| Submit your comments on this article |
| India-Pakistan |
| Pakistan Informed Ahead Of Al-Zawahiri Strike |
| 2006-01-17 |
| Karachi, 17 Jan. (AKI) - (Syed Saleem Shahzad) - US intelligence officials had reliable information about a gathering of senior al-Qaeda and Taliban commanders in Pakistan's Bajour district and shared it with Islamabad before last Friday's air strike which killed 18 people, says a top Pakistani intelligence official. The official told Adnkronos International(AKI) there was authentic information about a meeting of senior personnel, but it was conjecture that those present included al-Qaeda number 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, or Taliban leader Mullah Omar. There have been widespread anti-US protests in Pakistan over the raid and no word on al-Zawahiri's fate. Details have emerged in the media suggesting that the air strike targeting al-Zawahiri - the Egyptian doctor and lieutenant to Osama bin Laden - failed because he did not show up for a dinner he was invited to marking the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha. In the pre-dawn raid on the remote village of Damadola, three houses and a school were destroyed by missiles fired from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones. Eighteen civilians, including six children, were killed. The raids triggered two days of anti-US protests throughout Pakistan. The foreign ministry summoned the US ambassador for an explanation and information minister Sheikh Rashid condemned the attack. Considered Osama bin Laden's mentor, al-Zawahiri is at the heart of the al-Qaida leadership, and Washington is offering a 25 million dollar bounty for his capture. AKI sources revealed there was authentic information on the gathering in Bajour district of high- profile Taliban and al-Qaeda commanders who recently fled from Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province. The catalyst for the CIA raid on Bajour Agency - news of which was supplied to Islamabad well in advance - was information gathered by a joint intelligence unit of Pakistani-US operators based in Islamabad, who exchanged hand-delivered notes, on a daily basis. The Islamabad unit provides a centralised daily monitoring report on Pakistan-Afghan border areas, based on information from Pakistani agencies nationwide. The US contributes report on al-Qaeda and Taliban activities, and the security situation in the border provinces of Afghanistan. Sources told AKI that for the past few weeks, there had been an upsurge in activities in the eastern Kunar province, and the US intelligence partners were reporting that Kunar had become a centre for al-Qaeda members. Previously, a corridor had been traced which started from Kunar and ended at Chitral in Pakistan, as a probable route frequently used by leaders such as Osama bin Laden, al-Zawahiri and Afghan resistance leader Gulbadin Hikmatyar. The use of the Kunar-Chitral route was confirmed by leading al-Qaeda militant Abu al Faraj al-Libbi when he was interrogated after his arrest in North West Frontier Province last June. Raids have since been conducted but failed to yield any 'big fish'. Bajour is on the edge of that corridor and there is a passage which connects Kunar from Bajour. This has made Bajour a suspect region, where joint ISI-FBI teams have conducted raids in past but failed to net any high profile al-Qaeda or Taliban leaders. AKI's sources said that a recent dispatch from the US side confirmed a movement of Arab-Afghans towards the Pakistani side. As the Chittral area was fully manned by the Pakistan Army, joint intelligence believes those Arab-Afghans entered Bajour. Earlier it was also suspected that along with the Arab fighters there was a high profile Afghan personality, maybe Mullah Omar or Gulbadin Hikmatyar. The dispatch clearly mentioned that if the suspects were spotted, they would be targeted immediately. Though last Friday’s attack was the first such incident in Bajour since US forces invaded Afghanistan at the end of 2001, it was the second incident in which Pakistani villagers have been attacked from across the border in under a week. Eight people were killed in an alleged US gunship rocket attack on a house in the North Waziristan Agency on 6 January. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #7 My own feeling is the ISI is protecting both zawahiri and Bin Laden. They know we want them and they're going to get everything they can from us before they hand them over. From their perspective, we abandoned them like an old blanket when the Ruskies left Afgahnistan. Now they're going to make sure they aren't too successful too fast. Think the Mafia and the Big Dig. Al |
| Posted by: Frozen Al 2006-01-17 18:19 |
| #6 Glenmore - your comment of "And if not, why not" is the key - we've been at this in Pakland from well before 9-11, and to the extent this was a misfire, I wonder if we gain more than if it were a hit. Hitchens had an encouraging article yesterday about Iraq/Al Qaeda, and in a similar vein, I suspect Pakistan is now home to at least 3 and probably more intelligence services - it's own, it's own penetrated by us, it's own penetrated by Iran or China, and it's own acting on its own notwithstanding Perv and Co. In a hall of mirrors like that, it's a bonus when an operation like this accomplishes something immediately, as well as leaving slime trails for all the fleeing slugs. Unless Binny is practicing Farsi on the Caspian shore, the recent homicide bombings in Afghanistan may indicate that Al-Q and the Taliban are so destitute they're shifting talent from elsewhere. A real good sign might be additional progress pretty far afield - say Somalia or Phillipines - hopefully drying up the farthest reaches as the core withers - here's hoping! |
| Posted by: Whager Thavimble9071 2006-01-17 16:18 |
| #5 Back in WWII, we wanted to confirm the hunch that the Japanese were "reading our mail," and sent a bogus message about the water supply on Midway Island. Sure enough, that info was sent to Tokyo. Think maybe we could do a similiar thing: tell different Paki's different things and see what pops. Then go in and clean out the rat(s). |
| Posted by: USN, ret. 2006-01-17 14:36 |
| #4 Glenmore, I had thought of the tip-off scenario nut not the radioactive dye diagnostic angle. Wheels within wheels ... |
| Posted by: Xbalanke 2006-01-17 11:20 |
| #3 If the US did notify Pakistan 'well in advance' of the attack, then they (CIA) HAD to know Zawahiri would be tipped off. This begs the question of WHY that notification would have been made. And was the CIA/NSA etc. carefully monitoring just who got that notification and where it was passed. In fact, there has been an upsurge in border activity lately - I wonder if there is a 'program' of actions and informings going on, all designed to shed light on the internal network in the Pakistani government. And if not, why not. In the long run the bigger problem is not Zawahiri, but the factions allied with him within the Pakistani government - Zawahiri doesn't have nukes, the Pakis do. Eventually Musharraf will fall, to natural causes if nothing else first. It is going to be VITAL to know and hopefully be able to work with his successor(s). |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2006-01-17 09:22 |
| #2 my thought too. |
| Posted by: RD 2006-01-17 08:54 |
| #1 Ah, so he was tipped off... |
| Posted by: Ptah 2006-01-17 08:40 |