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  1. #1
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
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    Default Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)

    I have posted links to articles by Stephen Tankel, ex-Kings War Studies and now back in the USA @ the Carneigie Endowment for Intl Peace - as IMHO he is one of the few experts on LeT.

    LeT have appeared elsewhere on SWC, notably in the Mumbai thread: http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ead.php?t=6345and in Confronting AQ:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ead.php?t=9360

    Stephen Tankel recently published a new, thirty page paper entitled 'Lashkar-e-Taiba: Past Operations and Future Prospects', which I will read later:http://newamerica.net/sites/newameri...nkel_LeT_0.pdf

    Close to the start he writes:
    This paper seeks to explain how LeT became so powerful, as well as to address the evolving nature of the threat that LeT poses and, more broadly, to provide a general overview of the group. It argues that to understand LeT, one must recognize the two dualities that define it. The first is that it is a missionary and a militant organization that for most of its history has placed an equivalent emphasis on reshaping society at home (through preaching and social welfare) and on waging violent jihad abroad. The second is that its military activities are informed both by its pan-Islamist rationale for jihad and its role as a proxy for the Pakistani state.
    Traditionally concerns over LeT have been on its role within Pakistan, largely due to its links to ISI and whether it is directed by them. Plus its apparent capability to launch spectacular attacks on India and the less clear capability to attack far beyond the region.

    So he concludes in his final sentence:
    In the meantime, LeT and the threats it poses continue to evolve.
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    Headley testimony details ISI handling of LeT on 26/11
    Chicago - A key co-plotter of the Mumbai attacks, David Coleman
    Headley testified in the trial of Chicago businessman Tahawwur Rana describing how he gave frequent updates about his progress to his two Pakistani handlers -- one from a militant group and the other from the country's main intelligence agency.

    The federal terrorism trial of businessman Tahawwur Rana is being
    closely watched around the world for what the attack's scout --
    Rana's longtime friend David Coleman Headley -- might reveal about possible links between the anti-India militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency, known as the ISI.
    http://groups.google.com/group/soc.c...fc57155be0eb6a

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    Default Storming the World Stage: The Story of LeT

    Hat tip to Abu M for carrying a review of a new book on LeT by Stephen Tankel:http://www.cnas.org/blogs/abumuqawam...r-e-taiba.html

    The last sentence:
    Tankel has produced one of the definitive accounts of Lashkar’s rise as well as the 2008 Mumbai attacks, and his book should be the go-to-guide for those looking to understand Pakistan’s reliance on proxies against India and its attached baggage.
    Link to:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/023...SIN=0231701527
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    Default LeT evolves

    Stratfor have published a summary briefing 'The Evolution of a Pakistani Militant Network' and it is republished with their permission.

    Link:http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20110...itant-networks
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    Default Understanding LeT

    This morning, while doing some other research, I came across this paper from the Indian Center for Land Warfare Studies. It might be of Interest for you.

    Singh, Rohit, Understanding the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba, Center for Land Warfare Studies, Manekshaw Paper No 26, 2011

    http://www.claws.in/download.php?act...13258MP_26.pdf

    Regards PB

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    Default LeT and the Pakistani State

    The current issue of the "Survival" magazine contains an article from Georgetown professor and AfPak expert C. Christine Fair. Therein she tries to revise the widely accepted opinion that Pakistan relies on terrorist groups like LeT to solve its external security needs especially vis-a-vis India. For Fair this view "overlooks the domestic significance of militant groups. In fact, LeT plays an important role within Pakistan, countering other militants that have begun attacking the state and citizens alike, especially since 2002."
    This means that solving the Indian-Pakistani rivalry is only one part of the solution and will not motivate Pakistan to cut its ties to these radical groups.

    C. Christine Fair, Lashkar-e-Tayiba and the Pakistani state, Survival 53, 4, 29-52
    Last edited by Polarbear; 09-18-2011 at 01:15 PM.

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    Default Bounty on "information leading to arrest"..

    The US government has made an interesting announcement: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...TL&type=health

    Since Hafiz Saeed lives openly in Pakistan, addresses huge public meetings, and has appeared on live TV several times since this "bounty" was announced, its not clear what the point of the bounty is.
    Is this a bargaining chip? to be shelved if Pakistan cooperates with a face-saving exit from Afghanistan?
    Is it to buy Indian cooperation against Iran?
    Is it a colossal bureaucratic SNAFU?
    Or is it real? and what does it mean if it is real? What if Pakistan doesnt arrest him or just asks him to pipe down for a few weeks (as has been done in the past) under "house arrest"?
    Inquiring minds want to know..
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 04-04-2012 at 05:23 PM. Reason: Moved from Mumbai thread to here, fits better!

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    Omar:

    The purpose is two fold.

    The first is to send a signal to the Pakistani government that we are really serious about things this time, not like the last time. We perfected the art of signaling hostile governments during the war in Vietnam

    The second is so people in DC can have something stern to put into a powerpoint presentation when they brief each other about the tough measures they are taking.

