Where Are Bin Laden And Al Qaeda?

After the recent disastrous hunt for Osama bin Laden, his No.2 Ayman Al-Zawahiri and other dregs of AlQaeda by the Pakistan army, under pressure from the US, in South Waziristan in the Federally-AdministeredTribal areas (FATA) of Pakistan, which led to no Al Qaeda survivor being caught  despite 70 fatalcasualties suffered by the Army, there has been an intense debate in the Pakistani media and in the tribalareas bordering Afghanistan about the accuracy of US information and assessments about Al Qaeda and bin Laden.

Many have come to believe that despite some successes scored by the US in the arrests of Abu Zubaidah,Ramzi Binalshibh, Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, Walid bin Attash and Hambali and their subsequent interrogation, itcontinues to be as ill-informed about Al Qaeda and the International Islamic Front (ISI) as it was about theexistence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and the alleged links of Saddam Hussein with Al Qaeda.

Junior and middle level officers of the Pakistan Army have been accusing the US of having sent the Army ona wild goose chase in South Waziristan on the basis of inaccurate information about the presence of Al Qaedadregs in the area. At the prodding of the US, the Pakistan Army undertook a combing of the South Waziristanarea right upto the Afghan border. If the US information was correct, the dregs of Al Qaeda, who had allegedlytaken shelter in South Waziristan, should have either fallen into the net of the Pakistan Army or fled intoAfghanistan and fallen into the waiting hands of the US Special Forces who were waiting for them in Afghanterritory. Neither happened.

According to Gen. (retd)Mirza Aslam Beg, Pakistan's former Chief of the Army Staff (1988 to 1991), this wasbecause many of the dregs of Al Qaeda are no longer either in Pakistan or Afghanistan. They have  movedover to Iraq where they have been fighting against the US-led coalition troops there. Only a small number arein the Waziristan area.

Writing in the daily Nation of March 14, 2004, even before the South Waziristan operation ended in aflop, Beg, who as the No.2 to Zia-ul-Haq was closely involved in organising the jihad against the Soviettroops in Afghanistan, traces the jihadi career of bin Laden right from the day he landed in Afghanistan fromSaudi Arabia, according to him, in 1986. It is generally believed in Pakistan that Beg,Lt.Gen. (retd) HamidGul, Gen.Pervez Musharraf and Gen. Mohammad Aziz Khan, presently, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee,are the most knowledgeable about the jihadi career of bin Laden. His account, therefore, has some credibility.To quote him:

"In 1982, the number of Soviet soldiers had reached the level of 150,000 whereas that of the Afghanforces were approximately 40,000. That was the time when the USA and Pakistan came out in open support of theMujahideen and planned a comprehensive strategy to resist the occupation. A fairly large number of Mujahideenwere encouraged to join the resistance. The jihadi fervour was so overwhelming  that Muslim religiousleaders, namely Omar Abdur Rahman and Farah Khan in USA, motivated the youth to join the Afghan resistance.

"To build an ideological wall against the Communists in Afghanistan, a chain of madrasas wasestablished on the Pakistan-Afghan borders jointly by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia with the full support of theUSA. These institutions were also to serve as nurseries for jihad. The Taliban, therefore, were theend-product of these madrasas, which were single-mindedly committed to end the Soviet occupation.

"Dr.Abdullah Azam, who belonged to Jordan, established an educational-cum-military institution atGhunda Shahadat, naming it as Ghunda-e-Jadeed, located beyond Parachinar, in the Afghan territory.

Arabphilanthropists were the main financiers of this institution. It was in 1986 that Osama bin Laden gotintegrated into this institution.

"As he was a wealthy man, he was able to construct roads in the far-flung areas and build sanctuariesin the mountains, so that the mujahideen and their weapons and equipment could be protected from the Sovietair strikes. Abdullah Azam used to visit his family in Hayatabad near Peshawar where he was assassinated in1987.

