Around 300 US marines will head to Helmand province in Afghanistan this spring to help a NATO-led mission to train Afghan forces, US authorities said.

“Approximately 300 marines will deploy to Helmand Province, Afghanistan in spring 2017 in support of the NATO-led Resolute Support mission,” a statement from the Marine Corps said, following a request from US Central Command (CENTCOM) and the US forces in Afghanistan.

“[They] will train and advise key leaders within the Afghan National Army 215th Corps and the 505th Zone National Police,” it added.

They will also advice Afghan defence and security forces and “assist in preserving gains made together with the Afghans”.

The move puts US marines back in Helmand, who left in 2014 as NATO withdrew its forces and let Afghan troops lead the fight against the Taliban.

They were among the first US forces sent to Afghanistan after the 2001 terror attacks in the US. Several thousand were deployed in Helmand, an opium-producing region, where they engaged in bitter combat with the Taliban insurgency.

The administration of outgoing President Barack Obama had hoped to withdraw most US military forces from Afghanistan by now, leaving behind just a small force.

But some 8,400 US military personnel remain in the country, and Washington is now returning the Marines to Helmand.

The Afghan army and police are struggling in the fight against a resurgent Taliban.

In early December General John Nicholson, the chief US and NATO commander in Afghanistan, said that Kabul directly controls about 64 percent of the country’s population of 30 million, down slightly from 68 percent earlier in 2016.

He said that the Taliban have been especially active in Helmand province and are working opium with traffickers.

“There’s a nexus here between the insurgency and criminal networks that’s occurring in Helmand that makes Helmand such a difficult fight,” he added.

Afghanistan is by far the world’s largest opium producer. The UN estimates 2016 production at 4,800 to 6,000 tons, up sharply from 3,300 tons in 2015, while cultivated areas have increased by 10 percent in one year.

About 3,000 armed personnel in Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region went on patrol in Urumqi after attending an anti-terrorism oath-taking rally over the weekend, in an effort to fight terrorism and tighten security in the region, the Xinjiang Daily reported on Sunday.

Two thousand armed police and 1,000 SWAT officers were assigned to the regional capital Urumqi’s main roads and areas after completing an anti-terrorism drill at the rally on Saturday.

The last anti-terrorism oath-taking rally was held in May 2014 in Urumqi, China News Service reported.

The rally was held after the recent terror attack in the region, where two people and three assailants were killed. Three people entered the premises of the Moyu county committee on a vehicle on Wednesday, and attacked workers with knives and detonated an explosive device, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Force protection, anti-attack operations on police stations and counter-hijacking operations were among the five subjects included in the drill.

The rally also showcased military vehicles, including armored vehicles, bomb-proof trucks and carriers, command vehicles and armored personnel carriers.

The Xinjiang regional procuratorate also set up in December a special team assigned to handle terror-related cases, which consists of 30 prosecutors in six important regions, said Guo Lianshan, deputy prosecutor-general of the regional people’s procuratorate,  Xinhua reported.

At least 21 Taliban insurgents were killed in separate airstrikes conducted in central Logar province of Afghanistan, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) said Monday like reported by khaama.com..

The ministry further added that two key commanders of the group were also among those killed.

“Acting upon confirmed intelligence reports, Air Forces stormed a hideout of armed Taliban in Charkh district of Logar province yesterday evening, killing 21 armed Taliban and destroying their weapons and ammunition,” MoI said.

According to MoI, among the kills include two key commanders of armed Taliban named Waziri and Samad.

The Taliban insurgents group has not commented regarding the report so far.

Logar is among the relatively volatile provinces in central Afghanistan where the Taliban insurgents are actively operating in a number of its remote districts.

The group often conducts insurgency activities by placing landmines and carrying out coordinated attacks against the government and security forces.

The killing of the two senior Taliban commander in Logar airstrikes came as the Afghan forces are busy conducting their annual counter-terrorism operations in the provinces where the militants are actively operating.

According to the Afghan officials, the operations were launched to suppress the insurgency activities of the militant groups by specifically targeting their leaders and commanders.

