Originally posted by NASSIR: Source: DhaharOnline I see my boy Jamaal in the pic. Glad to hear the Young Turks had a fantastic time.

The name is just the westernized version of Feerokuus. Nothing wrong with it.

Originally posted by Aaliyah416: teleephankeena maxa ku fali? miyaad na guursan laheed loool. That was hilarious. U sheeg inadeer. Maaddeey, welcome!!!!!!!!

“This is an amazing story. He’s a semiliterate individual." The New York Times WASHINGTON — In late 2001, Mullah Muhammad Omar’s prospects seemed utterly bleak. The ill-educated, one-eyed leader of the Taliban had fled on a motorbike after his fighters were swiftly routed by the Americans invading Afghanistan. Much of the world celebrated his ouster, and Afghans cheered the return of girls’ education, music and ordinary pleasures outlawed by the grim fundamentalist government. Eight years later, Mullah Omar leads an insurgency that has gained steady ground in much of Afghanistan against much better equipped American and NATO forces. Far from a historical footnote, he represents a vexing security challenge for the Obama administration, one that has consumed the president’s advisers, divided Democrats and left many Americans frustrated. “This is an amazing story,” said Bruce Riedel, a former Central Intelligence Agency officer who coordinated the Obama administration’s initial review of Afghanistan policy in the spring. “He’s a semiliterate individual who has met with no more than a handful of non-Muslims in his entire life. And he’s staged one of the most remarkable military comebacks in modern history.” American officials are weighing the significance of this comeback: Is Mullah Omar the brains behind shrewd shifts of Taliban tactics and propaganda in recent years, or does he have help from Pakistani intelligence? Might the Taliban be amenable to negotiations, as Mullah Omar hinted in a Sept. 19 statement, or can his network be divided and weakened in some other way? Or is the Taliban’s total defeat required to ensure that Afghanistan will never again become a haven for Al Qaeda? The man at the center of the American policy conundrum remains a mystery, the subject of adoring mythmaking by his followers and guesswork by the world’s intelligence agencies. He was born, by various accounts, in 1950 or 1959 or 1960 or 1962. He may be hiding near Quetta, Pakistan, or hunkered down in an Afghan village. No one is sure. “He can’t operate openly; there are too many people looking for him,” and the eye he lost to Soviet shrapnel in the 1980s makes him recognizable, said Alex Strick van Linschoten, a Dutch-born writer who lives in Kandahar, where Mullah Omar’s movement was born, and who has helped a former Taliban official write a memoir. “There are four or five people who can pass messages to Omar,” Mr. Strick van Linschoten said. “And then there’s a circle of people who can get access to those four or five people.” Rahimullah Yusufzai, of The News International, a Pakistani newspaper, who interviewed Mullah Omar a dozen times before 2001, called him “a man of few words and not very knowledgeable about international affairs.” But his reputed humility, his legend as a ferocious fighter against Soviet invaders in the 1980s, and his success in ending the lawlessness and bloody warlords’ feuds of the early 1990s cemented his power. “His followers adore him, believe in him and are willing to die for him,” Mr. Yusufzai said. While even Taliban officials rarely see him, Mullah Omar “remains an inspiration, sending out letters and audiotapes to his commanders and fighters,” the journalist said. A recent assessment by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top American commander in Afghanistan, identified the Taliban as the most important part of the insurgency, coordinating “loosely” with groups led by two prominent warlords. He concluded that “the insurgents currently have the initiative” and “the overall situation is deteriorating.” The statement from Mullah Omar, one of a series issued in his name on each of the two annual Id holidays, offered a remarkably similar analysis. He, or his ghostwriter, praised the success of “the gallant mujahedeen” in countering the “sophisticated and cutting-edge technology” of the enemy, saying the Taliban movement “is approaching the edge of victory.” For a recluse, he showed a keen awareness of Western public opinion, touching on the history that haunts foreign armies in Afghanistan (“We fought against the British invaders for 80 years”), denouncing fraud in the recent presidential election and asking of the American-led forces, “Have they achieved anything in the past eight years?” American military and intelligence analysts say the Taliban have definitely achieved some things. They describe today’s Afghan Taliban as a franchise operation, a decentralized network of fighters with varying motivations, united by hostility to the Afghan government and foreign forces and by loyalty to Mullah Omar. The Taliban have deployed fighters in small guerrilla units and stepped up the use of suicide bombings and improvised explosive devices. The movement has expanded military operations from the