‘Terrorism defeated?’ Merkel says ‘not all goals’ reached after 9/11 as intel head warns of 2,000 dangerous extremists in Germany

The US and its allies have failed to achieve all their goals after 9/11 but did “defeat terrorism,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said as her own intelligence warned about thousands of Islamists in the country.


“We have now had to recognize that although we have been able to defeat terrorism, which is endangering our security, at the present time we have not achieved all our goals,” Merkel said on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

The chancellor then suggested focusing on safeguarding those few accomplishments, including education for girls in Afghanistan while admitting “this will not be easy with the Taliban” in power. Merkel also said that bringing people in need of protection to Germany should be one of the nation’s top priorities since that was something Berlin felt it had “a moral obligation to do.”

Yet, it seems that not all German officials would agree with their chancellor that the war on terror was that victorious. The head of the nation’s domestic security service, the BfV, which is tasked with tackling the threat of terrorism in particular, painted a much grimmer picture.

Germany’s domestic intelligence has classified some 2,000 Islamists living in the country as “particularly dangerous,” the BfV head, Thomas Haldenwang, told Tagesspeiegel daily in an interview published earlier on Saturday.

“These are all that we, as an intelligence service, believe could be potentially engaged in terrorist activities up to committing [terrorist] attacks,” Haldenwang said.

Germany’s Federal Criminal Police reported 551 existing Islamist ‘threats’ and 536 people that could potentially be supporters of terrorists, according to the German media. Haldenwang explained that his agency’s number is higher since some of the persons on the list have no prior criminal records and are thus likely unknown to the criminal police.



The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan could be used by such extremist groups to launch a “propaganda offensive” and start a recruitment drive, Haldenwang warns, adding that this development could be portrayed as a victory for Islamists all over the world.

Germany’s Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said that the nation’s security services have managed to thwart 23 terrorist attacks since 2000. The minister believes, though, that the danger is far from over.

“We prevented terrorist attacks, but the risk of an attack still exists today,” he told Germany’s Funke media group on the 20th anniversary of 9/11. Seehofer then called on the BfV to be granted powers to covertly access computers, smartphones and other IT devices to be able to study their content to better prevent terrorist threats.

Such provision was removed from a controversial amendment to the Federal Constitution Protection Act, which granted the security service broader powers in the field of telecommunication surveillance. Adopted by the German parliament in June, the amendment allowed the BfV to monitor encrypted messages sent via WhatsApp, for example, but only in strictly regulated individual cases.

Seehofer, however, hopes that the next government, which would take office following the general elections later in September, will continue the work he started.

RT

Afghanistan and Boko Haram Surrender Tactics, Terrorists are already in Charge of Nigeria affairs

Here you have Isa Pantami and many hidden others working covertly under this Major General Muhammadu Buhari led pro terrorists, bandits and fulani led regime that has been granting forgiveness for the enemies of state and killers of armless, defenseless and innocent law abiding citizens.

The same pro criminal regime has demonstrated it's tyrannical tendencies against the protesters and anyone raising their voices against the government supported or sponsored evils and genocide in the land.

Ethnic cleansing in southern Kaduna. Fulani Herdsmen trespassing and killing in many other parts of the country including south west as the Buhar presidency failed in its plans and biding to use governmental power to allocate lands to his fulani wonderers in the name of RUGA, etc.

Boko Haram, bandits and fulani herdsmen working for the same purposes to taking over the country and establish their caliphate and Emirates may soon take over the country even without bloodshed just like Talibans  in Afghanistan as they are already and ever in charge of Nigeria affairs under this regime.

Fast forward to Nigerian and Afghani armies and enthronement of the Talibans in Afghanistan in a brief overview so we can ask questions that are answered already by the current nature of handling of the socio-economic and security under APC/Buhari government.

Afghanistan has 400,000 soldiers yet the country was taken by Taliban who has at most 75,000 fighters.

How was a nation taken  with little or no blood shed?

