Diplomacy

Islamic State gets ambitious, plans to target India: Report

- by India Writes Network

In a recent revelation by an internal recruitment document of ISIL, it showed the group was preparing to attack India and draw the United States into a war. The group also plans to unite the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban into a single army.

The Islamic State’s members adhere to an extremist interpretation of Sunni Islam and consider themselves the only true believers. The group’s blinkered ideology espouses that the rest of the world comprises non-believers who want to destroy Islam, thereby justifying attacks against other Muslims and non-Muslims alike. The group raises several million dollars by robbing, looting and extortion. They also possess weapons from machine guns to rocket launchers and even surface-to-air missile systems. The Islamic State controls many areas of Syria and Iraq, while its main agenda is to establish a caliphate governed in accordance with Islamic law or Sharia by God’s deputy.

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Is Mullah Omar dead? Guessing game on, again

- by India Writes Network

Is the one-eyed Mullah Omar, the architect of the first Taliban government in 1996 and the world’s most hunted terrorist leaders, dead? There have been speculation off and on, but this time there is an added gravitas about the claims made about the Taliban leader’s death.

In a startling revelation, sources in the Afghan government and intelligence agencies have told BBC that it has received reports that the Taliban supreme leader died more than two years back, but are waiting for further details.

A spokesperson for the Taliban said the group would issue a statement on the matter soon.

The Afghan government is probing new reports about the Taliban leader’s death. “As soon as we get any more authentication… we’re going to let the media and the people of Afghanistan know about that,” Sayed Zafar Hashemi, a spokesman for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said.

Mullah Omar, popularly known as the one-eyed leader who lost his eye in one of his many battles, led the Taliban to victory in the aftermath of the withdrawal of Soviet Union from Afghanistan. In 1996 Taliban claimed to be the legitimate government in Afghanistan and he led the government.

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