In buses and trucks, pickups and vans, more than 5,000 people rolled out of a northeastern Pakistan village yesterday morning, bound for the Afghan frontier and vowing to fight a holy war against the US.
Thousands of Pakistani men, young and old, had massed in Temergarah on Friday night with assault rifles, machine guns, even rocket launchers. A few even carried axes and swords.
Their mission, they said: to enter Afghanistan's Kunar province and help the country's ruling Taliban defend against any ground incursions by American troops.
"I am an old man. I consider myself lucky to go -- and to face the death of a martyr," said Shah Wazir, 70, a retired Pakistani army officer. In his hands yesterday morning, he carried a French rifle from about 1920.
Organizers said similar-sized groups were massing in other towns across North West Frontier province, an enclave of ethnic Pashtuns with ties to -- and deep feelings for -- neighboring Afghanistan.
Volunteers gathered in scores of groups of 20, sitting on the ground to be briefed by military commanders -- wearing black turbans and full beards similar to the Taliban militia -- on the ways of jihad, or Islamic holy war. One key rule: obedience to leaders.
"It is a difficult time for Islam and Muslims. We are in a test. Everybody should be ready to pass the test -- and to sacrifice our lives," said Mohammad Khaled, one brigade leader.
Hussain Khan, 19, a carpenter from the area, carried a Kalashnikov and stood with his friend. He said he was leaving behind a fiancee and joining a just cause.
"Whether I come back alive or I am dead, I'll be fortunate because I am fighting in the service of Islam," Khan said.
As the would-be warriors embraced and chanted anti-American slogans, 17-year-old Abdul Rasheed asked one commander to allow him to join.
"Please come with me and meet my father and convince him to let me go," Rasheed said. He said his father was reluctant.
The call for holy war came this week from Sufi Mohammad, an outspoken Muslim cleric who runs a madrasah, or religious school, in nearby Madyan. He exhorted "true Muslims" to mass and prepare to go to Afghanistan -- to repel any US ground incursions.
In this region of Pakistan, Mohammad's organization -- the Movement for the Enforcement of Islamic Laws -- has been embraced. And the cleric's message -- that, despite its insistence to the contrary, the US is waging war on Islam -- hits home.
"This is a strange occasion of world history," Mohammad said Friday. "For the first time, all the anti-Islamic forces are united against Islam."
It was impossible to verify how many were actually en route to join him. In recent weeks, many militants have claimed far more supporters than their rallies eventually produce.
However, the numbers in Temergarah yesterday morning -- and the people jammed into trucks and on bus rooftops -- suggested support was heavy. Mohammad's backers say the number to enter Afghanistan will reach 100,000.
"We are not worried about death," said Khaled, the brigade leader. "If we die in jihad, it is something much greater than to be alive. And we will be taken into paradise."
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS