year.

More recently, some senior Taliban commanders said the umbrella group had started exploratory peace talks with the government. But it is not clear if all factions were on board.

Hakimullah was not only in danger of being killed by the drone campaign that President Barack Obama has escalated, or by Pakistani military operations. He and his powerful deputy, Wali-ur-Rehman, were at each other's throats and hostilities were close to open warfare, Taliban sources say.

Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afganistan have been trying to sort out differences between Pakistani Taliban commanders so they can aid their fight against U.S.-led NATO forces across the border in Afghanistan.

Any division within the TTP could hinder the Afghan Taliban and al Qaeda's struggle in Afghanistan against the United States and its allies, making it tougher to recruit young fighters and disrupting safe havens in Pakistan that Washington says are used by the Afghan militants.

Hakimullah, who has a sharp face framed by shaggy hair and a disarming grin, is considered to be one of the most ruthless Taliban commanders. He is also ambitious. Under his leadership, the Taliban has vowed to expand its violent campaign overseas to hit Western targets.

A suicide bombing at a U.S. base in Afghanistan's Khost province in 2009 killed seven CIA employees. In video footage released after the attack, the bomber was shown sitting with Hakimullah Mehsud.

Shortly afterwards, the United States added the TTP to its list of foreign terrorist organizations and set rewards of up to $5 million for information leading to Hakimullah Mehsud or Wali-ur-Rehman.

A Pakistani-born American who tried to set off a car bomb in New York's Times Square in 2010 told a U.S. court he received bomb-making training and funding from the Pakistani Taliban.

(Additional reporting by Mark Hosenball and Phil Stewart in Washington; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Peter Graff and Peter Cooney)

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Police search Kabul hotel after Taliban attack kills 9 (Reuters)

KABUL (Reuters) – Afghan police sifted through one of Kabul's landmark hotels room by room on Wednesday for any more casualties, securing the building after an overnight assault by Taliban suicide bombers killed eight Afghan civilians and police and a foreigner.

The nine attackers, armed with rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons, stormed the heavily guarded Intercontinental hotel, frequented by Westerners and VIPs, before a NATO helicopter killed the remaining insurgents in a final rooftop battle that ended a raid lasting more than five hours.

The foreign victim was a Spanish civil aviation pilot, according to Spain's foreign ministry.

The brazen raid came only a week after President Barack Obama announced a phased withdrawal of combat troops to 2014, and it raised more doubts about the ability of Afghan security forces to battle insurgents.

It needed a NATO helicopter to finally finish off the attackers, and NATO trainers helped oversee the Afghan police response to the raid.

After several explosions, attackers entered the hotel late on Tuesday and made their way to the ballroom, a hotel receptionist said.

Some carried tape recorders playing Taliban war songs and shot at anyone they saw. Guests jumped from second and third floors to escape, the receptionist told Reuters, asking not to be identified.

"The police are still searching room by room to see if there are any casualties or any threats," Kabul police chief Ayoub Salangi told reporters.

Eight people were wounded in the attack, according to the Interior Ministry.

There have been insurgent attacks at a hotel, guesthouse and a supermarket in Kabul over the past year, although the capital has been relatively quiet compared with the rest of the country.

The timing of the attack, suggested similarities with other raids meant to show the Taliban retain the ability to strike at will despite gains made by NATO-led troops over the past 18 months.

Some guests included provincial governors attending a conference due to begin on Wednesday over the transition of civil and military responsibility from foreign forces to Afghans, two Afghan officials said.

Last week, Obama announced plans for an initial withdrawal of 10,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year, with another 23,000 to leave by the end of 2012, sparking concern the Afghan security forces were not ready to take over.

But President Hamid Karzai said the plan stood.

"This insurgent attack cannot stop our security transition process," Karzai said in a statement.

LATE-NIGHT ATTACK

Hours after the attack began, some foreign hotel guests were driven away in diplomatic vehicles while others waited on a street outside the hotel as the sun rose over Kabul.

Reuters witnesses heard at least seven blasts over the course of more than five hours, with bursts of gunfire heard.

Three insurgents were shot dead while six blew themselves up.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said several fighters from the Islamist group had attacked the hotel.

Mujahid, who spoke to Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location, said heavy casualties had been inflicted.

The Taliban often exaggerate the number of casualties in attacks against Western and Afghan government targets.

One blast was heard at the start of the attack and then three more about an hour later, one of the Reuters witnesses said. Bursts of gunfire were heard over the same period and flares lit up the sky.

Reuters television footage showed police firing tracer rounds into the air as other officers moved through the hotel.

Power was cut in the hotel and in surrounding areas after the attack.

The hotel, built on a hill in western Kabul with fortifications around it, was for years the city's main hotel and is often used for conferences and by Westerners.

Violence has flared across Afghanistan since the Taliban announced the start of a spring offensive at the beginning of May.

The last big attack on a major Kabul hotel used by foreigners was in January 2008, when several Taliban gunmen killed six people in a commando-style raid on the city-center Serena hotel.

The increase in violence comes as NATO-led forces prepare to hand security responsibility to Afghans in seven areas from next month at the start of the gradual transition that will end with all combat foreign troops leaving by the end of 2014.

The two-day conference to discuss the transition was due to begin in a government building in the center of the city on Wednesday. Officials said the conference would go on despite the attack.

Violence across Afghanistan in 2010 the worst since the Taliban were ousted by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in late 2001.

(Additional reporting by Hamid Shalizi, Omar Sobhani and Ahmad Masood; Editing by Robert Birsel)

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Police search Kabul hotel after Taliban attack kills 9 (Reuters)

KABUL (Reuters) – Afghan police sifted through one of Kabul's landmark hotels room by room on Wednesday for any more casualties, securing the building after an overnight assault by Taliban suicide bombers killed eight Afghan civilians and police and a foreigner.

The nine attackers, armed with rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons, stormed the heavily guarded Intercontinental hotel, frequented by Westerners and VIPs, before a NATO helicopter killed the remaining insurgents in a final rooftop battle that ended a raid lasting more than five hours.

The foreign victim was a Spanish civil aviation pilot, according to Spain's foreign ministry.

The brazen raid came only a week after President Barack Obama announced a phased withdrawal of combat troops to 2014, and it raised more doubts about the ability of Afghan security forces to battle insurgents.

It needed a NATO helicopter to finally finish off the attackers, and NATO trainers helped oversee the Afghan police response to the raid.

After several explosions, attackers entered the hotel late on Tuesday and made their way to the ballroom, a hotel receptionist said.

Some carried tape recorders playing Taliban war songs and shot at anyone they saw. Guests jumped from second and third floors to escape, the receptionist told Reuters, asking not to be identified.

"The police are still searching room by room to see if there are any casualties or any threats," Kabul police chief Ayoub Salangi told reporters.

Eight people were wounded in the attack, according to the Interior Ministry.

There have been insurgent attacks at a hotel, guesthouse and a supermarket in Kabul over the past year, although the capital has been relatively quiet compared with the rest of the country.

The timing of the attack, suggested similarities with other raids meant to show the Taliban retain the ability to strike at will despite gains made by NATO-led troops over the past 18 months.

Some guests included provincial governors attending a conference due to begin on Wednesday over the transition of civil and military responsibility from foreign forces to Afghans, two Afghan officials said.