The story goes back to early 2000's

When US and NATO defeated Taliban

Many of the Taliban fighters did not run out of Afghanistan..

A lot of negotiations took place with tribal leaders of these fighters.

As a result many of these fighters simply dropped their arms and were recruited into the Afghani Army just as the case in Nigeria currently but the Nigeria At denied it but this is an institution under the control if the Fulanis and northerners since Bubari's accession into the Aso Rock in 2015.

They remained in the army waiting for a day US will leave Afghanistan.

They got promotions, training, ammunition and money from US for those 20 years legally.

As soon as US left, they simply went back to what they have been doing ...although now as the nation's power brokers

The former Taliban leader is now the Head of Government of Afghanistan.

That is what Boko Haram are doing with this surrender and forgiveness

They are doing "if you can't beat them, join them"

Sadly, Buhari and his Top military echelon are in support of it

Recruiting Boko haram straight into the army.

Those Boko haram boys are getting trained and they are waiting for the day they will unleash their terror.

You think the Minister of defense was joking when he said in an interview that: A REPENTANT BOKO HARAM CAN ONE DAY BE THE PRESIDENT....

That is the plan.....to turn this nation to an Islamic Emirate.

You might think ....it is not possible.

But look back at what you said won't be possible before 2015.....are they not our reality today?

Wake up ! There is fire on the mountain.

[email protected]

Strictly Islamic laws: The taliban in Afghanistan have now confirmed to BBC world news

Women to wear hijab,

Stonings and amputations to continue,

Afghan President has now absconded,

All the girls in uni told to sit home,

All land borders now under Taliban control.

May God be with the people there.

There are huge lessons here for Nigeria.

For people who think that ideological and religious extremism is not such a big deal. Well, Afghanistan is a proof that so much can go wrong in a short time if people hold on to an ideology that is potentially destructive and retrograde.

This whole Afghanistan takeover by the Talibans happened after 20 years of American presence in Afghanistan.

The moment America started to withdraw, the Taliban takeover started and is now fully in force.

Why was it so easy?

Because you do NOT win an ideological war with bombs.

The West needs to know- and know now- you can NOT kill an ideology with guns and tanks or by military occupation.

You have to engage ideological war with ideological methods/strategies. Not with an imposition of your own views on the locals.

It has never worked. It never will.

And this is why it is very ridiculous that anybody thinks the Nigerian war against Boko Haram will be won strictly by bombs and guns.

Boko Haram, ISWAP or whatever you call them are ideological warriors. That means you can never win by conventional warfare.

We are in deep shit.

We as Nigerians must deal with our own warfare early on now with ideological strategies - otherwise we will wake up one day in our own version of Afghanistan. Or at least core Northern Nigeria may fall to these poisonous ideologies and ISWAP may easily become the Govt of the day.

There’s a reason the Nigerian Army is compromised. Some soldiers see these terrorists as their “brothers”. Why? Same religion. Same tribe.

How do you think it will be easy for someone to fight/kill someone who he deeply sees as his spiritual “brother” from the same tribe?

We have terrorists and terrorists sympathisers in Govt.

We have senators and cabinet ministers who strongly believe in these extremist ideologies.

How do you fight a “war” against criminals that your own government officials are sympathetic to and considers them as “brothers”?

I pray for Nigeria and I wish us the best. I pray for Afghanistan and I wish them well.

However as Nigerians observing global events, please do NOT think the events of the Taliban Takeover in Afghanistan is impossible” in Nigeria.

It’s only a matter of time.

If nothing is done.

So what can we do?

Ideological engagement.

The only way forward.

The people who breed this terrorists are usually the emirs, imaams, scholars and religious leaders.

Those are the people teaching these poisonous ideologies. Those are the people you need to engage and appeal to.

You can’t bomb all the emirs and religious scholars. You can’t kill all the imams and alfas

You have to reach out to these people - through the moderate sensible ones among them- and then intellectually engage them.

