Author: Dow Jones Newswires
Publication: The Wall Street Journal
Date: November 26, 2002
A murky network of smugglers, politicians
and spies is moving money to Taliban and al-Qaida fugitives, secreting
their operatives out of the region and ferrying others in, according to
intelligence officials and a former
Taliban commander.
Several al-Qaida men have left Afghanistan
for Algeria in recent days, Fazul Rabi Said Rahman, a former Taliban corps
commander, told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday. A European
intelligence source says others are slipping quietly into the region, and
the numbers are on the increase.
"If you have money you can go anywhere,
without any problem," Said Rahman said.
Another former Taliban official,
who refused to be identified by rank or name, said several al-Qaida fugitives
were smuggled out of Afghanistan in recent weeks. They were taken out through
Pakistan's Tirah Valley, a deeply remote region ringed by towering peaks.
The Tirah Valley neighbors Tora
Bora in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province, the scene of some of
the fiercest bombing in the U.S.-led coalition's war on terror.
The man who is said to have helped
them escape, an al-Qaida sympathizer named Anwarul Haq Mujahed, himself
eluded capture this month.
American and Afghan special forces
in search of Mujahed raided several places in eastern Afghanistan, including
the International Islamic Relief Organization, where he was believed to
have contacts. They also raided his father's farm in Farmada, according
to Haji Zaman Khan, an ally of the U.S.-led coalition during last December's
assault on Tora Bora.
The farm, a well-known refuge for
al-Qaida members during and after the Taliban rule, was bombed several
times during the U.S.-led coalition's campaign.
Mujahed's father, Maulvi Yunus Khalis,
was a U.S.-backed commander during the 1980s Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
He swore allegiance to the northern alliance government, but Taliban in
hiding say he has remained close to his onetime al-Qaida friends.
"Mujahed helped at least 100 of
the al Qaida men who wanted to escape Afghanistan," Zaman told the AP Tuesday.
"Just in the last month I know he helped some escape."
Before U.S. Special Forces could
locate him, Mujahed was spirited out of Nangarhar province, through Dar-e-Nur
in eastern Afghanistan, to Laghman province and then to Kabul where he
was flown aboard an Afghan Ariana flight to Pakistan's frontier city of
Peshawar, assisted along the way by men loyal to Khalis. Some of these
men are allegedly part of the Afghan government, including the Nangarhar
military chief Hazrat Ali and Nangarhar governor Din Mohammed.
Al-Qaida Also Entering Region, Bringing
Money Picking at his black unkempt beard, his voice barely audible, Said
Rahman, the former Taliban commander, said several al-Qaida men have left
for Algeria in recent weeks.
It isn't clear whether they were
the same men spirited out by Mujahed.
While some al-Qaida men are moving
out of the region, others are coming in, say European intelligence sources.
They are bringing money with them, helped by smugglers and traders, according
to the intelligence officials.
The network that allows the traffic
to flow virtually unhindered allegedly includes Pakistani militant groups
- like Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and Jaish-e-Mohammed - Pakistani intelligence
and even the upper echelon of Jamiat-e-Ulema Pakistan , one of the key
partners in a religious coalition that rules Pakistan's strategic North
West Frontier Province and which holds considerable sway in southwestern
Baluchistan province.
"We are happy that our brothers
are in power here. We expect it will be even easier," said Said Rahman.
He said many top Taliban in hiding
move particularly freely in Baluchistan province, of which Quetta is the
capital. Among them is Maulvi Abdul Kabir, the No. 3 man in the Taliban,
and Abdul Razzak, former Taliban interior minister.
The Taliban's former brigade commander
at Spinboldak, Maulvi Jalaluddin has close ties with JUI officials, like
the group's general secretary, Ghafour Haideri, in Quetta, says Said Rahman.
"He knows the border very well,
how to move across without a problem, how to move others across, who will
help and how to get their help," he said.
With the help of JUI loyalists,
members of Pakistani intelligence, an open ally of the Taliban before Sept.
11, senior Taliban move freely, get messages of their whereabouts and of
planned meetings.
An active transit route is Afghanistan's
Allah Jirga, which hugs the border with Pakistan and from where Mullah
Mohammed Omar, the Taliban's one-eyed leader, has tribal links, said Said
Rahman.
Haideri dismissed allegations that
he protects Taliban, but said his loyalties are with the ousted movement.
"We neither give them money nor
shelter, we just support them ideologically," said Haideri. "As far as
the Taliban are concerned, our support to them was open. We belong to a
religious family. The world knows that we never concealed our love and
support for Taliban."
