"..Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's bewilderment after the bombings was evident, as she once again faulted the United States and the CIA, which she accused of continuing to finance Pakistan's radical Muslim clerics and fundamentalist groups........... some 25,000 Islamic militants, from nearly thirty countries around the world, had streamed through Peshawar on their way to the jihad. They came, without passports and without names, from ... Hamas, from Egypt's AlGama'a al-Islamiya and Al-Jihad, from Algeria's Islamic Salvation Front, and from the Philippines' Moro Liberation Front. Five years after the jihad ended, a thousand or so remained, some in Peshawar itself, ..., planning and executing ... terrorist acts that have reached ....New York....."The United States created a Moscow Central in Peshawar for these groups, and the consequences for all of us are astronomical."
"..It was in Peshawar that Sheikh Omar became involved with the U.S. and Pakistani intelligence officials who were orchestrating the war. The sixty or so CIA and Special Forces officers based there considered him a "valuable asset," according to one of them, and overlooked his anti-Western message and incitement .."
"..Sheikh Omar entered the United States, in July of 1990, via Saudi Arabia, Peshawar, and Sudan on a.... tourist visa issued by ..CIA"
"..Osama bin Laden ..... was described to me by one U.S. intelligence
official as "a religious fanatic with enormous wealth -- a man with a vision,
who knows precisely how he wants to convert that vision into reality."
....."
The conflict in Afghanistan, not merely an internal civil war, has thrown the entire region into turmoil. It has increased the tensions between Sunni Saudi Arabia (which, along with Pakistan, is the Taliban's most important supporter) How has all of this affected the situation in Kashmir? There are a lot of training camps for Kashmiris and Pakistanis being hosted by the Taliban. They do a lot of their initial battle training by fighting for the Taliban. One extremely unfortunate development over the past few years is that Pakistan's Afghan policy has become hostage to Kashmir, in the sense that Pakistan cannot de-escalate support for the Taliban or moderate its policies for fear of losing bases for Kashmiri militants in Afghanistan.
"When a volunteer proves himself capable, motivated and loyal, he is enrolled in a special three-month commando boot camp, which costs the group $1,700 per student. (The money is raised from overseas groups and the Pakistani public, often via open demonstrations in Pakistani cities of militants working out, scaling walls and showing other martial tricks. Generous donors are invited to visit the not-so-secret camps to see how their money is spent.) Phase two is designed to push each volunteer to his physical limit and cull the weak from the strong. In the final weeks,.."
quote:
" Throughout, the Taliban have continued to receive support from the Government of Pakistan, whose policies have led to a growing wave of "extremism" within Pakistan as well. What was Pakistan's interest in Taliban domination of its neighbor? Often it is mentioned that Pakistan sought strategic depth as a counterweight to India as well as reconnecting Pakistan to transit routes and energy resources in Central Asia. I believe that these are valid reasons but not sufficient in explaining Pakistan's actions, which have isolated the country significantly. Most important is the growing Islamic extremism in Pakistan society, resulting from a combination of corruption, growing poverty, a disconnected elite and a government which has actively encouraged Islamicists as a means of holding together a diverse society. That policy is now out of control, producing a stronger more virulent anti- western view and a much less reliable Pakistan.
Pakistani support of the Taliban also allowed them to strengthen
their control and expand their influence into the Pashtun areas of Afghanistan,
which presented a historic reversal in their favor. It enabled Pakistan
to relocate its training camps for Kashmiri separatists to Afghanistan,
benefiting from extremist networks in Afghanistan and providing Pakistan
with plausible deniability. Pakistani extremist groups have functioned
as umbrella organizations for other international terror groups that sought
shelter in Afghanistan."
"Bin Laden relocated his operations to Afghanistan following pressure on the Sudan exerted by Saudi Arabia and the U.S. The Taliban, a group of religious students from Pakistani schools, were successful in establishing control over Afghanistan with the active military support of Pakistan's military intelligence service, the Inter Services Directorate (ISI). Pakistan's concern was to promote ethnic Pashtun control over the country, which was being run by Afghans hostile to Pashtun rule and Pakistani influence. The Pashtuns, or Pathans in common western usage, designates several dozen separate tribes on both sides of the Afghan/Pakistani border. The Taliban, lacking a secular education, is almost medieval in its concept of governance. The Taliban rulers have mismanaged the country, but have been amenable to Pakistani political influence although not totally subservient to it. Pakistan has also used its position and support to the Taliban to establish within Afghanistan a series of training camps for Kashmiri terrorists. ISI personnel are present, in mufti, to conduct the training. This arrangement allowed Pakistan "plausible denial" that it is promoting insurgency in Kashmir. Pakistan also provisioned the Taliban with weapons to fight the "Northern Alliance" which contests Taliban control over the country and had until recently about 7% of Afghan territory, mostly north of Kabul and in the Panshir. The Northern Alliance, while including some Pashtuns, has been commanded by Ahmad Shah Massud, an ethnic Tajik. About three weeks ago, Massud was assassinated by suicide bombers identified as part of Bin Laden's group."
"The GHQ fire started after junior ISI officials started burning
files pertaining to ISI links with the various militant organisations,
sources said. More than 70 fire engines
were requisitioned from Islamabad, Rawalpindi and army units to
put out the fire which continued for more than four hours. "
Probe Unraveling Saudis' Role, Southwestern Region Seen as
a Center of Al Qaeda Activity. Howard Schneider, Washington Post
Foreign Service, October 17, 2001; Page A16
"..Ahmed Alnami, a mosque prayer leader in Abha and former student at the King Khaled University Islamic law school, was reported in the local al-Watan newspaper to have left home in the summer of 2000. Brothers Wail M. and Waleed M. Alshehri left on a similar route in December from the nearby village of Khamis Mushayt, according to local press accounts.