Remember: you can only kill people.

You can NOT kill ideology.

In conclusion:

We have a very long way to go.

We either sort out this nasty problem now in Nigeria- or wake up one day in Nigerianistan. A new country where Nigerian Talibans are in charge of government, speech and our daily lives.

The choice is ours to make.

God bless Nigeria.

New Islamic government will include non-Taliban Afghans - Taliban spokesman

A new Islamic government will include non-Taliban Afghans, Taliban spokesman Sohail Shaheen according to the CNN’s Nic Robertson in a video interview on Sunday.


When asked if the new Taliban government will include members of the former Afghan government, Shaheen, speaking from Doha, said it would be “premature” right now to name who the officials will be, but he said that they are trying to have some “well known figures” to be part of the government.

“When we are saying an Afghan inclusive Islamic government, that means that other Afghans also have participation in the government,” he said.


When asked if the Taliban will call on the current Afghan army and police to join Taliban security forces, Shaheen said all those handing over their weapons and joining Taliban forces will be granted amnesty, and that their lives and property would be secure. He added that their names are in a registry and they would be used as a “reserve” force and called upon as needed.

BBNaija: Why NIGERIA may go Afghanistanized

Talibans

Nigeria is the second most terrorized country in the world not the third as you see it online.

Since 2009 the war against the Boko Haram terrorists group are still on. Herdsmen and bandits are of the same kindred and network of the same group terrorising the country, killing the helpless and armless citizens.

Iraq is far better than Nigeria today. 

Afghanistan situation is smelling on us and it would happen, nothing is stopping it. More than 60% of Afghanistan army were Pro Taliban, that was beginning of their problem. Here in Nigeria we have Boko Haram initiated into the army already. They already in all sectors. They current and incumbent regime has demonstrated it's support for these groups in all it's actions and inactions.

Nigerians should continue to flex and having hope on hopeless. Nigeria would surely end up like Afghanistan unless we all rise up and prevent it while we still can.

Like l still can't get it.

Your country is the second most terrorized country in the world and all you care about is big brother.

Now you don't just watch it,you trend it,post it, analyze it daily.

Before l continue,what is big brother. @bbnaija021_updates is where young people come together to play games and have sex and win 90 million. So that is freaking important than #Unijos that have been closed down because of Boko Haram and all other various attacks. Who curse Nigeria? Who curse your rulers? Who curse Nigeria youth? Even if it is by elections, they are not even united to do anything together and they want the young people to rule by 2023.

How about the Afghanistanized approach.

DOOM. Buhari led APC Regime is an Afghanistan doom for the country.

#RevolutionNow 

#BuhariMustGo

Taliban takes control of Kabul's presidential palace as group presence within the city is growing

The Taliban have taken control of the presidential palace in Kabul, the Afghanistan capital, after the country's president Ashraf Ghani fled the country.

According to the CNN reports, Taliban fighters are assuming control of the Afghan capital of Kabul and have taken control of the presidential palace, after the country's president Ashraf Ghani fled to Tajikistan.


One of its units shared pictures of the Palace interior – seemingly intact, but empty and abandoned by Afghan officials – on an official Telegram account. A video posted on social media a few hours before showed fighters arriving at the Presidential Palace in Kabul


The group’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said earlier that its forces would begin entering areas of the city where the government officials and security forces had abandoned their posts.

“This morning the Islamic Emirate released a statement that our forces were outside Kabul city and we did not want to enter Kabul through military ways,” he said. “However, now we are getting reports that the district police offices are evacuated, police has left their job of ensuring the security, also the ministries are emptied and the security personnel of the Kabul administration has fled.”

“Therefore, in order to avoid any looting and burglary in Kabul and stop opportunists from harming the people, the Islamic Emirate has advised its forces to enter those areas of the city where the enemy has left and the areas are at risk of looting and burglary,” he added.


Social media posts and witness accounts suggest Taliban presence within the city is growing.


