Taliban Vs Taliban/Dispute over who will be the next slain terrorist leader.

Photo shows supposed new Pakistan Taliban leader, Hakeemullah Mehsud
A senior Taliban commander has challenged Hakeemullah Mehsud's appointment as the new leader of the Pakistani Taliban.

Waliur Rehman Mehsud, the leader of a powerful faction of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, claimed he has been selected to lead by Baitullah Mehsud, the group's former leader who is thought to have been killed in an Aug. 5 US Predator airstrike. Waliur made his statements in two interviews with the press over the past several days.

"Baitullah Mehsud has deputed the organization’s affairs to me two months back," Waliur told Geo News today.

On Saturday, Waliur claimed a new leader "would be chosen within five days" during an interview with the Associate Press. Waliur did not reference the shura meeting that reportedly appointed Hakeemulah and Baitullah's replacement.

Waliur's statements are at odds with Faqir Mohammed's pronouncement on Aug. 21 that Hakeemullah Mehsud was chosen to lead the Taliban after the shura majlis, or executive council, of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan met in Arakzai late last week. Faqir claimed the decision to appoint Hakeemullah as Baitullah's successor was unanimous among the 42 shura members present at the meeting.


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Meanwhile in NEWS OF THE FUTURE: "Pakistan Taliban leader Hakeemullah Mehsudm killed in U.S. Predator strike.

New photo shows healthier Fidel Castro

New photo shows healthier Fidel Castro: "A new photo of ailing Communist leader Fidel Castro surfaced on Sunday -- the second in 10 days -- revealing a more healthy-looking man than in prior photos. Castro, who came to power in Cuba in 1959, has not appeared in public since he had abdominal surgery in 2006.

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(Via CNN.com.)

U.S. leans on high-tech warfare in Afghanistan

U.S. leans on high-tech warfare in Afghanistan: "FORWARD OPERATING BASE SPIN BOLDAK, Afghanistan — Sgt. 1st Class Gregory Henson goes out on patrol with a computer on his back and a joystick in his holster. He also carries a rifle, but the military is hoping he’ll soon have less need for it.A wired generation of U.S. soldiers is about to battle-test a high-tech weapon calculated to reduce civilian casualties in Afghanistan.A key component is the ‘Dragon Egg,’ a softball-sized robotic camera that can be thrown over a hill or into a building without endangering troops. It rights itself like a Weeble Wobble toy and delivers a 360-degree view through its four tiny cameras. If any innocents are in the area, the soldier can mark the spot using his backpack computer to ward off an air strike.‘You don’t have to enter a room. You don’t have to worry about the first man in the room,’ said Sgt. Mike Fraser, who has been trained on the use of the cameras made by La Verne, Calif.-based Octatron Inc.The idea is to bring down the Afghan civilian death rate, which is stoking public anger and draws denunciations from President Hamid Karzai after each incident.In one of his first actions since taking over as head of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal issued a tough new rule on airstrikes: If there’s any chance of endangering civilians, back off, even if it means the Taliban get away.With the new technology, ‘we can put a no-fire area over a mosque or a school,’ said Col. Harry Tunnell, commander of the 5th Stryker Brigade that deployed to southern Afghanistan this summer as part of the 21,000 additional U.S. troops ordered in by President Barack Obama.The Fort Lewis, Wash.-based brigade is putting the computer system, called ‘Land Warrior’ by manufacturer General Dynamics, into its first large-scale use in Afghanistan, distributing it to vehicle commanders or other team leaders, meaning it will be carried by about one in every five or seven soldiers in the brigade of more than 5,000 people. Each combat platoon of a few dozen soldiers will all receive a Dragon Egg kit.Land Warrior comes with a viewfinder that drops over a soldier’s eye and displays an aerial map marked with roads and towns, along with icons designating hostile forces and civilians. Soldiers pinpoint locations with satellite data and type notes into the system using a thumb keyboard that looks like the sliced-off bottom half of a Blackberry.Satellite and radio links then spread the data between Stryker assault vehicles, aircraft and foot soldiers wearing the computers. If a soldier marks a vehicle or a house, it is seen instantly by anyone else in the brigade who has the system.The 5th Stryker Brigade soldiers started training with the system in June, about a month before they deployed.It isn’t perfect. Too much information can swamp the computer screens, for instance when blue dots that pinpoint a U.S. force’s whereabouts become so numerous that they merge into one large dot — a ‘blue booger’ in soldiers’ parlance.Also, the computer adds eight pounds to a soldier’s standard 45 to 55 pounds of equipment. But Lt. Sam Bonnette says he likes ‘that I know where my guys are at on the ground.’Some soldiers are retrofitting the gear, sticking computers designed to sit inside body armor into backpacks so they can swing on and off easily. None of them has yet used the equipment in battle, so it’s still a collection of fun or cumbersome gadgetry, depending on which soldier you talk to.The soldier-mounted system was used by one battalion in Iraq, but never in Afghanistan, says Maj. James Dooghan, the brigade’s executive officer.The system used in Iraq weighed at least 10 pounds and involved a lot more parts. It also lacked full GPS capabilities and didn’t have the thumb-keyboard to send text messages, said Roger Spears, who manages the Land Warrior program for General Dynamics.Coupled with the growing use of pilotless planes, Land Warrior highlights the changing nature of 21st century warfare. It comes at a time when Marine commanders are saying killing the Taliban is a lesser priority than winning friends among the civilian population — a major paradigm shift for a force that prides itself on its ability to fight.Lt. Col. William Clark, commander of the 8th Squadron, 1st Cavalry, which is heading to this southeast town on the Pakistan border, put it this way: ‘My goal is not to go to Spin Boldak and shoot everything I see. I lose by doing that.’———Associated Press Writer Fisnik Abrashi contributed to this report from Helmand province, Afghanistan."

