Al Qaeda is back in business and has a nexus with the Taliban, who have enlarged their agenda to include what they perceive as Islamic causes beyond the borders of Afghanistan, according to leading terrorism expert Peter Bergen. He told a discussion on Afghanistan at the US Institute of Peace on Wednesday that Al Qaeda had acquired the ability to plan and mount attacks thousands of miles away from its base, as evidenced by the 7/7 attacks in London. Another of its chosen weapons, which it was using effectively, was the Internet. Al-Sahab, its video-producing arm was putting out a steady supply of videos, some of them for training, others for highlighting the groupÂ’s successful operations, including suicide bombings. The terrorist group, Bergen noted, is active in Iraq and Afghanistan. Gulbuddin Hekmatyar has himself said that he is a part of Al Qaeda. Well-camouflaged terrorist training camps exist on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, including those in special compounds where recruits are taught bomb-making and other skills. He said that because of PakistanÂ’s national elections next year, there is going to be less and less cooperation from Islamabad in the fight against terrorism. He said there are Taliban on both sides of the Pak-Afghan border. The question was: can the Taliban become a drug cartel?
Bergen, who is the CNN’s expert on terrorism, suggested that there should be a “mini-Marshall Plan” for Afghanistan and pressure on Pakistan by the US and coalition countries to curb the Taliban. He noted that the amnesty announced by Kabul for former Taliban elements had been a success. Since the drug trade could not be eliminated, because it would bring about an economic collapse, it should be regularised by the government. A “map” of suicide bombers should be made so as to trace their origins and identify the clerics who induce them to go on suicide missions, he said.