Last week, Obama announced plans for an initial withdrawal of 10,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year, with another 23,000 to leave by the end of 2012, sparking concern the Afghan security forces were not ready to take over.

But President Hamid Karzai said the plan stood.

"This insurgent attack cannot stop our security transition process," Karzai said in a statement.

LATE-NIGHT ATTACK

Hours after the attack began, some foreign hotel guests were driven away in diplomatic vehicles while others waited on a street outside the hotel as the sun rose over Kabul.

Reuters witnesses heard at least seven blasts over the course of more than five hours, with bursts of gunfire heard.

Three insurgents were shot dead while six blew themselves up.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said several fighters from the Islamist group had attacked the hotel.

Mujahid, who spoke to Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location, said heavy casualties had been inflicted.

The Taliban often exaggerate the number of casualties in attacks against Western and Afghan government targets.

One blast was heard at the start of the attack and then three more about an hour later, one of the Reuters witnesses said. Bursts of gunfire were heard over the same period and flares lit up the sky.

Reuters television footage showed police firing tracer rounds into the air as other officers moved through the hotel.

Power was cut in the hotel and in surrounding areas after the attack.

The hotel, built on a hill in western Kabul with fortifications around it, was for years the city's main hotel and is often used for conferences and by Westerners.

Violence has flared across Afghanistan since the Taliban announced the start of a spring offensive at the beginning of May.

The last big attack on a major Kabul hotel used by foreigners was in January 2008, when several Taliban gunmen killed six people in a commando-style raid on the city-center Serena hotel.

The increase in violence comes as NATO-led forces prepare to hand security responsibility to Afghans in seven areas from next month at the start of the gradual transition that will end with all combat foreign troops leaving by the end of 2014.

The two-day conference to discuss the transition was due to begin in a government building in the center of the city on Wednesday. Officials said the conference would go on despite the attack.

Violence across Afghanistan in 2010 the worst since the Taliban were ousted by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in late 2001.

(Additional reporting by Hamid Shalizi, Omar Sobhani and Ahmad Masood; Editing by Robert Birsel)

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Ten killed as Taliban storm Kabul hotel (AFP)

KABUL (AFP) – Heavily armed Taliban militants stormed a leading Kabul hotel, sparking a ferocious battle involving Afghan commandos and a NATO helicopter gunship that ended hours later with 10 civilians dead.

Officials said all eight of the attackers were killed after they raided the hilltop Intercontinental Hotel, whose faded grandeur frequently pays host to Afghan officials and Westerners, late Tuesday.

Red tracer bullets arced through the night sky around the hotel and part of the building was left in flames.

The state-owned 1960s hotel, which is not part of the global InterContinental chain, was hosting delegates attending an Afghan security conference and a large wedding party when the insurgents struck.

Kabul police chief Ayub Salangi said that 10 people, mostly hotel workers, were killed in the raid and three police officers were wounded.

Interior ministry spokesman Seddiq Seddiqi identified the dead as two policemen and eight civilians, and said that eight other civilians were wounded.

He said the slain hotel workers had been on the first floor and in the lobby at the time of the attack.

Two New Zealand special forces troops who had been supporting the Afghan commandos received "moderate injuries", the country's defence force said.

An AFP photographer saw half a dozen of what appeared to be Western special forces soldiers emerging from the Intercontinental compound, one of whom had blood on his right cheek and on his hands.

The attackers steered clear of the normally heavily guarded road snaking up to the hotel, instead picking their way through the trees on the northern slope towards the building, police said.

"Eight armed terrorists attacked the Intercontinental hotel at 11:00 last night... the operation ended at 3:00 am Wednesday morning after the eight terrorists were killed," the interior ministry said.

Among those staying at the hotel were provincial government officials who were in Kabul for a conference on the handover of power from foreign to Afghan security forces. The process starts next month.

Panicked guests were told to stay in their rooms as the attackers, thought to have suicide vests, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, roamed through the building.

Major Tim James, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force, said ISAF deployed one helicopter at the request of Afghan authorities.

"It flew over the hotel, circled it a few times. They were able to clearly identify a number of insurgents who were armed and wearing suicide vests and then they engaged the individuals with small-arms fire," James told AFP.

"We've had reports that there were a number of explosions caused either by the insurgents detonating themselves or the engagement by the helicopter causing that (suicide vests) to explode," he said.

Witnesses identified the NATO aircraft as an Apache attack helicopter.

A member of staff named Ezatullah said he hid in a room on the fifth floor when the attack started.

"There was first gunfire, and then two blasts. It continued and got worse. The room I was hiding in filled with smoke," he said.

"I had to leave. As I got out I saw trails of blood, and then the police came and took me out of the building."

Security at most high-end hotels in Kabul was significantly stepped up after an attack on the city centre's Serena Hotel in 2008 left seven people dead.

The Intercontinental is less deluxe than the Serena, which is the favoured choice of foreign officials and business people visiting the Afghan capital.

The US State Department said: "The United States strongly condemns the attack on the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul, which once again demonstrates the terrorists' complete disregard for human life."

During the assault, AFP reporters saw 10-15 armoured vehicles carrying Afghan commandos entering the hotel compound.

The reporters heard five separate explosions as the attack unfolded and said the hotel was in darkness after power in the area was apparently cut. Ambulances rushed to the site to ferry away casualties.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the militant Islamist group was behind the attack, which comes weeks before foreign forces are expected to start withdrawals from Afghanistan.

Some 10,000 US troops are due to leave the country this year, ahead of the planned end of foreign combat operations at the end of 2014. Security in Kabul is already under the control of Afghan forces.

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Taliban bombers target luxury hotel, 18 dead

The Taliban says suicide attackers entered after killing security guards "The death number may increase," a chief of criminal investigations says "I wrote my little will -- just in case," a hotel guest says after the ordeal

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Eight suicide bombers attacked Kabul's Hotel Inter-Continental in a brazen, carefully orchestrated operation that began Tuesday night and continued into Wednesday, ending with their deaths and those of 10 others, officials said.

Two police officers are among the dead, according to the Interior Ministry.

"As a result of Afghan National Police, Afghan National Army and Coalition force's fast reaction and by air support of the NATO forces, eight suicide bombers were killed," the ministry said in a statement.

Mohammad Zahir, chief of criminal investigations for Kabul police, said Wednesday morning that casualty figures could rise.

"We are still searching the hotel; the death number may increase," Zahir said. Twelve people were injured, he added.

Interior Minister Bismullah Khan said "the situation is secure."

A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabiullah Mujahid, said in an e-mail that the suicide attackers entered the hotel after killing security guards at the entrance.

"One of the suicide attackers told us on the phone that they are in the lobby and chasing guests into their rooms by smashing the doors of the rooms," Mujahid told CNN in an e-mail he sent as the incident was unfolding.

The top of the hotel was ablaze, but flames were gone within a few hours. Smoke continued to rise from the building Wednesday morning.

By dawn, security forces were allowing reporters to approach the hotel, and some guests were seen departing.

Saiz Ahmed, a U.S. citizen in Kabul for a Ph.D. project, was among them. "I'm sure none of us thought we were going to make it," he said after having stayed on the floor of his darkened bedroom for more than five hours listening to gunfire and occasional bomb blasts. "I wrote my little will -- just in case."

