“Taliban forces have been locked for months in a shadowy on-again, off-again
battle with opposition fighters based in the Panjshir Valley. Just a few





 


 


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Eye on Extremism


June 9, 2022

 

The Washington Post: Inside The Taliban’s Secret War In The Panjshir Valley
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“Taliban forces have been locked for months in a shadowy on-again, off-again
battle with opposition fighters based in the Panjshir Valley. Just a few hours’
drive north of Kabul, the province has long been an anti-Taliban stronghold and
remains the only significant pocket of resistance to the group since the fall
of Kabul last August. The Washington Post secured a rare visit to the mountains
and villages where the fight is playing out, getting a glimpse of a conflict
that the Taliban has gone to great lengths to conceal. Taliban officials flatly
deny there is any violence in the area, even though thousands of the group’s
forces are visible across the valley. “Everything here is fine,” insisted
Nasrullah Malikzada, the Taliban’s local information director in Panjshir.
“There is no fighting at all.” Yet residents say assaults on Taliban positions
are a regular occurrence, and dozens of people have been killed, with some
civilians imprisoned in sweeping arrests. Those residents spoke on the
condition of anonymity or used only one name for fear of reprisals. The clashes
in Panjshir are unlikely to pose an imminent threat to the Taliban’s control of
the province or the country, but the violent resistance here punctures key
narratives propping up the movement’s claim to legitimacy: that its rule has
brought peace to Afghanistan and that its fighters are capable of maintaining
security.”

 

AFP: Paris 2015 Attacks Trial Hears Closing Arguments
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“The trial over the November 2015 attacks in Paris, France's worst-ever
terror assault, heard the beginning of closing arguments Wednesday by the three
leading prosecutors in the case. For three days, the prosecutors will detail
their version of the events on November 13, 2015, when 130 people died at the
Bataclan concert hall and elsewhere in shootings that traumatised the country.
In accordance with French court procedure, the prosecutors will then lay out
their assessment of the level of guilt of each accused and finally, on Friday,
recommend sentencing. In the dock is Salah Abdeslam, the only surviving member
of the Islamist hit team that opened fire in the packed concert hall and on
cafe terraces in adjacent streets, as well as at the Stade de France sports
arena. Also on trial are 19 others accused of various degrees of assistance to
the killers. Twelve, including Abdeslam, risk life in prison, the maximum
punishment under French law. “What will we remember from this trial? What
images? What words?” asked prosecutor Camille Hennetier as she delivered her
closing remarks in what is France's biggest trial ever, which started in
September 2021. “Your verdict, of course,” she said. “And the names of the dead
that were read out in September. The testimony of the survivors. And finally,
without a doubt, the cruelty of the terrorists who fired again and again and
took pleasure in killing.”

 

United States

 

NPR: A U.S. Woman Pleads Guilty To Leading An All-Female ISIS Battalion
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“A U.S. woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to operating an all-female military
group for ISIS in Syria. Allison Fluke-Ekren, 42, who became the leader of the
ISIS battalion known as Khatiba Nusaybah, taught women how to use AK-47s and
explosive devices, according to the U.S. Justice Department. “Over 100 women
and young girls, including as young as 10 or 11-years-old, received military
training from Fluke-Ekren in Syria on behalf of ISIS,” prosecutors said in a
statement. Fluke-Ekren, who used to live in Kansas, was part of
“terrorism-related activities” in Syria, Libya and Iraq between 2011 and 2019,
according to prosecutors. Her late second husband was part of the terrorist
group Ansar al-Sharia and claimed he helped steal U.S. documents and an
electronic device following the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. Special
Mission and CIA Annex in Benghazi. Together, the couple provided the summarized
information from the stolen items and reported to the head of Ansar al-Sharia,
the group who was responsible for the terrorist attack, according to
prosecutors. In 2014, prosecutors said Fluke-Ekren told a witness about her
desire to carry out an attack on U.S. soil. “To conduct the attack, Fluke-Ekren
explained that she could go to a shopping mall in the United States, park a
vehicle full of explosives in the basement or parking garage level of the
structure, and detonate the explosives in the vehicle with a cell phone
triggering device,” prosecutors said.”

