Most Wanted #1, the one in hiding, is Ayman al-Zawahiri, the new head of Al Qaeda’s global terrorist empire, who has been hiding in Pakistan now for about 10 years. Although his whereabouts are unknown, he is fully functioning in his Al Qaeda role. In May, he released three new audio messages to Al Qaeda followers around the world.

Most Wanted #2 is Commander of the Faithful, as he likes to call himself. Mullah Omar is the Emir of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and the leader and founder of Taliban. The public may not be able to find him easily, but the military and the government can. Most Wanted #3 is Hafeez Saeed, the secret Emir of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba. Of the three, he is the most visible: the polar opposite of hiding. He is on Pakistani TV almost every night, usually scoffing at the United States.

According to Reidel, Pakistan is host to more terrorists than any other country in the world—willingly or unwillingly.

Canada, like the U.S., has opened its doors to many immigrants over the years, and CSIS Director Richard Fadden says that his spy agency’s most pressing concern is the peril of second and third generation Canadians who have become radical, adopting fanatic and extreme views. Despite seeming to fit well into the social and economic fabric of Canadian life, some, as is the case in the U.S., the U.K. and Australia, have “become appallingly disenchanted with the way we want to structure our society.”

Fadden spoke to a parliamentary committee on Tuesday, May 11, saying that “For one reason or another they develop connections with their former homeland, they become very, very disenchanted and they are led to contemplate doing violence.”

No question as to which brand of 2nd and 3rd generation Canadian Mr. Fadden is singling out here, and he confirmed by continuing, “They reject the rule of law, they want to impose Sharia law.”

The CSIS is currently investigating several groups like the Toronto 18, people who have been in Canada for a while, who are ostensibly Canadian, but choose to rebel violently against what the country stands for. Toronto 18, for example, was planning to use three 1-ton truck bombs to blow up the Toronto Stock Exchange, the CSIS offices on Front Street and a military base off Highway 401.

There’s no evidence that the militants also figured out how to block or scramble the data en route to the U.S., from where many of the drones are computer-controlled and -operated. Now it’s too late for that next step, as the U.S. plans to encrypt all its drones, whose air strikes play a large — if somewhat controversial — role in the ongoing war in Afghanistan.

So how did the insurgents do it? Check out this video from the Associated Press to find out more:

Although this number is not exact (shared by an unnamed U.S. government official), it’s starting to resemble the size of the huge spy forces stationed in Iraq and Vietnam at the height of their respective conflicts.

Troop numbers are going up, so it makes sense that spy and analyst numbers follow. The military cannot have enough intelligence on the Taliban, whose growing stronghold and increasing attacks are extremely worrying. The Taliban is said to be at its strongest – since it got the boot from Afghanistan in 2001 – with an estimated 15-20,000 insurgents.

One of the areas that the Taliban seems to have down is the recruitment and training of suicide bombers. It is believed that some of these recruits are farmed out to other insurgent organizations.

Of course, the CIA didn’t go from a handful operatives to 700 overnight. A ‘handful’ was just post-9/11, a number that quickly grew to 150 by the close of 2001 and then gradually doubled to 300 over the course of the next four years.

The push for extra spies comes from the military but also from the Obama Administration, where the belief is widely held that come next summer, public support for the war will have all but disappeared. The pressure is on to wrap things up – an end which as of now is nowhere in sight.

Some U.S. spies – instead of focusing on Taliban movements and activities – have been asked to keep an eye on the currently U.S.-backed Afghani government. It is accused of being extremely corrupt, with senior officials involved in drug cartels and election fraud. So on the one hand there’s the Taliban insurgency to deal with, but on the other, there’s the hope of cleaning up the government and protecting civilians from the fanatic rule of the Taliban and the corrupt rule of the present government.

The blast serves as further confirmation that the Taliban is plotting and carrying out more sophisticated, extremely targeted attacks that require both organization and intelligence on their part.

Abdullah Laghmani, the late deputy chief of Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security, had been exiting the main mosque in Mehterlam with fellow officials, when they were caught in the explosion that went off in the crowded market area just outside the mosque. The Taliban has announced that Laghmani was targeted on foot by the suicide bomber.

Formerly the spy chief for Kandahar, a Taliban-controlled region, Laghmani was, in his most recent position, directing intelligence operations across the country and especially in eastern Afghanistan, where among other things, he appointed local defense and security officials.

Other victims of the suicide attack include two of Laghmani’s bodyguards, the executive director of the province’s governor’s office, the head of its provincial council and 18 civilians.

The attack not only aimed at the heart of Afghanistan’s security services but also at the heart of many Afghani civilians, who, during Ramadan, are praying and fasting for a peaceful end to the violence that racks their nation.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said that the Taliban – the “enemy” – aims to kill “brave and hardworking” officials, but that there will be others with similar characteristics to take their place and continue their good work. Indeed, Laghmani had been visiting the Mehterlam mosque to discuss plans to rebuild it.

The loss of Laghmani is not the only blow Afghanistan’s security services have suffered recently. A few days ago, an intelligence officer was kidnapped by Taliban insurgents in the northern Kunduz province. Today, he was found dead, hanging from a tree outside Baghlan City.

images courtesy of cbc.ca and rushprnews.com

Spy planes serve multiple purposes; not only do they provide aerial espionage on insurgent movements, they can also intercept communications and pick up on soil disturbances, which are good indicators of where bombs are buried.

Comparative spy plane distribution data from a year ago shows pretty plainly that there’s been a shift in focus from Iraq to Afghanistan. According to numbers released by the Pentagon, in July 2008, 75% of U.S. spy planes went to Iraq and 25% to Afghanistan…now the figures are almost reversed, with 66% devoted to Afghanistan and 33% to Iraq.