The Taliban penetrated the hotel's typically heavy security in the attack, and one of them detonated an explosion on the second floor, said Erin Cunningham, a journalist for The Daily in Kabul.

Rocket-propelled grenades were launched from the roof of the hotel toward the first vice president's house. A few moments later, the hotel was rocked by three explosions, one of which knocked her off her feet, Cunningham said. U.S. forces were on the scene, she added.

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At about 2 a.m., four hours after the attack began, International Security Assistance Force helicopters fired at insurgents on the roof, killing as many as three of the gunmen, ISAF spokesman Maj. Tim James told CNN.

An hour later, ISAF said the Afghan security forces had cleared the roof and were clearing the rest of the hotel.

At 4 a.m., police believed that all the attackers were dead, "but one was alive and hidden and he started to resist" and continued to do so until 6:20 a.m., Zahir said.

At least one of the attackers detonated his explosives, said Afghan Lt. Gen. Mohammad Ayoub Salangi, the city's chief of police.

There were no indications that U.S. military or diplomatic personnel were at the hotel, U.S. officials told CNN.

A news conference had been scheduled to take place in Kabul on Wednesday to discuss the planned transition of security from international to Afghan forces that U.S. President Barack Obama announced last week. Obama was briefed on the attack while en route back to Washington from Iowa, White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters.

Members of the Afghan National Security Forces were on the scene, but the city police had the lead, ISAF Maj. Jason Waggoner said in a statement. Waggoner said ISAF forces provided "some limited assistance."

The United States condemned the attack on the hotel, with State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland saying it "once again demonstrates the terrorists' complete disregard for human life."

The hotel was developed by the InterContinental Hotels Group and opened in 1969. But it has had no association with the group since the Soviet invasion in 1979, though it continues to use the name and logo without connection to the parent company.

The incident came on the same day that Lt. Gen. William B. Caldwell announced that NATO and other members of the international community involved in Afghanistan have decided to increase the number of security forces in the Afghan National Army and the Afghan National Police to 352,000.

The current number of Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police is about 300,000, the commander of the NATO training mission in Afghanistan and commanding general of the Combined Security Transition Command told the Atlanta Press Club.

The increased number will be sufficient to give the Afghans security without coalition forces having to do it, he said.

Tuesday's attack recalls a November 2008 assault on luxury hotels in Mumbai, India, which left more than 160 dead, including nine of the 10 gunmen who launched the attacks.

Officials said the gunmen targeted the Oberoi and the Taj Mahal hotels for their popularity with international travelers and tourists. The Taj Mahal was set afire.

The three-day stand-off between gunmen and police ended with the capture of Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, the only surviving gunman. Kasab was sentenced to death in 2010 and is awaiting an appeal of the decision to the Supreme Court in New Delhi. India says Kasab has told investigators that he and the others were trained for more than a year in Pakistan by Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, a banned Islamic militant group.

CNN's Reza Sayah in Islamabad, Pakistan; Matiullah Mati in Kabul, Afghanistan; Tom Watkins in Atlanta; Barbara Starr, Larry Shaughnessy and Elise Labott in Washington; and journalist Jonathan Boone in Kabul contributed to this report.

CNN

Police search Kabul hotel after Taliban attack kills 10 (Reuters)

KABUL (Reuters) – Afghan police sifted through one of Kabul's landmark hotels room by room on Wednesday for any more casualties or security threats after an overnight assault by Taliban suicide bombers killed 10 Afghan civilians and police.

The eight attackers, armed with rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons, stormed the heavily guarded Intercontinental hotel, frequented by Westerners and VIPs, before a NATO helicopter killed the remaining insurgents in a final rooftop battle that ended a raid lasting more than five hours.

The brazen raid came only a week after President Barack Obama announced a phased withdrawal of combat troops to 2014, and it raised more doubts about the ability of Afghan security forces to battle insurgents.

It needed a NATO helicopter to finally finish off the attackers, and NATO trainers helped oversee the Afghan police response to the raid.

After several explosions, attackers entered the hotel late on Tuesday and made their way to the ballroom, a hotel receptionist said.

Some carried tape recorders playing Taliban war songs and shot at anyone they saw. Guests jumped from second and third floors to escape, the receptionist told Reuters, asking not to be identified.

"The police are still searching room by room to see if there are any casualties or any threats," Kabul police chief Ayoub Salangi told reporters.

Eight people were wounded in the attack, according to the Interior Ministry. Two policemen were among the 10 dead.

There have been insurgent attacks at a hotel, guesthouse and a supermarket in Kabul over the past year, although the capital has been relatively quiet compared with the rest of the country.

The timing of the attack, suggested similarities with other raids meant to show the Taliban retain the ability to strike at will despite gains made by NATO-led troops over the past 18 months.

Some guests included provincial governors attending a conference due to begin on Wednesday over the transition of civil and military responsibility from foreign forces to Afghans, two Afghan officials said.

Last week, Obama announced plans for an initial withdrawal of 10,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year, with another 23,000 to leave by the end of 2012, sparking concern the Afghan security forces were not ready to take over.

But President Hamid Karzai said the plan stood.

"This insurgent attack cannot stop our security transition process," Karzai said in a statement.

LATE-NIGHT ATTACK

Hours after the attack began, some foreign hotel guests were driven away in diplomatic vehicles while others waited on a street outside the hotel as the sun rose over Kabul.

Reuters witnesses heard at least seven blasts over the course of more than five hours, with bursts of gunfire heard.

Some insurgents were shot dead by police while others blew themselves up.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said several fighters from the Islamist group had attacked the hotel.

Mujahid, who spoke to Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location, said heavy casualties had been inflicted.

The Taliban often exaggerate the number of casualties in attacks against Western and Afghan government targets.

One blast was heard at the start of the attack and then three more about an hour later, one of the Reuters witnesses said. Bursts of gunfire were heard over the same period and flares lit up the sky.

Reuters television footage showed police firing tracer rounds into the air as other officers moved through the hotel.

Power was cut in the hotel and in surrounding areas after the attack.

The hotel, built on a hillside in western Kabul with fortifications around it, was for years the city's main hotel and is often used for conferences and by Westerners.

Violence has flared across Afghanistan since the Taliban announced the start of a spring offensive at the beginning of May.

The last big attack on a major Kabul hotel used by foreigners was in January 2008, when several Taliban gunmen killed six people in a commando-style raid on the city-center Serena hotel.

The increase in violence comes as NATO-led forces prepare to hand security responsibility to Afghans in seven areas from next month at the start of the gradual transition that will end with all combat foreign troops leaving by the end of 2014.

The two-day conference to discuss the transition was due to begin in a government building in the center of the city on Wednesday. Officials said the conference would go on despite the attack.

Violence across Afghanistan in 2010 the worst since the Taliban were ousted by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in late 2001.

(Additional reporting by Hamid Shalizi, Omar Sobhani and Ahmad Masood; Editing by Robert Birsel)

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Afghanistan war: The limits of targeting Taliban leaders (The Christian Science Monitor)

By Ben Arnoldy, Tom A. Peter Ben Arnoldy, Tom A. Peter – Thu Jun 23, 4:51 pm ET

New Delhi; and Kabul, Afghanistan – In his Afghanistan drawdown speech last night, President Obama said the US would start withdrawing troops from a position of strength, with Al Qaeda under “enormous strain.”

