The new power behind Osama's
throne By Syed Saleem Shahzad
PAKISTAN-AFGHANISTAN border - Whether he is
viewed as a living legend for jihadis or as a reviled
terrorist, the mere mention of al-Qaeda leader
Osama bin Laden's name provokes strong reactions,
and is an invaluable tool in the
propaganda war between the two sides.
On
the ground, though, at least in the rugged Hindu
Kush mountains that span Pakistan and Afghanistan,
the reality is that bin Laden, while remaining a
source of inspiration in the anti-West struggle,
is acknowledged as no longer being in command of
al-Qaeda's operations.
In that role, he
has been superseded by Taliban leader Mullah Omar,
according to investigations and interviews
conducted by
Asia
Times Online in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Indeed, in the four years
since the attacks on the United States of
September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda, after years of
financial blockades and arrests, has emerged more
as a loose (and ideologically divergent) grouping
of mujahideen waging open jihad - especially
in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
"It would be absolutely wrong
to say that al-Qaeda has evaporated into the air,"
a man from the Pakistani tribal areas of
Waziristan told Asia Times Online. "The
organization is very much active on the ground,
but the sharp edges of circumstance have modified
it into a new shape and it is now part of
mainstream jihadi activity. The ultimate goal of
the [jihadi] organization is to launch jihad from
Khorasan [Afghanistan] to Jerusalem."
Calling himself Nasir ("supporter"), the
man claimed to have intimate knowledge of Taliban
and al-Qaeda activities in the region, where the
Taliban have gained a strong foothold for their
insurgency in Afghanistan and where al-Qaeda
operatives are known to have taken shelter since
being driven out of Afghanistan in 2001.
"It is true that Osama's activity has not
been heard of for a long time, but Dr [Ayman]
al-Zawahiri [al-Qaeda deputy leader] is active and
moves all over and is now the main engine behind a
lot of activity, even outside Afghanistan," Nasir
asserted.
Another man, whom Asia Times
Online had met in the northern mountains between
Afghanistan and Pakistan, and who just called
himself a mujahid, said, "The al-Qaeda
command structure, as it was known at the time of
September 11, which carried out specific missions
to target US interests, has largely been
abandoned, but it has quickly been replaced.
"Nowadays, Arabs go straight into
Afghanistan and join various Taliban commanders.
At the same time, the Pakistani Taliban have
formed bases in North and South Waziristan. All of
them pledge their allegiance to Mullah Omar," the
mujahid said.
"All global
operations have been shunned for now. Sheikh [bin
Laden] is inactive. Actually, Sheikh does not have
any money left," a colleague of the mujahid
said. Introducing himself as Abdullah
("Servant of Allah"), he was from the Afghan
province of Nuristan and said he was part of the
Taliban-led resistance. He also described himself
as a "host", a term generally used for those who
provide shelter to Arab-Afghans - those Arabs who
have joined the insurgency and spent time in
Afghanistan.
"He [bin Laden] kept changing
his location; he spent a lot of money on his
people and associates, and of course for his
survival. The channels of money kept choking one
by one and finally dried up," said Abdullah with a
forlorn look on his face.
"This was a
strange situation in which everybody [Arab-Afghan]
was striving for survival, and once Osama's
shelter [money] was off, they were scattered,"
Abdullah explained.
The most significant
result of this was a sharp turn by al-Qaeda toward
mainstream jihadist activity, mainly against
allied forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. The switch,
though, carries with it inherent dangers, both for
al-Qaeda and for some Muslim countries.
A visit from Iraq The
Taliban, and to a lesser extent al-Qaeda, have
established a de facto Islamic state in the North
Waziristan tribal area on the border with
Afghanistan. In effect it is beyond the control of
Islamabad. This correspondent planned to travel
there, but was warned that it would not be
"fruitful", presumably in terms of life
expectancy.
Instead, some contacts from
North Waziristan traveled to the city of Peshawar,
the capital of North West Frontier Province, to
speak to Asia Times Online, including Nasir.
They related that about two weeks ago,
three men representing Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the
al-Qaeda leader in charge of Iraqi operations,
were summoned from that country. The men met with
Zawahiri in South Waziristan and were bluntly told
to "immediately stop attacking Shi'ites in Iraq"
and to "bring about [Sunni] reconciliation with
Shi'ite groups" in Iraq. Further, they were
ordered to "develop a common anti-US strategy
along with the Shi'ites in Iraq".
This
development is significant in the context of the
vacuum that now exists within al-Qaeda, given bin
Laden's reduced influence. In essence, three
forces are in play: the jihadis in Pakistan and
Afghanistan who answer to Mullah Omar; the jihadis
centered in Iraq under Zarqawi; and the
"traditional" al-Qaeda represented by Zawahiri
(and bin Laden).
The first two forces are
moving further away from the core of al-Qaeda,
largely over the issue of takfiri (a belief
that sects that are not Wahhabi-based are infidel
and apostate).
Bin Laden has opposed this
concept, arguing that al-Qaeda should not attack
other Muslims, but takfiris see anyone
beyond their beliefs as fair game, hence
Zawahiri's advice to Zarqawi's men that they stop
attacking Shi'ites in Iraq and concentrate on
driving out the US-led forces, the "true" infidel.
In Pakistan and Afghanistan, powerful
figures such as Qari Tahir Yaldevish of the
Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and Sheikh Essa (an
Egyptian) are very well respected among the
al-Qaeda leadership, but they have been at the
head of a successful drive to expand the influence
of takfiris in Waziristan.
They
have found comrades in the likes of Moulvi Sadiq
Noor and Abdul Khaliq, who are committed to waging
pitched battle against Pakistani military forces
in what they call a "real" jihad as the troops
represent the Pakistani administration, which they
say has become a facilitator of the Americans.
From the wounded body of al-Qaeda,
underground networks have largely been abandoned
and replaced by open jihad. This jihad, though,
has a deadly twist, especially for Pakistan:
although Muslim, it's now a fair target.
Syed Saleem Shahzad is Bureau
Chief, Pakistan, Asia Times Online. He can be
reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com.
(Copyright 2006 Asia Times Online Ltd. All
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in Iraq and
Afghanistan. 
