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Abbottabad Letters of Osama Bin Laden
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Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had a contentious and troubled relationship with al Qaeda’s affiliates around the world,according to a new study of documents seized during the raid on his compound one year ago. Documents from the bin Laden compound reveal the al Qaeda leader’s frustration with what he saw to be the incompetence of the affiliates, according to the report by the Combating Terrorism Center at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
Here are some excerpts from the report. The full report is posted here, and here are the actual (translated) letters.
The Scope of the Report
It was reported that “thousands of items” were captured from Usama bin Ladin’s compound during the Abbottabad raid. To date, however, only 17 documents have been declassified and provided to the CTC, all of which are hereby released with the publication of this report. They consist of electronic letters or draft letters, totaling 175 pages in the original Arabic and 197 pages in the English translation. They were written over several years. The earliest is dated September 2006 and the latest April 2011, a week before Bin Ladin’s death.
Management Trouble
Rather than a source of strength, Bin Ladin was burdened by what he viewed as the incompetence of the “affiliates,” including their lack of political acumen to win public support, their media campaigns and their poorly planned operations which resulted in the unnecessary deaths of thousands of Muslims.
The documents show that some of the affiliates sought Bin Ladin’s blessing on symbolic matters, such as declaring an Islamic state, and wanted a formal union to acquire the al- Qa`ida brand. On the operational front, however, the affiliates either did not consult with Bin Ladin or were not prepared to follow his directives. Therefore, the framing of an “AQC” [Al Qaeda Central] as an organization in control of regional “affiliates” reflects a conceptual construction by outsiders rather than the messy reality of insiders.
If the criticisms of AQI [Al Qaeda in Iraq] in the documents are not particularly surprising, the concerns Bin Ladin expressed about AQAP [Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula] will no doubt be revealing to many. It is widely believed that AQAP is a success story from al-Qa`ida’s perspective, especially since it is regularly described by senior U.S. government officials as the “most dangerous” of al- Qa`ida’s affiliates. Yet the documents show that at least in 2010 Bin Ladin was far from being impressed with the brothers in Yemen.” He comes across as critical of both their words and deeds, in particular the group’s attacks in Yemen, its lack of acumen to win the Yemeni people’s support, and the ill-advised public statements of its leaders. In fact, with the possible exception of AQI, none of the other “affiliates” appear to be more of a source of concern for Bin Ladin than AQAP.
Not Friendly With Iran
Relations between al-Qa`ida and Iran appear to have been highly antagonistic, and the documents provide evidence for the first time of al-Qa`ida’s covert campaign against Iran. This battle appears to have been an attempt to influence the indirect and unpleasant negotiations over the release of jihadis and their families, including members of Bin Ladin’s family, detained by Iran.
Pakistan
Unlike the explicit and relatively substantive references to the Iranian regime, the documents do not have such references about Pakistan. Although there are notes about “trusted Pakistani brothers,” there are no explicit references to any institutional Pakistani support. The one instance Pakistani intelligence is mentioned is not in a supporting role: in the course of giving detailed instructions about the passage his released family from Iran should take, Bin Ladin cautioned `Atiyya to be most careful about their movements lest they be followed. More precisely, he remarked that “if the [Pakistani] intelligence commander in the region is very alert, he would assume that they are heading to my location and he would monitor them until they reach their destination.” This reference does not suggest that Bin Ladin was on good terms with the Pakistani intelligence community.
On Their Own
Rather than outright protection or assistance from states such as Iran or Pakistan, Bin Ladin’s guidance suggests that the group’s leaders survived for as long as they did due to their own caution and operational security protocols. While the release of new documents may necessitate a reevaluation of al-Qa`ida’s relations to Iran and Pakistan, the documents for now make it clear that al-Qa`ida’s ties to Iran were the unpleasant byproduct of necessity, fueled by mutual distrust and antagonism.
Arab Spring and the Final Letter
Bin Ladin’s last private letter is dated 25 April 2011. By then, events in the world, as he was observing them on his television screen, were unfolding at a pace that caused him to reassess his worldview. He saw the revolutions sweeping the Arab world to represent a “formidable event” (hadath ha’il), a turning point in the modern history of the umma. At the time he was writing, the presidents of Tunisia and Egypt, Zein al-`Abidin bin `Ali and Husni Mubarak, had fallen. Bin Ladin was convinced that their fall was bound to trigger a domino effect, and “the fall of the remaining tyrants in the region was inevitable.” Thus, “if we double our efforts towards guiding, educating and warning Muslim people from those [who might tempt them to settle for] half solutions, by carefully presenting [our] advice, then the next phase will [witness a victory] for Islam, if God so pleases.”