He attributed those gains to the targeting, capturing, and killing of terrorist leaders. Intelligence from Osama bin Laden’s compound, the president said, revealed that the former Al Qaeda chief “expressed concern that Al Qaeda had been unable to effectively replace senior terrorists that had been killed.”

That achievement came about mainly from the use of special forces, intelligence gathering, and drones – not a heavy troop presence. This logic aids Obama’s case for withdrawing a significant number of troops as Americans tire of the war.

RELATED As troop drawdown nears, is NATO surge working in Afghanistan?

The problem for the US presence in Afghanistan, however, is that a similar campaign to kill Taliban leaders has not proven as successful. As troops begin to depart, US hopes for leaving behind a stable country grow more reliant on either the Afghan security forces dramatically raising their game or negotiations with the Taliban bearing fruit.

The Taliban have recently started negotiations with the US, but by all accounts the discussions remain preliminary. Shaun Gregory, a regional expert at the University of Bradford in England, expressed doubts that the Taliban are feeling much pressure given the meager number of low-level Taliban who have decided to disarm, despite major government efforts to get more of them to do so.

“With the new announcement by Obama that the troops are coming home in significant numbers by next summer, this is just not a moment [for the Taliban] to start compromising,” says Mr. Gregory.

US commander Gen. David Petraeus has said the Taliban’s mid-level commanders have taken “enormous losses” over the previous year. Those special forces killings and the deployment of surge troops into new areas have strengthened security in some areas.

Overall security hasn't improvedIn large parts of Helmand and Kandahar, residents now say that they have increased freedom of movement and face less intimidation from insurgents.

But the overall security picture in Afghanistan has not improved, with attacks increasing in number and geographic scope. Attacks by the armed opposition surged 51 percent in the first quarter of 2011 over that period last year, according to the Afghanistan NGO Safety Office in Kabul.

“We anticipate that 2011 will be the most violent year since we have been keeping records,” reads ANSO’s most recent report.

In theory, the targeting of militant leaders downgrades the overall skill and experience of a group and forces its members to communicate less freely. In practice, both the Taliban and Al Qaeda have replaced their lost leaders, prompting some analysts to question the strategya€™s effectiveness.

Stephen Biddle, a security expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, says that's a given.

“It’s a little bit like saying: ‘Have injuries to the Washington Redskins really weakened the team’s performance?’ ” says Mr. Biddle. “The replacement is never as good as the person being replaced.”

Different groups, different strategiesBut others with knowledge of the Taliban and Al Qaeda and their different goals say the targeted killings have impacted the two groups differently.

Al Qaeda has taken more time than the Taliban replacing its leaders, says Sami Yousafzai, a senior Pakistani journalist. Thata€™s because there are only a few hundred Al Qaeda operatives in the region, and they tend to be more educated and skilled.

The Taliban, however, have been able to replace their leaders almost instantly.

“Becoming a subcommander doesn’t require a long history of being a Taliban,” says Mr. Yousafzai. As for higher-ranked commanders and shadow governors, few have actually been killed, he notes. The top-level leadership, meanwhile, remains in havens inside Pakistan where the security establishment is disinclined to help the US catch them.

Al Qaeda’s brand of terrorist plots against the West requires higher levels of education and ingenuity. The Taliban’s guerrilla war against foreigners, meanwhile, requires the sorts of fighting skills not uncommon in the rugged tribal areas of Afghanistan.

“We don’t face any gaps after someone dies. It doesn’t take a long time for us to replace someone,” says Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi. “In the Taliban, we don’t care if someone is knowledgeable and educated. We just look at who is a good fighter.”

Mr. Ahmadi claims the number of Taliban gets bigger every day thanks to civilian casualties by coalition forces.

Al Qaeda, meanwhile, faces strong headwinds against recruitment. The appeal of the group in the Arab world has suffered dramatic declines with the Arab Spring.

“We can fairly say that Al Qaeda has been isolated in the political mind-set of the Middle East and that the ideology of Al Qaeda appears to be irrelevant and problematic. The attention now is given to reform and democracy,” says Mohammad Al-Momani, a political science professor at Yarmouk University in Irbid, Jordan. “The measures that have been taken to crack down on Al Qaeda seem to be working and Al Qaeda is having a harder time recruiting.”

RELATED As troop drawdown nears, is NATO surge working in Afghanistan?

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Karzai blasts US, NATO for 'using' Afghanistan, announces Taliban talks (The Christian Science Monitor)

By Tom A. Peter Tom A. Peter – Sun Jun 19, 12:22 pm ET

Kabul, Afghanistan – In what’s become a familiar pattern, Afghan President Hamid Karzai delivered a speech on Saturday afternoon blasting the US and NATO for “using our country.”

a€?The nations of the world which are here in our country are here for their own national interests,a€

Since March, he has called on the US and NATO to stop operations here (only to later clarify that he meant operations that result in civilian casualties) and given them a stern ultimatum to stop killing civilians. Shortly after each controversial speech, he usually reaffirms ties with NATO and the US.

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Karzai’s tendency to oscillate between positions at either end of the spectrum has confounded and irked friend and foe alike, leading to speculation among American diplomats that he may be struggling with a mental illness. But some Afghans say that the main problem could be that Afghans leaders – traditionally used to tailoring their messages to navigate shifting allegiances – are just not used to coping with modern, international media that stand ready to expose any contradictory remark.

“Currently some politicians are the same as Karzai, but the media is not focusing so much on small politicians. Karzai is the president and has the most media coverage,” says Babrak Shinwari, a former member of parliament from Nangarhar province. “I would suggest that he use only written speeches and does not deviate from them. When he goes off script, he says anything and that’s why it brings the mistrust of the regional countries and the international community on Karzai.”

Fluid allegiances, competing messagesThroughout history, Afghans have been notorious for working with competing sides and changing allegiances when it becomes clear their rivals are becoming more powerful. For Afghan politicians, this has meant a history of working closely with rivals and communicating sometimes seemingly competing messages to different audiences.

This strategy, however, encounters serious problems when politicians make remarks intended to appeal to a specific audience in the presence of media who broadcast the remarks countrywide and sometimes internationally. Additionally, as the media has grown substantially since the fall of the Taliban, Afghans have become more savvy about leaking select information to journalists.

In this climate, Karzai’s remarks about NATO are likely intended to win support among Afghans, but when disseminated to an international audience they create major problems.

'People are confused' Still, many Afghans say this is no excuse for Karzai’s seemingly erratic remarks.

“Media should be considered a given in today’s world and today’s society," says Daoud Sultanzoy, a former member of parliament from the eastern province of Ghazni. "Leaders have to adjust to that, to the freedom of the media, to the freedom of expression.”

Even among Afghans familiar with leaders who flip flop as political tides turn, Karzai’s behavior is seen as confusing and difficult to read. In a nation where 72 percent of the population is illiterate, many Afghans still follow radio and television news closely and hear the president’s contradictory remarks.

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“People are confused," says Izzatullah Wasifi, Afghanistan’s former anti-corruption chief. "They can’t understand what are his motivations, what are his motives, what is his strategy, and where does he want to take this nation?”

Karzai's increasingly blunt criticism of NATO and US efforts led American Ambassador Karl Eikenberry to issue a rare response Sunday at appearance before students at Herat University.