"After his death, Osama took charge of the Ghunda Shahadat training centre. Arab mujahideen formed thebulk of this institution, which was augmented by fighters from other countries like Chechnya, Indonesia,Malaysia, Philippines, India etc. Due to increasing resistance by the mujahideen, the Soviets began to usetheir elite commando brigades called Spitnaz. In spite of pressures, the Ghunda Shahadat  training centrecontinued to provide well-trained manpower to resist the aggressor.

"It was about this time that Prof. Abdul Rauf Saif (Sayyaf) established a military academy at Sadda,near Tat city, where over 5,000 Mujahideen were trained at a time, while Osama founded the InternationalIslamic Front (IIF) and developed relations with Islamic movements working at the global level.

"The USA was not only aware of all these activities of Osama, but it also provided all necessarysupport to achieve the objectives. Osama bin Laden was acclaimed as a symbol of resistance against the Sovietforces in Afghanistan and was highly respected. According to a press report, Adil Aljabir, the present advisorto the Saudi Government, has disclosed that Osama and his outfit were paid by US Government over $ 500 millionannually for waging jihad against the Soviets, but he was declared a terrorist when the Soviets retreated.

"In 1989, a combined attack was launched on Jalalabad held by Afghan forces (My comment: of the thenPresident Najibullah ), but it did not go well. (My comment: At the instance of Lt.Gen.Hamid Gul, the thenDirector-General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Osama's men, the Afghan Mujahideen and Pakistanicommandos  attacked an Afghan army post at Jalalabad, but after severe fighting, Najibullah's men managedto repulse the attack. Mrs.Benazir Bhutto, the then Prime Minister, took advantage of the fiasco to removeHamid Gul as the ISI chief. She brought out of retirement Maj.Gen.Shamshur Rahman Kallue, a close friend ofher father, and appointed him as the ISI chief, overriding the protests of Beg over the appointment of aretired officer as the ISI chief.

Kallue prepared a report for reducing the powers of the ISI and increasingthe powers of the Intelligence Bureau, then largely a Police organisation. Her insistence on implementing thisreport despite strong opposition from Beg was one of the factors that led to her dismissal in August,1990, bythe then President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, at the instance of Beg ).

"When the operation (at Jalalabad) prolonged, some differences erupted between the Afghan mujahideenand bin Laden, which considerably damaged his clout, consequently affecting co-operation with the globalIslamic movement. The Pakistan Government too exercised its pressure.

" In 1992, Prof.Rabbani's Government was installed.Osama along with his compatriots wanted to returnto their homeland (Saudi Arabia), but, unfortunately, the Saudi Government deprived them of their citizenship,thus rendering them international nomads. Being helpless, Osama opted to land in Sudan where he madesubstantial investments. An air base was constructed besides several roads and a pharmaceutical plant.

."It was during this period that the Taliban came into the limelight and established their hold onKabul, which compelled Prof.Rabbani to leave the country. Osama deemed it expedient to return to Afghanistanin 1996 and to re-organise the International Islamic Front. The Taliban, recognising the immense sacrificesmade by Osama for the Afghan jihad, provided him shelter in Afghanistan.

"Al Qaeda was founded by Osama during the period 1996-97. Between the years 1997 and 2001, Al Qaedawas organised at the international level and old associations with Islamic organisations were revived. Duringthis period, several terrorist attacks took place in Africa and elsewhere, which introduced Al Qaeda to theinternational media.

"As a reaction to Al Qaeda's growing activities, the USA launched Cruise missile attacks on thesanctuaries of Al Qaeda at Jalalabad in 1998 and the pharmaceutical plant in Sudan. Sanctions were imposed onthe Taliban Government.

."As a consequence, Al Qaeda had to encounter great loss and it was forced to shift its base fromJalalabad to a place near Kandahar. Because of sanctions, the Al Qaeda members in Afghanistan were reduced toless than a thousand and its international support considerably dwindled.

" There is no doubt that Al Qaeda, after experiencing considerable set-back after the occupation ofAfghanistan by the coalition forces, has moved to Iraq, where it was much easier for it to operate due tolinguistic and cultural affinities.

In Afghanistan, their strength has considerably reduced  and thereare remnants only taking refuge in the adjoining areas of Angur Adda and Wana (South Waziristan).