 

CT News Junkie: White Supremacy Is A Cancer And Connecticut Has It, Too
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“…According to the non-profit, Counter Extremism Project, the NSC began in
Massachusetts, and it is metastasizing. They are the Klan, but armed with
social media accounts, and countering their hatred will take more than police
action. It will take all of us speaking up and speaking out when we see even
the slightest evidence of hatred creeping up the streets, because we know that
hateful words begets violence begets pain. Sunlight really is powerful
medicine. A few years ago, a man tried to burn down a mosque in Joplin, Mo. He
was unsuccessful, but he returned a few weeks later when he was able to get the
roof to catch fire, and the mosque was lost.  You might not expect a mosque to
exist in that troubled land, though it might not be surprising to picture a
mosque burning there. I am a native. I grew up in a sundown town, where people
of anything other than European heritage were encouraged to leave the premises
before dark, or … well, no one had to finish that sentence. Only here’s what
happened next: People who knew nothing about Islam began turning out, starting
with the casserole brigade (church ladies stepping over debris to bring
sustenance to the wounded). A student at a local Christian college organized a
heavily-attended fundraiser that helped the Muslims rebuild.”

 

Syria

 

Kurdistan 24: SDF Arrests ISIS Suspect In Raqqa
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“The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) arrested an ISIS suspect in
Syria's Raqqa province, the group's media center announced on Wednesday. “The
SDF Counter-terrorism Units have arrested an ISIS terrorist responsible for
intelligence and recruiting new terrorists,” the SDF said in a statement. The
suspect was arrested “based on intelligence and precise tracking, the units
raided the house where the terrorist was hiding in Raqqa city, arrested him,
and confiscated communications equipment,” it added. The SDF freed Raqqa from
ISIS control in October 2017 with support from the US-led anti-ISIS coalition.
The northeastern Syrian city was the de-facto capital of ISIS's self-styled
caliphate, which was completely destroyed after the SDF captured the eastern
town of Baghouz in Deir al-Zor province in March 2019. The SDF rarely carries
out operations against ISIS sleeper cells in the former ISIS capital since most
ISIS sleeper cell activity has been concentrated in the eastern Arab-majority
Deir al-Zor. On Monday, the coalition-linked Special Operations Joint Task
Force-Levant (SOJTF) announced that the SDF-linked Internal Security Forces
(known as Asayish in Kurdish) recently arrested five key ISIS facilitators in
Deir al-Zor.”

 

Iraq

 

Reuters: Explosive Drone Detonates In Iraq's Northern City Of Erbil
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“A drone exploded in Iraq's northern city of Erbil on Wednesday injuring
three people and damaging several cars, according to a statement by Kurdistan's
counter-terrorism service. The explosive drone detonated on Pirmam road in
Erbil's outskirts at 9:35 p.m. Iraq time, the statement said. Two security
sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the drone was shot down.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility. A security source said earlier
that a drone attack targeted the U.S. consulate but did not give further
details. Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi told Kurdish Prime Minister
Masoud Barzani in a phone call that Baghdad will cooperate with Erbil to hold
the perpetrators accountable, according to a statement. "Bomb-laden drone hit
Erbil-Pirmam road, causing civilian injuries and damage," the U.N. Assistance
Mission for Iraq said on Twitter. "Iraq does not need self-proclaimed armed
arbiters. Asserting State authority is essential. If the perpetrators are
known, call them out and hold them to account." Last month, Iran Revolutionary
Guards artillery fire hit an area north of Erbil, targeting what Iranian state
television described as terrorist bases.”