Conclusion: No Puppet Master
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2012/05/03/excerpts-the-bin-laden-letters-from-abbottabadreport/
The correspondence includes letters by then-second-in-command Abu Yahya al-Libi, taking Pakistani offshoot Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan to task over its indiscriminate attacks on Muslims. The Al-Qaeda leadership “threatened to take public measures unless we see from you serious and immediate practical and clear steps towards reforming (your ways) and dissociating yourself from these vile mistakes that violate Islamic Law,” al-Libi wrote. And bin Laden warned the leader of Yemeni AQAP, Nasir al-Wuhayshi, against attempting a takeover of Yemen to establish an Islamic state, instead saying he should “refocus his efforts on attacking the United States.” Bin Laden also seemed uninterested in recognising Somali-based al-Shabab when the group pledged loyalty to him because he thought its leaders were poor governors of the areas they controlled and were too strict with their administration of Islamic penalties, like cutting off the hands of thieves. The US said the letters reflect al-Qaeda’s relationship with Iran – a point of deep interest to the US government – as “not one of alliance, but of indirect and unpleasant negotiations” over some al-Qaeda terrorists and their families who were imprisoned in Iran. Nothing in the papers that were released points directly to alleged al-Qaeda sympathisers in Pakistan’s government, although presumably such references would have remained classified. Bin Laden described “trusted Pakistani brothers” but didn’t identify any Pakistani government or military officials who might have been aware or complicit in his hiding in Abbottabad. It wasn’t immediately clear how many of bin Laden’s documents the US was still keeping secret. In a note published with the 175 pages in Arabic that were released Thursday, along with English translations, retired General John Abizaid said they probably represent only a small fraction of materials taken from the compound in the US raid that tracked down and killed bin Laden in May 2011. The US said the documents span September 2006 to April 2011. Bin Laden was proud of the security measures that kept his family safe for many years, the report said. It said bin Laden boasted that his family “adhered to such strict measures, precluding his children from playing outdoors without the supervision of an adult who could keep their voices down.” The report said the Special Forces troops in the bin Laden raid were trained to search the home afterward for thumb drives, printed documents and what it described as “pocket litter” that might produce leads to other terrorists. “The end of the raid in Abbottabad was the beginning of a massive analytical effort,” it said. It said the personal files showed that, during one of the most significant manhunts in history, bin Laden was out of touch with the day-to-day operations of various terrorist groups inspired by Al-Qaeda. He was “not in sync on the operational level with its so-called affiliates,” researchers wrote. “Bin Laden enjoyed little control over either groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda in name or so-called fellow travellers.”

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Air Blue Crash Report By Civil Aviation Authority
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ائیر بلو کا حادثہ مکمل تحقیقاتی رپورٹ
سول ایوی ایشن اتھارٹی -طیارہ پائلٹ کی غفلت کے باعث حادثے کا شکار ہوا اور ڈیڑھ سو کے قریب قیمتی جانیں ضائع جہاز کی روانگی سے قبل پائلٹ کو بتایا گیا تھا کہ موسم خراب ہے لہذا ایسے حالات میں اڑان ٹھیک نہیں-حادثے سے چند منٹ قبل پائلٹ کو یہ بھی بتایا گیا تھا کہ وہ نو فلائی زون میں پرواز کر رہا ہے۔تفصیل کے مطابق اُس روز موسم خراب تھا اور تیز بارش ہو رہی تھی۔ کراچی سے آنے والی ایئربلیو کی اس پرواز سے قبل دو یا تین جہاز اترے بغیر اسلام آباد کی فضاء سے لوٹ چکے تھے۔طے شدہ اصول کے مطابق ایک ہزار فٹ کے فاصلے سے پائلٹ کو رن وے نظر آنا چاہیے۔ جب وہ اس پوزیشن میں آئے تو انہوں نے کنٹرول ٹاور کو بتایا کہ وہ رن وے کو دیکھ سکتے ہیں۔اس اعلان کے بعد اصولی طور پر جہاز کو تھوڑا سا دائیں مڑ کر رن وے کے برابر پہنچنا چاہیے اور اس کے بعد بائیں ہاتھ گھوم کر چالیس سیکنڈ سے ایک منٹ کے اندر رن وے کو چھو لینا چاہیے۔بارش کے باعث کنٹرول ٹاور کو جہاز دکھائی نہیں دے رہا تھا۔کنٹرول ٹاور نے جہاز کو بتایا کہ آپ کی پوزیشن ٹھیک نہیں لگ رہی۔ پائلٹ نے جواباً کہا کہ مجھے رن وے دکھائی دے رہا ہے۔رپورٹ کے مطابق پائلٹ نے تمام وارننگ اور طے شدہ طریقہ کار کو نظر انداز کرتے ہوے لینڈنگ کا فیصلہ کیا جس سے بنیادی غلطی ہوئی
During last 70 seconds from crash, despite calls from ATS and the EGPWS sounding 21 times as Terrain ahead including 15 times for pull up (extract of sound and alarms chronology is attached at Appendix-C), the Captain
continued to take the aircraft on its fatal journey. The First Offficer also informed the Captain 4 times about the terrain/Terrain Warnings and asked at least 3 times to pull up. But the Captain did not pull up, nor did he apply the TOGA (Take off Go Around), contrary to the SOPs.