“When Americans, who are serving in your country at great cost — in terms of life and treasure — hear themselves compared with occupiers, told that they are only here to advance their own interest, and likened to the brutal enemies of the Afghan people," said Mr. Eikenberry, without mentioning Karzai by name, "they are filled with confusion and grow weary of our effort here.”

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Karzai: U.S. in peace talks with Taliban

Afghan president Hamid Karzai says the U.S. is engaged in peace talks with the Taliban.Afghan President Hamid Karzai tells a youth group about the talksU.S. officials could not immediately be reached for commentU.S. Defense Secretary Gates has said reconciliation talks are possible

(CNN) -- The United States is involved in peace talks with the Taliban, Afghan President Hamid Karzai told a youth group in Kabul on Saturday. The speech was broadcast by Afghan state TV.

U.S. officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

At a news conference with Karzai earlier this month, outgoing U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates talked about making changes in Afghanistan.

"I believe that if we can hold on to the territory that has been recaptured from the Taliban between ourselves and the Afghan forces and perhaps expand that security, that we will be in a position toward the end of this year to perhaps have a successful opening with respect to reconciliation, or at least be in a position where we can say we've turned a corner here in Afghanistan," Gates said, referring to political reconciliation talks.

Gates made the statement during his last visit to Afghanistan as defense secretary. Karzai awarded Gates the Wazir Akbar Khan medal, the highest governmental award.

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Afghan leader says U.S. in contact with Taliban (Reuters)

KABUL (Reuters) – The United States is in contact with the Taliban about a possible settlement to the war in Afghanistan, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Saturday, the first official confirmation of U.S. involvement in negotiations.

Karzai said that an Afghan push toward peace talks, after nearly a decade of war, had not yet reached a stage where the government and insurgents were meeting, but their representatives had been in touch.

"Peace talks are going on with the Taliban. The foreign military and especially the United States itself is going ahead with these negotiations," Karzai said in a speech in Kabul.

"The peace negotiations between (the) Afghan government and the Taliban movement are not yet based on a certain agenda or physical (meetings), there are contacts established."

The U.S. Embassy declined to comment directly on Karzai's assertion but said the United States supports Afghan reconciliation and has assisted Afghan government-led reintegration initiatives aimed at the Taliban.

"We must help create conditions necessary to enable a political settlement among the Afghan people. This includes reconciling those insurgents who are willing to renounce al Qaeda, forsake violence and adhere to the Afghan constitution," an official at the U.S. embassy in Kabul said.

The United States invaded Afghanistan in October 2001, weeks after the September 11 attacks, to help oust the Taliban which had hosted al Qaeda and its leader Osama bin Laden.

The Taliban regrouped and has been waging a fierce insurgency for years against the government, U.S. troops and other Western allies in Afghanistan.

SANCTIONS MOVE

Karzai was speaking the day after the United Nations Security Council split the U.N. sanctions list for Taliban and al Qaeda figures into two, which envoys said could help induce the Taliban into talks on a peace deal in Afghanistan.

But despite hopes that talks with the Taliban could provide the political underpinning for a staged U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, the discussions are still not at the stage where they can be a deciding factor.

Diplomats say there have been months of preliminary talks, but the United States has never confirmed any contacts. And so little is known about the exchanges that they have been open to widely different interpretations.

There are also many Afghans, among them women's and civil society activists, who fear talks with the insurgents could undo much of the progress they have made in the decade since the Taliban were swept from power.

"We should not give up 10 years of achievements in Afghan women's rights. If that happens, these peace talks will be incomplete and unjust," said Suraya Parlika, head of the All Afghan Women's Union and a senator in the Afghan parliament.

The closest anyone in the U.S. establishment has come to publicly acknowledging efforts to kick-start talks was when Defense Secretary Robert Gates said this month there could be political talks with the Taliban by the end of this year, if the NATO alliance kept making military advances on the ground.

STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP

Karzai said neighboring countries were nervous about plans for a strategic partnership between Afghanistan and the United States, which may include long-term bases on Afghan soil.

"The issue of a strategic partnership deal with the U.S. has caused tensions with our neighbors," Karzai said. "When we sign this strategic partnership, at the same time we must have peace in Afghanistan."

That is unlikely however, as the deal is expected to be concluded in months, and even the most optimistic supporters of talks expect the peace process to take years.

If successful, the deal might ease worries among those Afghans who fear the United States will pull out too quickly, leaving a weak, impoverished government to fend off militants, and those who worry the foreign forces they see as occupiers will never leave.

President Barack Obama is expected to announce next month how many troops he plans to withdraw from Afghanistan as part of a commitment to begin reducing the U.S. military presence from July and hand over to Afghan security forces by 2014.

The United States is on the verge of announcing a "substantial" drawdown of American troops from Afghanistan, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on Friday.

"There's going to be a drawdown. I am confident that it will be one that's substantial. I certainly hope so," the leading Senate Democrat said during an interview with PBS Newshour.

There are currently about 100,000 U.S. troops fighting in Afghanistan, up from about 34,000 when Obama took office in 2009.

(Additional reporting by Sayed Hassib, Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

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How will Afghan women fare in Taliban reconciliation? (Reuters)

KABUL (Reuters) – The gaggles of giggling schoolgirls in their black uniforms and flowing white hijabs seen across Afghanistan's cities have become symbolic of how far women's rights have come since the austere rule of the Taliban was toppled a decade ago.

While women have gained back basic rights in education, voting and work, considered un-Islamic by the Taliban, their plight remains severe and future uncertain as Afghan leaders seek to negotiate with the Taliban as part of their peace talks.

The United States and NATO, who have been fighting Taliban insurgents for 10 years in an increasingly unpopular war, have repeatedly stressed that any peace talks must abide by Afghanistan's constitution, which says the two sexes are equal.

But President Hamid Karzai's reticence on the matter, constant opposition by the Taliban, and setbacks even at the government level cast a shadow on the prospects of equality for the 15 million women who make up about half the population.

"I am not optimistic at all," said Suraya Parlika, 66, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee and member of the upper house of the Afghan parliament. "We do not know the agenda of the talks and this worries all women in Afghanistan."

"Women are at risk of losing everything they have regained," she told Reuters in her office at the All Afghan Women's Union, the country's most prominent women's rights group that she set up 20 years ago.

The dangerous business of fighting for women's rights in Afghanistan highlights just how precarious their situation is.

Parlika said Taliban militants have tried to kill her eight times. In the latest attempt, gunmen tried to shoot her through a window at her home but missed and blew a hole in the wall.

Others, such as the headmaster of a girls' school near Kabul, are not so lucky. He was gunned down by the Taliban last month for educating girls.

MIXED MESSAGES

Washington and NATO have backed Karzai's peace plan, which includes reintegrating mid-level Taliban fighters and reconciling with some leaders as well as talks.

One of the main conditions in the talks is that insurgents renounce al Qaeda. The Taliban have rejected any talks until all foreign troops have left the country.

U.S. President Barack Obama has said U.S. troops, who make up 100,000 out of around 150,000 foreign forces, will begin to come home gradually from July, with NATO eyeing a full handover of security responsibilities to the Afghans by the end of 2014.

"What they (women) fear is a power-sharing agreement between leaders that does not take their interests into account," said Martine van Bijlert, co-director of the Afghanistan Analysts Network in Kabul.

"At the moment there is no one standing up as a guarantor of the process, no one who says it's really important this is done well. There are a lot of mixed messages," she told Reuters.