Taliban’s southern stronghold into the north and west of the country, forcing NATO to spread its troops more thinly. Day-to-day decisions are made by Mullah Omar’s deputies, in particular Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a skilled, pragmatic commander, who runs many meetings with Taliban commanders and “shadow governors” appointed in much of the country, analysts say. Mullah Omar heads the Taliban’s Rahbari Shura, or leadership council, often called the Quetta Shura since it relocated to the Pakistani city in 2002. The shura, consisting of the Taliban commanders, “operates like the politburo of a communist party,” setting broad strategy, said Mr. Yusufzai, the Pakistani journalist. General McChrystal wrote in his assessment that the shura “conducts a formal campaign review each winter, after which Mullah Omar announces his guidance and intent for the coming year.” Thomas E. Gouttierre, director of the Center for Afghanistan Studies at the University of Nebraska, Omaha, said that “as a symbolic figure, Omar is a centrifugal force for the Taliban,” playing a similar role to that of Osama bin Laden in Al Qaeda. But Dr. Gouttierre credits the Taliban’s success not to any military genius on the part of Mullah Omar but to more worldly advisers from Pakistan’s intelligence service and Al Qaeda. Western and Afghan sources agree on the bare outline of Mullah Omar’s biography: He was born in a village, had limited religious schooling, fought with the mujahedeen against the Soviet Army and helped form the Taliban in 1994. Some accounts say he is married and has two sons. His emergence as the leader of the puritanical students who later fought their way to the capital, Kabul, may have resulted from his very obscurity, some experts say. He was not a flamboyant warlord with allies and enemies, a likely plus for the Taliban’s sponsors in Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate. “He had an unaligned quality that made him useful,” Mr. Strick van Linschoten said. In jihadist accounts, his story has the feeling of legend: “At the height of his youth, he stepped forward against the disbelievers and terrorized their ranks,” says an undated 10-page biography from an Islamist information agency, which also describes how he once refused cream and other delicacies, preferring “a bowl of plain soup with some hard, stale bread.” Taliban folklore tells of his bravery in the 1980s in removing his own injured eye and fighting on; of his dream in the mid-1990s in which the Prophet Muhammad told him he would bring peace to Afghanistan; and of how in 1996, he donned a cloak reputed to have belonged to the prophet and took the title “commander of the faithful.” That was the year that Mr. bin Laden moved his base to Afghanistan. Ever since, the central question about Mullah Omar for American officials has been his relationship with Al Qaeda. In 1998, two days after American cruise missiles hit a Qaeda training camp in an unsuccessful attempt to kill Mr. bin Laden, Mullah Omar telephoned an astonished State Department official, Michael E. Malinowski, who took the call on his porch at 2:30 a.m. Mullah Omar demanded proof that the Qaeda leader was involved in terrorism, according to declassified records. (Mullah Omar also suggested that to improve American relations with Muslim countries, President Bill Clinton should step down.) Mr. bin Laden courted the Taliban leader, vowing allegiance and calling the far less educated man a historic leader of Islam. A letter of advice from Mr. bin Laden to Mullah Omar on Oct. 3, 2001, found on a Qaeda computer obtained by The Wall Street Journal, heaped on the praise (“I would like to emphasize how much we appreciate the fact that you are our emir”). Despite intense pressure from the United States and its allies to turn over Mr. bin Laden, Mullah Omar declined, and paid a steep price when the Taliban fell. Richard Barrett, a former British intelligence officer now monitoring Al Qaeda and the Taliban for the United Nations, argues that Mullah Omar has learned the lesson of 2001. If the Taliban regain power, he said, “they don’t want Al Qaeda hanging around.” He added, “They want to be able to say, ‘We are a responsible government.’ ” Indeed, in his Sept. 19 statement, Mullah Omar made such an assertion: “We assure all countries that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, as a responsible force, will not extend its hand to cause jeopardy to others.” Mr. Riedel, who helped devise the Afghanistan strategy now being rethought, scoffs at such pronouncements as “clever propaganda.” “We’ve been trying for 13 years to get the Taliban to break with Al Qaeda and turn over bin Laden, and they haven’t done it,” Mr. Riedel said. “Whatever the bond is between them, it’s stood the test of time.” Eric Schmitt contributed reporting from Washington, and Pir Zubair Shah from Islamabad, Pakistan. The New York Times

Gaaboow wuu raaxaysanayaa miyaa la yidhi? Not that this is relevent, but horta ma la hubaa inay gabartu Somali tahay. I see her net bio says NAJAH WAKIL is a Philadelphia born model who lives in New York. Ilaahay ceebteeda ha asturo.

