Author: Philip Sherwell in North
Waziristan
Publication: The Telegraph, UK
Date: June 9, 2002
URL: http://www.portal.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/06/09/wafg09.xml&sSheet=/news/2002/06/09/ixworld.html
The hunt for al-Qa'eda leaders by
American special forces secretly deployed in Pakistan's lawless border
tracts with Afghanistan is faltering, hit by angry opposition from local
tribesmen and last week's withdrawal of key Pakistani military specialists.
In the remote tribal districts of
North and South Waziristan, where neither the British in the past nor Pakistani
authorities have succeeded in imposing their writ on the heavily-armed
locals, no significant breakthroughs have been achieved since the search
for fugitive al-Qa'eda and Taliban forces was launched six weeks ago.
As more than 1,500 delegates gather
in Kabul this weekend for the Loya Jirga national council that will choose
the new Afghan government, the stuttering operation across the border in
Pakistan is a reminder of the unfinished business of the war on terror.
Intelligence provided to the United
States by paid informers indicates that about 800 mostly Arab al- Qa'eda
fighters are hiding in the tribal areas after fleeing over the mountains
from strongholds near Khost where they took refuge after the fall of Kabul
and the bombing of Tora Bora.
If Osama bin Laden, al-Qa'eda's
Saudi-born leader, is still alive, US intelligence officials believe that
he is in this area, along with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind
of the September 11 attacks.
Mullah Mohammed Omar, the leader
of the deposed Taliban regime, is thought to remain in Afghanistan's Helmand
province, north of Kandahar.
Al-Qa'eda remnants have gone into
hiding in the tribal belt of Pakistan's North West Frontier province, a
wilderness of rugged mountains and parched plains. Scattered in groups
of fewer than 20, they buy supplies from sympathetic Wazir tribesmen, who
tip them off about US and Pakistani troop movements.
The Indo-Pakistani showdown over
Kashmir has hampered the hunt. Although Islamabad has left in place most
of the 8,000 regular troops it recently sent into the semi-autonomous tribal
areas, it has shifted crucial communications and intelligence specialists
to the front line with India.
The operation was already floundering,
however, in a region where foreigners - especially non-Muslims - have never
been welcome by the staunchly conservative Islamic tribesmen. Support for
fellow ethnic Pathans of the ousted Taliban regime has been widespread.
In Miran Shah, an arms bazaar and
smugglers' haven near the border, the Pakistan army gingerly made its first
appearance in mid-May. A raid by US forces a few days later on a militant
madrassa (religious school), in search of al-Qa'eda fighters and papers,
provoked local outrage.
Thousands flocked to protest meetings,
where youths announced the formation of vigilante groups to defend the
schools. Since then, there have been few raids on suspected al-Qa'eda hideouts
because Pakistani and US operations have assumed a lower profile to try
to reduce tension.
Islamabad's intelligence officials
believe that some al-Qa'eda fighters have slipped away to safe houses in
the cities. They fear that the guerrillas are planning further attacks
following the recent ambush in Karachi that killed 11 French engineers
and the Islamabad church raid that claimed five lives. Al- Qa'eda is suspected
of involvement in both.
US forces have been further frustrated
in North Waziristan by the lack of accurate information from locals. Some
insist that there are no Taliban or al- Qa'eda in their area; others sell
bogus details to US agents trying to buy intelligence. The hope is that
the lure of a big reward will encourage someone to betray the fugitives.
The US presence here is officially
a secret, although not disputed by the Pentagon. About 100 special forces
are thought to be in the area, including some with experience of the US-backed
anti-Soviet Mujahideen guerrilla campaign of the 1980s when North Waziristan
was a key supply route.
The Americans wear the local knee-length
shirts over baggy cotton trousers and have grown beards. Their numbers
have been bolstered slightly in recent days by specialists sent to replace
the departing Pakistani experts.
In a market in Badakhel, North Waziristan,
last week, tribesmen with automatic rifles and cartridge belts nonchalantly
strung across their robes shopped for apples and grapes. One explained
that only men with enemies bore arms. Judging by the gun count at the market,
many people have enemies.
They made no secret of their allegiances.
"We all support al-Qa'eda and the Taliban here. They're good Muslims,"
said Zafrullah, 24, who, in keeping with local tradition, sported a carnation
behind his ear. "The Americans should not be here. It's a disgrace to our
religion, our tradition and our people. Nobody's happy about it."
All Westerners are presumed to be
American and are viewed with mistrust. We got a taste of the hostility
at Badakhel, where a crowd of armed men surrounded us. "Why did you bring
these Americans here?" one man asked our guide. "They should leave now.
They're not welcome."
John Walker, the American who volunteered
for the Taliban and was captured in northern Afghanistan, studied the Koran
at the Madrassa-i-Arabia, near Bannu on the edge of North Waziristan, until
May last year. There, Mufti Mohammed Itimas, who remembers him as a "very
religious young man", has his own explanation for lack of US progress here.
"John Walker left us because it
is so hot here in the summer," said the holy man. "The Americans don't
work well in the heat here. It is not good weather for them."
