The Saudi Arabia problem: why a country at war with jihadists also fuels them

Jennifer Williams 

Saudi Arabia might seem like an important ally in the world's fight against violent extremism. It joined the US-led coalition against ISIS and before that fought al-Qaeda, dismantling and infiltrating its networks inside Saudi Arabia and abroad and helping disrupt more than one al-Qaeda plot against the United States. Both ISIS and al-Qaeda loathe the Saudi royal family and have carried out major attacks inside the kingdom — including a sustained, bloody campaign by al-Qaeda in the mid-2000s to bring down the Saudi regime, which took years to defeat.

Under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, the "prince of counterterrorism" who personally survived assassination attempts by Islamist militants, Saudi Arabia made it harder for private citizens to finance terrorist organizations, used state-run media outlets and regime-appointed religious leaders to push a strong counter-jihadist message, and instituted an innovative yet controversial program aimed at reintegrating and rehabilitating jihadists.

Yet for all its efforts to fight ISIS and other extremists, the Saudi regime frequently does things that actually strengthen these same extremists, making the problem worse. In some ways this is deliberate, and in others it's not, but in either case the actions are often driven by the country's own difficult internal politics. And it makes Saudi Arabia a real contributor to the problem of violent religious extremism — even as that problem threatens the kingdom as well.

How Saudi Arabia promotes an ideology that drives extremism

The Saudi government has for decades promoted a strict, fundamentalist, highly intolerant strain of Islam known as Wahhabism, which it spreads through its official state-sanctioned mosques and through the "madrassas" (in this context, Islamic religious schools) it established all over the world. Because many of the teachings of Wahhabism line up with the ideology of ISIS and the jihadist groups that came before it, the spread of Wahhabism has given those groups more fertile ground to grow and recruit.

In a world in which Saudi Arabia had never spread Wahhabism, ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi may very well still have developed his toxic and hateful ideology. But he would not have been able to draw on the Wahhabi mosques and schools whose alumni are already taught to be sympathetic to many of his ideas.

Wahhabism grew out of the teachings of an 18th-century reformer named Ibn Abd al-Wahhab, who argued for "purifying" Islam by getting rid of the "innovations" that had snuck in over the centuries as Islam spread to new lands and mixed with indigenous beliefs and practices. Wahhab believed these practices, such as praying at the tombs of revered prophets or wearing special charms to ward off evil, violated the central tenet of Islam: that only God is worthy of worship. This is known in Islam as the concept of "tawhid," or the "absolute oneness of God." For Wahhab (and for most Muslims), violating that central tenet is the worst sin one can commit, and Wahhab declared those who do it to be false Muslims. Where Wahhab differed from the mainstream was mainly in the sheer number of behaviors and practices he deemed to be violations of tawhid and thus the number of people who could potentially be accused of apostasy.

The doctrine we know today as "Wahhabism" is much more rigid and extreme than Wahhab’s original teachings — and ISIS’s ideology is even more extreme and violent than traditional Wahhabism. For instance, although Wahhab viewed Shias as non-Muslims, he didn't say they should necessarily be killed, but rather educated about their incorrect beliefs and shown the right path.

Later groups such as ISIS took some of the ideas of Wahhabism — a preoccupation with apostates and with purifying Islam — to new extremes, targeting Shia and other "apostates" with brutal violence. This went far beyond anything that Wahhab had preached, but it is nonetheless a big part of why some jihadist groups are so focused on the idea of purifying Islam. Jihadists have targeted Shias for their religious beliefs as well as the governments of Muslim-majority countries whose leaders had, in the eyes of jihadists, unacceptably transgressed. And the leaders of Saudi Arabia itself have long been at the top of such lists of targets.

Why Saudi Arabia is stuck with an ideology that threatens even itself

Since the spread of Wahhabism helped create and fuel ISIS, al-Qaeda, and the broader jihadist movement, which views the Saudi regime as an illegitimate apostate regime that should be brought down, you might wonder why the Saudi regime would keep promoting Wahhabism. Wouldn't the first step in defeating these groups be to stop furthering the ideology that fuels them?

Yes, it would. But the Saudi regime believes it can't do this without risking everything. The legitimacy of the Saudi royal family rests almost entirely on its religious credentials, which it mainly gets from the support of the country's ultra-conservative Wahhabi religious establishment.

This goes back to the 18th century, when the House of Saud made a strategic pact with the Wahhabis in which the latter would endorse the political legitimacy of the House of Saud in return for the Saudi royal family endorsing and spreading the Wahhabi interpretation of Islam. The modern state of Saudi Arabia was built on this alliance, and it remains a critical one to this day. Because the actual members of the Saudi royal family are much less religiously conservative than are most Saudi citizens (sometimes scandalously so), the regime needs the endorsement of the Wahhabis to stay in power.

So it's a Catch-22: The Saudi regime promotes Wahhabism in order to stay in power, but the more it promotes Wahhabism, the more it indirectly bolsters ISIS and other jihadists, who want to remove the Saudi royal family from power.

Which is how you get bizarre situations like the Saudi regime issuing a royal decree that makes it illegal for Saudi citizens to give "moral or material aid to groups including Islamic State and al Qaeda's official offshoot in Syria, the Nusra Front," while more than 50 hard-line Saudi clerics issue a statement calling on Sunni Muslims to unite against Russia, Iran, and the Assad regime in Syria and referring to those fighting the Syrian regime as "holy warriors" — widely seen as an endorsement of the extremists fighting there.

How Saudi Arabia drives sectarianism, which drives extremism

Saudi Arabia and Iran have for years been in a sort of proxy struggle for dominance of the Middle East. They also happen to be divided by religion: Saudi Arabia's government is officially Sunni, and Iran's is officially Shia. And both countries have at times exploited this by pushing a sectarian worldview of Sunni versus Shia.

For Saudi leaders, it's not that they hate Shias so much as that they see this as a tool for countering Iran by motivating Sunnis in the region to fear and resist Iranian influence. But this helps motivate both Sunni and Shia Muslims to take up arms to defend their respective sides wherever they are perceived to be under threat. Iran has indulged this as well, for example by backing Shia militias who have targeted Sunnis. Both have thus helped to drive Sunni-Shia conflict across the region.

ISIS and other Sunni jihadist groups can use this to find more recruits for fighting the Shias they consider apostates. They can capitalize on the wider regional instability to establish a foothold and ignite the passions of fighters on both sides of the sectarian divide, increasing the number of recruits and producing bigger, longer, bloodier wars.

