Al-Qaeda has plans for its new recruit
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
ISLAMABAD - With the United States on the brink of taking a decision on whether
to send an additional 40,000 troops to Afghanistan, and with the leadership of
al-Qaeda redefining its vision eight years after the September 11, 2001,
attacks on the US, a new phase in al-Qaeda's war is likely to begin.
Soon after top al-Qaeda commander Ilyas Kashmiri surfaced for an exclusive
interview with Asia Times Online (see
Al-Qaeda's guerrilla chief lays out strategy Asia Times Online, October
15) to deny that he had been killed in a missile attack by a US Predator drone,
US agents exposed a plot to use an American national for terrorist attacks in
Denmark and India.
According to reports, the man, identified as David Coleman Headley, was one of
two suspects arrested last month by the Joint Terrorism Task Force of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport before he boarded a flight to
Philadelphia, from where he was said to be going to travel to Pakistan to meet
his handlers, including Ilyas.
Headley's alleged partner in the claimed terror plot, which included plans to
attack the Danish newspaper that published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed,
was a Pakistani-Canadian named Tahawwur Hussain Rana, also a Chicago resident.
He was arrested by the FBI on October 18.
According to an FBI affidavit filed in a Chicago court, Headley was in close
contact with Ilyas and several unidentified leaders of the militant group, the
Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT); they were only identified as "LeT member A" and
"Individual A". Headley had visited Pakistan before to meet LeT handlers and
was returning there ostensibly to finalize plans for strikes.
"In July and August, Headley exchanged a series of e-mails with LeT Member A,
including an exchange in which Headley asked if the Denmark project was on
hold, and whether a visit to India that LeT member A had asked him to undertake
was for the purpose of surveilling targets for a new terrorist attack," the FBI
said in its affidavit.
"These e-mails reflect that LeT Member A was placing a higher priority on using
Headley to assist in planning a new attack in India than on completing the
planned attack in Denmark," it said.
Ilyas was never associated with LeT, but his 313 Brigade comprises several top
former LeT commanders.
The plot has been unearthed at a time when al-Qaeda is preparing for a new
phase in its struggle. Its central front in the global war theater is
Afghanistan. Here it has over the past few years hit targets that it believed
would enhance its popularity among the masses. It has not been particularly
successful, mainly due to the arrest and killing of a number of its key
operators in Pakistan.
However, the recent placement of Ilyas as the chairman of its military
committee will allow al-Qaeda to use commandos from the notorious 313 Brigade
to launch attacks in Western countries as well as in India. The brigade
comprises jihadis with extensive experience in Pakistan's Kashmir struggle with
India.
In his interview with Asia Times Online, Ilyas mentioned the cartoons published
in the Danish press, but only in passing as a reference to Western tyranny. He
said, "We have been exposing all sorts of their victimization and tyranny.
These nations have published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in order to
humiliate all Muslims."
He would not be drawn on any of his plans. "I am not a traditional jihadi
cleric who is involved in sloganeering. As a military commander, I would say
every target has a specific time and reason, and the responses will be
forthcoming accordingly."
In the interview, his first given to the English-language media, his emphasis
was against India for the "liberation of Kashmir", although he said he had now
expanded his struggle against America, which he referred to as "the big Satan",
and its allies.
By utilizing the experienced Ilyas, al-Qaeda hopes to launch attacks that will
create a backlash in the Muslim world against the West and boost the morale of
the masses on the streets. The publisher of the Danish cartoons would have been
a popular target, given the waves of demonstrations throughout the Muslim world
at the publication of the cartoons. This especially as the Organization of
Islamic Countries failed to take any popular steps, such as severing diplomatic
ties or boycotting Danish products.
Ilyas' 313 Brigade is an elite group with stiff entry requirements - it takes
more than just a good jihadi background to get in. Ilyas, who denies media
reports that he was once part of a special services group of the Pakistani
army, was a mujahid during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s and
received top training in explosives and guerrilla operations in the air, on
water and on land.
Recruits to 313 Brigade are required to undergo extensive training that
includes spiritual awareness - members have to pray five times a day, plus
additional prayers at midnight (Tahajud). They suffer sleep and food
deprivation to toughen them and learn deep-water diving and survival skills,
including orienteering and how to plan operations.
Once a jihad passes all tests, most of which Ilyas personally oversees, he is
assigned for commando operations in Afghanistan - and from there, if al-Qaeda
is to be believed - to the wider world.
Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief. He can
be reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com
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