US citizens in Bangladesh have been asked to take stringent security measures and be alert to local security developments during the holiday season

“There is an ongoing potential for extremist violence in Bangladesh,” the US embassy said in an updated alert on Thursday.

It said the ‘Travel Warning’ issued on July 10 after the two terrorist attacks is still in effect and the terrorist threat “remains credible”.

“Police have recently carried out raids on suspected militants, and multiple media reports have quoted officials as stating that they uncovered explosive devices and plans for attacks,” the statement said.

Bangladesh traditionally bans outdoor party in New Year celebrations.

This year also, the government has announced increased security measures in Dhaka for New Year’s Eve.

 

 

 

 

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Indonesia has seen more incidents of terrorism this year compared to last year as the embattled Islamic State has called for attacks outside its Middle Eastern stronghold to be stepped up, police said to jakartaglobe.id.

The number of terrorism-related incidents increased to 170 from 82, which included attacks as well as arrests of terror suspects. Police said the number of suspected terrorists killed during the year also increased to 33 from seven.

The rise in terrorism cases in Indonesia came as the Islamic State has been driven out of parts of Iraq and Syria it previously occupied, National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian said.

Allegations over Russia and Iran’s deepening ties with the Taliban have ignited concerns of a renewed “Great Game” of proxy warfare in Afghanistan that could undermine US-backed troops and push the country deeper into turmoil.

Moscow and Tehran insist their contact with insurgents is aimed at promoting regional security, but local and US officials who are already frustrated with Pakistan’s perceived double-dealing in Afghanistan have expressed bitter scepticism.

Washington’s long-time nemesis Iran is accused of covertly aiding the Taliban, and Russia is back to what observers call Cold War shenanigans to derail US gains at a time when uncertainty reigns over president-elect Donald Trump’s Afghanistan policy.

“(Russia’s) narrative goes something like this: that the Taliban are the ones fighting Islamic State”, top US commander in Afghanistan John Nicholson said recently, denouncing the “malign influence” of external powers.

“This public legitimacy that Russia lends to the Taliban is not based on fact, but it is used as a way to essentially undermine the Afghan government and the Nato (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) effort and bolster the belligerents.

“Shifting to Iran, you have a similar situation. There have been linkages between the Iranians and the Taliban.”

Russian support

Russia has officially provided military helicopters for Afghan forces, but simultaneously propped up the Taliban with arms, official and insurgent sources say.

“We are particularly concerned about loads of Russian-made weapons recently seized from areas on the border with Tajikistan,” a senior Afghan security said.

“Cross-border support for the Taliban will further complicate the security situation in Afghanistan’s north.” A Taliban commander said the Russian support had helped the insurgents overrun the northern city of Kunduz in October for the second time in a year.

Taliban representatives in recent months have also held several meetings with Russian officials in Tajikistan and Moscow, sources said.

“No country should be in touch with destructive groups who are the enemies of Afghanistan. This shows disrespect towards the victims of war,” said interior ministry spokesman Sediq Siddiqi.

“We ask Russia and Iran to work with Afghans to defeat terrorism.” Western diplomats in Kabul have privately voiced alarm that Russia is quietly filling its embassy ranks with Soviet era “old-timers” well versed in Cold War tactics, as relations with Washington turn sour over the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine.

And this week Kabul vented fury over a summit between Russia, China and Pakistan in Moscow which agreed on a “flexible approach” to remove certain Taliban figures from sanctions lists.

Alexander Mantytskiy, Russia’s ambassador to Kabul, insists engagement with the insurgents is benign.

“We have ties with the Taliban to ensure the security of our political offices, consulates and the security of central Asia,” he told reporters this month.

Lashing out at Nato, he added the allegations against Russia were an effort to distract attention from the worsening conflict and “put the blame for their failures on our shoulders”.

Proxy war playground

Some observers agree that Russian and Iranian concerns over Islamic State jihadists cannot be dismissed lightly.

“Islamic State may not have a deep presence in Afghanistan, but it has developed a profile there and its overall brand inspires great fear,” said Michael Kugelman, an analyst at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington.