    You just don't understand how sophisticated nuanced minds work.
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 04-04-2012 at 05:23 PM. Reason: Moved from Mumbai thread to here, fits better!
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    In my un-nuanced leftist past, I would have been thrilled with how this is making the US a laughingstock (Hafiz Saeed appeared at a press conference half a mile from GHQ yesterday..not hard to find). The entertainment value is huge. My Twitter feed is ablaze with jokes about Hafiz Saeed revealing his location and asking for the ten million to be sent to him as a reward.
    But now that I am "nuanced", I am a bit more "conflicted".
    I mean sure, the US should just leave the region and stop making an ass of themselves. Maybe the ruling elite's in India, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan are all adults and will do a better job without "help" from Uncle Sam. Or who knows, maybe the anarchists are right. I am rooting for healthy Chomskyan Anarchy.
    In principle it sounds good. But in practice, I think the transition may not go smoothly. Anyway, that is a moot point. The big white sahib may soon make enough of an ass of himself to make the whole debate irrelevant.
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 04-04-2012 at 05:23 PM. Reason: Moved from Mumbai thread to here, fits better!

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    Omar:

    The inability of the DCenians to see what the rest of the world can see is a wonderment. I guess that is what an education at the best schools gives you, an impenetrable supercilious arrogance.
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 04-04-2012 at 05:22 PM. Reason: Moved from Mumbai thread to here, fits better!
    "We fight, get beat, rise, and fight again." Gen. Nathanael Greene

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    It is given Hafiz the scare of his life.

    Poor Joe!

    India maybe wimpish, but Osama and what the US did does scare this heroes in their own territory!

    When one is running scared, one tries to head off with the irrelevant.

    Remember the Icon and Guru of Islamic fundamentalist - Osama - and what the US did to him.

    And what is most important is that they could get their man defying the complete Pakistani infrastructure, defence, ISI and otherwise!

    It sure will give one who has been declared a target by the US, many, many sleepless nights and visits to the toilet!

    The big white sahib seems to be making friends with many browns and yellows around the Indian sub continent and SE Asia!

    Latest report indicates 2500 of these sahibs landing in Darwin!
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 04-04-2012 at 05:22 PM. Reason: Moved from Mumbai thread to here, fits better!

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    Default The 'Rambo factor' in recruiting terrorists

    For Ajmal Amir Kasab, the LeT recruit who killed - with another - fifty-eight commuters @ Mumbai train station, his actions were:
    It [jihad] is about killing and getting killed and becoming famous.
    I recommend you read this superb long article, using Kasab's own testimony, as the only gunman captured alive after the Mumbai massacre in 2008:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...a-monster.html

    Dr Christine Fair, a terrorism expert from Georgetown University in Washington, DC, who has studied the recruitment of young men into terrorist organisations, describes the appeal of LeT to young Pakistani potential recruits as its having the 'Rambo factor – even more of the “wow” factor than al-Qaeda’.
    Personally I think CT professionals, let alone the public and others undervalue the non-Jihad aspects of the recruiting process. I recall Germans were recruited for an IMU camp in the FATA for "a summer vacation with guns".

    There are threads on the 'Mumbai Attacks and their impact' at:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ead.php?t=6345
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 05-01-2018 at 12:09 PM. Reason: This post with 800 views was in a stand-alone thread till today
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    An update by Christine Fair on the LeT's non-lethal "social work":
    ,,offers a different take on LeT, describing how the organization has embraced social welfare activities since 9/11 and, with the cooperation of the Pakistani state, has successfully rebranded itself as a more benign entity, even as it maintains its violent role.
    Link:http://www.lawfareblog.com/2013/12/t.../#.UsHCTvsXluj
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    Default Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)

    The Lashkar's Empire of Jihad

    An article on SWJ Blog by Christine Fair, who writes regularly on LeT and two passages cited:
    The Pakistan army and the intelligence agency it runs, the Interservices Intelligence Directorate or ISI, did not create the LeT; but they did believe that LeT, with its demonstrable superior capabilities, would intensify the conflict in Kashmir and expand the geographical expanse of the insurgency. From the early 1990s, the ISI and the Pakistan army invested heavily in LeT. The army helped to build LeT's military apparatus specifically for use against India and it designed LeT' military training regime. It co-located army and ISI personnel at LeT training bases to help execute the regime and to train the organization's trainers and this remains true to date. All senior leadership have ISI handlers, even Saeed himself. Pakistan's investments paid off: within a few years LeT became the biggest challenge to the Indian security forces in Kashmir prior to the introduction of the Jaish-e-Mohammad many years later. In 1999 LeT introduced a new kind of attack in Indian-administered Kashmir: the fidayeen attack (also spelled fedayeen). By introducing the fidayeen attack, the LeT and its Pakistani handlers aimed to reverse a three-year decline in militant activity in Indian-administered Kashmir. LeT's fidayeen missions are not "suicide attacks;" rather, high-risk missions in which well-trained commandos engage in fierce combat during which dying is preferable to being captured…
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 09-12-2015 at 08:25 AM. Reason: Copied from SWJ Blog

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    Default Pakistan and militants: collaboration, benign neglect, belligerence plus

    Hat tip to WoTR for the superb SME Stephen Tankel's article 'Pakistani Militants and the State: friends, foes and frenemies'. A topic that is in several threads.