This also inspires sectarian terrorist attacks within the kingdom of Saudi Arabia itself. Most of the recent terrorist attacks that have taken place in Saudi Arabia have beencarried out by ISIS or ISIS-affiliated individuals and have targeted Shia.

Many of the conflicts currently raging in the Middle East — from Yemen to Syria to Iraq — have been exacerbated or even initiated by this struggle between Iran and Saudi Arabia. It's a struggle in which, to be clear, both sides share tremendous blame for sowing violence and sectarianism. And there's more going on in the Saudi-Iran struggle than just sectarianism. But the point is that sectarianism is a narrative that helps ISIS, and sectarian conflict gives it fertile ground for fighting and recruiting.

Wherever there is war, there is chaos, and wherever there is chaos, there is ISIS. For instance, although Yemen has long had an al-Qaeda presence, it wasn't until the Saudis got involved in Yemeni civil war — in part to push back perceived Iranian influence — that ISIS gained a foothold in Yemen and began carrying out terrorist attacks targeting Shias.

Saudi Arabia erases the "third option" between "tyrants or terrorists"

Saudi Arabia is also helping drive young people into the arms of ISIS by contributing to a political climate in which Middle East citizens only have two choices: dictatorship or violent opposition to dictatorship. As long as those are the only two options, some number of people will choose the latter — thus helping to legitimize violent extremism.

The Saudi regime fears that popular democratic movements could spread to its own country. To prevent this, it's fought those movements where they start, bankrolling Arab Spring counter-revolutions throughout the region. The Saudis supported the military coup in Egypt that overthrew the democratically elected Muslim Brotherhood government. It intervened militarily to put down a nascent uprising in neighboring Bahrain. It's helping to shore up the Jordanian monarchy, and it's cracking down hard on dissent of any kind at home.

By propping up Arab dictators, closing all avenues of public dissent, and eliminating other legitimate avenues of political engagement, the Saudis have validated the longstanding argument of violent extremists like al-Qaeda and ISIS that violence is the only way to effect change in the Middle East. The Saudis are forcing a choice between corrupt, repressive dictators and violent extremism. Not because they love violent extremism, but because they fear that if Saudi citizens are offered a third choice — democracy — they'll choose that and eject the monarchy.

As the exiled Middle Eastern pro-democracy activist Iyad el-Baghdadi explained in my recent interview with him, "The menu of ideas in the Arab world only has tyrants or terrorists. It doesn't have a third option. It's a very narrow menu." There is, he said, no "third option." And Saudi Arabia would like to keep it that way.

German vice chancellor warns Saudi Arabia over Islamist funding in Germany

German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel (SPD) has urged Saudi Arabia to end their financial support of radical religious groups in Germany. The call comes amid growing concern about the funding of extremist mosques.

Gabriel's comments on Sunday followed a report released by the German foreign intelligence agency (BND) on Wednesday, which suggested that Saudi Arabia's foreign policy was becoming more "impulsive."

In an unusual move, however, the German Foreign Ministry rebuked the BND for accusing Saudi Arabia of being a destabilizing influence in the Middle East, insisting that the oil-rich kingdom is a key business partner.

Time to look away is past

In an interview with the German newspaper "Bild am Sonntag," Gabriel said that Saudi Arabia needed "to solve the regional conflicts," but added that it was also necessary to "make clear that the time to look away is past."

"Wahhabi mosques are financed all over the world by Saudi Arabia. In Germany, many dangerous Islamists come from these communities," Gabriel said.

Saudi Arabia follows the ultra-conservative Wahhabi form of Islam and is regarded by some outsiders as a cause of the international jihadist threat.

Public concern about the growing number of Salifists in Germany is on the increase. According to the BND, the number of Salafists has risen from 5,500 to 7,900 in just two years. The terrorist attacks in Paris last month have also heightened fears of an attack on German soil.

Non-combat military support

In response to France's call for more help in the fight against 'IS' in Syria, Germany's parliament agreed on Friday to support the US-led alliance with non-combat military support.

Germany's Bundeswehr won't take part in the airstrikes against 'IS,' but it is sending reconnaissance and refueling aircraft, in addition to a warship, to aid the alliance against the group. A German naval frigate carrying 230 soldiers also joined a French aircraft carrier on Sunday in the southeast Mediterranean.

Video - Interview with Germany's Justice Minister | DW Interview

Clinton Refuses to Give Up on Two-State Solution

Old Ties Tangle Hillary Clinton’s New Agenda

By AMY CHOZICK


Of all the West Wing aides who felt uncomfortable about Hillary Clinton’s outsize role in her husband’s administration, no one was more vocal than (the very vocal) Rahm Emanuel, then a senior adviser to President Bill Clinton.

“I wanted to kill him because he was such a jerk,” Susan Thomases, one of Mrs. Clinton’s closest confidantes, said years later of Mr. Emanuel. “He was from Chicago, and if you’re not from Chicago,” she paused. “He is what he is.”Now, Mr. Emanuel is the mayor of Chicago and is embroiled in an uproar over his handling of the death of a black teenager shot by a white police officer and the delayed release of a video that showed the killing.

The crisis facing his administration, unrolling against the backdrop of Mrs. Clinton’s focus on criminal justice overhauls and race relations in her presidential campaign, has proved the latest twist in the decades-long relationship between two of the biggest personalities in Democratic politics. Mr. Emanuel is now relying on the support of the former first lady, with whom he clashed in the White House and whom he scorned by not endorsing in the 2008 Democratic contest against Barack Obama, for whom he later went to work.

That puts Mrs. Clinton, who is famously loyal to old friends, in the tricky position of protecting a longtime, but not always obliging, one. Asked at a news conference on Wednesday, as calls for his resignation intensified, whether he had Mrs. Clinton’s support, Mr. Emanuel told reporters, “I don’t know. You’d have to ask her.” He added, “The question of whether I continue to have her support is up to her, but I feel pretty confident that I do.”

Hours later, under intense pressure to denounce the city’s handling of the shooting of Laquan McDonald, a “deeply troubled” Mrs. Clinton broke with Mr. Emanuel and called for a Justice Department investigation into the police department’s tactics. “He loves Chicago, and I’m confident that he’s going to do everything he can to get to the bottom of these issues and take whatever measures are necessary to remedy them,” Mrs. Clinton told reporters on Friday.

Republicans jumped to accuse Mrs. Clinton of not forcefully denouncing Mr. Emanuel’s handling of the situation because of her longtime relationship with the mayor, but the friendship is more nuanced than that.