Some have accused Karzai of holding back on women's rights to curry political support in the more conservative sections of society. One example is his passing of a family law in 2009 that legalized marital rape for Shi'ites, who make up 15 percent of the population.

In March, Karzai sacked the deputy governor of southern Helmand province after two women performed without headscarves at a high-profile concert.

Parlika said physical attacks on female lawmakers, and internal pressure from their male counterparts not to press women's issues, mean their presence in government is more about symbolism than actual change.

"The situation surrounding women can get very dark indeed," said one Western official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"There are lots of challenges that need to be overcome and the international community must stay focused to make sure women are protected," said the official, an adviser in the talks.

RURAL VS. URBAN

Underlying the rights women have regained on paper since U.S.-backed forces overthrew the Taliban are the enormous social and economic hurdles they face in a country where more than 40 percent live below the poverty line.

Rights groups and Western officials warn of a "rural versus urban" split, saying the vast economic and religious divide means women in the countryside have not benefited from the end of Taliban rule and continue to live much as they did before.

Some warn this paves the way for women's rights being forgotten in the event of Taliban peace talks.

"Afghanistan is totally male-dominated, women suffer terribly, and this is worse in rural areas where they are economically dependent on men and where they cannot express their own will," Parlika said.

Ancient traditions such as 'baad', when a woman is given as compensation for crimes, are common in the countryside, where female illiteracy is over 90 percent and child marriages are still widespread despite being illegal.

In the Taliban strongholds of the south and east, many women still seek permission from a male relative to leave their homes, and the rule of law is upheld either by Taliban "courts" or by tribal elders, which almost always favor men.

For Hasina Aimaq, the manager of an eponymous fashion house sponsored by a non-governmental organization for women, finding seamstresses for her business in northern Baghlan province is a constant struggle.

"There are always problems with the father, always. They would even prefer them to beg than earn money from work as they think learning a skill is bad," Aimaq told Reuters next to a collection of high-heeled shoes with geometric silk patterns.

Aimaq said her 75 teenage female workers, who make velveteen purple jackets and delicate floral scarves, regularly receive written threats from the Taliban, urging them to quit working.

"They tell us to stay at home, but we will keep coming to work and keep sewing," she said, adjusting her navy blue hijab.

(Editing by Paul Tait and Miral Fahmy)

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Pakistan Taliban says attacked U.S. consulate convoy (Reuters)

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pakistan's Taliban said on Friday it had attacked a U.S. consulate convoy in the volatile northwestern city of Peshawar, the latest assault in a surge of violence since U.S. forces killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden this month.

Police said a car bomb had been detonated by remote control as the convoy passed, killing one Pakistani. Twelve people were wounded.

U.S. embassy spokesman Alberto Rodriguez said two U.S. nationals were among the wounded, with minor injuries. Police said the two were security guards.

The attack on the two-vehicle convoy took place on a main road in an area where many Western diplomats live and involved 50 kg (110 pounds) of explosives, police said.

"There was an attack on a two-car convoy from the consulate in Peshawar. One car was hit. We are still investigating what actually happened," said Rodriguez.

Peshawar police chief Liaqat Ali said the blast had been caused by a car bomb detonated remotely.

"It was not a suicide bombing," he told Reuters.

It was the first attack on Westerners since bin Laden's death on May 2.

Peshawar has seen many operations by Taliban militants seeking to topple the U.S.-backed Pakistani government and was home to bin Laden in the 1980s when Islamists were fighting the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

TALIBAN TARGETS NATO DIPLOMATS

Al Qaeda and its ally, the Pakistani Taliban, have vowed to avenge the killing of bin Laden by U.S. special forces and, the group said it would target the Pakistani government and its Western allies.

"The diplomatic staff of all NATO countries are our targets," said Ehsanullah Ehsan, a Taliban spokesman, told Reuters via telephone from an undisclosed location.

"We will continue such attacks. Pakistan is our first target, and America is our second."

Many Pakistanis are frustrated with the inability of security forces to subdue the Taliban. In a separate attack on Friday, an explosion killed five people and wounded four in the tribal region of Orakzai in the northwest, officials said.

"The security after the killing of Osama has been lax instead of being tighter. We are feeling insecure," said Tahir Khan, 20, a student standing near the site of the blast in Peshawar.

One of the consulate vehicles, which police said was armored, was riddled with shrapnel. The blast forced it to slam into an electricity pole beside a pre-school.

"I had just arrived at school and was about to start my work when there was a big blast. The windows of our school were broken and I was hurt," said school administrator Zahid Zaman from a hospital bed.

The Pakistani rupee fell to an eight-month low of 86 to a dollar on Friday. Dealers said the new attack had compounded uncertainty linked to bin Laden's killing and its aftermath.

Americans have been targeted before in Pakistan.

In April of 2010, militants using a car bomb and firing weapons attacked the U.S. consulate in Peshawar. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the operation in which eight people, including three militants, were killed. No one in the mission was hurt.

Pakistan has witnessed a jump in violence since bin Laden's death, including a twin suicide bombing last week that killed more than 80 people, most of them paramilitary recruits.

The Taliban have kept up pressure on the government with suicide attacks despite several army offensives against them.

The United States wants nuclear-armed Pakistan to be a more reliable partner in its war on militancy. Cooperation between the two allies is needed to stabilize neighboring Afghanistan.

Ties have been severely damaged since the secret raid that killed bin Laden. Pakistan is under pressure to explain how he spent what appeared to be about five years in a military town not far from the capital.

Pakistan's army was infuriated by the operation, describing it as a violation of national sovereignty.

(Additional reporting by Zeeshan Haiderin Islamabad and Izaz Mohmand, Khurram Pervez and Saad Khan in Peshawar and Saud Mehsud in Dera Ismail Khan; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Ron Popeski)

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Pakistan: Taliban attacks U.S. vehicles

NEW: The Taliban says the attack was an act of revenge over the killing of bin LadenNEW: The bombing kills one and wounds 11, including two U.S. employeesThe bombing comes less than a month after U.S. forces kill the terror leader Police say the car bomb was packed with 50 kilograms of explosives

Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- The Taliban is claiming responsibility for an attack Friday on a convoy of U.S. Consulate vehicles in northwest Pakistan, saying it was in retaliation for the killing of Osama bin Laden.

A car bomb targeted the vehicles in Peshawar, killing one person and wounding 11 others, police said.

The bombing is the latest in a series of attacks in the nation following a raid this month by U.S. commandos that left the al Qaeda leader dead.

In a telephone call to CNN, a Taliban spokesman said the remote-controlled car bomb attack was also retaliation over ongoing military operations targeting the militant group.

The car bomb, packed with 50 kilograms (110 pounds) of explosives, detonated as the consulate cars passed by in Peshawar, said Liaqat Ali Khan, the police chief.

It was unclear whether the vehicles were stationary or moving at the time, he said.

The blast killed a motorcycle rider passing by, said Ibrar Khan, a Peshawar police official.

The motorcyclist was identified as a local resident, and he was not a suicide bomber, Khan said.

But a U.S. Embassy spokesman said it was a suicide bomber, who detonated himself next to one of the two vehicles in the convoy as it was making its way to the consulate.

The blast injured two U.S. government employees, said spokesman Alberto Rodriguez. He said the employees suffered minor injuries.