(Via Air Force Times - News.)

Toll from Pakistan missile strike rises to 21

Toll from Pakistan missile strike rises to 21: "PARACHINAR, Pakistan — Nine more bodies were pulled from the rubble of houses hit by a suspected U.S. missile strike targeting a Taliban commander in northwestern Pakistan, bringing the total number of dead to 21 on Saturday.The airstrike in North Waziristan on Friday near the Afghan border was aimed at Siraj Haqqani, a Taliban commander with suspected close ties to al-Qaida who is blamed for masterminding ambushes on American troops in Afghanistan. It was unclear whether he was among the dead, intelligence officials said.Local tribal elder Safdar Khan said those killed included six children.Three intelligence officials confirmed the death toll, although they did not say whether any children were among the casualties. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release information.Haqqani is known to have visited the house that was targeted, the officials said. Khan did not specify whether Haqqani was there at the time.The attack was the latest by unmanned aircraft in northwestern Pakistan, and suggests a return to the original aim of the covert program to kill al-Qaida and Taliban leaders who use the lawless region as a base to plot attacks. A drone apparently killed Pakistan’s most-wanted militant, Baitullah Mehsud, on Aug. 5.Friday’s strike was the third in three weeks in Pakistan, which officially protests the drone assaults as a violation of its sovereignty. The United States is believed to have launched more than 40 such attacks in the northwest since last year.The missile hit a housing compound in the village of Dande Darpa Khel, four intelligence officers said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. None of the dead were identified, but the officers said local informants told them all those in the compound were Afghans.Dande Darpa Khel is the Pakistani stronghold of Haqqani, who operates on both sides of the border and has a powerful network in eastern Afghanistan. He has a large Islamic school in the village that was hit by a suspected U.S. missile in October 2008, killing about 20 people.Siraj is the son of senior Taliban leader Jalaluddin Haqqani, who was supported by U.S. and Pakistani aid when he fought in the 1980s against Soviet troops occupying Afghanistan. Now, American commanders count him as a dangerous foe.Father and son are alleged to have close connections to al-Qaida and to have helped funnel foreign Islamist fighters into Afghanistan to fight NATO troops.The Haqqanis have been linked to an attempt to kill Afghan President Hamid Karzai and a suicide attack on a hotel in Kabul, both last year. Haqqani network operatives also target U.S. forces in Afghanistan’s eastern Khost province with ambushes and roadside bombs.Pakistan’s border region is remote, mountainous and has little government or military control. Al-Qaida’s top leaders, including Osama bin Laden, are believed to be hiding in the area and militants move freely across the border.The U.S. occasionally fired missiles into the region beginning in 2006, but dramatically stepped up the attacks last year. The missiles are fired from CIA-operated drones believed to be launched from across the border in Afghanistan, or from secret bases inside Pakistan. U.S. officials rarely acknowledge the airstrikes.Separately, Pakistani paramilitary troops fighting insurgents along Afghan border said they killed six militants in an operation in northwest Pakistan.The paramilitary Frontier Corps said in a statement the operation was conducted in the Mohmand tribal region, where Pakistani forces caught a top Taliban spokesman, Maulvi Umar, on Tuesday.———Associated Press writers Asif Shahzad in Islamabad and Riaz Khan in Peshawar contributed to this report."

(Via Air Force Times - News.)

Warplanes set record over Afghanistan

Warplanes set record over Afghanistan: "Fighters and bombers over Afghanistan set a one-day record for close-air support sorties on Wednesday, Air Forces Central Command numbers show.The warplanes flew 94 sorties above Afghanistan, according to the daily airpower summary. Also flown were 33 reconnaissance sorties. The same day over Iraq, only 30 close-air support missions were flown.A year ago, warplanes typically flew 50 to 70 sorties a day for Afghanistan missions.The increase came as Afghanistan prepared for its national election Thursday and coalition troops pushed against insurgents in eastern and southern Afghanistan.Helping drive up the numbers was recent addition of an F-16 squadron to Bagram Air Force Base, already home to F-15Es. Also flying missions were A-10s out of Kandahar Air Base, B-1Bs bombers launching from al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, and carrier-based Navy F/A-18s.On at least three missions, aircraft dropped guided bombs and on three other missions flew strafing runs."

(Via Air Force Times - News.)