Al-Qaeda backs massive push in Swat
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
MALAKAND - Al-Qaeda's leaders have allocated 2 billion rupees (US$23.25
million) and a new training program for 400 militants in Khyber Agency to start
a full-blown insurgency in the Swat area of Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa province and
Malakand Division next summer, Asia Times Online has learned.
At a time United States President Barack Obama was making a surprise visit to
Afghanistan on Friday and telling US troops at Bagram air base outside Kabul
that they should be prepared for tough times, militants who spoke to ATol said
al-Qaeda had masterminded a plan for militants that would see them engage the
Pakistan military in Swat.
This, it is expected, would reduce the military's ability to further
US designs in the region, in particular by preventing it from launching an
all-out offensive in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal area, a key militant
stronghold and staging post for the Taliban-led insurgency in Afghanistan.
Al-Qaeda at the helm
I was in Malakand to give an address at the university, and received a message
on my phone to meet someone at a nearby hotel. This turned out to be a youngish
man who introduced himself as Shamim Hussain (not his real name) and asked me
to spend a night in a nearby village to listen to the views of insurgents from
Swat, where last year the Pakistan military waged a major offensive against
militants in the once tranquil valley.
The Swat operation began in mid-2009 and changed the course of the country
after the army applied optimum force and eventually won the battle. The nation
witnessed the biggest internal displacement in its history when over 2 million
people left their homes. Swat remained a ghost valley for three months as the
military went about its business, showing no mercy.
"Every morning we would see at least three dead bodies of Talibs, but the
military never allowed them to be buried. They wanted them to be eaten by the
crows, eagles and vultures," a student, Abdul Rahman, told ATol.
Reports and a video of gross human-rights abuses surfaced in the wake of the
operation, to such an extent that the US threatened to cut off aid to Pakistan
and the army chief constituted a committee to probe the video's contents.
Hussain's car stopped in front of a house near a sugar cane field and he took
me into a room.
"What are you up to now? The army claims that the [Pakistan] Taliban are
history," I asked.
"Undoubtedly we are down, but we are not out. We have completely overhauled our
strategies. We will come back very strongly next summer," Hussain said.
He continued, "Have you heard the news of the murder of local nazims [elected
mayors], lawyers and members of the Awami National Party? This is a very
organized but low profile Taliban campaign to assassinate their rivals. In the
next few months, this campaign will jack up and by next summer, the militants
will be in the valley to take on the army," Hussain said.
I did recall some high-profile murders. including that of Dr Farooq Khan, a
physiatrist and religious scholar who supported the army by setting up schools
to reform militants.
The Taliban have adopted a similar approach in Khyber Agency, where by 2007
they had a very small presence, with the Brelvi - a Sufi sect - in the
majority.
Pir Noorul Haq Qadri, a member of parliament from Khyber Agency and a federal
minister, told ATol a few months ago that the Taliban had drawn up a list of
3,000 people to be assassinated, and that by 2008, there was nobody left in
Khyber Agency to resist the Taliban. The Taliban mobilized their cadre from
different regions and now Khyber Agency is their stronghold.
Al-Qaeda has also set its eyes on Khyber Agency, as almost 75% of the supplies
of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization bound for Afghanistan pass through
it. This year has seen unprecedented levels of disruption of the supply
convoys.
Hussain confirmed that al-Qaeda had its eyes on Swat.
"Al-Qaeda has directly taken over Swat issues. Mullah Fazlullah, the chief of
the Tehrik-e-Taliban's [TTP - Pakistan Taliban] Swat wing, has been summoned to
North Waziristan so that al-Qaeda can direct all decisions through him. The
chief operations commander, Ibn-e-Amin [or Bin Yameen], has been placed in
Mohmand [Agency - near Malakand] so that he can direct operations in the Swat
Valley and fighters have been placed in the Khyber Agency's Terah Valley for
training."
Hussain warmed to his story, "Initially, militants were asked to stop their
activities in Swat at once and retreat and everybody was then instructed to go
to Terah Valley in Khyber Agency. Even the activities of abduction for ransom
were stopped in Swat while essential operations related to Swat and Malakand
were diverted to other branches of militants.
"The vice chancellor of Peshawar University [who is a close relative of the
chief minister of Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa] Ajmal Khan was abducted by Tariq
Afridi's group of Darra Adam Khel for the release of Muslim Khan, a senior
Taliban spokesperson in Swat. The militants of Swat, meanwhile, were stopped
from taking part in any major activities until they had become more
sophisticated.
"Al-Qaeda allocated 2 billion rupees for its Swat plan and appointed most of
its able Arab, Pakistani and Turkish trainers to train Swat militants and bring
sophistication to their operations," Hussain said. He added that once a few
groups of militants were trained, target killings would begin in Swat.
This is similar to the strategy introduced in Afghanistan by Pakistani Ilyas
Kashmiri, the battle-hardened Kashmir veteran who has sided with al-Qaeda. He
stopped the traditional guerrilla fight - a game of hide and seek in the
mountains that failed due to drones and hi-tech American aircraft - and
militants were trained for sophisticated special operations. These included the
attack on the up-market Serena Hotel in Kabul in January 2008 in which six
people were killed and six wounded.
In Pakistan, Laskhar-e-Jhangvi militants have also become more discriminating
by making telling, well-planned attacks. These include the high-profile attack
on the Sri Lankan Cricket team in May 2009 and an assault on military
headquarters in Rawalpindi.
"This [al-Qaeda's plan] is simply a response to the upcoming planned surge in
the whole region as the Pakistan army is being urged [by the US] to enter into
North Waziristan and disrupt the Taliban’s command and control hub. The
militants will divert the military operation by engaging them in Swat," Hussain
said.
At this point, with little likelihood of any truce with militants in either
Afghanistan or Pakistan, next year promises to be a particularly bloody one,
with Swat once again a major flashpoint.
Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief and
author of upcoming book Inside Al-Qaeda and the Taliban 9/11 and Beyond
published by Pluto Press, UK. He can be reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com
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