Al Qaeda Spreads From Afghanistan, Pakistan To Nigeria, Says Top US Army General
Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, has given a graphic picture of how al Qaeda elements in Afghanistan and Pakistan have found their way into Nigeria to join members of Boko Haram that have launched lethal attacks in many parts of the North.
“Now you find these groups are spread across an arc that runs roughly from Pakistan across the Arabian Peninsula, across the Middle East and North Africa and all the way down into Nigeria with Boko Haram,” Dempsey said.
General Depmsey who spoke shortly after meeting with NATO military leaders in Brussels said that while the US and NATO have been successful in suppressing the al Qaeda elements in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the group has adapted and decentralized.
Depmsey warned that instability in the Middle East and North Africa had allowed the al Qaeda to take advantage of it with an “arc” running across the region starting from Pakistan.
“But we also have to realise something has changed close to home – the eastern flank and southern flank – and that requires us to refocus on the threats that are real,” Dempsey said.
He said that the Taliban should take advantage of what may be a shrinking window of opportunity to seek a negotiated end to the conflict in Afghanistan.
“I don’t give military advice to the Taliban, but if I were giving them advice, I’d say, ‘Your negotiating position is not going to improve; it’s going to erode’,” he said.
Dempsey spoke after meeting NATO military leaders in Brussels as the alliance plans for what is expected to be a continued Western training mission in Afghanistan after most NATO and allied forces depart late this year.
If a continued troop presence and financial backing for Afghan forces can be secured, “it would seem to me that the Taliban would realise that their opportunity to reconcile or reintegrate is a wasting opportunity,” Dempsey said in an interview with Reuters and the Pentagon’s official news agency. “If they don’t take advantage of it now, they will be in a weaker position later.”
The Taliban is intensifying its annual summer insurgent campaign as Afghanistan prepares for second-round voting in a presidential election that will pick the country’s first new leader in more than a dozen years.
Afghanistan’s next president will face daunting challenges. Its security forces still lack in key areas such as intelligence and air power, and foreign assistance that has sustained the impoverished country is diminishing.
Many Taliban leaders have been captured and killed, and the group has been pushed out of much of its southern heartland. But it remains potent in remote areas along the Afghan border with Pakistan and is still able to plan attacks from Pakistan’s northwest tribal region.
US and NATO officials have pointed to a relatively peaceful first round of elections this spring, and other recent events for which Afghan forces provided security, as proof that Afghanistan is getting close to being ready to stand on its own after Western combat forces depart in December.
Turnout was higher than expected in that vote despite Taliban warnings that Afghans should not take part.
“They haven’t been able to convince the people of Afghanistan that their future should be with the Taliban and not with an elected government,” Dempsey said.
“One might argue that I’m maybe trying to be a little overly optimistic about it because we’ve invested 12 years of our lives in it, but it does seem to me to be a clear statement on the part of the Afghan people,” he said.
It remains to be seen what the departure of President Hamid Karzai will mean for on-again, off-again Western efforts to broker a peace deal between the Taliban and Afghan authorities.
The Obama administration has at several points appeared close to launching confidence-building measures that would enable peace talks, only to see the initiatives founder. The Taliban’s leadership has consistently rejected direct talks with Karzai’s government.
President Goodluck Jonathan will fly to Pretoria, South Africa today, Friday, for high-level discussions with other African Heads of State and Government on combating terrorism in Africa.
Here is the full text of speech by The Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory, Mrs. Olajumoke Akinjide on the Occasion of a Visit to State House by #Bring Back Our Girls Campaigners
“Ordinarily, we would have ignored this confused and frustrated governor who now swings on the brink of nervous collapse following his rejection by the people, but in the interest of the nation and our teeming supporters, we are persuaded to post this response, put the records straight and expose the real intentions of Governor Kwankwaso.
Nigeria’s House of Representatives has summoned the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke to appear before it and respond to inquiries into the N10 Billion she allegedly spent to charter a private jet, Challenger 850, for her trips. The House gave her up to June 17 to do so or risk arrest.
Nigerian-born musician, D’banj has been listed as one of the world music stars to perform at the 2014 World Music Awards (WMA) ceremony. The award, which is the 22nd edition, is scheduled to hold on May 27 in Monte Carlo, Monaco France.
A Malawian minister, Godfrey Kamanya has shot himself dead early today, supposedly after losing his parliamentary seat in Tuesday’s general elections.
Nigeria Presidency, today, shot the gates of Aso Villa, the seat of government, to the former minister of education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili who led hundreds of protesters to attract comments from President Goodluck Jonathan over the abduction of female students of the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok in Borno state on April 14 by members of Boko Haram. The protesters staged the march to the Presidential Villa under the canopy of #BringBackOurGirls
The minister of petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke has embarked on a legal battle with the National Assembly, challenging its competence to invite her and management of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) for probe over the N10 billion allegedly spent by the Ministry to maintain its jet.