Nine others, described as bystanders, were wounded in the blast, Khan said.

Peshawar is about 90 miles west of the capital, Islamabad.

CNN's Nasir Habib contributed to this report.

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U.S. deepens engagement with Afghan Taliban to end war: report (Reuters)

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – The United States has stepped up direct talks with the Afghan Taliban for a political settlement of the 10-year-old war, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday, a move that analysts said earlier was easier following the death of Osama bin Laden.

A U.S. representative attended at least three meetings in Qatar and Germany, including one "eight or nine days ago" with a Taliban official considered close to the group's leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, the report said, citing an Afghan official.

It said that Washington was hoping to make progress in these talks before July, when President Barack Obama announces the first troop withdrawals from Afghanistan, part of a process of handing over responsibilities to Afghan forces by 2014.

The report about the talks comes more than two weeks after the death of bin Laden at the hands of U.S. special forces in Pakistan, which analysts said helped clear the path for a political settlement in Afghanistan by making it easier for the Taliban to sever ties with his al Qaeda.

The Taliban sheltered bin Laden in Afghanistan for years, until U.S.-backed Afghan forces toppled them in 2001, unleashing a war between U.S.-led NATO forces and the Islamist group.

But with insurgent violence in Afghanistan at its highest in years and falling domestic support for the war, Western nations, including the United States, have come to back Afghan President Hamid Karzai's efforts to seek reconciliation with the Taliban.

The Washington Post said the talks with the Taliban had taken place through non-government intermediaries and Arab and European governments. The Taliban, it said, had insisted on direct negotiations with the Americans and proposed opening a formal office, with Qatar as a possible venue.

The discussions were still preliminary. It said the Taliban had transmitted a longstanding list of demands, including the release of up to 20 fighters detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

It also wanted withdrawal of all foreign troops and a guarantee of a substantive Taliban role in government.

The U.S. and Afghan governments want the Taliban to end all violence and to observe the Afghan constitution, including respect for women's and minority rights and the rule of law.

The report said the discussions were being conducted with the part of the Taliban that answered to Mullah Omar or had influence in his Pakistan-based Quetta shura.

It quoted officials as saying that no role had been played by the Haqqani network, a group of Afghan fighters based in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region seen by the Obama administration as particularly brutal and irreconcilable.

The Haqqani network has had longstanding links with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, seen to have used the insurgent group as one of its "strategic assets" in Afghanistan.

The ISI is under a cloud following the discovery and killing of bin Laden in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad, facing questions of complicity in shielding him or plain incompetence.

(Reporting by Sanjeev Miglani;Editing by Ron Popeski)

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U.S. imams arrested, accused of Pakistani Taliban links

Miami (CNN) -- Two South Florida imams and a third family member were arrested Saturday on charges of providing support to the Pakistani Taliban, the Justice Department said.

In addition, three others in Pakistan were also indicted on the same charges.

FBI agents arrested Hafiz Khan and his son Izhar Khan in South Florida, the department said. They are expected to make their initial court appearance in federal court Monday.

Another of Hafiz Khan's sons, Irfan Khan, was arrested in Los Angeles and will appear in court there.

Also charged are three Pakistani residents: Ali Rehman, Alam Zeb and Amina Khan. Amina Khan is Hafiz Khan's daughter, and Zeb is his grandson.

The four-count indictment alleges that all six defendants conspired to provide material support to a conspiracy to kill, injure and kidnap people abroad, and that they provided support to the Pakistani Taliban.

Hafiz Khan is the imam at Flagler Mosque in Miami. Izhar Khan is an imam at the Jamaat Al-Mu'mineen Mosque in Margate, Florida.

The indictment and arrests were not linked to the May 2 killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, two U.S. officials said. The charges relate to alleged crimes committed between 2008 and 2010.

"Despite being an imam, or spiritual leader, Hafiz Khan was by no means a man of peace. Instead, as today's charges show, he acted with others to support terrorists to further acts of murder, kidnapping and maiming," U.S. Attorney Wilfredo A. Ferrer said. "But for law enforcement intervention, these defendants would have continued to transfer funds to Pakistan to finance the Pakistani Taliban, including its purchase of guns."

The charges were the result of a three-and-a-half-year investigation, and federal authorities became suspicious by the number of financial transactions between the United States and Pakistan, authorities said.

"They went out of their way to disguise their transactions," Ferrer said.

Authorities said their investigation focused on the mosque leadership.

The indictment describes a number of occasions where Hafiz Khan transferred money to Pakistan, and where money was withdrawn once there.

"Khan solicited and distributed funds for the Pakistani Taliban, both personally and on behalf of others, and worked with the co-defendants and others to support the Pakistani Taliban's jihad," the indictment states.

The court documents also list several conversations between Hafiz Khan and the other defendants where he calls for attacks against the Pakistani government and inquires whether money had been delivered to the Pakistani Taliban.

The elder Khan also built a madrassa in Pakistan's Swat Valley that provided shelter for the terrorist group, the indictment states.

"The main defendant Khan operated and controlled a madrassa to shelter members of the Pakistan Taliban and to train children to become military fighters for the mujahideen," Ferrer said.

He said authorities are aware of several unindicted co-conspirators in the United States and Pakistan.

"You can purchase in Pakistan a gun for as little as $10. He had money coming from all sources," Ferrer said. "More evidence will come forth as the investigation continues."

Yazid Ali, president of the Jamaat Al-Mu'mineen Mosque in Margate, Florida, said his worshippers were shocked by the news. They are cooperating with authorities, he said.

"I would like everyone to know that Masjid Jamaat Al-Mu'mineen does not support terrorism, for this is forbidden in Islam. The Quran clearly tells us do not spread corruption on earth," Ali said. Masjid is Arabic for mosque.

He added that the mosque has received threats, prompting a police car to be stationed in the parking lot.

Nezar Hamze, executive director of Florida's Council on American-Islamic Relations, told CNN that he is concerned about possible fears the charges might stir in the community, even though authorities emphasized their investigation had nothing to do with Islam or the mosques themselves.

"The teaching of Islam in any way shape or form does not financially support terrorism," Hamze said. "These allegations would be completely against Islam."

He said he has been to the two mosques in question and that he's listened to the imams at the services. "You never hear anything being preached like what's being reflected in these charges," Hamze told CNN.

Outside Khan's Miami mosque on Saturday, one worshipper, Obeid Akhtar, expressed suprised to hear the news of the indictment.

"We never heard anything about this," he told CNN. "We are shocked."

The Pakistani Taliban represent a confederation of Taliban groups in northwestern Pakistan, where they are based, said Bill Roggio, military affairs analyst who is managing editor of The Long War Journal.

Those fighters attack targets in Pakistan and across the border in Afghanistan.

The group, which is headquartered in Quetta, is different from the Afghan Taliban, which has been focused on re-establishing the Islamic Emirate in Afghanistan.

Both groups swear allegiance to Taliban leader Mullah Omar and have close ties to al Qaeda, he said.

CNN's Jeanne Meserve, Susan Candiotti, Rich Phillips and Michael Martinez contributed to this report.

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Taliban on Twitter for Afghan Internet age (AFP)

KABUL (AFP) – The Taliban once banned all television, music and cinema in Afghanistan, but now they are fighting their war via Twitter, the online messaging network that revolutionised global communication.

