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Pakistani border tribesmen support al-Qaeda
| Doesn't that come as a surprise? The Pakistani border tribemen are the Taliban, and the Taliban supports al-Qaeda... |
Ghani Gul slipped into a cemetery in his bare feet, closed his eyes and prayed before the graves of five al-Qaida fighters who had been gunned down by Pakistani police. Residents of this farm town near the Afghan border were so moved by the audacity of the men, who had tried to escape 150 policemen escorting them to jail, that they built a memorial in their honor. Today, the shrine attracts a steady flow of pilgrims who leave wads of bills in the collection box and banners calling for holy war on the cemetery walls. "Americans have the right to call these people their enemies," said Gul, a 32-year-old taxi driver, referring to al-Qaida, which carried out the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States. "But we have the right to call them martyrs." They "refuse to accept that (bin Laden and his fighters) are bad guys just because the United States says so," said retired Lt. Gen. Hamid Gul, who headed Pakistan's military intelligence service in the late 1980s.
| ... and who's a prime mover behind the cross-border jihad... |
The snow-capped Hindu Kush mountains that dominate the tribal areas provide plenty of hiding places for fugitives. And when the heat is on, outlaws can slip back and forth across the largely unguarded, 1,400-mile-long border. "This may be the last place on Earth where al-Qaida can actually set up a base of operations," said a Western diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
| No, there are other desolate places that're populated by ignorant tribesmen living under ineffective governments. Pakistan's not the world's only failed state, y'know... |
Populated by ethnic Pashtuns who practice the deeply conservative brand of Islam favored by al-Qaida, Pakistan's semiautonomous tribal lands have long been a haven for heroin smugglers, bandits and militant Muslims.
| That kinda goes with the deeply conservative brand of Islam favored by al-Qaeda, doesn't it? |
Posted by: Dan Darling 2004-10-04 |