    The donor journal's Abstract:
    States commonly take one of three approaches to militant groups on their soil: collaboration; benign neglect; or belligerence. All three approaches are present in Pakistan, where some groups also move back and forth among these categories. I employ the term “coopetition” to capture this fluidity. The dynamic nature of militancy in Pakistan makes the country an excellent laboratory for exploring a state’s assessment of the utility an Islamist militant group offers, and the threat it poses relative to other threats informs the state’s treatment of that group. In this article, I put forward a typology that situates Islamist militants in Pakistan in one of the above four categories. I also illustrate how a group’s identity, objectives, and alliances inform assessments of its utility and threat relative to other threats. In addition to enhancing our understanding of militant–state dynamics, this taxonomy builds on and helps to unify earlier typologies of Pakistani militancy.
    Link:http://warontherocks.com/2016/07/pak...and-frenemies/

    Given his work on LeT I'd missed this in his book, but it sums up the relationship complex well:
    In terms of collaboration, LeT remains Pakistan’s most reliable state-allied organization. The group is not only the military’s most useful proxy against India, but has also has carried out a propaganda campaign against al-Qaeda and the TTP, demonizing them for attacks in Pakistan. The Pakistani security services used LeT to gather intelligence on anti-state militants and, at times, to neutralize them. LeT has provided similar services against separatists in Balochistan.
    There is a thread on LeT:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ad.php?t=13337
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 04-17-2017 at 05:05 PM. Reason: 6,931v as a stand alone thread till merging
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    Default Saudi DNA tests confirm 2016 Jeddah bomber was Indian

    An Indian newspaper reports:
    Saudi Arabia has confirmed on the basis of DNA tests that the (suicide) bomber who blew himself up outside the US Consulate in the western Saudi coastal city of Jeddah two years (July 2016) ago in a foiled suicide attack was Fayaz Kagzi, an Indian national and alleged operative of the Lashkar-e-Toiba, a senior security official told The Indian Express.
    Link:http://indianexpress.com/article/ind...toiba-5157858/

    Note the bomber was aligned to LET and then ISIS; where was he most of the time? Saudi Arabia. With bombings in India linked to him in 2010 and 2012, plus a suspect for training the Mumbai attackers in 2008.
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 05-01-2018 at 12:18 PM. Reason: 50,994v
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    Default A new book

    A new book 'In Their Own Words: Understanding Lashkar-e-Tayyaba' by Christine Fair and the publisher's summary starts with:
    This path-breaking volume reveals a little-known aspect of how Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, a jihadist terrorist group, functions in Pakistan and beyond by translating and commenting upon a range of publications produced and disseminated by Dar-ul-Andlus, the publishing wing of LeT. Only a fraction of LeT’s cadres ever see battle: most of them are despatched on nation-wide ‘proselytising’ (dawa) missions to convert Pakistanis to their particular interpretation of Islam, in support of which LeT has developed a sophisticated propagandist literature.
    Link:https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book...eid=80d42c7c0a
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 11-14-2018 at 08:40 PM. Reason: 58,346v today up 8k since last post
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    Default Moderator adds

    There are several updates on LeT on the tenth anniversary of the Mumbai attacks on that thread:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...-impact/page10
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 11-27-2018 at 11:06 AM. Reason: 58,669v today
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    Default The Evolution of Pakistan’s Lashkar-e-Tayyiba Terrorist Group

    This FPRI paper was published in Orbis, in November 2018, by Tricia Bacon is an assistant professor at American University's School of Public Affairs, Washington, D.C,, but was only spotted today.

    The Abstract:
    Ten years ago, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba launched an attack that paralyzed the Indian megacityof Mumbai for days. The operation, occurring in the midst of major instability and violence in Pakistan, raised concerns that Lashkar—the Pakistani military’s most powerful proxy—had gone rogue and would now operate as an unrestrained global jihadist organization. However, it subsequently became clear that the operation in Mumbai was actually a product of Lashkar’s long-standing ties with the Pakistani military. The past ten years have further solidified their close relationship. Far from going rogue, the group has remained responsive to the Pakistani security establishment’s agenda in India, Afghanistan, and at home. The past decade has only reduced the policy options available to counter the group, while the constant danger looms that it will conduct an attack that precipitates a war between India and Pakistan—two nuclear powers.
    Link:https://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...98X?via%3Dihub and also available as a PDF:https://reader.elsevier.com/reader/s...62711792A1E73A
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 01-15-2019 at 09:28 AM. Reason: 59,733v today
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