Monday, September 11, 2006
A big victory
It seems that we've captured Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, one of the really bad, tough guys in Afghanistan for many years, including well before the American invasion. As anybody who has read Ghost Wars knows, this is great news. If it's true.
Michael Ledeen says its wonderful news:
Hekmatiar is a particularly evil man, who has been Iran's main agent of murder in Afghanistan for many years. He had just received a substantial quantity of anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons from the mullahs, and his capture is truly wonderful news. Waydo go, guys!
Bill Roggio says he gave up without a fight. Now let's make him squeal. Among other things, perhaps Hekmatyar can explain to the Western chattering classes how it is that he has been able to get the support of the Shiite Islamic Republic of Iran, on the one hand, and the Sunni al Qaeda, on the other. I know, Ledeen knows, and anybody with the imagination of Springer Spaniel knows, but that is too great a leap for many of our best and brightest.
I read this news (via Glenn) just as I was watching the assassination of Ahmed Shah Massoud -- one of Hekmatyar's great enemies -- on "The Path To 9/11". It made me feel better almost immediately.
I expect to have more later.
MORE: There is still no confirmation of the capture of Hekmatyar. Let's hope that the rumor was true, and they are trying to seal it for disinformation purposes.
7 Comments:
By 
Final Historian, at
Mon Sep 11, 10:31:00 PM:
I am sure that if he 'fesses that Iran has been supplying the Taliban and AQ bloggers who constitute the left side of the spectrum will condemn it most severely. After all, the only reason that would be the case is if the evil Amerikkkans had tortured him, and he said what they wanted to get them to stop.
By Dawnfire82, at
Mon Sep 11, 11:25:00 PM:
Additionally, I question the timing of this 'capture.' It's way too convenient. I bet this Hekmatyar is just a Rovian plant to be paraded as a BusHitler victory on 9/11. No wonder he surrendered without a fight!
By 
, at
Tue Sep 12, 12:00:00 AM:
I doubt we'll have to make Hekmatyar squeal. He has probably already turned on anyone and everyone, in an attempt to improve his lot in life.
By , at
Tue Sep 12, 09:26:00 AM:
Best to wait for an official confirmation rather than relying on the media. At this point Combined Forces Command Afghaninstan is not confirming this report. If/When they do CENTCOM will/would post a press release on WWW.CENTCOM.MIL.
By TigerHawk, at
Tue Sep 12, 11:54:00 AM:
I have heard that Deutsche Welle first reported it in German, but have not gotten a link yet.
By Dawnfire82, at
Tue Sep 12, 07:40:00 PM:
Aside from being a possible false alarm, I feel that I should mention that CENTCOM may not want it generally known that he's been caught and the German story is a leak. That's been done before with other high value targets.
By Georg Felis, at
Wed Sep 13, 12:07:00 PM:
Second possibility: In the game of Terrorist wack-a-mole, sometime you are in a position where you want the target to stick his head up, and what better way than to leak news of his capture.
