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| Afghanistan |
| Talibs, al-Qaeda regrouping? |
| 2002-08-09 |
| Christian Science Monitor often has some good reporting on terror networks from Afghanistan, though the sky is usually falling. [Afghan] intelligence sources say that just over the border in Pakistan, most of the top Taliban and Al Qaeda leadership, including Osama bin Laden himself, have been seen moving into northern Pakistan from the tribal belt south of the Afghan town of Tora Bora. Bin Laden was last seen three weeks ago in the Pakistani tribal city of Dir, about 45 miles east-northeast of Asadabad. If a true report, then he's not dead. Question is, how likely is it that it's true? Osama's top lieutenant, Ayman Zawahiri, is now thought to be directing operations from Al Qaeda's newly built base in the village of Shah Salim, about 30 miles west of the Pakistani city of Chitral, near the border of Afghanistan's Kunar Province. The other base is in the Pakistani village of Murkushi on the Chinese border, about 90 miles north of the Pakistani city of Gilgit. That gives us a couple targets... To fight a new war against American forces, Al Qaeda is reportedly broadening its base of support to include new like-minded members, including the Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and his Pashtun-dominated radical Islamist Hizb-I-Islami party. That was what we thought was happening last time we heard of Hekmatyar, which was a while ago. Hekmatyar has much in common with al-Qaeda and the Taliban: intolerance, xenophobia, a wide cruel streak, and a preference for non-linear thinking. They're a natural fit... Hekmatyar's party still enjoys support in Kunar and other Pashtun-dominated provinces and is also the closest in ideological terms to the Taliban. From exile in Iran last fall, Hekmatyar called on all Muslims to fight alongside the Taliban against any invasion of American forces. Yeah. Yeah. We know he's one of the worst Bad Guys going, and his head will look pretty neat hanging on the wall next to Binny's and Omar's... With its renewed mission, Al Qaeda has taken on a new name, Fateh Islam, or Islamic Victory. They change names every three weeks or so to keep the Feds out of their bank accounts... Their battle plan, Afghan intelligence sources say, is to launch a massive attack on eastern Afghanistan, by crossing along the poorly defended mountainous border of Kunar Province, where opium and timber smugglers take their products out of Afghanistan either undetected or with the compliance of corrupt Afghan border officials. Ummm... That's not a very detailed plan... What're they going to do when they get there? On the streets of Asadabad itself, it's clear that Al Qaeda already has established a network of informers and preachers. In mosques and religious schools, Al Qaeda members have begun whipping up local anger against the US presence in Afghanistan, and the house-to-house searches in Kunar. One Arab man, dressed in Afghan salwar kameez, but wearing the traditional white headdress of a Saudi preacher, was seen this week standing in the center of the main square of Asadabad, before being led away by two young religious students toward a local mosque. What was he doing? Preaching? Was he on dope? Drunk and disorderly? Another man, who teaches primary school in Asadabad, told the Monitor there are plenty of Al Qaeda supporters in Kunar. "I'm proud to be Al Qaeda," says Abdur Rahim, a soft-voiced man who studied Islam for 16 years at a hard-line Islamic seminary in Peshawar, Pakistan. "I'm 100 percent sure they will come back here. It will be very soon, and the Taliban were 100 times better than these warlords who rob us on the streets. The jihad is compulsory against the kaffirs [unbelievers], but we cannot fight against their planes." Keep in mind that this guy teaches primary school. What's going into the kiddies' little heads? I suspect it ain't Big Bird. Those planes do represent a problem, don't they? And the bad part is, when you finally get around to shooting one down, a much bigger one is going to come and cave your little corner of the world in on you and your family and your dog, whether you're at a wedding or not... Speaking of American special forces based in Asadabad, he says, "These are infidels and they have destroyed our religion. Jews and Christians, all of them, we want Muslim forces, we don't want infidels." As a crowd gathers, cautioning the Al Qaeda member to be quiet, Rahim becomes even more outspoken. "Everyone here feels like me, but some people have big hearts and others have little faith. These people are quiet because they have little faith." Or maybe they're not as xenophobic. Or maybe their wrapping are tighter... Other Afghans seem more pragmatic. Mohammad Malang, a timber merchant in Asadabad's massive lumber market, says hundreds of Arabs came through Kunar late last year, after the bombing campaign began on the mountain hideout of Tora Bora, south of Jalalabad. Now, when he carries wood to the border of Pakistan on his logging truck, he sees plenty of Al Qaeda fighters coming and going through the Afghan checkposts. "The Americans pay us money and we give them Al Qaeda," he says with a smile. "The Al Qaeda give us money and we give them shelter. Nowadays we are not giving them shelter because of the US troops here, but up there on the border, they are there right now up in the forests. They come and go and nobody stops them." That's because there aren't large groupings of them. It's best to kill them in batches. With the fine, helpful attitude of the locals, it won't be very important to us if a few of them arrive in Paradise at the same time as a large number of Arabs... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |