Taliban fighter reveals he lives for most of year in London and heads to Afghanistan for combat


Click to view image: 'TAXI FOR TALIBAN!' -
Click to view image: 'TAXI FOR TALIBAN!'

Special report: Taliban troop with a London cab driver
Taliban fighters in Dhani Ghorri Taliban fighters in Dhani-Ghorri in northern Afghanistan. Photograph: Ghaith Abdul-Ahad for the Guardian
British-based men of Afghan origin are spending months at a time in Afghanistan fighting Nato forces before returning to the UK, the Guardian has learned. They also send money to the Taliban.
A Taliban fighter in Dhani-Ghorri in northern Afghanistan last month told the Guardian he lived most of the time in east London, but came to Afghanistan for three months of the year for combat.
"I work as a minicab driver," said the man, who has the rank of a mid-level Taliban commander. "I make good money there [in the UK], you know. But these people are my friends and my family and it's my duty to come to fight the jihad with them."
"There are many people like me in London," he added. "We collect money for the jihad all year and come and fight if we can."
His older brother, a senior cleric or mawlawi who also fought in Dhani-Ghorri, lives in London as well.
Intelligence officials have long suspected that British Muslims travel to Afghanistan and Pakistan each year to train with extremist groups.
Last year it was reported that RAF spy planes operating in Helmand in southern Afghanistan had detected strong Yorkshire and Birmingham accents on fighters using radios and telephones. They apparently spoke the main Afghan languages of Dari and Pashtu, but lapsed into English when they were lost for the right words. The threat was deemed sufficiently serious that spy planes have patrolled British skies in the hope of picking up the same voice signatures of the fighters after their return to the UK.
The dead body of an insurgent who had an Aston Villa tattoo has also been discovered in southern Afghanistan.
British military officials say there have been no recent reports of British Taliban in Helmand in southern Afghanistan and that the overwhelming majority of foreign fighters are Pakistanis. Not since John Walker Lindh, the so-called American Taliban, was captured in late 2001, has the US admitted to having successfully captured an insurgent from a western country.
In the main US-run prison near Bagram airfield, there are just 50 "third country nationals" being held, a spokeswoman said.
"Most of these are Pakistani, with small numbers from other countries in the region," she said.
According to a senior officer at the National Directorate of Security, Afghanistan's equivalent of MI5, foreign fighters tend to be Arabs, Chechens, Pakistanis or from central Asia's former Soviet republics such as Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

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YESTERDAYS HEADLINE:
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Afghanistan's foreign fighters in the shadows
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Incidences of European citizens visiting Afghanistan to fight for the Taliban are rare, according to sources....
Taliban tourists on combat holidays from their European homes are extremely rare in Afghanistan, Afghan and Nato sources claim. According to a senior officer at the national directorate of security, Afghanistan's equivalent of MI5, foreign fighters tend to be Arabs, Chechens, Pakistanis or from central Asia's former Soviet republics, such as Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Click to view image: 'Taliban Tariff' -
Click to view image: 'Taliban Tariff'

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MEANWHILE:
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The reports have been met with utter confusion and a feeling of betrayal on the Ministry of Defence' official website....
A much publicised 'message of thanks', by Afghanistans and article on the site is as follows........

Afghan Colonel thanks London soldiers for training his troops
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A People In Defence news article
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25 Nov 10
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A senior officer in the Afghan National Army has thanked Territorial Army soldiers from The London Regiment for their role in training and mentoring members of the Afghan National Army.

Click to view image: 'Colonel Farid Ahmadi thx uk forces'
Colonel Farid Ahmadi shakes hands with Lieutenant Pete Quentin
[Picture curtest: Sergeant Dan Harmer RLC]
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Colonel Farid Ahmadi, who has served in the Afghan National Army (ANA) for almost 20 years, was so impressed with The London Regiment soldiers' contribution that during a recent trip to the UK he took time out from his schedule to meet with them at their Horseferry Road base.
The London Regiment soldiers, who are all reservists and come from all walks of life, including estate agents, engineers, project managers, prison officers, security guards and teachers, returned from Afghanistan only last month.
Colonel Ahmadi, speaking through an interpreter, said:
"We were so impressed with the quality of the training that we did not at first realise that the team were all part-time soldiers.
"Over time we also learnt that the skills and experience they bring from their civilian jobs were just as valuable in assisting us to take on the task of rebuilding our country."
Lieutenant Pete Quentin, aged 27, who works as a political researcher in Westminster, was responsible for the training of over 800 Afghan soldiers in central Helmand. He said:
"The lads are justifiably proud of the job they did in Afghanistan, but it's especially rewarding to know our efforts are appreciated by the people we deployed to help.
"Colonel Ahmadi is an inspirational ANA commander and it's been a privilege working 'shohna ba shohna', or shoulder-to-shoulder, with him and his colleagues. So his visit and gratitude mean a lot to us all."

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Whilst many appreciate the sincerity in Ahmadis gratitude, some wonder, myself included, if they have been training the 'correct' ally, and on whose behalf he was showing gratitude!!!

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with thanks to:
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*People In Defence - http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/PeopleInDefence/
* Ghaith Abdul-Ahad and Jon Boone
* guardian.co.uk, Thursday 25 November 2010 00.15 GMT
*The BBC.COM/NEWS website
*DEFENSE NEWS - http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/
*Colonel Farid Ahmadi shakes hands with Lieutenant Pete Quentin

*AND, OF COURSE, THE GOOD 'UNS OUT THERE... DOING WHAT YOU DO BEST! GET HOME SAFELY, GUYS!

...for kindly allowing me to source their reports.






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REMEMBER GUYS! - MURPHY'S LAWS OF COMBAT
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* You are not supermen. (Freshly graduated Para recruits and all fighter pilots, especially take note.)
* Suppressive fire - won't
* If it's stupid but works, it isn't stupid.
* Don't look conspicuous - it draws fire.
* When in doubt, empty the magazine.
* Never share a trench with anyone braver than you.
* Never forget that your weapon was made by the lowest bidder.
* If your attack is going really well, it's an ambush.
* No plan survives the first contact intact.
* All five second grenade fuses will bum down in three seconds.
* Try to look unimportant, because the enemy may be low on ammunition.
* If you are forward of your position, the artillery will fall short.
* When you have secured an area, don't forget to tell the enemy.
* Incoming fire has the right-of-way.
* The enemy diversion you are ignoring is the main attack.
* The important things are always simple.
* The simple things are always hard.
* The easy way is always mined.
* If you are short of everything except enemy, you are in combat.
* No combat ready unit has ever passed inspection.
* No inspection-ready unit has ever passed combat.
* If the enemy is in range, SO ARE YOU!
* Friendly fire - isn't.
* Things that must be together to work usually can't be transported together.
* Radios will fail as soon as you need fire support.
* Anything you do can get you shot - including doing nothing.
* Make it too tough for the enemy to get in, and you can't get out.
* Tracer works BOTH ways.
* The only thing more accurate than incoming enemy fire is incoming friendly fire.
* If you take more than your fair share of objectives, you will have more than your fair share to take.
* When both sides are convinced they are about to lose, they are both right.
* Professional servicemen are predictable, but the world is full of amateurs.