The report concluded that the crash was a case of Controlled Flight into Terrain (CFIT),in which aircrew failed to display superior judgment and professional skills in a self-created unsafe environment.In their pursuit to land in inclement weather, they committed serious violations of procedures and breaches of flying discipline, which put the aircraft in an unsafe condition over dangerous terrain at low altitude.
Complete Report Attached in PDF Format
Air Blue Crash-Investigation Report -ABQ-202.pdf
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Siachen: Gayari Sector Tragedy-Let’s Hope for a Miracle
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As many as 135 persons including 124 army soldiers and 11 civilians (paid out of def estb) of 6 Northern Light Infantry Battalion came under a huge snow slide early this morning in Gayari sector near Skardu. Snow slide is covering an area of 1 sq kilometer. This battalion headquarter is situated at same place for last 20 years and no incident of this nature has happened. However immediately after the incident Rescue efforts went in on. Sniffing dogs, helicopters and troops on ground are employed on rescue efforts.

سیاچن: فوج کے شعبہ تعلقات عامہ کے مطابق ابھی تک وہاں سے کسی زخمی یا ہلاک ہونے والے شخص کو نہیں نکالا گیا۔ برفانی تودے کو کاٹنے کے لیے مزید مشینری کو بھی علاقے میں بھجوا دیا گیا ہے۔پاکستانی فوج کےترجمان میجر جنرل اطہر عباس نے بی بی سی سے بات کرتے ہوئے بتایا کہ ان افراد کو ڈھونڈنے کے لیے کارروائیاں جاری ہیں اور موجودہ صورتحال میں ’اگر کوئی زندہ بچ گیا تو یہ ہماری خوش قسمتی ہو گی۔‘ان کا کہنا تھا کہ برفانی تودہ ایک مربع کلومیٹر وسیع اور ساٹھ سے اسی فٹ اونچا ہے تام مختلف اطراف سے …کھدائی کی جا رہی ہے۔ فوجی ذرائع کے مطابق برفانی تودے کا حُجم بہت بڑا ہے اس لیے اُسے کاٹنے میں وقت لگ سکتا ہے۔ذرائع نے کہا کہ آپریشن کے مکمل ہونےمیں کئی دن لگ سکتے ہیں کیونکہ جس علاقے میں یہ حادثہ پیش آیا ہے وہاں درجہ حرارت منفی ستر ڈگری سینٹی گریڈ تک گر سکتا ہے۔اس سے قبل میجر جنرل اطہر عباس نے بتایا کہ فوج کے جس صدر دفتر پر یہ برفانی تودہ گرا ہے وہ وہاں بیس سال سے قائم تھا اور ایسا واقعہ کبھی پہلے دیکھنے یا سننے میں نہیں آیا ہے۔فوجی حکام کا کہنا تھا کہ برفانی تودہ سنیچر کی صبح چھ بجے گرا اور اس کی زد میں ایک پورا بٹالین ہیڈ کوارٹر آ گیا۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ وقت کے اعتبار سے یہ حادثہ غیرمعمولی ہے کیونکہ برف کے تودے عموماً ایک گرم دن کے بعد شام کے وقت گرتے ہیں۔ بی بی سی [تصویر-میجر ذکاء الحق بھی گیاری سیکٹر میں موجود تھے جب برفانی تودے نے اُن کے ہیڈ کوارٹر کو آ لیا]
At least 240 Pakistani troops and civilians worked at the site of the disaster at the entrance to the Siachen Glacier with the aid of sniffer dogs and heavy machinery, said the army.