Allah Ya Rahmah. Sad to hear another great one is gone.

I see Siciid Faahiye and Maxamed Hassan having a nice feast together. Great stuff Xudeedi. Keep us updated.

These training excercises seem worthless. We have been hearing about Somali soldiers being "trained" since Empagathi and nothing came out of them.

The first price ever given to "hope". He more than deserves than many who won in the past. Let us not fall for the right wing kooks' talking points here. This is a good come back for the skinny African after that Olympic fiasco.

loool.

Apple may be hiding something. A tablet computer (ipod on steroids) is the latest buzz on tech blogs. If true, I'would be the first one to get one. Hopefully we will hear something about it in the next few months.

Sad story indeed. Puntland should make sure these people are released asap.

Originally posted by xiinfaniin: Dhubad Jafe intuu dhoobley iyo afmadow waco buu wixii loo sheegay SOL kusoo qoraa Hahaaa. That was good. Jaffe waa rageedii walle.

Egypt's Al-Azhar university to ban niqab in women's classes (AFP) – 6 hours ago CAIRO — Egypt's Al-Azhar University, the most prestigious centre of religious learning in the Sunni Muslim world, said on Thursday it will ban the face veil from female-only classrooms and residences. "The Supreme Council of Al-Azhar has decided to ban students and teachers from wearing the niqab inside female-only classrooms, that are taught by women only," a statement said. The ban extends to women's dormitories and to schools affiliated with the university, it said. The face-veil, or niqab, is worn by some devout Muslim women. Local press reported that Mohammed Tantawi, head of Al-Azhar, said last week that he intended to ban the practice in the university. The supreme council's statement added that Al-Azhar does not oppose the niqab, which it said only a minority of Muslim scholars consider an obligation, but it opposes "imprinting it on the minds of girls." The decision came after female students who wear the niqab were banned from the women's dormitory of the state-run Cairo University. Most Muslim women in Egypt wear the hijab, which covers the hair, but the niqab is becoming more popular on the streets of Cairo. The government has shown concern over the trend. The religious endowments ministry issued booklets against the practice, saying the niqab is not Islamic, and the health ministry wants to ban it among doctors and nurses. In the Middle East, the niqab is associated with Salafism, an ultra-conservative school of thought practiced mostly in Saudi Arabia. Most Salafis shun politics, but the creed has influenced Islamist militants such as Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden. From the Palestinian territories, a small Salafi group known as Jund Ansar Allah has called on Egyptians to strike out in reaction, according to a statement reported by the SITE Intelligence Group. "We call upon our mujahedeen brothers to start crushing the fortifications of the government of the pharaoh of this age (President Hosni Mubarak) and to strike with an iron hand all the agents and traitors." Al-Azhar has long enjoyed a reputation as Sunni Islam's eminent source of learning and edicts. Salafists, who actively promote their creed, sometimes funded by wealthy patrons in Saudi Arabia, are opposed to Al-Azhar's theological teachings.

Buurmadoow is not even recognized by his clansmen. This is fake news ya JB.

Originally posted by xiinfaniin: ^^Absolutely! And I strongly resent the ‘school teacher’ comment. Xiinoow, I believe that comment is from Hiiraan.com. I am sure the former dean of Lafoole University wouldn't mind that label as he has spent a lifetime educating Somalis of all ages. Regardless, I think you guys had a fantastic time. Meesha waa lagu xadreeyey awooweyaal. Well done.

Nice pics Juje. quote: Originally posted by Juje: As Xiin and Duke would tell you, if you have have the likes of Professor Maxamed Xassan on your side, you will have the keys to Minneapolis's Somali community.

