Zawahiri plays his victim tune

Whalid Phares:

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Zawahiri develops two lines of attacks. One against Karzai by exposing what he calls "the US role in killing Afghan civilians in Kabul, Khust, Urzogan, Helmind, Kunar and Kandahar." The accusation by Zawahiri of these killings comes at a time when Karzai himself is complaining (and has been for a while) about "civilian losses" in the ongoing battles with Taliban and al Qaida fighters. The design by Zawahiri is to corner Karzai with his own words. As shown clearly from al Jazeera’s panels, the strategy of the Jihadi propaganda and policy architects is to corner Karzai with accusations by Taliban and supporters that he is covering up for these losses. The Afghan Government would be walking on fine lines between responding to Zawahiri, as Karzai did, but also criticizing US and allies for their “faulty tactics.” In the mind of the Jihadi architects of politics, attacking Zawahiri won’t have additional effects on anyone, but criticizing one’s allies will have an effect on all parties: The US, Karzai and the Afghani public.

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Zawahiri calls on "Muslims in Kabul to rise against the Kuffars (infidels) and single out the "youth of Islam in colleges and universities." Such a call directed at this particular section of the population indicates two matters at least: One is that al Qaida and the Taliban wants to reach a second generation of Jihadis in Afghanistan, one remainder of the previous power base of the Taliban, the students. But at the same time, according to chat rooms and web discussions and exchanges, al Qaida and the Taliban are concerned about the "new trends among the youth in Afghanistan," influenced by democracy, pluralism, the rights of women and other freedoms unavailable under the medieval Taliban. As I have argued in previous analysis, Zawahiri and the Jihadists have their future concerns as well.

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There is more. Most of this al Qaeda jihad is about perceived victimhood and most of their propaganda is about spreading the message of victimhood. Ranting about disrespect for the Koran while exploding Muslims bodies all over Korans in Iraq and Pakistan shows how disengenious this victimhood ideology is.