But they struggled to dig through some 25 meters (80 feet) of snow, boulders and mud that slid down the mountain early Saturday morning.
Pakistani army spokesman Gen. Athar Abbas said Sunday evening that it was unclear whether any of the people who were buried are still alive. At least 124 soldiers from the 6th Northern Light Infantry Battalion and 11 civilian contractors are missing.
”Miracles have been seen and trapped people were rescued after days … so the nation shall pray for the trapped soldiers,” Abbas said in an interview.
Pakistani army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani visited the site Sunday to supervise rescue operations.
The US sent a team of eight experts to Islamabad to provide technical assistance, said the Pakistani army. Pakistan will consult with the team to determine what help is needed to expedite the rescue operation.
The avalanche in Siachen, which is on the northern tip of the divided Kashmir region claimed by both India and Pakistan, highlighted the risks of deploying troops to one of the most inhospitable places on earth.
The thousands of soldiers from both nations stationed there brave viciously cold temperatures, altitude sickness, high winds and isolation for months at a time.
Troops have been posted at elevations of up to 6,700 meters (22,000 feet) and have skirmished intermittently since 1984, though the area has been quiet since a cease-fire in 2003. The glacier is known as the world’s highest battlefield.
Abbas, the army spokesman, said the headquarters that was buried was located in an area previously believed to be safe. At an altitude of around 4,500 meters (15,000 feet), it is the main gateway through which troops and supplies pass on their way to more remote outposts.
More soldiers have died from the weather than combat on the glacier, which was uninhabited before troops moved there.
Conflict there began in 1984 when India occupied the heights of the 78-kilometer (49-mile)-long glacier. (Dawn)
Amountaineering expert Colonel Sher Khan disagreed. “There is no hope, there is no chance at all,” he told AFP.
“You can survive only in the first 5-10 minutes,” he said. “The casualties in avalanches occur due to pressure of heavy weight, extreme cold and lack of oxygen.” Apart from bulldozers and excavators, chemicals were being used to melt the ice. But due to harsh weather and great height, the rescue work is slow. The victims are trapped in one of the most unforgiving environments on the earth, at an altitude of 15,000 feet in the Karakoram mountain range.
Gen Kayani appreciated the morale and efforts of the troops who were braving harsh weather conditions and inhospitable terrain and directed the commanders to leave ‘no stone unturned’ to reach out to the trapped troops. He said that the calamity, in no way, should affect the morale of the troops defending their homeland at the world’s highest battlefield.
An eight-member team of US experts, meanwhile, arrived in Rawalpindi on Sunday to provide technical assistance in the rescue operation. According to a military statement, discussion will be held with the US team to find out the possibility and nature of assistance required to expedite the rescue operation. Offer of technical assistance from other friendly countries is also being considered. (Express Tribune)
Names of persons buried under snow slide in Gayari sector near Skardu.
| Officers | |
| 1. PA-32596 Lt Col Tanvir Ul Hassan | |
| 2. PA-39548 Maj Zaka Ul Haq | |
| 3. PA-105358 Capt Haleem Ullah( AMC) | |
| Junior Commission Officers | |
| 4. N/Sub Khurshid | |