That is the same month that another Saudi hijacker, Hani Hanjour, arrived
in the United States, according to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization
Service. ....Abha is home to a college of Sharia, or Islamic law, attended
by one of the suspected hijackers. ...Investigators probing the Cole bombing
found direct links to people in the Saudi southwest. The boat that carried
explosives and suicide bombers across Aden harbor to the destroyer, for
example, was purchased in Jizan, just north of the Yemen border.."
UF consolidates as Kashmiri Mujahideen dig in for Taliban
By Justin Colledge; JDW Special Correspondent; Jabal Saraj, Afghanistan, Janes Defence Weekly, October 17, 2001
"..In terms of logistics, the Afghan winter snow, expected in the first week of November, will block the Anjuman Pass – one of the main overland supply routes from the north to the Panjshir Valley. However, in recent weeks the United Front (UF) has been building an airstrip to the east – between Jabal Saraj and the town of Golbahar (Jane’s Defence Weekly 17 October).
The strip is approximately 1,000m long and, in theory, would be capable of taking the An-24 (NATO reporting name: ‘Coke’) and An-26 (‘Curl’) transport aircraft operated by the UF. However, there are no indications that the strip is reinforced with perforated steel plates, like the UF’s main airport at Fayzabad.
Bagrame airbase, under the command of Gen Babajan, is still compromised. The Taliban holds the heights to the south and east of the ex-Soviet airbase. Indeed, radio intercepts from the command bunker in the old control tower regularly pick up the commands of the foreign cadres operating along the front line half a kilometre away.
Babajan and other senior commanders have confirmed that over 600 Kashmiri Mujahideen, most notably units of the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, have been placed along the main Taliban strategic stronghold of Mount Sufi, which lies 3km south of the airbase. It is believed that these militia were personally placed there by Osama bin Laden two weeks before the 11 September attacks. ..."
Taliban warn of long guerrilla war
The News International, JANG, October 20, 2001
excerpt: "Haqqani, who is also responsible for the safety of Osama bin Laden, was speaking from an undisclosed location inside Pakistan. His son, Naseeruddin Haqqani, served as the interpreter for his legendary father, the only commander of the Mujahideen that fought the Soviets who was allowed by the Taliban to remain in their ranks....
...Q: How did you come to Pakistan? Did you use a visa?
A: I am also the [Taliban] minister for border regions. Our tribes
are settled on both sides of the Durand Line since ages. Our houses are
divided on both sides of the border. Both sides are my home. Pakistan is
my home. And besides, my migration hasn't ended. ..."
"..Mr. Moussaoui asked the French Embassy in London to issue him a new passport three times, in 1997, 1998 and 2000, each time saying that his passport had been stolen..... In late 1999, hijackers Mohamed Atta, Ziad Jarrah and Marwan al-Shehhi each reported their passports lost in Germany and obtained new ones. ...
Mr. Moussaoui had traveled to Kuwait, Pakistan and probably Afghanistan....
The new passports would have enabled him to conceal these trips when shuttling
through Western Europe as well as when he applied for a U.S. visa...."
"..second time Mr. Rehman went to training camp, he says. The first
was in Pakistan, where he says he spent three months in 1999 with local
mujahedeen preparing to fight for the
"liberation" of Kashmir from India. The training, he
says, included the use of small arms, artillery and explosives. "It
was very exciting," says Mr. Rehman, who now calls himself Abu Yahya, a
Muslim nickname. "Not only was I fulfilling my divine obligation" -- to
fight for Islam -- "but I was handling an AK! Who doesn't want to do that?"
Mr. Rehman asks, referring to the Russian-designed AK-47 assault rifle."
Julian Borger in Washington Tuesday October 30, 2001 The Guardian
"the ISI was instrumental in the creation and financing of the Taliban.
Shamshad Ahmad, Pakistan's ambassador to the UN, told the New York Times:
"After the Soviets were forced out of Afghanistan, you left us in the lurch
with all the problems stemming from the war: an influx of refugees, the
drugs and gun running, a Kalashnikov culture." The ISI took over a slice
of the drug trade to fund its activities, according to US accounts. In
effect, the agency became a state within a state, staffed increasingly
by Islamic fundamentalists. The ISI's former chief, Hamid Gul, is now a
leading figure on the extreme fringes of Pakistani politics."
".....The next Hameed Gullian at the ISI was General Javed Nasir
who consciously followed Gul's 'free' policy, that is, letting the brigadiers
plan and execute operation without clearance from the
prime minister or even himself. That's what happened in 1993
when a certain Brigadier Kamal Alam that India would simply collapse after
the Bombay mayhem. In the event, it turned out to be another Pearl
Harbour, a act-of-anger operation that gained Pakistan nothing, except
that General Javed Nasir got the sack soon after the Nawaz Sharif government
fell. The man who fronted the
operation, Indian underworld king Dawood Ibrahim, was bequeathed
to Pakistan by the agency as the most negative fallout of the ill-conceived
operation. In 2001, he is perhaps the most powerful man in Karachi owning
large estates and keeping army and police personnel on his payroll... "