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Al-Qaeda's new warriors
By
Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - The recent terror
attacks in Yemen, Bali, Amman and Moscow vividly
illustrate that the struggle that Osama bin Laden
launched from Afghanistan has now trickled down to the
grassroots level of almost every Muslim society.
And contrary to the view projected in most of
the Western media, that the attacks are proof that
al-Qaeda has become stronger than ever since September
11, the reality is that bin Laden's jihad against the US
has to a large extent been hijacked by local Muslim
groups, who are now the ones perpetuating the waves of
terror.
Unlike the fatal attacks on the
US embassy in Nairobi in 1998, the bombing of the USS Cole
in Yemen in 2000, and of course September 11, the latest
spate of incidents has yet to be linked directly to
al-Qaeda. Indeed, initial reports suggest that all of
the incidents were planned and carried out by local
groups linked to their respective countries.
The
ongoing intelligence operations of the US and allied
countries have undoubtedly curtailed the activities of
al-Qaeda, with the movement of its money curbed and a
number of operatives arrested. However, September 11 and
the US attack on Afghanistan brought about a change in
the Muslim world, where no end is seen to the
US-sponsored war on terror (or for many, war on Islam), and
which now has Iraq firmly in its sights.
Most of
the separatist movements in the Muslim world have over
the past decade been taken over by Islamic hardliners.
For instance, the Hezbullah in Lebanon, Hamas and the
Islamic Jihad in Palestine, the Hezbul Mujahideen, the
Lashkar-i-Taiba, the Jaish-i-Mohammed and many others
fighting in Indian Kashmir, the RSM in Myanmar and the
Moro Liberation Front in the Philippines.
However, although the leaders of these groups
sympathize with al-Qaeda and broadly agree with its
program, they do not want to deviate too far from their
main goals of bringing about change in their own
regions. And, apart from Hezbullah, all of the
above-mentioned organizations are funded to some extent
by Saudi Arabia. Hezbullah receives its financing from
Iran. By showing too much solidarity with bin Laden,
then, these organizations would risk having their
financial arteries severed.
But while the
leaders might think this, within the rank and file of
the groups there are many who have been inspired by
al-Qaeda, and they have taken over its fight, but in
their own way. Al-Qaeda aims for US-specific targets,
and not Western ones in general. However, this is not
the message that has trickled down to local groups
across the Muslim world, especially those who have not
had training in al-Qaeda's camps in Afghanistan. The
understanding of al-Qaeda's jihad for these local groups
means the West, in general terms. At the same time, US
targets are also not generally available to attack
because of the high security that surrounds them.
Militants embracing this broader concept of
al-Qaeda's jihad are now joining together, such as the
Rabitatul Mujahideen, an alliance formed by Indonesia's
Jemaah Islamiyah to act as a central committee for
leaders of the various militant groups in Southeast
Asia, and which is spreading to South Asia. Others
include dissidents within the Lashkar-i-Taiba, a
Pakistani-based militant group that has been active in
Indian-administered Kashmir, and another Pakistani
militia, the Ansarul Islam. Their number one priority
now is US and Western targets.
Observers of
al-Qaeda have long pointed out that the network has been
obsessed with creating a situation in which the US would
be drawn into conflict with Muslim countries, so as to
generate a backlash among the Muslim world in general,
which appears to be happening now, with elements within
fundamentalist groups broadening their activities to
stir fear in the Western world.
And while there
seems to be no strong hand of al-Qaeda in all of this,
the climate of fear that is being created is exactly
what the network would like until it again is in a
position itself to execute another major strike against
the US.
President Mohammad Khatami of Iran, on a
recent visit to Spain, summed up developments well.
"Have the erroneous policies of the United States made
bin Laden more popular or more hated than before in
various sectors of the Islamic world?
"Have the
erroneous policies of the United States weakened Islamic
trends that favor wisdom and democracy? The United
States with its hegemony has strengthened bin Laden, so
we ought to condemn it in some way for supporting
terrorism."
Khatami even likened the logic of
bin Laden and President George W Bush. "I hear a
discourse from two poles," Khatami said in his native
Persian. "One is the voice raised from Afghanistan by
bin Laden that says, 'Whoever is not with us must be
destroyed'. The other is the voice from the United
States that says, 'Whoever is not with us is against
us'." He added, "That is a logic which on one side leads
to the most atrocious forms of terror and, on the other
side, on the pretext of confronting terrorism, creates
the worst type of atmosphere for waging war."
(©2002 Asia Times Online Co Ltd. All rights
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