Mr. Emanuel first worked on Mr. Clinton’s 1992 campaign in Little Rock, Ark., and he and Mrs. Clinton have orbited each other ever since, as he went on to have his own political career as a member of Congress. He remained neutral in the 2008 primary, but then became White House chief of staff in the Obama administration, where he played a crucial part in persuading Mrs. Clinton to serve as secretary of state. “He was making it impossible for me to say no,” she has said.

Nearly a year before Mrs. Clinton made her current presidential campaign official, Mr. Emanuel got a head start in praising her potential candidacy, endorsing a “super PAC” that encouraged her to run. “Hillary is smart, she’s determined and, most importantly, she is a champion for the American people,” he said in a statement.

In her 2014 memoir, “Hard Choices,” Mrs. Clinton, who is from the Chicago suburbs, called Mr. Emanuel a “creative thinker, an expert in the legislative process and a great asset to the president,” referring to Mr. Obama. On a visit to Chicago in June to promote her book, Mrs. Clinton said, “I go back a long way back with the mayor,” whom she called “his own form of an energy source.”

Then, she told the story of how Mr. Emanuel tried to stop her from delivering a controversial 1995 speech about women’s rights in Beijing that became one of the most pivotal moments of Mrs. Clinton’s career. She joked that he was among the White House aides who told Mr. Clinton: “There she goes again. Can’t you control your wife, Mr. President?” Now, it is Mr. Emanuel who is facing a pivotal moment in his political career, and Mrs. Clinton who wields much control. Adding to the pressure on Mrs. Clinton is her emphasis on criminal justice overhauls. In the spring, she devoted the first major policy speech of her campaign to addressing the deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of white police officers, saying the shootings “tear at your soul.” On her last visit to Chicago, she met with the mothers of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice and other black youths who had been killed by police officers or in gun violence. Mr. Emanuel was seeking re-election in October last year when a white officer shot Mr. McDonald 16 times. Video of the episode was not released until last month, prompting accusations that it had been suppressed for political reasons. Mr. Emanuel has said that the video could not be released earlier because of concerns it could have tainted a federal and state investigation.

And while Mr. Emanuel said “mistakes” had been made in the handling of the episode, he said a call by the attorney general of Illinois, Lisa Madigan, for a Justice Department review into police tactics was “misguided.” He later said in a statement that he was “open to anything that will help give us answers.”

Mrs. Clinton’s decision to take Ms. Madigan’s side and call for a federal investigation did not go far enough for many in the Black Lives Matter movement. The activists, with whom Mrs. Clinton has assiduously tried to connect in her campaign, have pushed for Mr. Emanuel’s ouster. Brian Fallon, a spokesman for Mrs. Clinton said she was not calling for Mr. Emanuel’s resignation. Her main Democratic rival, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, unencumbered by an old friendship, had terse words for Mr. Emanuel on Friday. “Any elected official with knowledge that the tape was being suppressed or improperly withheld should resign,” Mr. Sanders said in a statement, without specifically naming the mayor.

As pressure on Mr. Emanuel mounts and Mrs. Clinton continues to try to assure voters of her commitment to criminal justice overhauls, she might have to take the approach her former confidante Ms. Thomases adopted all those years ago in the White House. In an oral history of the Clinton administration conducted by the Miller Center at the University of Virginia, Ms. Thomases, herself a divisive figure in the administration, said she supported Mr. Emanuel’s run for Congress, but when she clashed with him she would proceed with what she thought was best for Mrs. Clinton, despite any objections.

“I don’t care what Rahm Emanuel thinks,” she recalled saying.

President Obama Will Seek to Reassure Nation on Terrorism Fight in Speech

By NICHOLAS FANDOS

In his address to the nation Sunday night, President Obama will most likely urge Americans to “not give in to fear,” detailmeasures the country is already taking to combat extremism and ask Congress to explore new ones, Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch said on Sunday.

What you’re going to hear from him is a discussion about what government is doing to ensure all of our highest priority — the protection of the American people,” Ms. Lynch said in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

The address, scheduled for 8 p.m. Eastern time, comes four days after a husband and wife killed 14 people and injured 21 others in San Bernardino, Calif., and amid what Ms. Lynch reiterated was a continuing F.B.I. investigation into the assailants’ possible radicalization and their motivations. “At this point we do not have any evidence that they were part of a larger group, or a cell, or were planning anything else,” Ms. Lynch told NBC’s Chuck Todd, referencing media reports she said might be misleading. “I would caution people not to try and define either of these individuals right now,” she added.

The couple — Tafsheen Malik, who was born in Pakistan, and Syed Rizwan Farook, who was born in the United States — had stockpiled weapons, including pipe bombs, in their home before the shooting, which was the worst terrorist attack on American soil since Sept. 11, 2001. Ms. Malik had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, ISIL or Daesh, in a Facebook post. On Saturday during a radio broadcast, the groupidentified the couple as “supporters,” a term viewed as further removed than members or operatives.

Ms. Lynch said that social media was playing a relatively small part in the larger terrorism investigation but said she could not discuss specific details of the case.

She urged individuals who notice a suspicious change in the behavior of friends or family to contact law enforcement, but she said the standard for screening individuals should not necessarily be lowered.

Ms. Lynch called the recently passed U.S.A. Freedom Act, which limits some bulk data collection by American intelligence agencies, a “good solution” — but she argued that stricter gun control laws would help address violence in the country.

The attack, which was the focus of nearly all network talk shows on Sunday morning, cast a shadow over a black-tie dinner at the State Department on Saturday night, where a mix of the political and artistic elite gathered to toast this year’s recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors.

Secretary of State John F. Kerry, in an after-dinner speech, called the Islamic State’s recent string of attacks to an assault on “our shared cultural heritage,” singling out the terrorist group’s destruction of carefully preserved art, architecture, historic and holy sites in the Middle East.

“Some might not see the link between the destruction of culture and the attacks on human beings that Daesh has perpetrated in the Middle East, on the streets of Paris, in the skies over Egypt and elsewhere,” Mr. Kerry said. “But make no mistake: these crimes are part of the same war on knowledge, on freedom, on creativity, on modernity, on law, on love, on life and on civilization itself.”

Though Mr. Kerry did not mention the attack in San Bernardino by name, he offered a subtle reference to the importance of immigrants and refugees to American culture and diplomacy.

“So tonight our message to terrorists everywhere is that no matter how many attacks you attempt, we will not be intimidated, we will not be divided, we will not abandon our values, we will not cease to celebrate beauty, we will not stop until we have stopped you,” he said.