The Islamist extremists sent out their first tweet in English on May 12 claiming "enemy attacked in Khak-e-Safid", with a link to their website for more details about rebel fighters killing "at least 6 puppet police".

The move into the English language on Twitter is the latest sign that the Taliban are embracing modern technology in the propaganda battle that runs alongside the guerrilla war of ambushes, suicide bombings and mine explosions.

When they ruled Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001, almost all electronic products were outlawed as un-Islamic. Photographs of living things were illegal, and ownership of a video player could lead to a public lashing.

Today, they send out text messages and emails, release videos of attacks on US-led international troops, and run a website that evades repeated efforts to close it down.

"The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan joined Twitter about six months ago," Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told AFP, using the group's name from its time in power.

"We did it because we know Twitter is a popular social network in the West, and we want to make our voice heard. They used to hear only one-sided news about us from the invaders, but now they can know the reality."

Mujahid said that an official Taliban page on Facebook had been shut down by the company earlier this year, but supporters still host personal pages passing on news and information.

"We regard modern technology including the Internet as a blessing of God," he said, declining to explain the Taliban's change of attitude since they were toppled for sheltering Al-Qaeda after the 9/11 attacks.

The Taliban's Twitter feed @alemarahweb -- a reference to Islamic statehood -- sends out several messages every day, mostly in the Pashto language, and is followed by 4,200 people with the number growing rapidly since English was introduced.

The NATO-led coalition force in Afghanistan on Saturday used its own Twitter feed to post a response saying: "What's that? Taliban's tweeting in English? Lies are lies no matter the language."

Bizarrely, the Taliban's Twitter account follows tweets sent out by a British soldiers' charity, as well as a carpet-weaving development programme and a site linked to Islamist militants in the Caucasus.

"The Taliban have now discovered the magical power of media technology and are widely using it in their favour and to attract new recruits," said Mohammad Zia Bomia, director of the Kabul-based Mahal News agency.

Its sophisticated website, currently at http://alemarah-iea.net, has for years been posting information in Pashto, Dari, Arabic, Urdu and English -- though many of the claimed attacks and death tolls are exaggerated or untrue.

Videos on the site show alleged coalition atrocities and footage of Taliban attacks accompanied by background music and gunfire.

The Taliban also say they broadcast Internet radio programmes for two hours a day in some regions, despite low web access in the country.

The Afghan intelligence agency (NDS) concedes it has struggled to act against the Taliban's Internet presence, saying that the insurgents' technology experts are based outside the country.

"We have been trying to track them and prevent their propaganda activities as they are against our national interest and constitution," NDS spokesman Lutfullah Mashal said.

"Unfortunately they are almost all based outside Afghanistan soil," he said, in a veiled reference to neighbouring Pakistan.

Despite the Taliban's use of technology, many Afghans warn that the group retains the strict anti-modern ideology that it displayed when ruling from Kabul.

"They clearly express their goals of taking control again, putting an end to the present democratic system and imposing their version of Sharia law," Afghan media analyst Sediqullah Tawhidi said.

"Looking at these aims, one can be sure that they would behave the same as before and ban all signs of modernity and freedom if they return to power."

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Imams arrested, alleged Taliban links

Hafiz Khan and two sons arrestedHis daughter, grandson and one other person is wantedThey are charged with providing support to a terrorist organization

Miami (CNN) -- Two South Florida imams and a third family member were arrested Saturday on charges of providing support to the Pakistani Taliban, the Justice Department said.

In addition, three others in Pakistan were also indicted on the same charges.

FBI agents arrested Hafiz Khan and his son Izhar Khan in South Florida, the department said. They are expected to make their initial court appearance in federal court on Monday.

Another of Hafiz Khan's sons, Irfan Khan, was arrested in Los Angeles and will appear in court there.

Also charged are three Pakistani residents: Ali Rehman, Alam Zeb, and Amina Khan. Amina Khan is Hafiz Khan's daughter, and Zeb is his grandson.

The four-count indictment alleges that all six defendants conspired to provide material support to a conspiracy to kill, injure and kidnap people abroad, and that they provided support to the Pakistani Taliban.

Hafiz Khan is the imam at Flagler Mosque in Miami. Izhar Khan, is an imam at the Jamaat Al-Mu'mineen Mosque in Margate, Florida.

"Despite being an imam, or spiritual leader, Hafiz Khan was by no means a man of peace. Instead, as today's charges show, he acted with others to support terrorists to further acts of murder, kidnapping and maiming," U.S. Attorney Wilfredo A. Ferrer said. "But for law enforcement intervention, these defendants would have continued to transfer funds to Pakistan to finance the Pakistani Taliban, including its purchase of guns."

The indictment describes a number of occasions where Hafiz Khan transferred money to Pakistan, and where money was withdrawn once there.

"Khan solicited and distributed funds for the Pakistani Taliban, both personally and on behalf of others, and worked with the co-defendants and others to support the Pakistani Taliban's jihad," the indictment states.

The court documents also list several conversations between Hafiz Khan and the other defendants where he calls for attacks against the Pakistani government and inquires whether money had been delivered to the Pakistani Taliban.

The elder Khan also built a madrassa in Pakistan's Swat Valley that provided shelter for the terrorist group, the indictment states.

The Pakistani Taliban represent a confederation of Taliban groups in northwestern Pakistan, where they are based, said Bill Roggio, military-affairs analyst who is managing editor of The Long War Journal.

Those fighters attack targets in Pakistan and across the border in Afghanistan.

The group, which is headquartered in Quetta, is different from the Afghan Taliban, which has been focused on re-establishing the Islamic Emirate in Afghanistan.

Both groups swear allegiance to Taliban leader Mullah Omar and have close ties to al Qaeda, he said.

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Taliban begins tweeting in English

A Taliban Twitter account, tweeting in Afghan language Pashto since December, started posting in English.The Taliban, traditional haters of technology, are on Twitter, tweeting in English
The account links back to a known Taliban website
The account posts what appear to be wildly exaggerated claims about Taliban attacks

(CNN) -- The Taliban have long been known as haters of modern technology, certainly the kind that comes out of the Western world they revile.

Now, they're on Twitter, and as of this week, even tweeting in English.

The account, @alemarahweb, links back to the Taliban's website, Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, which is the name they use for themselves.

Most of the tweets on the account, which was created on December 19, are written in Pashto, the native language in parts of Afghanistan.

As The Guardian, the UK publication, noted, the feed had fewer than 1,000 followers as of Thursday. The addition of English, as well as the media reports about it, have more than tripled that total to over 3,000 as of Friday morning.

The feed appears almost entirely made up of links to the Taliban website. The English-language posts appear to be wildly exaggerated claims of attacking and killing NATO and U.S. troops and Afghan government personnel.

If the tweets were to be believed, 81 "enemy" troops were killed since the feed began publishing in English on Thursday. A U.S. spy plane, and 23 vehicles, including five U.S. tanks, also were destroyed by Taliban attacks, according to the tweets.

Military and news reports do not support anything approaching those claims.

The account also appears to be used to keep an eye on those the Taliban considers enemies.

Of the 12 accounts it follows, several are news agencies covering the region. It also follows a charity to support British troops, a U.S. Air Force officer and, perhaps ominously, an Afghan government agency focused on education, entertainment and cultural programs for children.

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