“Our forces are quietly entering the city, they won’t bother anyone, government employees both civilian and military should be assured that no one will harm them, no Mujahid is allowed to enter people’s houses, or hurt or bother anyone,” the groups spokesperson added.


The Taliban takeover happens amid a massive evacuation effort by the US and NATO allies of their citizens and support staff within the country.


Earlier reports suggested a transitional government would be formed but the departure of President Ghani seems to have scuppered those efforts.


A meeting, which was expected to happen between a high-level Afghan government delegation and Taliban in Doha, now “may not happen,” a source with knowledge of the intra-Afghan talks saidon Sunday, as reported by CNN.


Regardless, the Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation, Abdullah Abdullah, politician Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and former President Hamid Karzai have established a Coordinating Council to “better manage the affairs related to peace and peaceful transfer,” Karzai said in a statement.

UK Prime Minister: "It's clear" there will be a new government in Kabul "very shortly'

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says it is clear there will be a new government in place in Afghanistan "very shortly."

“It’s clear there is going to be very shortly a new government in Kabul, or a new political dispensation, however you want to put it,” he said in an interview on Sunday.

Johnson went on to call on the UK’s allies in the West to “work together” to make sure Afghanistan does not become the breeding ground for terrorism that it once was.


“I think it’s very important that the west, collectively, should work together to get over to that new government, be it by the Taliban or anybody else, that nobody wants Afghanistan once again to be a breeding ground for terror,” he said. “We don’t think that it’s in the interests of the people of Afghanistan that it should lapse back into that.”

“We don’t want anybody bilaterally recognizing the Taliban, we want a united position amongst all the like-minded, as far as we can get one,” he added.

Johnson described the situation in Afghanistan as “extremely difficult” and worsening, adding that, in his view, the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan was expected.

“I think it’s fair to say the US decision to pull out has accelerated things,” he explained. “We’ve known for a long time this was the way things were going.”

The British prime minister added that his government’s priority was first and foremost to UK citizens and Afghan support staff that helped the UK over the past two decades.

“Our priority is to make sure we deliver on obligations to UK nationals in Afghanistan, to all those who have helped the British effort in Afghanistan over 20 years and to get them out as fast as we can,” he said, adding that the UK ambassador was working around the clock.

“Two thousand have left, we’re going to get as many as we can in the next few days,” he concluded.




From CNN’s Vasco Cotovio

Russia says emergency UN meeting on Afghanistan is planned

Russia, a permanent member of the UNSC is working with other countries to hold an emergency UN Security Council meeting on Afghanistan as the Taliban continues its military takeover of the country, foreign ministry official Zamir Kabulov told Russian news agencies.

“We are working on this,” Kabulov said.

Mr Kabulov also said Moscow does not plan to evacuate its embassy in Kabul, saying the Taliban had offered Russia and other countries -- which he did not name -- security assurances for their missions in Afghanistan.

Leonid Slutsky, foreign affairs chief in the lower house of the Russian parliament, said the situation in Afghanistan required the "immediate intervention" of the UN Security Council.

It is important to prevent a new humanitarian catastrophe," he said, according to the RIA Novosti news agency.

The US and other countries rushed to evacuate their citizens from the capital as Taliban fighters stood on the outskirts of Kabul on Sunday.

Talks between the Talibans and Afghan Government for peaceful transfer and takeover of government is underway as the Taliban fighters encircled the capital Kabul already.

 Kabulov said Moscow does not plan to evacuate its embassy in Kabul, saying Taliban had offered security assurances.

Zamir Kabulov is a Russian diplomat and Russian Presidential envoy to Afghanistan. He previously served the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan until September 21, 2009.

Taliban in Kabul, awaiting peaceful transfer of power as talks with fghan gov’t in progress

As expectes the Taliban fighters have surrounded the Afghanistan capital but promised not to attack as talks got under way with the government on peaceful transfer of power.