Mr. Obama canceled his appearance at Sunday night’s performance at the Kennedy Center. The president, however, will still host the honorees for a reception at the White House on Sunday afternoon.

President Obama to address the nation on San Bernardino shooting

The White House says President Obama will address the nation from the Oval Office at 8 p.m. Eastern Time on Sunday about the steps the government is taking to keep people safe after the attack this past week in California.

This will be Obama's first Oval Office address since August of 2010, when he discussed the end of U.S. combat operations in Iraq.

"The President will provide an update on the ongoing investigation into the tragic attack in San Bernardino," the White House said in a statement. "The President will also discuss the broader threat of terrorism, including the nature of the threat, how it has evolved, and how we will defeat it."

Obama received an update on the investigation Saturday from top aides.

"The President's team highlighted several pieces of information that point to the perpetrators being radicalized to violence to commit these heinous attacks," Obama said. "The President's team also affirmed that they had as of yet uncovered no indication the killers were part of an organized group or formed part of a broader terrorist cell."

He will talk about his determination that the Islamic State group must be destroyed. And he will make the case that the United States must draw the nation's values - its commitment to justice, equality and freedom - to prevail over terrorist groups.

The president spoke earlier Saturday with a key ally in the fight against the Islamic State, French President Francois Hollande.

"The President briefed President Hollande on what we know about the attack (in San Bernardino) and steps our intelligence and law enforcement agencies are taking to investigate.," the White House said in a statement.

Pashto Music - Ustad Awalmir - asta da astergo bala wakhlom

What have we learned in Afghanistan, Libya and Iraq?

International military interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya have led to some of the worst possible outcomes. Will the United States and Europe repeat their past mistakes in their war on the "Islamic State"?

Scenes from September 11, 2001, vaguely resemble those of November 13, 2015: Terrorists carry out an unthinkable attack in a country that had not expected one. Anger ensues after the shock and horror, and subsequently a war on terror is declared.

Just over 14 years after the attacks on the twin towers in New York City, after large-scale wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and after the rise of " Islamic State " (IS), peace and an end to terrorism have hardly come about.

"Political decision-makers are evidently not willing to learn from mistakes made in the past," said Michael Lüders, a political scientist and Islam scholar. He is referring to military intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq. International missions in the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa have not fostered stability, but instead sped up the deterioration of the nations affected.

Exploitable power vacuums

In the early stages of the relevant conflicts, intervention often appeared successful. "It usually achieved the set military goals very quickly: the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan, the fall of Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Moammar Gadhafi in Libya," said Jochen Hippler, of the Institute for Development and Peace at Germany's University of Duisburg-Essen.

"Iraq is an example of a how a brutal dictatorship became a global breeding ground for terrorism," Hippler said. The power vacuum that had been left in Iraq and now the destabilization of Syria have led to the formation of IS, and now IS is also finding a home in Libya.

After the attacks in Paris last month, many indicators show that the international community in general and Europe and the United States in particular are repeating mistakes made in recent years.

France has stepped up its airstrikes in Syria and Iraq. President Francois Hollande wants to defeat IS on a military level and is campaigning from Moscow to Washington for a strong coalition against the organization. An overwhelming majority in the House of Commons approved Britain's participation inthe airstrikes in Syria . Germany also wants to contribute to the anti-IS forces. At the beginning of the week, Germany's cabinet decided to send Tornado reconnaissance jets to Syria.

'Falling into a trap'

The political scientist Lüders warned against the deployment of ground troops in Syria: "It will not achieve any objectives because IS is following a clear strategy of compelling Western states to take part in ground operations in which they cannot succeed." Lüders said a regular army had never managed to defeat guerrilla troops.

"Even though the IS is pursuing an obvious strategy, the West is falling into a trap," Lüders said. He said the best thing that could happen is that international forces prevent IS from expanding its sphere of influence - "and airstrikes have achieved a substantial part of this goal."

Military operations would quickly reach their limits in the battle against IS. It is particularly important that large groups of the population in Syria and Iraq become involved, said Wolfgang Richter, of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin. And, he said, there would need to be a Sunni-led alternative to groups such as IS, rather than governments heavily influenced by foreign interests.

Foreign ministers led by US Secretary of State John Kerry try to forge a Syria peace deal

It looks like plans for a political solution are in the making. In mid-November in Vienna, 17 states agreed to negotiate a truce between the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and moderate rebel groups. By the middle of next year, a transitional government comprising the old regime and opposition forces will be installed under the auspices of the United Nations. Elections are to follow 18 months later, and the millions of Syrians who have fled abroad would be allowed to vote. That would be a step in the right direction in the battle against IS.

Afghanistan - Virginity Or Death For Afghan Brides

By Afifa Sakib and Frud Bezhan

Long-standing tradition holds that being a virgin is required for brides in Afghanistan, and they are expected to prove it.

One Afghan woman, speaking with RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan on condition of anonymity, says it is still customary in some areas of the country for in-laws to check for blood stains the morning after a wedding as proof of the bride's virginity.

Even being accused of having sex outside marriage can have dire consequences. Disgraced families have been known to demand that their "damaged" daughter-in-law be exchanged for her sister. Nonvirgins can be imprisoned in Afghanistan for adultery. And there are horrific tales of abuse, or worse.

"In some cases, a bride's ears and nose are cut off," says the Afghan woman. "They are forced into dirty clothes and taken back to her parent’s home. Their heads are shaved. The bride's family is told that she is not a virgin. Other times, a bride is simply killed and her body is returned to her parents."

It's a discussion that is usually taboo in Afghanistan, but a recent spate of chilling public punishments of Afghan women accused of having premarital sex has brought the issue into the open. 

In late November, a 26-year-old Afghan woman died of her injuries after being publicly lashed in the central province of Ghor. She had been accused of running away from home.

In October, 19-year-old Rokhsana was stoned to death by Taliban militants in the same province after having been accused of having premarital sex.

And in August, also in Ghor Province, a young man and woman found guilty of having sex outside marriage were lashed publicly.

Family Affair

The woman's own family is often behind the punishment, in some cases shunning the woman or handing her over to authorities for prosecution. But in the worst cases, her own kin can carry out honor killings.

"The existing culture among some families is that a ruined girl is given back to her family," Mariam Zurmati, a commissioner at the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, told RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan recently. 

"In order to escape dishonor, that family will offer another of their daughters for marriage," she adds. "In some regions, women are simply killed. In some cases, even after years of marriage, a husband will abuse his wife.”