" Whether Osama is dead or alive is difficult to say, but it cannot be denied that because of massivemedia exposure, Osama has become a legend and a symbol of defiance of the weak and the oppressed. This imageis much larger than life." (Citation ends).

 The following interesting points emerge from Beg's narration: 

• The International Islamic Front (IIF), a united front of jihadi organisations of different countries, hasbeen in existence since the late 1980s, whereas Al Qaeda came into existence only in 1996-97 after bin Ladenhad shifted to Jalalabad from Khartoum in Sudan. Till now, the belief has been that whereas Al Qaeda has beenin existence since the late 1980s, the IIF came into existence in February 1998 when Osama issued his firstfatwa against the US and Israel in the name of the International Islamic Front for Jihad Against the Crusadersand the Jewish People. Beg describes the events of 1998 as the "re-organisation" of the IIF, whichhad come into existence earlier. Between 1992 and 1996, Osama's contacts with the various jihadi organisationsfrom other countries, which had participated in the jihad against the Soviet troops, had become dormant. Herevived them after forming Al Qaeda in 1996-97.
  
  
• Contrary to earlier belief that Osama had left Afghanistan after the Jalalabad fiasco of 1989, Begindicates that he left Afghanistan only in 1992 when the Najibullah Government fell and the Afghan Mujahideencaptured power in Kabul.
  
  
• Beg refers to the training of Malaysians, Indonesians and Filippinos in bin Laden's training camp in thelate 1980s, but there is no reference to Thais.

"Young smugglers say their best customers of late are the armed militants whom they can charge 10times more than refugees or drug runners. The smugglers say that since the start of operation Anaconda inMarch (2002), when the USA and its allies battled Al Qaeda forces in the Shah Kot Valley, many of the Al Qaedafighters have shifted quietly into Pakistan's Pakhtun tribal areas, where the Government of Gen.

Musharraf doesnot exercise full control.

" Intelligence sources say that just over the border in Pakistan, most of the top Taliban and Al Qaedaleadership, including Osama bin Laden himself, have been seen moving into northern Pakistan from the tribalbelt south of the Afghan town of Tora Bora. Osama, the top Al Qaeda leader, was last seen three weeks ago inthe Pakistani tribal city of Dir, about 45 miles east-north-east of Asadabad.

"Osama's top lieutenant Ayman Zawahiri  is now thought to be directing operations from Al Qaeda'snewly built base in the village of Shah Salim, about 30 miles west of the Pakistani city of Chitral, near theborder of Afghanistan's Kunar province. The other base is in the Pakistani village of Murkushi on the Chineseborder, about 90 miles north of the Pakistani city of Gilgit.

"While it is conceivable that at least some, if not many, of these survivors might have dispersed inthe Afghan mountains and countryside and might be lying low for the time being, there are credible reportsthat a large number of the survivors managed to enter Pakistan. With the complicity of serving and retiredpersonnel of the Pakistani military-intelligence establishment, the fugitives have taken shelter in the FATA,in the Provincially-Administered Tribal Areas (PATA) of the North-West Frontier Province and in the mosques/madrasas,which had been providing the recruits for these organisations---particularly in the Binori complex in Karachi,in the Darul Uloom Akora Khattak in the NWFP and in the Jamia Ashrafiya in Lahore. The ISI always maintains astrict surveillance over these three principal mosque/madrasa complexes of Pakistan and they could not thushave taken shelter there without its knowledge, if not complicity."

(Citation ends)

The important points emerging from this article are as follows: 

• The dregs of Al Qaeda are widely dispersed inside Pakistan--some in the tribal areas near the Afghanborder and others in the three principal madrasa/mosque complexes of Peshawar, Karachi and Lahore.
  
• Al Qaeda has set up two operational bases in the Pakistani territory---one in the Chital area near theAfghan border and the other near the Gilgit area on the Chinese border. Gilgit is part of the Northern Areasof Jammu & Kashmir and has been under Pakistani occupation since 1948.It is directly administered fromIslamabad like the FATA.