Taliban Suicide Bombing Patterns

[Stan]

As-Sahab Video of Suicide Bombing in Afghanistan
By Evan Kohlmann

The beginning is typical rubish (my opinion) and talk of US, but gets much deaper once the idiots no longer talk
The video goes into great detail, right down to making the large IED.

Al-Qaida's central media wing, known as the As-Sahab Media Foundation, has released a new video depicting a recent suicide car bombing attack in Afghanistan. The video includes a recorded "martyrdom" will by the bomber, footage of the creation of the bomb, and the execution of the actual attack itself. The video also features an excerpt from an interview with Taliban supreme military commander Mullah Dadullah, in which he endorses suicide bomb operations as a key weapon in confronting heavily-armed "superpowers."

http://www.globalterroralert.com/vid...martyr0207.wmv

[MountainRunner]

A timely comparison of LTTE and Taliban terrorism is now available here:
http://counterterrorismblog.org/2007/03/compare_contrast_taliban_and_t.php (which in turn references the not time specific link ttp://www.profilesinterror.com/updates/ )

This week saw two terror attacks that apparently came close to high-level officials: the Taliban suicide bombing at Bagram Air Force Base while Vice President Cheney was staying there, and the Tamil Tiger (LTTE) mortar attack on an aircraft carrying U.S. Ambassador Robert Blake, along with the Italian and German Ambassadors. In Afghanistan, the Taliban insist that they were targeting Cheney, while U.S. officials claim that the Taliban do not have the capability. In contrast, the LTTE insists that it was not targeting the international diplomats, but the Sri Lankan government claims that they were. It is unlikely that either attack expressly targeted the officials. But the difference in the claims about the attack illustrates the differences between the two conflicts and between pre-9/11 and post-9/11 terror.

In Afghanistan, the Taliban apparently claimed that Cheney was the target of the attack on Bagram. However, the Taliban had little notice of Cheney’s movements and suicide bombings take some time to prepare. Besides the logistics the bomber has to be completely prepared psychologically – at the same time, an indoctrinated bomber cannot be kept waiting, otherwise the bomber may have second thoughts. It is conceivable that the Taliban had a suicide bombing in the works and shifted it to Bagram when they learned that Cheney was there. But changing plans quickly increases the likelihood of being intercepted if the new plan takes the bombers to an area that has not been carefully reconnoitered. Also, the bomber made no effort (and really had no chance) of penetrating deeply into Bagram.

[Merv Benson]

The Taliban are religious bigots who imposed and would impose again an extreme form of Islam. While the resistance to their efforts may not have the same dynamic as the Sunni Shia divide in Iraq, it is hard to get away from the religious aspects of their efforts. They are murdering barbers and attacking people who shave based on some weird reading of the Koran. They are destroying schools that teach women, because of some weird religious belief. The government forces resisting them have a different take on what Islam requires, so I think it is fair to say it is a sectarian civil war.

[Sarajevo071]

There is one story that showing that in better detail…

Some time before September 2001, Ayman al-Zawahiri approached to Mullah Omar asking him to let Afghani women get trained in military skills (handling the weapons and basic training, not suicide attacks), but Taliban leader blow him off. Al-Zawahiri tried 3, 4 times to get to Omar to talk to him, but at no veil. Finally, Mullah Omar got very upset hearing for such request. Al-Zawahiri was told it is better to back off of training the women. On the end, al-Zawahiri did it anyways. He formed camp to train women, in big secrecy and far away of eyes of Taliban.

(from book: The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of al Qaeda's Leader by Peter Bergen)

[Prospect]

Thats interesting; i was in southern Afghanistan from July 05' to July 06', and although i didn't see it personally, i was on a mission where we were ambushed and some of the ANA who were with us reported seeing women firing at them during the fight. Here's an article that outlines the incident, albiet from the point of few of only some of those on the ground.
http://www.defensenews.com/story.php...2069&C=landwar

...“There were little villages all along 611, every time we hit one it would start up again, every little village opened up on us.”
The Afghan soldiers said even women were firing at the column. They’d never heard of that before. The insurgents fired from buildings constructed from thick mud-brick walls, impervious to small arms...