Marzia, who only goes by one name, says her sister has endured years of abuse at the hands of her husband due to lingering suspicions that she was not a virgin when they married.

"I have a sister who didn’t bleed when she got married,” says Marzia, who is from Parwan Province. "Her husband beats her and she has bruises everywhere. Even after years of living together, he still abuses her and tells her she has been tarnished."

Even before the wedding, Afghan brides-to-be can be forcefully subjected to "virginity tests," in which doctors at government clinics test whether a woman's hymen is intact.

International human rights groups claim such tests contravene international law and are inconclusive in determining a women’s sexual history. 

Terena Yadgaari, a doctor in Kabul, agrees that virginity tests have no "medical validity," but notes that dozens of the examinations are carried out in government clinics in the capital every year.

So-called moral offenses, including adultery or even running away from home, are not considered crimes according to the Afghan Criminal Code. But hundreds of women and girls have nevertheless been imprisoned after being convicted of "immorality" by courts dominated by religious conservatives. 

The Afghan Constitution prescribes that "no law can be contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred religion of Islam," but such rulings are at odds with more secular-minded passages in the constitution.

But in some rural areas, where Taliban militants exert considerable influence, residents often view government bodies as corrupt or unreliable and turn to Taliban courts to settle disputes. 

The Taliban courts employ strict interpretations of Shari'a law, which prescribes death, or in other cases publicly flogging, for men or women found guilty of having a relationship outside marriage.

#CaliforniaShooting - Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik have a clear Saudi connection

By Riaz Malik Hajjaji

I would request muslims to stop appearing as apologists for the tragic killings in San Bernardino by Saudi-radicalized Wahhabi couple. We can no longer afford political correctness for some deluded notion about an Ummah. If you are a Shia, Ahmadi, Sufi, Sunni Barelvi, Druze, Alawite etc – you have already been rejected from this Ummah by powerful and growing Saudi-financied Salafi/Wahhabi and Deobandi groups.

On the one hand, Denialists are saying that these tragic killings have nothing to do with Islam. They actually do – specifically with Wahhabi ideology that is the state religion of Saudi Arabia, the closest US ally in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia continues to spend billions of dollars to spread Wahhabism and its South Asian variant, Deobandism across the globe. ISIS/FSA/Al Qaeda, Boko Haram, Al Shabaab, Taliban, ASWJ-LeJ are all Salafi/Wahhabi and Deobandi terrorist groups.

Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik have a clear Saudi connection. It was not an impulsive act as it takes months to train and thousands of dollars to equip oneself with the tactical weapons gear that was used to perpetrate this heinous crime.

As 30 million Shias, Sunnis, Hindus, Christians and Sabeans were engaged in the largest peace march in Karbala, Iraq to commemorate the Arbaen of Imam Hussain, this radicalised Wahhabi couple with Saudi connections were plotting the murder of their innocent American co-workers.

Incidently, Wahhabis/Salafis and Deobandis echo the same hate against peaceful processions such as Arbaen in Karbala. In their warped understanding of faith, the Arbaen march is “Polytheistic” and an “innovation” while killing innocent Americans is their version of “Jihad”.

While Wahhabis and Deobandis perpetrate bloodshed and misery worldwide, it is disappointing to see SoS Kerry seeking of the destruction of the Syrian government as a pre-condition to taking on ISIS. Just as it is disappointing to see the dismissive attitude towards growing Russian evidence of NATO member Turkey’s role as middle man in the oil trade of ISIS.

On the one hand there are Denialists and on the other hand, there are a handful of celebrity NGO funded activists. Both share the same function of obfuscating the central role of Saudi Arabia and Wahhabism in the San Bernardino tragedy. The Denialists like Saudi-funded CAIR/ICNA/ISNA keeping peddling the same line that such events have nothing to do with Islami. No mention of Wahhabism.

The celebrity activists keep using sweeping and vague terms like “Islamists” that dishonestly conflates both the victims of Wahhabi terrorism such as the Ahmadis, Shias and Non-Salafi Sunnis in the same category as the perps.

The celebrity activist can be spotted from their disproportionate and decontextualised bashing of Iran which is an easy target and will always be apparent from their disproportionate criticism of Shias who are often the victims of Wahhabi terrorism.

These dishonest celebrity activists will never be specific about the Salafi and Deobandi identity of the Taliban, ASWJ-LeJ, ISIS/FSA/Al Qaeda, Boko Haram and Al Shabab. None of these celebrity activists has penned anything of significance on the 30 million Arbaen march in Karbala even as they will focus on the most mundane aspects of muslims while ignoring such a significant event.

These celebrity activists can easily be spotted from their regurgitation of Al Jazeera and CNN spin in support of the “moderate rebels” of the Salafi Ikhwan/FSA/Al Qaeda. They can be spotted in dismissing the Pro-democracy protests in Bahrain as a “Safavid/Iran conspiracy”.

Both the Denialists and the celebrity activists share a common goal of protecting Wahhabi/Saudi interests as well as a common bigotry against the main victims – i.e. Shias and non Salafi Sunnis – of ISIS.

Pakistan - Books, not guns: ANP leader emphasises need to revise curriculum

Awami National Party Central General Secretary Mian Iftikhar Hussain has emphasised the need to revise the curriculum to promote equality.

He was speaking at a seminar organised by Rasheed Shaheed Foundation at Peshawar Press Club on Saturday. “The gun culture has decreased the value of education,” Mian Iftikhar said. “Guns and weapons are being promoted in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa instead of books and pens.”

Constitutional amendment: Rally demands govt to turn Fata into Pata

He added, “The education system has become the root of countless problems.” The central general secretary said the current curriculum contains hate material which has eradicated peace from society. According to Mian Iftikhar, all hate material should be removed from textbooks.

“Furthermore, a curriculum should be designed to account for all faiths,” he added. The ANP leader also announced the establishment of technical institutions where education would be free.

Pakistan - Will the interior minister act now?

