From Jihad Unspun
.... Brig. Mahmud Shah, chief administrator of the [Khyber tribal] region, suggests asking a tribal leader about bin Laden may get you shot. .... Dozens of the fiercely independent Pashtuns live in the region. Most of them are tall and bearded. They wear the shalwar-qamis -- the loose trousers and long shirts that bin Laden adopted when he moved to Afghanistan in 1995. If bin Laden is hiding among them, it will be difficult to single him out from other bearded tribesmen, all of who carry guns.
| But are they all 6 feet tall and left-handed? Those are kind of distinctive characteristics, Mahmud ... |
| And those lips... He's got some big-assed lips... -Fred |
Pashtun tribes have an arrangement with Pakistan -- originally negotiated by the British before they left the area in 1947 -- that prevents the government from sending troops and policemen to the remote region. That’s why there are no trained law enforcement agents to spot and catch bin Laden and his men who, U.S. officials say, are conducting raids deep into Afghanistan from their hideouts. ....
| All the same, you'd think the locals would notice a guy who tends to travel with 50-200 heavily armed bodyguards whose ranks include Chechens, Uzbeks, Indonesians, ect. |
Last month, U.S. military and civilian officials in Iraq intercepted a courier carrying a 17-page letter they said was written by Abu Mussab al-Zarkawi, a convicted Jordanian terrorist. It was allegedly intended for his al-Qaida contacts in Pakistan’s tribal belt. ...
| I dunno about that. Pete Stanley has a fairly good theory that "Abdullah Khan," the al-Qaeda leader that ABC News thought the letter was addressed to, actually refers to a town out in Afghanistan's Herat province, a town, incidentally, that is run by the Iranian-backed warlord Ismail Khan. That doesn't necessarily mean that Binny's there, but one of his couriers certainly could be. |
The tribal belt is an almost thousand-mile-long stretch across a mountainous region peppered with hundreds of gorges. Fugitives can easily move in and out of the area. It is inhospitable, tribesmen are suspicious of outsiders, and tribal caravans have moved across the border without any documents for centuries. U.S. officials worry any effort to impose travel restrictions may be fiercely resisted.
"We believe that bin Laden is being very careful," says administrator Shah. "He does not move with large groups, if he moves at all." Shah, a Pashtun who maintains close ties to local tribal chiefs, says his sources tell him that bin Laden has about "about 100 to 200 diehard followers who have built a protective net around him. They do not get close because that would draw attention."
| Yes, yes, we know all about Binny's praetorian guard. However, one might think that if the region is so suspicious of foreigners that they might perhaps notice this rather large entourage ... |
Although Shah insists bin Laden spends more time on the Afghan side of the border, he said the al-Qaida chief might have fled to the Pakistani side two years ago when U.S. forces bombed his hideouts in the eastern Afghan valley of Tora Bora.
| If he survived Tora Bora, the first place he likely went to was to Maulana Fazlur Rehman's, where he could have received plastic surgery. After that, God only knows, if he survived ... |
"Pakistani troops are confronting the tribal elders and making them accountable for the behavior in their area," Barno said. "Tribal chiefs who do not comply could face destruction of homes and things of that nature." Pakistan troops recently detained hundreds of tribesmen for cooperating with the Taliban and al-Qaida forces and destroyed their homes and schools. Pakistan is also trying to establish permanent military posts in these areas. It has built roads and schools with U.S. money. Many in the region still sympathize with the Taliban, if not al-Qaida, for religious and ethnic reasons, however. Like most Taliban, the tribesmen also are staunch Muslims and ethnic Pashtuns. "They feel that the Pashtuns have been treated harshly in Afghanistan, where they are a majority but are being ruled by a minority," says Behroze Khan, a supporter of the Pashtun nationalist Awami National Party. Religious sentiments are strongest in northern tribal regions. In the south, Pashtun nationalism is stronger. Pashtun clerics operate freely in both the regions and do not hide their sympathy for the Taliban. "The Taliban are a reality in Afghanistan ... and they should be recognized as such," says Mufti Kifayatullah, information secretary for a seven-party religious alliance, which controls the provincial government in Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier Province. "The Taliban was an ideological force, and an ideological force can be beaten but it cannot be rooted out," said Kifayatullah.
| Tell that to the Cathars or the Qarmatis or the French revolutionaries or the Nazis or the Soviets ... |
Aware of these sentiments, the Americans are encouraging moderate Taliban leaders, such as Mullah Sabir and Mullah Jalil, to replace the old guard. "The Taliban should be aware of these new leaders being created by unseen forces ... they will deceive them," warned Kifayatullah....
| Yet another sinister conspiracy, no doubt ... |
In a pamphlet distributed recently, elders urge the tribesmen not to hide terrorists because it could bring U.S. troops to their homes. "And if U.S. troops enter the tribal areas, nobody’s honor will be safe ... so do not shelter foreign terrorists," warns the pamphlet.... |