According to the reports, the Taliban and Afghan government officials are already in negotiations for a peaceful transfer of power after fighters encircled the capital Kabul.

Taliban troops surrounded Afghanistan’s seat of power on Sunday but promised not to attack as handover talks were under way.

The group said it has instructed its fighters to refrain from violence and offer safe passage to anyone wishing to leave Kabul.

“Until the completion of the transition process, the responsibility for the security of Kabul is with the other side (the Afghan government),” a spokesman for the group said in a tweet.

The Afghan government soon after signalled there were negotiations under way to avoid bloodshed in Kabul and to transition power.

"U.S. Prepares Airlift as Cities Fall to Taliban With Stunning Speed, UN calls on Talibans to Halt the offensive

The Taliban forces continued to rout Afghan forces, amid calls for President Ashraf Ghani to step down, and Joe Biden administration has dispatched more than 3,000 troops to help evacuate American and Afghan civilians.

The Taliban seek to isolate Kabul, the Pentagon says as four more major cities are under Taliban control and the government’s forces near collapse."

The Taliban has made rapid gains and now controls half of Afghanistan's provincial capitals, leaving the capital city of Kabul increasingly isolated.
Four more cities fell to the Taliban overnight including the country's second-biggest city, Kandahar, which is of particular strategic importance and was formerly a major hub for US military operations.

According the CNN, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby was directly asked if the war in Afghanistan could conclude with a Taliban takeover done with US-made weapons:


"What's it going to say for a 20-year war in Afghanistan if it ends with the Taliban rolling into Kabul in US-made MRAPs and Humvees and carrying weapons that our allies turned over to them?" a reporter asked him during a press briefing on the security situation in Afghanistan.


"I can't see the future," Kirby said. "And what I can tell you is our troops who deployed to Afghanistan after 9/11 did what they were sent there to do, which is to prevent Afghanistan from being a safe haven for terrorist attacks upon the homeland and to severely degrade the capabilities of groups like al Qaeda."

"In the process of that effort, a lot of progress was made in Afghanistan, progress which we obviously don't want to see put at greater risk. Going forward, we're going to do a couple of things: We're going to make sure that a terrorist threat can't emanate from Afghanistan again by maintaining robust over the horizon counterterrorism capabilities in the region. And we're going to continue to support our Afghan partners, bilaterally, through maintenance support, through financial support, and we're going to continue to want to see a stable, secure Afghanistan. The other thing I would say is that we want to continue to see that there's a negotiated political settlement here for governance going forward, so that's what our focus is on right now," Kirby continued.


He was then asked if the Taliban is actually interested in any sort of negotiations.


"I think that's a question for Taliban leaders to speak to. They have a team in Doha. They have participated in the past in negotiations. Now, whether they're still interested in that or not, I think it's for them to speak to. We are still interested in seeing that outcome, and so should the rest of the international community," Kirby said.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has called on the Taliban to halt their offensive in Afghanistan.

“I call on the Taliban to immediately halt the offensive, negotiate in good faith in the interest of Afghanistan and its people," he told reporters Friday.

"I hope that discussions in Doha, Qatar between representatives of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and Taliban — supported by the region and the wider international community — will restore the pathway to a negotiated settlement to the conflict. Only an Afghan-led negotiated political settlement can ensure peace,” he added.


At least 241,000 people have been forced to leave their homes due to the Afghan conflict, and in the last month alone, more than 1,000 people have “been killed or injured from indiscriminate attacks against civilians, notably in Helmand, Kandahar and Herat provinces,” he said.

Why Washington deployed more than 3 infantry battalions of US troops to secure evacuations from Kabul

Three infantry battalions are on their way to the Kabul airport, the Defense Department announced Thursday, as the State Department moves to evacuate civilians from its embassy there.

At the same time, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters, another 1,000 troops are headed to Qatar to help process special immigrant visas for Afghan interpreters, while an entire infantry brigade combat team will set up in Kuwait as an on-call reaction force, as the Taliban advances its campaign to take provincial capitals around the country.