By Gul Bukhari

Has Christmas come early, I wonder? What a godsend for secular and liberal minded persons, such as myself, that mass killer of San Bernardino in California, Tashfeen Malik, has been linked to Maulana Abdul Aziz of the Lal Masjid, Islamabad. Citizens, like me, have been questioning why the gent who held Islamabad hostage, first with his armed movement and parallel government in Islamabad, and then armed conflict with the state lasting a week in 2007, still roams free. Since then, he has been acquitted in around two dozen cases against him. How and why he was acquitted remains a big question mark on the justice system, the fear factor that ruled it, as well as on the aspect of who backs the maulana. Since then he has regularly challenged the state, his girl students and his wife having released a video pledging allegiance to ISIS. He regularly rejected the constitution of Pakistan as the basic law of the land; refused to condemn the slaughter of innocent children killed by the Taliban in the Peshawer APS attack, thereby implying support for the Taliban; refused to acknowledge soldiers and officers of the Pakistan Army as shuhada; called Taliban leaders who have fought against the state and people of Pakistan shuhada; admitted to brainwashing children in madrassas controlled by him (over 5000 children at any given time) to wage ‘jihad’ (read terror). Yet, and in the face of so many deaths of Pakistani citizens that Maulana Abdul Aziz is directly or indirectly responsible for, the state appears paralyzed; the interior minister found obfuscating the matter and quaking in his boots.

Since the minister has not acted to arrest and try the monster responsible for the slaughter of hundreds of Pakistanis, all the whilst crowing about the progress on the National Action Plan against terrorism, I for one am ecstatic that Maulana Aziz’s link with the California massacre has surfaced. Perhaps the American government will now ‘convince’ the respected minister where millions of Pakistanis couldn’t. A shame that the deaths of 14 Americans will perhaps matter more where Maulana Aziz is concerned than the deaths of hundreds, perhaps thousands of Pakistanis. Still, if that’s what it takes, so be it. And if he still doesn’t act, there’s always the OBL style humiliating favour the Americans can do the Pakistani citizens. And there will be no scapegoats like Dr Afridi this time around either. Maulana Aziz lives in full gaze of the entire world in Islamabad.

Whilst conveniently passing the buck for holes in the implementation of the NAP on to provincial NAP committees, the federal interior minister even fails to answer for what goes on in Islamabad and other federally administered areas. On the 26th of November, he arrogantly brushed aside questions on the floor of the house about the identity or identity papers of twenty or so bodies brought back to Upper and Lower Dir from Afghanistan to be buried. Clearly, the bodies crossed the border and reached Dir from Afghanistan through federally administered tribal areas (FATA). In the week preceding 26th of November, there had been several reports in the press about these mysterious bodies, the funerals attended by thousands. Yet the minister proclaimed ignorance and asked the questioner, Dr. Nafisa Shah, to provide him the details since she knew more about the matter than he. One doesn’t quite know what to make of such intransigence when the federal interior minister feigns ignorance of such events (involving the international border of the country and the federally administered areas) that have actually been reported in the press. And if indeed he is actually ignorant of it in the middle of a war on terror, should he be the interior minister looking after the most fundamental problem facing the country?

On the floor of the house, the minister parried with Dr. Shah over whether the topic was NAP or his ministry’s performance with regard to registration of identity cards and passports. Clearly, on a holistic level the two matters are very much related, but the minister side-stepped the question on a very narrow definition of ‘topic’. Fine. But the questions put to him on the floor of the house are of fundamental national importance and need answering, not just by Dr. Shah, but by the citizens of this country who are wondering with Dr. Shah as to how serious the government and state are about the NAP. Several days have passed and perhaps the interior minister can now address these important concerns via a press conference.

As a reminder, the questions pertained to the identity of the bodies brought to Dir and what these persons were doing in Afghanistan, and on which passports their bodies were brought back to Pakistan; were they Pakistani militants waging ‘jihad’ against the Afghan government in Afghanistan; how other militant leaders such as of the terrorist Badar group resident in Sindh and Punjab reached Dir, through check posts controlled by the Pakistan Army, to attend the funerals. Another line of questions put by Dr. Shah, and unanswered by the interior minister, pertain to banned militant outfits contesting local bodies elections in various cities of Pakistan under new names – Dr. Shah made a reference to the Rah-e-Haq party (a new name the ASWJ has registered itself after being banned) contesting elections – but there are other such bodies operating freely, like the Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation. It is not only the interior minister’s job to know about all these things, but a criminal dereliction of duty on his part to be arrogantly claiming to be ignorant of these well documented and reported facts and asking opposition parties for the details in his attempt at deflecting attention from his non implementation of NAP. How is it possible that everyone knows but the point man for the National Action Plan doesn’t?

I would urge the federal interior minister, Chaudhry Nisar, to address the nation on these important issues and provide answers on a post haste basis. The citizens demand answers now, and the minister cannot claim privilege on a point of ‘topic’.

http://nation.com.pk/columns/06-Dec-2015/will-the-interior-minister-act-now

‘Bangladesh reviewing ties with Pakistan’

Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali today said the government is assessing the relationship between Bangladesh and Pakistan and thinking about what measures need to be taken over the reaction of Islamabad after the execution of two war criminals last month.

“The whole matter is a continuous process,” he said while addressing a discussion at WVA auditorium in Dhaka.

Ekattorer Ghatak-Dalal Nirmul Committee organised the discussion on “Relationship between Bangladesh-India in the Touchstone of Time” to mark the 44th anniversary of the recognition of India to Bangladesh as an independent country.

Hours after Bhutan’s recognition, India recognised an independent Bangladesh on December 6 in 1971.

The minister said many Pakistanis have admitted the crimes committed during the Liberation War in 1971. “But now there is no benefit of denying it saying that they did not do anything. It’s ridiculous.”

Earlier on November 22, Pakistan's foreign ministry made a statement, voicing “deep concern and anguish” over the capital punishments of Jamaat leader Mojaheed and BNP leader Salauddin. It prompted Bangladesh to summon the Pakistan envoy in Dhaka for lodging a formal protest.

In an apparent response to Bangladesh's move, Pakistan Earlier on November 30 summoned acting high commissioner of Bangladesh Maushumi Rahman to its foreign ministry and denied committing any war crimes or atrocities during the 1971 Liberation War.

Pakistan also rejected Bangladesh's statement that trashed Islamabad's concern over the recent executions of war criminals Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed and Salauddin Quader Chowdhury.

Bangladesh handed over the protest note to the Pakistan high commissioner in Dhaka after summoning him to the foreign ministry on November 23, a day after Pakistan issued a statement over the executions.

Pakistan's latest move triggered outrage in Bangladesh as war crimes trial campaigners accused the country of “resorting to falsehood” over its role in 1971.

ON BANGLADESH-INDIA RELATION

Talking about the country’s relationship with India, Ali said the relationship between Bangladesh and India is now in a very good state after 1975. “The problems lie between Bangladesh and India is psychological which needs to be resolved with the participation of everyone.”