| 5. N/Sub Didar | |
| 6. N/Sub Malik | |
| 7. N/Sub Iftikhar | |
| Havildar | |
| 8. Hav Rehber | |
| 9. Hav Haji Shafayat | |
| 10. Hav Zakir | |
| 11. Hav Gulfraz | |
| 12. Hav Shah Nawaz | |
| 13. Hav Musadiq | |
| 14. Hav Rustam | |
| 15. Hav Shad | |
| 16. Hav Ghulam Muhammad | |
| 17. Hav Sher Nayab | |
| 18. Hav Ishaq | |
| 19. Hav Tanvir | |
| Lance Havildar / NaiK | |
| 20. L/Hav Mustafa | |
| 21. L/Hav Ghulam Qadir | |
| 22. Nk Ashraf | |
| 23. Nk Sartaj | |
| 24. Nk Mudasar | |
| 25. Nk Jabbar | |
| Lance Naik / Sepoy | |
| 26. Lnk Irshad | |
| 27. Lnk Sami Ullah | |
| 28. Lnk Sharafat | |
| 29. Lnk Mustafa | |
| 30. Lnk Himayat | |
| 31. Lnk Altaf | |
| 32. Lnk Mir Hussain | |
| 33. Lnk Irfan | |
| 34. Sep Ali Zar | |
| 35. Sep Saleem | |
| 36. Sep Malik Riaz | |
| 37. Sep Jamil | |
| 38. Sep Akhtar | |
| 39. Sep Nadir Wali | |
| 40. Sep Israr | |
| 41. Sep Sajid | |
| 42. Sep Naseer | |
| 43. Sep Dildar | |
| 44. Sep Zaman | |
| 45. Sep Irfan Khalil | |
| 46. Sep Waseem | |
| 47. Sep Ehsan | |
| 48. Sep Ashraf | |
| 49. Sep Riaz | |
| 50. Sep Shoaib | |
| 51. Sep Iqbal | |
| 52. Sep Mumtaz | |
| 53. Sep Haider | |
| 54. Sep Mehtab | |
| 55. Zulqarnain | |
| 56. Sep Ghulab Shah | |
| 57. Sep Rehmat Wali | |
| 58. Sep Nadeem | |
| 59. Sep Nafs Ali | |
| 60. Sep Nadeem Hashmi | |
| 61. Sep Qurban | |
| 62. Sep Muhammad Khan | |
| 63. Sep Akbar | |
| 64. Sep Ali Muhammad | |
| 65. Sep Muhammad Ali | |
| 66. Sep Amin | |
| 67. Sep Fiaz | |
| 68. Sep Shakeel | |
| 69. Sep Siraj | |
| 70. Sep Fazal Abbas | |
| 71. Sep Javed | |
| 72. Sep Javed | |
| 73. Sep Sakhi Zaman | |
| 74. Sep Sajjad Kazmi | |
| 75. Sep Fida Hussain | |
| 76. Sep Naeem | |
| 77. Sep Shamim | |
| 78. Sep Zakir | |
| 79. Sep Nisar Hussain | |
| 80. Sep Aurangzeb | |
| 81. Sep Arshad | |
| 82. Sep Sultan | |
| 83. Sep Muhammad Hussain | |
| 84. Sep Nasir | |
| 85. Sep Ilyas | |
| 86. Sep Mukhtiar | |
| 87. Sep Fida Hussain | |
| 88. Sep Zaheer | |
| 89. Sep Naseer | |
| 90. Sep Aftab | |
| 91. Sep Adil | |
| 92. Sep Muzamil | |
| 93. Sep Sarfraz | |
| 94. Sep Shameer | |
| 95. Sep Soba Khan | |
| 96. Sep Abid | |
| 97. Sep Ishaq | |
| 98. Sep Aksar Zaman | |
| 99. Sep Najeeb Ullah | |
| 100. Sep Siraj Ud Din | |
| 101. Sep Jaffar | |
| 102. Sep Ansar | |
| 103. Sep Ishaq | |
| 104. Sep Ghulam Rasool | |
| 105. Sep Muhammad Hussain | |
| 106. Sep Jumma khan | |
| 107. Sep Muhammad Ali | |
| 108. Sep Zakir Kawardo | |
| 109. Sep Ghulam Mehdi | |
| 110. Sep Ghazi Shah | |
| 111. Sep Sana Ullah | |
| 112. Sep Imtiaz | |
| 113. Sep Hameed Ullah | |
| 114. Sep Sadiq Gultri | |
| 115. Sep Gul Daz ( FS Sec) | |
| Clerks | |
| 116. Nk / Clk Ghulam Nabi | |
| 117. Nk/ Clk Ghulam Ali | |
| Cooks | |
| 118. Sep/Ck Muhammad Ali | |
| 119. Sep/Ck Karim | |
| 120. Sep/Ck Ghulam Mehdi | |
| Sweepers | |
| 121. Moon Gul | |
| 122. Asif | |
| 123. Naveed | |
| 124. Ali | |
| Civilian (paid out of defence establishment) | |
| 125. Jalil (Waiter) | |
| 126. Hameed ( Waiter) | |
| 127. Nasrullah (Barber) | |
| 128. Muhammad Ameer (Barber) | |
| 129. Waheed ( Canteen) | |
| 130. Azeem (Canteen) | |
| 131. Sarfraz (Dhobi) | |
| 132. Wali (Dhobi) | |
| 133. Noor Shah ali (Dhobi) | |
| 134. Sabir (Tailor) | |
| 135. Ghulam Rasool (NCB) – Uncfm/Suspected | |
For information regarding buried soldiers in snow slide in Gyari Sector, contact following helpline numbers:-
1. 05150932040,
2. 0515590212
3. 03215136525.
A helpline has also been established in Gilgit (Headquarter FCNA). Telephone numbers are:-
1. 05811920181
2. 05811920335.
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