“I want to stress that these forces are being deployed to support the orderly and safe reduction of personnel, at the request of the State Department, and to facilitate an accelerated process of working through SIV applicants,” Kirby said. “This is a temporary mission with a narrow focus.”

The battalions, two Marine and one Army, are expected to arrive at the Kabul airport within the next 24 to 48 hours, Kirby said. He would not provide details on which units or where they are based, only that they are already foward-deployed to CENTCOM.

They will report to Rear Adm. Peter Vasely, who heads up U.S. Forces Afghanistan Forward, the follow-on mission after the end of Operation Resolute Support.

Within days, 1,000 soldiers and airmen will arrive in Qatar, one of the proposed third-country partners for processing SIVs, to help with medical screenings and other steps in the process, in an effort to expedite the approval of thousands of applications.

And within the next week, an 82nd Airborne Division brigade will head to Kuwait as a back-up force to protect the airport, Kirby added, though he declined to specific which one.

Forces would join with 650 troops still on the ground in Kabul, as part of a long-term security contingent for the U.S. embassy. Though U.S. Central Command has declined to specify how many troops are still in Afghanistan, the deadline to withdraw the last 2,500 train-advise-assist and counter-terror troops comes at the end of August.

The emergency security mission is not expected to extend that deadline, Kirby said. The move, however, raises questions as to how a drawdown of 2,500 so quickly turned into a surge of at least 3,000.

“Once this mission is over ― I won’t get into specific numbers here ― but we anticipate having less than 1,000 troops on the ground to support the diplomatic mission in Kabul, which we all agree we still want to be able to have,” Kirby said.

The move suggests a lack of confidence by the Biden administration in the Afghan government’s ability to provide sufficient diplomatic security in the capital as the Taliban mount an offensive that has rapidly conquered key cities in recent days.

Afghan government forces are collapsing even faster than U.S. military leaders thought possible just a few months ago when President Joe Biden ordered a full withdrawal.

The Taliban, who ruled the country from 1996 until U.S. forces invaded after the 9/11 attacks, captured three more provincial capitals Wednesday and another two on Thursday, the 10th and 11th the insurgents have taken in a weeklong sweep that has given them effective control of about two-thirds of the country. The insurgents have no air force and are outnumbered by U.S.-trained Afghan defense forces, but they have captured territory, including the country’s third-largest city, Herat, with stunning speed.

In a new warning to Americans in Afghanistan, the second it has issued since Saturday, the embassy in Kabul on Thursday again urged U.S. citizens to leave immediately. The advisory was released amid increasing discussions in Washington about further reducing already limited staff at the embassy.

The U.S. continues to support the Afghan military with limited airstrikes, but those have not made a strategic difference thus far and are scheduled to end when the U.S. formally ends its role in the war on Aug. 31. Biden could continue airstrikes beyond that date, but given his firm stance on ending the war, that seems unlikely.

The most recent American military assessment, taking into account the Taliban’s latest gains, says Kabul could be under insurgent pressure by September and that the country could fall entirely to Taliban control within a couple of months, according to a defense official who discussed the internal analysis Wednesday on condition of anonymity.


Military officials watching the deteriorating situation said that so far the Taliban haven’t taken steps to threaten Kabul. But it isn’t clear if the Taliban will wait until they have gained control of the bulk of the country before attempting to seize the capital.

The security of the U.S. diplomatic corps has been talked about for months, even before the Taliban’s battlefield blitz. The military has long had various planning options for evacuating personnel from Afghanistan. Those options would largely be determined by the White House and the State Department.

A key component of the options would be whether the U.S. military would have unfettered access to the Kabul international airport, allowing personnel to be flown systematically out of the capital. In a grimmer environment, American forces might have to fight their way in and out if the Taliban have infiltrated the city.


Associated Press writer Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report.