“We can’t rule out the possibility that Russia and Iran are trying to hedge against the future possibility of a stronger Islamic State in Afghanistan by expanding their ties to the Taliban.”

Afghanistan has long been used as a chessboard for proxy battles — from the 19th century “Great Game” of rivalry between Britain and Russia to the US funnelling weapons through Pakistan to Afghan rebels fighting Soviet forces in the 1980s.

It has also served as a proxy war playground for nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan, which is also accused of playing a “double game” by endorsing Washington’s war on terrorism while providing sanctuary to the Taliban.

Superpowers jockeying for supremacy in Afghanistan could sow further chaos amid the unpredictability of Trump’s foreign policy, analysts said. Trump has given surprisingly few details on how he will tackle America’s longest war.

“Russia is waiting to see the next US move when Trump takes over,” said Kabul-based analyst Ahmad Saeedi. “If Trump chooses to scale back the US presence, then the Russians will be eager to fill the gap.” As for Iran, many in Tehran fear that a potentially hawkish White House under Trump will try to scrap its landmark nuclear deal with world powers, pushing them to retaliate by deepening ties with the Taliban.

“Foreign powers fighting for their own self interest does not bode well for Afghanistan,” said Saeedi. “That only means more violence and bloodshed in the country.”

 

 

 

 

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A “terror attack” struck a county in China’s restive region of Xinjiang on Wednesday, local authorities said to scmp.com, killing five people including the four attackers.

A car carrying the attackers crashed into the yard of the office building of the local Communist Party committee in Karakax county at 4:50pm, and a home-made explosive device was ignited, according to the news portal of the Xinjiang government.

Police shot and killed the four attackers, while one other person was killed and three others were injured, the report said.

Social order had been restored, it added, without identifying the attackers, but China blames the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM).

Beijing has blamed Muslim Uygur separatists in the past for staging violent attacks in Xinjiang.

Russia, China and Pakistan held a meeting in Moscow on Tuesday discussing the situation in Afganistan, like reported by ibtimes.com

The meeting concluded that there is a gradually growing threat to their frontiers by the Afghanistan-based Islamic State. They also discussed the issues on regional peace and stability.

Russia’s ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the three countries noted the deterioration of the security situation in Afghanistan. She added that they have agreed the removal of certain figures from sanctions list in a flexible approach. It aimed to foster a peaceful dialogue between the Taliban movement and Kabul.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani asked the United Nations in November to add the new leader of Taliban to its sanctions list.

Russia ambassador Vitaly Churkin said that deteriorating situation has encouraged IS militants to look Afghanistan as shelter. He said that it would pose a threat to his country through neighbouring central Asian states.

Pakistani officials said that Russia was eager to include Iran in the future meetings of the tripartite working group. Iran borders both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Afghan Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ahmad Shekib Mostaghni said Kabul was not properly informed about the meeting. He added that the absence of Afghans cannot help the real situation. It would raise serious questions about the purpose of the meetings.

The United States was not invited to the Moscow talks. The country still has nearly 10,000 troops in Afghanistan after the Taliban were toppled by US-backed Afghan forces.

Officials in Kabul and Washington said that Russia was deepening its ties with the Taliban militants. However, the country has denied it. Churkin said that their contacts with Taliban representatives were limited to the task of providing for the security of Russian nationals in Afghanistan.

The Taliban pressured a number of Afghan provincial capitals in 2016 and more than 5,500 Afghanistan forces were killed from January to August 2016.

While authorities around the world grapple with thwarting attacks by Muslim militants, counter-terrorism units in both Malaysia and Indonesia have been lauded for curbing dozens of bombing plots and assault attempts aimed at killing scores of innocents, like reported by asiancorrespondent.com

This year alone, Malaysian anti-terrorism police nabbed more than 115 people with links to global Islamist militant groups, preventing at least 14 attempted attacks, while their counterparts in neighbouring Indonesia — also a Muslim-majority country — had foiled at least 15 suicide attacks and bombing plots, with more than 150 arrests, according to various news reports.

