MIRANSHAH, North Waziristan - They do not belong
to Afghanistan, yet they are closely identified with the
country. These are the "Arab-Afghans", the jihadis who
made Afghanistan their homeland during the resistance to
the Soviets in the 1980s, and subsequently used it as a
base for both military training and plotting terror
acts, epitomized by Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda.
The Arab-Afghans were the main engine behind the
Afghan resistance movement against the Soviets and their
puppet communist government in Kabul , so much so that
then president Mohammad Najibullah used to say that "it
is not the Afghans but the Punjabis [Pakistanis] and
Arabs who are putting up all the resistance against our
forces".
When the US unleashed its military
might on Afghanistan in late 2001 in response to
September 11, to root out bin Laden, and the Taliban
government collapsed, the foreign "guests" retreated to
the Pakistani tribal areas just across the eastern
border.
But though they might have lost their
adopted home, they soon found a new one, and their
passion for resistance to occupiers in Afghanistan
burned as fiercely as ever.
From Tora Bora to
the valleys of Shahi Kot in Zarmat in today's
Afghanistan, foreign fighters remain a key part of the
Afghan resistance. Within the forces of all the main
commanders, such as those of Saifullah Mansoor and
Jalaluddin Haqqani, pockets of Arab fighters serve as
inspiration to their comrades in the fearless manner in
which they tackle the US-led troops.
Asia Times
Online was unable to meet one of these foreigners
face-to-face, but caught a strong sense of their
ambitions through the eyes of Pakistani tribals who know
them well.
"You know we Afghans on both sides of
the divide [border] go after the money, but these youths
[foreign jihadis] mesmerized us," explained a local
trader in Miranshah in the tribal areas close to the
Afghanistan border. Asia Times caught up with him and
several other local people in the moonlight in the area
of Dandy Darpa Khail, near Miranshah.
In a break
with normal routine, in which most Waziristanis go to
sleep right after Isha prayers (the fifth and
final prayers of the day, which finish no later than
9.30pm) these folk spoke until 1 am about the Afghan
resistance movement and the role of foreign fighters.
Everyone had a story to tell.
"During the US
invasion on Afghanistan we received dozens of wounded
people, and yet we found everybody in high sprits," said
Alam, who operates a medical store in Miranshah's
bazaar.
A Waziristan-based stringer for a
Pakistan Urdu daily chimed in with his contribution:
"These Arab, Chechen and other foreign fighters are
crazy about their cause. They never came to Pakistan to
remain here. The last bunch to come numbered about a
dozen, and they had 50 women and dozens of children.
They divorced their women and handed them over them to
our elders to remarry them as their husbands were only
obsessed with their cause of fighting in Afghanistan. A
few of them were Saudis, a few were Yemenis, Uzbek and
Chinese. All were highly qualified people, like doctors,
engineers and businessmen. They went to the mountains
[he pointed towards Ghulam Khan] and never came back."
Javed, a member of the Taligi Jamaat (an Islamic
missionary group which preaches Islamic education among
Muslim societies) pointed out that most of the fighters
had nothing to do with al-Qaeda. He added: "Once the
news of the Taliban retreat [early 2002] spread,
commanders under the Taliban abruptly retreated all over
Afghanistan. They were obviously sons of the soil, and
got the protection of their tribes. But those who were
foreigners, like many Arab doctors who operated clinics
in Gardez, Khost, Paktia and Paktika, or teachers who
ran schools or social workers, did not know what to do.
However, a few Taliban arranged some pickups and
transported these families to Miranshah.
"Saleem bhai [brother]," Javed said to
this correspondent. "You would have passed through Eisha
check post when you entered the North Waziristan area.
The nearby seminary, mosque and surrounds were full of
those families. We kept them for several days, and all
Waziristanis used to bring them meals regularly, and
then arranged for their departures to their countries in
groups of five to 10 people," Javed said.
It is
not surprising that these border people welcomed the
foreign fighters. Despite ethnic differences, the locals
are obviously impressed by the fervor of the foreigners
- and their desire to give up their lives to rid
Afghanistan of the foreign "infidel" occupiers. Tribes
on the border, with their strong Afghan links, share
these sentiments. Under an April 24 deal between tribal
elders and Islamabad, foreign militants can stay in the
tribal region "provided they register with local
authorities and pledge to lead a peaceful life".
Given the welcome for the foreigners by the
tribals, it came as something of a surprise, then, to
speak to a doctor employed in a government hospital and
who also operates a private clinic. "I studied in Ayub
Medical College, Abbotabad, and was associated with the
leftwing People's Student Federation [the student wing
of the Pakistan People's Party led by Benazir Bhutto].
Politically I have been against the mullahs [clerics],
but after the brutalities I have seen during the US
invasion in Afghanistan, I am more sympathetic towards
the Taliban and al-Qaeda."
Many foreign
fighters, as mentioned above, have returned to
Afghanistan, but their future is uncertain. The Taliban
movement is regrouping, and has already recaptured a
number of districts across the country.
Now, the
US-backed administration of Hamid Karzai is negotiating
with elements of the Taliban to join the political
process. The tradeoff for accepting the Taliban is
likely to be that they sever all ties with foreign
fighters: the jihadis will be thrown on the sacrificial
altar of peace.
(Copyright 2004 Asia Times
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May 13, 2004
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