While pointing out different indicators of good relationship between the countries, he said the Bangladesh Visa Office in Agartala has been upgraded to Assistant High Commission and an Assistant High Commissioner took over the charges today.

Eminent historian Prof Muntassir Mamoon said the relationship between Bangladesh and India was stronger until 1975 and deteriorated between 1975 and 1995. The relationship was slightly upgraded during the Awami League regime in 1996-2001 and again worsened from 2001-2006.

The relationship has been upgraded since 2009, he said.

From pharmacy student to suspected San Bernardino terrorist: The baffling journey of Tashfeen Malik

By Tim Craig, Abby Phillip and Joel Achenbach

Syed Rizwan Farook, Chicago-born, a college graduate working steadily in Southern California, was a quiet and devout man who went in search of a wife. He eventually found one, a woman named Tashfeen Malik who lived in a distant land and had never been to America.

What happened next — and the question of how and why a suburban couple with a new baby decided to become mass murderers — is the subject of a frantic global terrorism investigation that includes Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and San Bernardino, Calif.

The FBI is looking at the dynamic between Farook and Malik, who a couple of years ago did not even know each other but wound up dead on a San Bernardino street, riddled with bullets after they had killed 14 people at a holiday party and wounded 21 others.

Did he lead her down the path of radicalization? Or did she lead him? Did they have direct ties with the Islamic State or other international terrorists, acting as part of an elaborate conspiracy, or were they a freelance operation drawing only inspiration from abroad?

A senior U.S. law enforcement official said one possibility is that Malik was already radicalized before she came to the United States last year as Farook’s new bride.

“Was she the hit, or was he already headed down that road?” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.

Farook’s profile is relatively robust. He was 28, born to parents who had immigrated to the United States from Pakistan. He attended high school in San Bernardino and graduated from the state university there. He had a good job as a county health inspector, making sure restaurant counters were clean, food service workers had properly washed their hands, and public pools were safe for swimming. Although he was something of a loner, plenty of people knew him at the office and at the two mosques where he often prayed.

Much about the 29-year-old Malik, however, remains a mystery. More than three days after Wednesday’s massacre, no one had surfaced as a friend — or even an acquaintance — of Malik’s in San Bernardino.

She was always veiled, wearing a niqab, a covering that left only her eyes exposed. She did not drive. She was known to stay in the car when her husband prayed at the mosque.

But new details about Malik surfaced Saturday during interviews in Pakistan. She came from a prosperous Pakistani family and grew up in Saudi Arabia. She returned to Multan, Pakistan, about 100 miles from her ancestral village, in 2007, pursuing a pharmacy degree at Bahauddin Zakariya University.

One of her closest friends, Abida Rani, said Malik changed around 2009, suddenly paying more attention to Islamic studies than to pharmacology. Malik would travel across town, nearly every day, to a madrassa, where she would spend her evenings, Rani said. Rani added that she thinks the madrassa belongs to the Wahhabi branch of Sunni Islam, a particularly conservative interpretation of the faith that is widely practiced in Saudi Arabia.

“We were like, ‘What happened to Malik?’ ” said Rani, who attended school with Malik all six years. “She became so religious, so serious and so focused on Islamic teachings, and she lost her interest in her studies.”

While students at the university were busy socializing, Rani said Malik would watch one of Pakistan’s 24-hour Islamic television channels.

She always wore a burqa. She never sat in the front row in class. She would not interact with young men.

“She was conservative but calm,” said Atif Nisar Ahmad, a professor at the school.

During her final year at the university, Malik became so rigid in her conservative Islamic religious beliefs that she refused a staple of college life: getting photographed. When Malik graduated from pharmacy school, she tried to remove all of her pictures from university databases. She collected all of her university identification and library cards and destroyed them.

“I don’t want any pictures without the veil,” Malik said, according to Rani.

Malik’s religious conservatism did not carry any hints of radicalization, though, according to people who knew her. Her conservative attire was not unusual; about half of the female students at the school were fully veiled, according to local residents.

Khalid Janbaz, one of Malik’s pharmacology professors, said Malik never discussed her personal beliefs, even though professors often tried to engage students in freewheeling discussions about science, philosophy and medical ethics.

“She never said to others: ‘You should do this or you should that,’ ” Janbaz said. “I don’t see any evidence how she could move from that into a shooter.”

According to relatives, Malik’s parents moved from the Layyah district of Pakistan’s southern Punjab province to Saudi Arabia 25 to 30 years ago after a family dispute over property. Malik Anwar, who is Malik’s uncle, said the family was estranged from the rest of the family that still lives in the Layyah area.

Some of Anwar’s distant relatives did travel to Saudi Arabia over the years to visit Gulzar Malik, Tashfeen’s father, Anwar said. They reported back over the years that Gulzar Malik had become increasingly religious while in Saudi Arabia.

After Malik graduated in 2013, she moved back to Saudi Arabia. It was apparently there that she connected with Farook, who had been searching for a wife on Internet marriage sites.

They were legally married in the United States in August 2014 in Riverside, Calif., although a lawyer for Farook’s sister said they were married at an earlier ceremony in Saudi Arabia.

Amir Abdul-Jalil, 50, who knew Farook and prayed with him regularly at a San Bernardino mosque, said Farook told him that his family and Malik’s family had arranged the marriage.

“After he got married, I didn’t have the same connection with him,” said Abdul-Jalil, who was visibly upset after learning that Farook had been the shooter in San Bernardino.

Another friend, Rashid Thompson, said Farook had become more distant recently.

“Once he got married, it was just him and his family,” said Thompson, who last saw him at the mosque two months ago.

Farook, Malik, the baby and Farook’s mother lived together in a two-story townhouse on a residential street in Redlands. The interior of the rented apartment, which the landlord opened to reporters on Friday, revealed what appeared to be the elements of an ordinary life: baby formula, books, personal documents. A tub of laundry detergent and a partially eaten plate of food sat on top of an appliance in the kitchen.

What reporters did not see were the items the FBI said it had already taken away, including 4,500 rounds of ammunition, a dozen pipe bombs and materials to make other bombs.

A U.S. official confirmed Saturday that Farook had attempted to reach out to the terrorist groups al-Shabab, which is based in Somalia, and Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria. It wasn’t clear when or how Farook made those attempts.

The couple had four guns in their arsenal: two assault rifles and two handguns. The two assault rifles were different brands, but they had been accessorized in a similar way, with identical slings, grips and optics. Husband and wife could use either one interchangeably. That is how the U.S. military trains small units, so that one person can use another’s weapon if necessary.