Earlier this month, Malaysian police Special Branch (SB) Counter Terrorism Division principal assistant director Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay, told a seminar on countering extremism at the University of Jordan that the majority of the Malaysian public were unaware of the looming threat of the Islamic State (IS) militants who had planned a series of attacks in his country.

Unlike many countries in Europe, Malaysia has yet to face any major attacks in recent memory, but Ayub Khan said the June 28 grenade attack on an entertainment centre in Puchong in the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur that left eight injured, was a wake up call on the imminent presence of IS.

“Many did not believe that the IS threat is clear and present. I have been talking about IS since 2013, but only after the bombing in Puchong did they (the public) believe it,” Ayob Khan was quoted as saying by national news agency Bernama.

Revealing the shocking figures, Ayub Khan said the Malaysian police force had in total arrested 260 people from various countries for involvement in militant groups; four in 2013, 82 in 2015, and 115 in 2016 as of Dec 16.

Of the estimated 70 to 80 Malaysians who went to fight alongside IS and other militant groups in Syria over the last few years, Ayub Khan said 27 of them had died in the middle-eastern country while eight have returned.

The high ranking official said the arrests and the foiled attempts were owing to the vigilance of his officers who did not compromise on militant-linked activities, even if it was at the expense of arresting one of their security personnel. This was evident with the arrests of 14 soldiers, four of which were highly-trained commandos, and another three policemen for their involvement with IS.

In Indonesia, a Reuters analysis of data shows the elite unit, the Special Detachment 88 (Densus 88), preventing at last 54 plots or attacks in the nation of 250 million people, the world’s fourth largest, since 2010.

About 800 Indonesians have travelled to Syria to join Islamic State and 169 have been stopped en route and deported, according to Indonesia’s national counter-terrorism agency.

In the past two months alone, there have been 40 arrests, and at least six attacks foiled, according to the Reuters study, which collated data with the assistance of Institute for Policy Aanalysis of Conflict (IPAC) staff. At least two of the attacks were planned for New Year’s Eve, police said.

Many of these plots have been linked to IS, with police alleging they were inspired, if not directed, by Bahrun Naim, an Indonesian militant who fled to Syria about two years ago.

“These new homegrown terrorists and the local jihadists have never gone abroad. But with the advent of the Internet age and technologies like social media, it’s easier to make bombs and explosives to do operations,” said a law enforcement source, who spoke under the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the matter.

Key to Success

For obvious reasons, officials in both countries declined to elaborate on their methods in curbing militant plots which lead up to scores of arrests and hundreds, or even thousands of lives saved from bloody attacks.

However, an expert in the field, Andrin Raj, the Southeast Asia Regional Director of the
International Association for Counterterrorism and Security Professionals, said the authorities in both countries have vast experience in tackling terrorism and insurgencies, dating back decades.

“Malaysia and Indonesia have long fought guerrilla warfare types of operations and this has lead to highly sophisticated intelligence gathering,” Raj told the Asian Correspondent recently.

“The other interesting thing is that the undercover operations units and the larger security personnel are Muslims themselves and this makes it a lot more easier to infiltrate jihadist organisations unlike the European counterparts.”

Raj said training by British military intelligence group, MI5, and its United States equivalent, following the end of World War II, allowed both Malaysia and Indonesia to develop highly-capable security forces able to detect and curtail threats “without changing mindsets on the levels of security needed to protect their nations”.

“As we have seen Malaysia and Indonesia have long been hailed as good ambassadors for peace keeping operations globally. Long before Malaysia and Indonesia changed its policy towards Israel, the Malaysian security agencies as well as Indonesia were also trained by Israeli forces,” he pointed out.

Although the counter-terror units in both countries have been successful for the most part, Raj said it was important for them to remain hot on the heels of militant groups, especially in wake of the seemingly unpredictable nature of attacks in Europe.

“The threat is still imminent here as in Europe as terrorists will learn to execute their modus operandi based on the opportunity provided,” he said.

