Taliban releases document on security plans for Afghan assembly

[Saifullah Sani]

Taliban releases document on security plans for Afghan assembly​

By HABIB ZOHORI​

KABUL, Afghanistan Attempting to embarrass the Afghan government ahead of a major national assembly, the Taliban on Sunday published what they called the government's secret security plan for the event, including details of troop deployments and cell phone numbers of security officials.

The Taliban emailed the plan - which appeared to carry the signatures of U.S. and Afghan military officials - to news organizations and published it on their website, saying they had obtained it from infiltrators in two government ministries.

A spokesman for the Afghan interior ministry dismissed the document as a fake. However, several of the phone numbers listed for Afghan security officials were authentic. U.S. officials had no immediate comment on the document.

If real, the document appeared to include details that the Taliban could have used to help plot an attack on the loya jirga, or grand assembly, which begins Wednesday in Kabul. That the Taliban chose to publish the plan - or a carefully crafted forgery - indicated that the group was aiming for a propaganda victory.

"The leaking of the security plan shows that important government officials are helping us," the Taliban said on their website. The group also claimed it was "a blow" to U.S. officials who have said the Taliban were unable to infiltrate the government of President Hamid Karzai.

Sediq Sediqqi, an interior ministry spokesman, said the claim was part of a "war campaign" by an insurgent group that's been weakened militarily. The Taliban previously had pledged to target anyone who participated in the assembly, which is expected to be attended by more than 2,000 politicians, tribal elders, businessmen and community leaders from across the country.

"The Taliban are under the full pressure of Afghan national security forces," Sediqqi said. "That is why they lied again about the security plan. They will never succeed in disrupting the jirga."

The plan doesn't appear to include any highly sensitive information, although it does describe a multi-layer system of security surrounding the assembly site, on a university campus in western Kabul.

It says that two rings outside the university would be manned by Afghan army and police, while inside the campus would be three rings of security checks by a government "VIP protection unit," the national intelligence service and, in the innermost ring around the tent, members of the elite presidential guard force.

The plan also says that U.S.-led coalition aircraft would fly over Kabul "intermittently" Monday and Tuesday but would provide "constant" air surveillance on Wednesday, the opening day of the three-day event.

It wasn't immediately clear how many Afghan government agencies or officials would have access to such a document. It appeared to carry the signatures of a senior coalition commander, U.S. Lt. Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, as well as the Afghan deputy interior minister and the army chief of staff. The authenticity of the signatures couldn't be determined.

The Taliban said that the publication was a response to the hacking of their website in July, when messages were posted claiming the death of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, which the group said was untrue. It blamed the incident on the CIA and the National Directorate of Security, the Afghan intelligence agency.

Although U.S. officials believe the Taliban has been weakened militarily by coalition operations, the Taliban claim to have infiltrated Afghan government ministries and security forces. A coalition report in May found that there had been at least 26 suicide bombings or attempted bombings by members of the Afghan army and police against international troops over the previous four years, killing at least 58 Western personnel.

As coalition forces gradually transfer security responsibilities to the Afghan government, the Taliban claim renews serious questions about the ability of the fledgling Afghan army and police to safeguard operational security.

Karzai convened the assembly mainly to discuss a strategic partnership agreement with the United States and how to pursue peace talks with the Taliban. However, private U.S.-Afghan talks on the outlines of that partnership agreement are still in the early stages and U.S. officials expect little concrete progress from the meeting.

Karzai's main presidential rival, Abdullah Abdullah, said Sunday that he would boycott the assembly, saying it was an unconstitutional attempt by Karzai to circumvent the parliament.

(Zohori is a McClatchy special correspondent. Shashank Bengali contributed to this report.)

Read more: Taliban releases document on security plans for Afghan assembly - National News | Tri-City Herald : Mid-Columbia news

 

[SMC]

If they have information about US military and officials then they should use that information to attack the US military and kill as many invading American terrorists as they can.

 

[Devil Soul]

Taliban claims to leak Afghan jirga security plan
AFP (1 hour ago) Today


KABUL: The Taliban in Afghanistan have published what they claim is a top secret government security plan for a landmark assembly of tribal elders expected to decide on future ties with the US this week.

The alleged plan, published on the Taliban’s website late Sunday, features a satellite map of the venue where the event will take place, mobile phone numbers of top security officials and details of security force deployments.

But Afghan government officials and the international military say it is a fake.

The assembly, or loya jirga, is due to start in Kabul on Wednesday and will feature around 2,000 elders discussing Afghanistan’s long-term relationship with the United States plus efforts to make peace in the warring country.

The Taliban have already threatened to target the meeting, and struck at Afghanistan’s last loya jirga in 2010.

“The vigilant mujahideen of the Islamic emirate (the Taliban’s name for itself) have acquired the security plans, maps and other documents related to the upcoming supposed loya jirga,” the militant group said in a statement sent to media.

The Taliban claim the documents were seized “by means of its personnel embedded inside the enemy ranks.”

But Afghanistan’s interior ministry dismissed the report as a “big lie”.

“This claim is false and is part of Taliban psychological war aimed at disrupting the loya jirga,” the ministry said in a statement.

“It’s a big lie,” the ministry’s spokesman Sediq Sediqqi told AFP.

The Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said via its official Twitter account that the document “doesn’t appear authentic”.

“If this doc (document) were real, why in the world would you let us know you have it?” it added in response to a comment from an apparent Taliban supporter.

 

[EastWest]

If they have information about US military and officials then they should use that information to attack the US military and kill as many invading American terrorists as they can.

So should the TTP do the same if they happen to possess the security plans of some Pakistani army base?
coz both TTP and Taliban are the same.

 

[Saifullah Sani]

---------- Post added at 02:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:32 PM ----------

So should the TTP do the same if they happen to possess the security plans of some Pakistani army base?
coz both TTP and Taliban are the same.

they are doing it thanks to India and USA

 

[Devil Soul]

Suspected suicide bomber killed near Afghan loya jirga site
AFP (29 minutes ago) Today
KABUL: A suspected suicide bomber was shot dead Monday near the site of Afghanistan’s loya jirga or traditional meeting which will take place this week, officials said.

“No one was killed but the bomber,” said interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi.

He added that the man had been carrying explosives in a bag.

Lutfullah Mashal, spokesman for Afghanistan’s intelligence service the National Directorate of Security, said the man’s bag blew up as he was shot.

“A suicide bomber who wanted to enter the polytechnic university (where the loya jirga will take place) was identified and shot dead by security forces,” Mashal said.

“He was carrying the explosives in a laptop-type bag. It exploded as he was shot. He’s dead and no one else is hurt.”

The Taliban claim to have got hold of top secret security plans for the loya jirga, which starts Wednesday and will discuss Afghanistan’s long-term relations with the US and peace strategy.

But Afghan and Western officials have dismissed the claims as propaganda.

 

[Devil Soul]

The Taliban published what it said was the government's security plans on its website
BBC News - Taliban 'has Afghanistan loya jirga security plan'