Part of the shift comes from an overall increase in spy planes, which means percentages can change without lowering the actual number of planes in Iraq, although a decrease should not cause alarm given that attacks in Iraq have dropped to 2003 lows. In Afghanistan, meanwhile, they are at an all time high.

Every day, armed Predator and Reaper spy drones carry out 36 patrols in Afghanistan and Iraq, a fairly big jump from the 27 patrols they were carrying out this time last year.

Don’t worry – we’ve got some stats for you as well. The UN Office of Drugs and Crime originally estimated that the Taliban was getting about $400 million/year of the cash brought in by Afghanistan’s poppy fields, which supply approximately 90% of the world’s heroin. U.S. intelligence reports that the number’s closer to $70 million – a huge difference, obviously, but still a rather hefty sum, especially considering that Al Qaeda gets no significant funding from drugs.

Obviously the Taliban insurgents get funding from other sources as well (think rich patrons in the Gulf), but the Senate report also reminds us that the Taliban’s war is “relatively cheap.”

As for the whole narcotics industry powered by the Afghani poppy fields, U.S. intelligence is committed to getting a handle on that as well. Gone are the days of attacking the fields themselves, which was the tactic during Bush’s administration. No poppies, no drugs, no drug money, no drug problem, right? Apparently not as effective an approach as one would think.

Now the focus is more on the people involved – the network of people who harvest, package, sell and transport the stuff, and the drug lords who pull all the strings. A dedicated Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) intelligence unit has been established at the U.S. air base in Bagram to improve intel on the criminal drug networks in Afghanistan.

Fighting the illegal drug trade with intelligence helped to capture and convict the mastermind behind the third largest drug network in Afghanistan earlier this year; evidence procured by monitoring cell phone conversations was extremely helpful in securing the conviction.

images courtesy of salem-news.com, kennedy121.wordpress.com

The Pakistani government has promised to cut off ties with various militant groups in Afghanistan in past, especially after the bombing of the Indian Embassy in Kabul in July 2008, which killed 54 people. Evidence showed that Pakistani operatives working for the Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan’s military intelligence agency, had helped to plan the bombing.

American officials say that despite these promises, Pakistan’s ties to the Taliban have not lessened.

Make no mistake, the sort of support we’re talking about here is not just a boost in morale. Apparently, Pakistani spies are providing the Taliban with money, military supplies and guidance on their military strategy. This is the same Taliban that is getting ready to combat international troops in Afghanistan – a force that will soon include American reinforcements 17,000 strong. Evidence suggests that Pakistani spies are meeting with Taliban leaders on a regular basis to decide whether to notch up or decrease the violence as Afghan elections approach.

The Taliban is not the only group Pakistan is supporting in this way. American officials say that the secretive S Wing of the ISI has provided direct support to three major groups carrying out attacks in Afghanistan: the Taliban based in Quetta, Pakistan, as well as two other militant groups run by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Jalaluddin Haqqani.

Pakistani spies also allegedly shared information with and protected Lashkar-e-Taiba, the group suspected of carrying out the deadly attack on Mumbai in November 2008.

The NY Times reports that at least six security officials in the U.S. and Pakistan were recently interviewed in Washington, D.C. and Islamabad, Pakistan and all confirmed that the ISI does maintain contact with the Taliban. All those interviewed asked that their identities be kept confidential given the classified and sensitive intelligence information being discussed.

The American officials interviewed said evidence of allegiance between the Taliban and Pakistani operatives comes from electronic surveillance and trusted informants. Meanwhile, the Pakistani officials say that they have primary knowledge of the ties, but that the spies’ connections with the insurgents are not actually strengthening the Taliban’s campaign in any way.

Publicly, military and civilian leaders in Pakistan deny allegations of ties to militant groups, and American officials do concede that it’s unlikely top officials in the capital have hands-on involvement with insurgent networks. In fact, the ISI is known for having a mind of its own and operating accordingly, and midlevel ISI operatives developing relationships that have not been approved by their supervisors is not unheard of.

That said, the interviewed Pakistani officials’ take on the situation is that what’s being done is necessary to protect Pakistan in the long run. They say the contacts are a lot less dangerous that the Americans make them out to be, and that Pakistan needs to maintain those relationships for the day America pulls out of Afghanistan and leaves the country free and clear for India to move in. A senior Pakistani military officer said, “In intelligence, you have to be in contact with your enemy or you are running blind.”

It does seem undeniable that the ISI – whether operating with the approval of higher authority or not – is very much in the midst of a duplicitous game.

And it seems some in the West are coming to terms with this fact and are trying to use it to their advantage. One interviewed official shared that the British government has asked operatives, in their talks with the Taliban, to encourage a scaling back of attacks before this summer’s presidential elections.

Of course from the American perspective, officials in the Obama administration are frustrated by the militant group ties that Pakistan seems unable or unwilling to sever. It’s difficult enough to combat this sort of an insurgency without worrying about your allies sneaking off to help the enemy!

Pakistan did play a significant part in building up the Taliban in the 90s, when they had hopes that the group would help to stabilize a country ravaged by civil war. Now, Afghani officials plead with Pakistan to stop its support of the violent insurgents while American officials are threatening to put conditions on the $1 billion in military aid they send to Pakistan every year.

Currently, the money going to Pakistan from the U.S. could be used, via the ISI, to support the Taliban’s attacks against American troops. The Taliban could also be getting intelligence tips from Pakistani spies that help them to stay one step ahead in the conflict.

images courtesy of Reuters (via www.spiegel.de), www.loganclub.in, and www.themoderatevoice.com