German Islamists try to justify their existence

The NEFA Foundation has published the transcript of a statement written in German from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan which reads like a kind of end of term report for last year. Dozens of Germans Islamists of Arab and Turkish origin have settled in Pakistan's tribal territories where they are in an uneasy alliance with both al-Qaeda and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.
Written by Abu Adam al-Almani - in reality German national Mounir Chouka - the statement confirms the dependency of this organisation on money and support from Germany - although as Chouka notes: "in recent times lots of brothers, including German mujahidin, opened the gates to martyrdom." These include, for example, Abu Askar from Hamburg and the German-Turkish Abu Imran, who were settling down for breakfast with three Mahsud tribesmen from the TTP on 4 October last year when they were hit by a drone missile strike. "All five were eating together, when a sneaky US drone shot a rocket right into the middle of them", says Abu Adam.
Abu Adam's statement claims that Bekkay Harrach, a prominent German Moroccan jihadist, was killed last April during a joint al-Qaeda, IMU and TTP attack on the massive US base at Bagram, north of Kabul. It says 20 mujahidin took part in what was effectively a suicide operation, in the process killing 200 defenders - a claim that is clearly untrue. Detailed videos of the operation will soon be released, says Abu Adam.
Interestingly, Abu Adam is forced to answer the question he says he gets in emails "all the time" from "all over the world" about whether or not Pakistan's tribal areas are still a place that Islamists should come and fight. Even many dedicated Islamists are beginning to wonder if the carnage in Pakistan can really be justified by their religion.
Abu Adam notes the lies and confusion about what is going on there and reports that there are many spies betraying the jihadists, saying that "the spy who nailed down the honored (al-Qaeda) commander Abu Laith al-Shahid al-Libi, ...was paid $50,000 in a Pakistani camp" and that in the first part of 2009 the drones killed a lot of jihadis. He justifies the decision to attack the Pakistan army on the basis that it is supporting the drone attacks. The Pakistan army was able to clear much of Waziristan of jihadis by a merciless bombardment and clearance which left only the jihadis in the hills, fighting a guerrilla war. Now that the families have left the area, says Abu Adam, it is still a place for Hijra.
There are three combat areas, he says: Orakzai, South-east Waziristan and South-west Waziristan. Then he  presents his statistics which purport to show that in the last year the IMU has mounted a total of 330 attacks in the tribal areas of Pakistan which have killed 373 Pakistani soldiers, destroyed 5 tanks and 36 cars. In Afghanistan they claim to have carried out a total of 88 attacks, killing 145 NATO soldiers and 125 ANA soldiers. They says they have destroyed 25 armoured cars, shot down two drones and captured two prisoners.
Abu Adam does not mention the hatred that is felt for them by many Pashtuns in the tribal areas, nor the fact that they were driven out of Waziristan by the Waziri tribesmen themselves. That does not fit with his view of the 'pure' brotherhood fighting the infidels.