Asked how Indonesian and Malaysian police had been successful in preventing lone-wolf attacks and mass shootings seen in much of Europe, especially this year, Raj said there were many underlying and overlapping factors, but it was important to note that operational targets differ for terrorist groups.

“Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines are highly targeted by Jihadist terrorist groups, and some countries may remain as safe havens to operate.”

Elite forces

Greg Barton, a terrorism expert and research professor in Global Islamic Politics at Alfred Deakin Institute in Melbourne, said Indonesia’s Densus 88 has become better than pretty well any other counter-terrorism group in the world.

“They have had an incredible workload and they have become remarkably good at what they do.”

In the last six years, there has been only one major attack in Indonesia that caused civilian deaths, when assailants hit a Jakarta mall and police post with gunfire and bombs, resulting in the deaths of three Indonesians and a dual Algerian-Canadian national. All four attackers were also killed in the January 2016 attack.

Between 2002 to 2009, there were nine major attacks by militants, leaving 295 dead and hundreds of others wounded.

Since its formation in 2002, the unit has put a premium on clandestine intelligence gathering. Now much of that intelligence work is done online, by infiltrating and monitoring chat rooms, social media and messaging apps popular with militants.

Few details about Indonesia’s Densus 88 are publicly available.

“We built our organization to learn from the enemy,” said a senior counter-terrorism officer who declined to be named.

Created in the aftermath of the deadly 2002 Bali bombings that killed more than 200 people, Densus 88 has about 400 to 500 members, state-of-the-art weaponry and training, said another official. It has received more than $200 million of funding from Western allies such as Australia and the United States.

The unit is headed by a task force, a core of 30 or so senior members, said the Indonesian law enforcement source.

“Many of them possess doctorates and have specialties like psychology and social behaviour,” the source added. “They are not like regular police.”

The black clad, heavily armed members of Densus 88 sometimes seen during raids on suspected militant hideouts make up a small proportion of the unit, officials say.

Far more personnel are dedicated to gathering intelligence in the field and monitoring communications and online activity. There is also a large team of investigators analysing that intelligence and forensically examining explosives and other evidence.

Sidney Jones, the director of Institute for Policy Aanalysis of Conflict (IPAC), said the key to Densus 88’s success lies in its intelligence gathering.

“They know the radical networks and have a good set of informers,” she said. “It is unparalleled in terms of its ability to understand the sources of possible threats.”

Barton said the unit has adopted a unique, “strategic” approach to interrogations that aids intelligence gathering.

Suspects were kept at police stations rather than in jails and allowed to meet their families.

“They sit down and listen to their story,” Barton said. “They get them talking and that’s an effective way of getting intelligence.”

Despite Densus 88’s recent successes, the worry is that the militant threat to Indonesia is mounting as IS fighters return battle-hardened from Syria and Iraq. The ultra-radical group also commands support from some Indonesians who have stayed at home.

The Ministry of Interior (MoI) has said a senior Taliban leader was arrested during an operation in central Logar province while at least 60 others were killed during the counter-terrorism operations, accordinag to khaama.com.

“Yesterday evening, a senior armed Taliban member named Shaista Mohammad was arrested when Afghan National Police launched a special operation in Qala-e-Ghafar village, Pul-e-Alam City capital of Logar province,” MoI said in a statement.

The statement further added that Shaista Mohammad was involved in many terrorist and destructive activities in Kharwar, Charkh and Azra districts of Logar province.

In another statement, MoI said “In past 24 hours, Afghan National Defense and Security launched 22 Counter-Terrorism joint operations to clear some of the areas from terrorists and enemies of peace and stability of Afghanistan.”

According to MoI, the operations were conducted in Kabul, Nangarhar, Kandahar, Zabul, Oruzgan, Helmand, Sar-e-Pul, Faryab and Kunduz provinces. “As a result 60 armed militants were killed, 18 wounded and 10 others were arrested by Afghan National Defense and Security Forces.”

Afghan National Police also discovered and confiscated light and heavy rounds of ammunition during the operations.

The Taliban militants group including the Taliban insurgents has not commented regarding the reports so far.