Steve Quayle News Alerts

August 11, 2002
By Scott Baldauf in Asadabad

Al-Qa'eda has established two main bases inside Pakistan and is preparing for a big strike on Afghanistan, Kabul's military intelligence officials said last week.

The terror network's bases are said to be hundreds of miles north of where American and Pakistani troops are now operating.

"Al-Qa'eda has regrouped, together with the Taliban, Kashmiri militants, and other radical Islamic parties," said Brig Rahmatullah Rawand, the military intelligence chief in Kunar province, eastern Afghanistan. "They are just waiting for the command to start operations.

"Right now, they are trying to find anti-aircraft missiles capable of hitting America's B-52 bombers."

He believed that they might find them in China, and then "bring them here".

United States military officials in Afghanistan confirmed parts of the Afghan intelligence. "I have heard reports concerning these areas," said Lt Col Roger King, a spokesman for the US-led Operation Enduring Freedom, at Bagram air base.

"Some parts of the intelligence reports and the locations are similar to what we are hearing ourselves. Other parts are different."

He said US forces were ensuring that they had enough troops in areas where al-Qa'eda was believed to be grouping.

"If you look back over time, you find there are two fighting seasons in this country," said Col King. "We're at the beginning of one. The other ended in May."

On Friday, a huge warehouse explosion killed at least 26 villagers near the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, raising fears of a rebel attack. But investigators said the blast was probably an accident.

Afghan intelligence officials said their reports were compiled last week after their spies infiltrated the two al-Qa'eda camps in Pakistan.

The report said China might be involved in supporting the camps, either by tacitly allowing Islamic radicals in western China to cross into Pakistan to join al-Qa'eda , or by offering to provide anti-aircraft missiles.

US military officials said that al-Qa'eda 's ability to shoot down B-52 bombers would require a change of American tactics. The bombers, together with precision-guided weapons, destroyed the Taliban's defences and forced the Taliban and al-Qa'eda to give up control of Afghanistan.

"The Americans are proud of their control of the air, but they don't take care of the ground," said Brig Ghulam Haider Chatak, Kabul's chief of military intelligence for eastern Afghanistan. "Now they could lose both."

In Kunar, a lush mountainous region, US special forces carry out joint operations with local Afghan forces mainly along the roads to the provincial capital Asadabad and within the city.

Local military chiefs complain that the Americans are working only with one warlord and not with the official units of President Hamid Karzai's government.

"Unfortunately, in the past six months, the international coalition forces haven't taken any bold steps against al-Qa'eda ," said Cdr Mohammad Zaman, Kunar's military chief. "That's why al-Qa'eda and the terrorists are all present here."

Arab radicals and Taliban supporters walk Asadabad's streets with apparent impunity, calling for an uprising against US and other foreign troops backing the Kabul government.

The Afghan intelligence officials cited reports that many senior Taliban and al-Qa'eda leaders, including Osama bin Laden, had been seen moving into northern Pakistan from the tribal belt south of the Afghan town of Tora Bora.

They said that bin Laden was seen three weeks ago in the Pakistani city of Dir, about 45 miles from Asadabad.

A senior bin Laden lieutenant, Ayman Zawahiri, is believed to be directing operations from a new base in Shah Salim, 30 miles west of the Pakistani city of Chitral, near Kunar. Their other base is said to be in the Pakistani village of Murkushi on the Chinese border.

The intelligence officials said al-Qa'eda was preparing to launch a substantial attack on east Afghanistan by crossing the poorly defended highland border of Kunar.

In Asadabad, a teacher, Abdur Rahim, said there were plenty of al-Qa'eda supporters in Kunar. "I'm proud to be al-Qa'eda ," he said.

Mohammad Malang, a timber merchant, said he had seen al-Qa'eda fighters coming and going through checkpoints on the border with Pakistan.

Wazir Mohammad Sadiq, the deputy security chief for Kunar checkpoints, said: "This is a long border. We don't have enough forces to patrol it. We need the Americans there. They only come once a month."

For the past fortnight, US special forces have been conducting house-to-house searches in Asadabad, angering Afghan leaders who say the invasive procedures violate Pathan traditions, which forbid outsiders to enter their homes and see their women.

Afghan merchants, political leaders and military chiefs say local sentiments are turning sharply against US forces.

"So far, the relationship with US forces here is just neutral - neither positive nor negative - but it's going in the negative direction," said Haji Ali Rahman, the acting governor.

"We hope US forces will use their cleverness and change their tactics. If they continue to search houses, even my own commanders will not work for me."

* Scott Baldauf is a correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor

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