Globe Trot: Pakistan financed 2009 attack on Afghan CIA base

AFGHANISTAN: The deadliest attack on U.S. intelligence officers in CIA history was the likely work of Pakistan’s intelligence agency, according to a declassified U.S. government document. The 2009 attack, carried out by a double agent for al-Qaeda and the Taliban, killed seven. Documentation shows an unidentified Pakistani ISI officer paid $200,000 to the Haqqani network “to enable the attack” at Forward Operating Base Chapman.

ISLAMIC STATE is out with its latest issue of Dabiq, a glossy periodical, this time featuring in a photo spread images of the ISIS attack in Brussels. This sort of propaganda is typical:

“The death of a single Muslim, no matter his role in society, is more grave to the believer than the massacre of every kāfir on earth. … Any disbeliever standing in the way of the Islamic State will be killed, without pity or remorse, until Muslims suffer no harm and governance is entirely for Allah.”

In travels and speaking I’m getting good questions on Islam. I recommend Nabeel Qureshi’s Answering Jihad. Qureshi is a Muslim convert to Christianity, and he deals thoroughly with the claims of Islam, and why he rejected them.

NIGERIA: For parents, hope and frustration mark this week’s two-year anniversary of the kidnapping of the Chibok school girls. A Boko Haram video released yesterday showed some of the girls alive. And a new report from Alliance Defending Freedom highlights the urgency of bringing their captors before the International Criminal Court.

Boko Haram is the most lethal terrorist group in the world, killing more than 10,000 civilians in 2015. Yet the State Department repeatedly appears flat-footed and late to the table in addressing its threat. Here’s the latest nonsense: State Department spokesman Mark Toner responding to a series of reporters’ questions this week on the Chibok anniversary.

SYRIA: With ceasefire negotiations ongoing in Geneva, renewed fighting around Aleppo is forcing thousands of new refugees to the border with Turkey. The latest conflict map highlights casualties and refugees: Note the number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, a country of 4 million, has doubled since 2014 to more than 2 million

Immigration will change Sweden, as more than 160,000 migrants applied for refugee status in Sweden in 2015.

COLOMBIA: The singing nuns of Cali are the best way I know to end the week. Said Sister Maria:

“Before bringing a message, it is necessary to have a witness of life, to be faithful to the Lord, and to His call. Really, our vows of poverty, obedience, and chastity help us to give of ourselves. The first medium of communication is our life, and it is this that the world needs—living gospels.”