CAIRO — Conservative Egyptian lawmakers have called for a ban on imports of a Chinese-made kit meant to help women fake their virginity and one scholar has even called for the "exile" of anyone who imports or uses it. The Artificial Virginity Hymen kit, distributed by the Chinese company Gigimo, costs about $30. It is intended to help newly married women fool their husbands into believing they are virgins – culturally important in a conservative Middle East where sex before marriage is considered by many to be illicit. The product leaks a blood-like substance when inserted and broken. Gigimo advertises shipping to every Arab country. But the company did not answer e-mails and phone calls seeking comment on whether it had orders from Egypt or other parts of the Middle East. The fracas started when a reporter from Radio Netherlands broadcast an Arabic translation of the Chinese advertisement of the product. That set off fears of conservative parliament members that Egyptian women might start ordering the kits. Sheik Sayed Askar, a member of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood who is on the parliamentary committee on religious affairs, said the kit will make it easier for Egyptian women to give in to temptation. He demanded the government take responsibility for fighting the product to uphold Egyptian and Arab values. "It will be a mark of shame on the ruling party if it allowed this product to enter the market," he said in a notice posted on the Brotherhood's parliament Web site on Sept. 15. The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest political opposition group, holds 88 of Egypt's 454 parliament seats. Prominent Egyptian religious scholar Abdel Moati Bayoumi said anyone who imports the artificial hymen should be punished. "This product encourages illicit sexual relations. Islamic culture forbids these relations except within the confines of marriage," Bayoumi said. "I think this should absolutely not be allowed to be exported because it brings more harm than benefits. Whoever does it (imports it) should be punished." In a country and a region where pre-marital sex is so taboo it can even lead to a woman's murder, the debate over the virginity-faking kit has revived Egypt's constant struggle to reconcile modern mores with more traditional beliefs – namely, that a woman is not a virgin unless she bleeds after the first time. "Bleeding is not the only signal that yes, she's a virgin," said Heba Kotb, an observant Muslim woman who hosts a sex talk show on TV in which she fields calls from all over the Middle East. Kotb noted that a medical procedure that reattaches a broken hymen by stitching is illegal in Egypt and can cost hundreds of dollars – prohibitively expensive for the poor. But many women still secretly seek it out in fear of punishment for pre-marital sex. Such punishment could include slayings at the hands of relatives, a practice more commonly referred to as honor killings and common in the more conservative tribal areas of the Middle East. The product is also causing a buzz on Egyptian blogs and news sites. "If this thing enters Egypt, the country is going to go to waste. God protect us," commented a reader on the Web site of Egyptian newspaper Al-Youm Al-Sabie. Marwa Rakha, an author and blogger who writes about dating issues, sees the product as a tool of empowerment for women in a macho Arab culture that restricts women's sexual urges but turns a blind eye to men galavanting. "It sticks it in the face of every male hypocrite," she said. Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/05/egypt-fake-hymen-kit-may-_n_309737.html

no adverts of other Somali websites on the forum please.

Source

1. Norway 2. Australia 3. Iceland 4. Canada 5. Ireland 6. Netherlands 7. Sweden 8. France 9. Switzerland 10. Japan 11. Luxembourg 12. Finland 13. United States 14. Austria 15. Spain 16. Denmark 17. Belgium 18. Italy 19. Liechtenstein 20. New Zealand 21. United Kingdom 22. Germany 23. Singapore 24. Hong Kong, China (SAR) 25. Greece 26. Korea (Republic of) 27. Israel 28. Andorra 29. Slovenia 30. Brunei Darussalam 31. Kuwait 32. Cyprus 33. Qatar 34. Portugal 35. United Arab Emirates 36. Czech Republic 37. Barbados 38. Malta The worst. 159. Togo 160. Malawi 161. Benin 162. Timor-Leste 163. Côte d'Ivoire 164. Zambia 165. Eritrea 166. Senegal 167. Rwanda 168. Gambia 169. Liberia 170. Guinea 171. Ethiopia 172. Mozambique 173. Guinea-Bissau 174. Burundi 175. Chad 176. Congo (Democratic Republic of the) 177. Burkina Faso 178. Mali 179. Central African Republic 180. Sierra Leone 181. Afghanistan 182. Niger ----------- WORST For Somalia, there is no data. Afghanistan used to be the same (no data), but it has improved so much that it made the list this time.

Duke was there, .... duke was there. It looks like Duke showed up at the event after the "Warriors-Against-Sea-Sellers" protest had already concluded.

Originally posted by Kool_Kat: ^While you're at it, why don't you walk to the bank and waxoogaa jajab soo dirtid? lool. Kool, are you saying I didn't donate yet?

Great start indeed. I will walk to work that day Insha Allah. Hopefully it won't be freezing cold.

Originally posted by Gabbal: This same man is from Ahmed Madoobe's clan. Rather this is a smack in the face to those who claim Shabaab is not clean from tribalism. [/QB] The eradication of clannism, warlordism and injustice has begun. The process will take a long and arduous course and it will be subjected to a prolonged campaign of terror by those who prefer the status quo. But nevertheless the evolution of it is fully visible, and InshaAllah the ultimate objectives will be reached without a major derailment.