There are still many uncertainties, but also some hard facts. The couple left the baby with the grandmother at home. They attacked the Inland Regional Center just before 11 a.m. Wednesday, and soon after the shooting, apparently from a mobile phone, Malik went on Facebook and pledged allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State.

About four hours later, Farook and Malik were spotted by police and made their last stand on San Bernardino Avenue, firing from their SUV. They were surrounded by nearly two dozen officers.

At some point, Farook made a dash for it but reached only the far curb of the street before he fell to the pavement. Malik stayed in the SUV. Between them, they fired off 76 rounds. Police fired 380.

Their baby is in the custody of child protective services. A hearing is scheduled for Monday.

Phillip reported from San Bernardino and Achenbach from Washington. Haq Nawaz Khan in Pakistan, Missy Ryan, Thomas Gibbons-Neff and William Dauber in San Bernardino, and Adam Goldman, Julie Tate, Ellen Nakashima and Peter Holley in Washington contributed to this report.

The deadly link between San Bernardino and Pakistan

The link between California shooters and Pakistan has once again highlighted the danger the country poses as a terror exporter. US-based Islamism expert Arif Jamal tells DW why Washington can no longer ignore the threat.

DW: What sort of links did San Bernardino shooters Tashfeen Malik and Syed Farook have with radical Islamist groups in Pakistan, and how much did they influence the killings?

Arif Jamal: We still do not have authentic information on the links between the San Bernardino mass shooters and radical Islamist groups in Pakistan or elsewhere. Tashfeen Malik was a relatively liberal and modern woman for her family in Pakistan's Punjab province until a couple of years ago. Several members of her family reportedly belong to the terrorist outfit Ahlay Sunnat Wal Jamaat - formerly known as Sipah-e-Sahaba (the Army of the Prophet's Companions) - but there is so far no evidence that she was also an ASWJ member.

Jamal: The Wahhabist and Salafist interpretations of the Quran are at the root of the rise of modern jihadism

Also, the Bahauddin Zakariya University in the city of Multan, where Malik had studied, is a hub of Islamist groups. Although indoctrination must have started much earlier, we see a radical change in her a few years ago, particularly after she moved to the United States. It seems the couple was actually indoctrinated by American Islamic organizations. Islamic organizations conveniently blame Western foreign policies for the rise of jihadism.

How do you analyze the claim by the "Islamic State" (IS) that its "supporters" carried out the attack in the US? What does IS mean by "supporters"?

It is highly plausible that the San Bernardino shooters were influenced by the IS call to take up arms against the infidel West without the practical support from the Middle Eastern militant group. In fact, the available evidence is clearly leading to this conclusion. The IS call for jihad against the West is actually directed at people who are already indoctrinated and need a push to carry out violence. The IS seems to be succeeding in its strategy to destabilize the Western countries.

It's been reported that Tashfeen Malik had met with IS supporter and cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz in Islamabad. Why do Pakistani authorities continue to ignore the threat posed by pro-IS clerics and organizations in the country?

The reports of her links with Aziz of Islamabad's Red Mosque, which is affiliated with the IS, do not seem to be authentic. They are attributed to nameless sources in London and appear to be mere speculation. US officials do not seem to have any such knowledge. As we know that the shooters were influenced by IS and its ideology, it is quite possible that they had had some links with the Red Mosque clerics. If there were any links between the shooters and the Red Mosque, they were more likely ideological.

What is driving Muslims living in the US toward groups like IS?

The most important reason behind the Muslims' fascination with jihadism in the US and elsewhere is their victimhood syndrome. Jihadism teaches them that the failures of Muslims as individuals and as an ummah (community) are caused by the infidels, who must be fought against, as Islamic scriptures order them.

To what extent is Saudi Wahhabism, which many experts believe provides ideological impetus to global jihadi groups, influencing American Muslims?

The Wahhabist and Salafist interpretations of the Quran and hadith are at the root of the rise of modern global jihadism. Unlike other Islamic denominations, Wahhabism and Salafism teach the literal interpretation of the Islamic scriptures. Salafism aims at establishing a caliphate similar to the earliest time in the Islamic history, when the Muslims were constantly at war with the rest of the world. The three biggest jihadist organizations - IS, Jamaat ud-Dawa (or Lashkar-e-Taiba) and Boko Haram - are Salafist.

What, in your opinion, would be the repercussions of the San Bernardino killings on Pakistanis and Muslims living in the US?

The shooting in southern California killed 14 people

Muslims in America have come under severe pressure from the society. There have been some attacks on mosques and Islamic centers. Muslim Americans have reported that the atmosphere in their offices has become tense. Some have told me that they never faced such backlash since the 9/11 attacks. Since one of the two shooters was a woman, Muslim women have also become suspect in the eyes of non-Muslim Americans. Muslim women were not subject to such hateful treatment before.

Will the Obama administration pressure Islamabad to crack down on Islamist radical groups or will it continue with its softer approach toward its ally?

The Obama administration is likely to increase pressure on Pakistan to rein in jihadist groups and close the jihadist factories, but it is highly unlikely it will work in the absence of some sort of economic and military sanctions. The verbal pressure has not worked in the last 15 to 25 years. We may see some halfhearted action by Pakistani authorities against the Red Mosque group if there is enough evidence of their involvement in this shooting. Nothing more.

Arif Jamal is an independent US-based journalist and author of several books, including "Call For Transnational Jihad: Lashkar-e-Taiba, 1985-2014."

The interview was conducted by Shamil Shams.

BILAWAL BHUTTO CONGRATULATES THE PPP WINNERS IN 3RD PHASE OF LG ELECTIONS

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party has congratulated the PPP candidates winning in third phase of Local Government elections in Sindh and Punjab and termed the results as encouraging in an environment where PPP was subjected to worst propaganda.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that a large number of PPP candidates have won their seats despite the odds created by dictatorial forces and their front-men. He saluted to all the PPP candidates who stood to the ground and gave strong contest to opponents thus showing the strength that many political parties have been unable to maintain in similar situations.

He said that PPP has won all the 23 District Councils in Sindh and won a sizeable number seats in Punjab adding that he is proud of the party voters and the Jiyalas who made this possible.

Bilawal Bhutto congratulated the PPP leaders, workers and the office-bearers for their hardwork during the election campaign.

https://ppppunjab.wordpress.com/2015/12/06/bilawal-bhutto-congratulates-the-ppp-winners-in-3rd-phase-of-lg-elections/