 

Afghanistan

 

NBC News: Biden Admin Relies On Taliban-Controlled Airline To Help Afghans
Flee Afghanistan
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“The U.S. government indirectly pays an airline controlled by the Taliban
regime to ferry Afghan refugees out of Kabul, four people familiar with the
matter told NBC News. Without U.S. troops or diplomats on the ground, the Biden
administration has no viable alternative to the arrangement as it tries to help
Afghans seeking to resettle in the U.S. Working through the government of
Qatar, which handles U.S. interests in Afghanistan, the Biden administration
indirectly purchases plane tickets in bulk from Ariana Afghan Airlines, the
country’s state-owned airline, said the sources, two of whom are members of
refugee advocacy organizations. It’s unclear how much the airline charges the
U.S. for the blocks of plane tickets or whether the Taliban require additional
fees. The airline operates flights to Doha twice a week, and according to its
website, a single ticket to Qatar costs about $478. The airline has been
plagued by a poor safety record. Once the passengers are in Doha, the U.S.
government arranges their passage to the U.S. The Taliban suspended chartered
U.S. flights to Doha in January. At the time, U.S. officials said the
suspension was due to a dispute between the Taliban and Qatar about who should
be allowed on board. But three sources familiar with the matter said the main
problem was that the Taliban did not want to see the flights portrayed in media
coverage as “evacuations.” The flights resumed at the end of March.”

 

Nigeria

 

Deutsche Welle: More Violence Feared In Nigeria As Elections Approach
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“At least 38 people are confirmed dead and scores of others were wounded in
Sunday's attack on a Catholic church in Owo in southwest Nigeria, according to
the Catholic diocese of Ondo State, where the incident took place. No group has
claimed responsibility for the massacre and authorities have yet to identify
the attackers, a police spokesperson told AP news agency. Until Sunday's
attack, Ondo State was relatively peaceful. But according to South Africa-based
security expert Ryan Cummings, Ondo has been seeing growing tension between
farmers, who are predominantly Christian, and pastoralists, who are mainly
Muslim. In August 2022, Ondo's state government passed an anti-grazing bill
that protected farmers and severely limiting the use of pastures by nomadic
pastoralists. These pastoralists are largely Fulani from the north, who have
been pushed south by climate change and degradation of grazing lands. “Within
this context we've seen quite a significant upsurge in communal violence,” said
Cummings, the director of the South African security risk management
consultancy Signal Risk. Farmers and pastoralists are forming armed militias
and increasingly engaging in confrontations, he said.”

 

Mali

 

AFP: Fierce Fighting Underway At Key Border Town In Central Mali
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“Malian forces and local armed groups have launched a bid to recapture a
jihadist-held border town in a region where hundreds of civilians have died in
the past few months, sources there say. Fighting has been unfolding over the
last few days at the strategic town of Anderamboukane near the border with
Niger, located in central Mali’s Menaka region. The clashes have pitched Mali’s
armed forces and local allies, mainly ethnic Tuaregs, against militants allied
to the Islamic State group, the sources say. “A big part of the Menaka region
is under the control of the jihadists today,” Abdoul Wahab ag Ahmed Mohamed,
head of Menaka’s interim authorities, told AFP. “From March to May, several
hundred civilians were killed and between 20,000 and 30,000 people displaced,”
said Moussa Ag Acharatoumane, leader of the Movement for the Salvation of
Asawad (MSA), a Tuareg group which is fighting the jihadists. The figure for
the displaced chimes with UN estimates. The head of the UN’s MINUSMA mission to
Mali, El Ghassim Wane, described the situation in the Menaka region as
“extremely dramatic” in a visit on May 31. Jihadists in northern Mali launched
a revolt in 2012 that three years later spread to the center of the country —
an ethnic powder-keg where the militants inflamed long-running community
friction.”

 

Germany

 

WTOP News: The Hunt: Was A Fatal Collision In Berlin Terrorism?
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“A teacher was killed and several of her students were injured Wednesday when
a man, seemingly deliberately, drove his car into a group of pedestrians in
Berlin. On this week’s episode of “The Hunt With WTOP National Security
Correspondent J.J. Green,” Hans-Jakob Schindler — a senior adviser for the
Counter Extremism Project who also lives and works in Berlin — explains what
happened.”

 

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