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Al-Qaeda fighters returning to Afghanistan
Members of Osama bin Ladenâs Al Qaeda network may have returned to Afghanistan en masse to bolster Taliban militants fighting US and Afghan forces in the east and south of the country, officials and analysts say. Although no one has come forward with any hard proof, evidence seems to indicate that hardline Al Qaeda fighters have gone back to the country that was their home base for years until US-led forces toppled the Taliban in late 2001.The governor of the southern Afghan province of Kandahar, Gul Agha Shirzai, said after a deadly suicide attack at a mosque last month that police âfound documents on the (bomberâs) body that showed he was an Arabâ. He told reporters that this proved that âArab Al Qaeda teams had entered Afghanistan and had planned terrorist attacksâ. Afghan Defence Minister Abdur Rahim Wardak on Monday told the New York Times: âThere is a regrouping of Al Qaeda, and it seems they are going to pay more attention to Afghanistan. We are running into foreign fighters here and there.â And Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah said on a visit to India this week that the Taliban had become ânumerically strongerâ and that the likely explanation was that they were getting âoutside supportâ. The head of the UN mission in Afghanistan, Franceâs Jean Arnault, warned the UN Security Council in late June that the security situation in the country was worsening. Arnault told the council that the Taliban rebels seem to have âmore funding, more deadly weaponry, more powerful media for propaganda and more aggressive, cruel and indiscriminate tacticsâ. Michael Scheuer, who headed up the CIAâs special âbin Laden unitâ from 1996 to 1999, sees nothing shocking in the recent reports of an increased Al Qaeda presence in Afghanistan. âThe recent attacks fit bin Ladenâs strategic goal of ensuring âthe pious Caliphate will start from Afghanistanâ,â accords to Scheuer. âConsistent with Al Qaedaâs tactical doctrine for aiding Islamist insurgencies, Taliban leaders are taking the lead in discussing and claiming credit for the increased violence. âAl Qaedaâs doctrine is clear: Support the insurgents fully and offer advice, but stay in the background, do not dictate, and allow local leaders to run operations as they see fit,â Scheuer said. In certain remote regions of Afghanistan, US and Afghan forces routinely encounter concentrations of hardened militants, sparking long hours of combat. Increased pressure by Pakistanâs military in the lawless tribal regions along the Afghan border could prompt Al Qaeda militants to travel back and forth across the border to avoid detection, officials said in Islamabad. Pakistan and Afghanistan have recently traded accusations about whose side of the border the militants are on, and who is to blame for failing to find them. Olivier Roy, an analyst at Franceâs National Centre for Scientific Research and one of the worldâs leading specialists on central Asia, warned against drawing quick conclusions about Al Qaeda activity in Afghanistan. âWe still donât have any concrete evidence which proves that there are foreign fighters among the Taliban,â Roy told AFP. âThe Afghan authorities obviously have a vested interest in saying publicly that militants responsible for deadly attacks are foreigners, including Pakistani Taliban.â He concluded: âBut if it were confirmed that there were Arab militants in Afghanistan, that would mark an important turning point.â Posted by: Dan Darling 2005-07-08 |
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