Taliban and al-Qaeda: Friends in arms

(Source)

By Syed Saleem Shahzad

WANA, South Waziristan - In the controversial debate over who is good and who is bad, Pakistan presents the al-Qaeda-linked Nazir Ahmed as a model "good Taliban".

Across the border in Afghanistan it is a somewhat different story: Nazir, leader of the Wazir tribe in Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal area, is viewed by North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces as their "worst enemy" and behind all devastating attacks on NATO forces in Paktika province and the most successful recruiter of footsoldiers for the Taliban in Zabul and Helmand provinces.

All the same, NATO and the United States, as they attempt a reconciliation process with the Taliban, still see Nazir as being in the "good" Taliban camp; they could not be more wrong.

Nazir, 36, also known as Mullah Nazir or Maulvi Nazir, spoke to Asia Times Online in his first-ever interview with an independent media organization (he has only previously spoken to al-Sahab of al-Qaeda). What clearly emerged is how al-Qaeda has nurtured a new generation; Nazir now evaluates everything through al-Qaeda's ideology and strategy.

Nazir holds exclusive sway in South Waziristan and even in parts of Paktika province across the border - his word is law. Until last year, he owned property in Kandahar province, the Taliban's heartland in Afghanistan.

Apart from a few instances, Nazir has never opposed the army's presence in South Waziristan. He has also never intervened with the Islamabad-backed administration in the main city of Wana, unless it tried to intervene in Nazir- or Taliban-related issues. During major military operations against the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (Pakistan Taliban) in 2009, he remained neutral.

In 2007, he orchestrated the massacre of members of the anti-Pakistan army Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan in which at least 250 Uzbeks were murdered and hundreds sent packing from the homes in South Waziristan they had established after fleeing Afghanistan during the fall of the Taliban on 2001.

From South Waziristan, his network stretches across southwestern Afghanistan including Paktika, Zabul, Helmand and up to Kandahar. Similarly, from his base in North Waziristan, Sirajuddin Haqqani runs the largest anti-coalition network in the southeastern Afghan provinces of Paktia, Khost, Ghazni and up to Kabul.

The Central Intelligence Agency's drones have on several occasions targeted Nazir, and he was injured during a strike in 2008. He attributes his escapes so far to the low profile he keeps as he does not appear in public.

Extremely loyal to Taliban leader Mullah Omar and a part of the Afghan Taliban, Nazir began as a conventional Talib guerrilla and a follower of the populist traits of the Taliban movement.

This changed in 2006, when, like many others including Sirajuddin Haqqani, Nazir became inspired by al-Qaeda and realized that fighting a war without modern guerrilla techniques meant draining vital human resources for no return.

That led to the advancement of the skills of Nazir's fighters, and it also came with rewards.

In Afghanistan, if a commander sticks solely to his relations with the Taliban, he will never climb the ladder to prominence and the Taliban can only provide a limited number of local tribal fighters and meager funds. But if a commander allies with al-Qaeda, he is given the opportunity for joint operations with top Arab commanders who arrange finances for those operations.

Similarly, breakaway factions of Pakistani jihadi organizations like the Jaish-e-Mohammad, the Laskhar-e-Taiba and the Harkatul Mujahideen also supply an unending stream of fighters to those commanders associated with al-Qaeda.

Nazir's affiliation with al-Qaeda seems to have passed unnoticed by the United States and NATO, which are investing heavily in a reconciliation process with the "good Taliban" and they appear not to understand the drastic changes that have taken place among the top cadre of the Taliban.

"We are in favor of talks with the Americans. However, this is not the time to talk," Nazir said in a measured voice.

"At the moment, the Americans want breathing space. We don't want to allow them any at all." He paused, as if carefully weighing his words.

"At present, there is no reason for dialogue. Dialogue is possible only after the withdrawal of NATO forces from Afghanistan," Nazir said with a smile.

"What is the rationale of dialogue after NATO's withdrawal?" Nazir asked rhetorically. "Then, the Taliban and NATO can hold a dialogue on whether the Taliban would attack their interests all over the world or not, and what treaties should be undertaken in that regard."

Taken aback by this statement from a Taliban stalwart who is not perceived as being a global jihadi but simply a guerrilla fighting against occupation forces in Afghanistan, I intervened. "Hitting Western targets abroad might be al-Qaeda's agenda, but it is not the Taliban's, so why should the West negotiate that with the Taliban?"

"Al-Qaeda and the Taliban are one and the same. At an operational level we might have different strategies, but at the policy level we are one and the same," Nazir said, surprising me further.

"But you were considered anti-al-Qaeda. You expelled the [al-Qaeda-linked] Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan from South Waziristan."

Nazir's expression turned serious and he seemed a little tense, but in a fraction of a second he calmed down and replied with firmness.

"This is wrong that I am anti-al-Qaeda. I am part of al-Qaeda. Whatever happened between us and the Uzbeks was the result of our internal differences. I never did that on anybody’s instigation."

Nazir said that after the death of the leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Tahir Yuldashev, killed in a drone attack in 2009, Nazir and Uzbek commanders were once again on talking terms and sorted out their differences.

"At the end of the day, all mujahideen are one and the jihad will not end up only in Afghanistan. It will go a long way. The monarchs and dictators of the Arab world are usurpers. The demonstrations against them are considered as pro-democracy, but eventually it will benefit the mujahideen. The situation has rapidly turned favorable for us and therefore the mujahideen from Afghanistan will join forces with the Arabs. Yemen is the first destination selected in this regard where we will send our men," Nazir said.

I turned the conversation back to reconciliation with the Taliban. "There is a lot of talk in the media about the Taliban's representative office in Turkey and talks that the Taliban have agreed on."

"I am a small mujahid [fighter]. I know politics only a little, but I know one thing, that NATO doesn't have any good intentions about the Taliban. This kind of office [in Turkey] is a conspiracy to understand the Taliban's network and their mobility patterns. I am a small mujahid or a commander so to speak, but I can say with authority that no commanders faithful to Mullah Mohammad Omar would fall into this trap - and nor would footsoldiers. The whole movement from top to bottom is united to reject this dialogue process," said Nazir, adding that all world powers played political gimmicks when they saw that a military victory was not possible.

"When the Soviets saw that they could not win militarily in Afghanistan [in the late 1980s], they engaged with northern Afghanistan's warlords, but that did not save them from defeat," said Nazir

My visit to South Waziristan coincided with the Taliban's declaration of the start of their annual spring offensive, so I asked, "Is there any new strategy for the offensive this year?"

"Dialogue," said Nazir, smiling.

"Dialogue with whom?" I asked.

"We have opened up dialogue with the Milli Urdu [Afghan National Army]. This is at different levels. We have an exclusive strategy this year that we will try our level best that Afghans do not kill Afghans unless it is inevitable."

"Does that mean you are speaking to the Afghan Ministry of Defense or the Ministry of Interior?" I asked.

"There is no negotiation with the political leadership. This communication is strictly between the field commanders of both sides. Before I came here to give this interview, I received a message that an important commander of the Milli Urdu wanted to speak to me. We simply urge them to stay away and let us fight against the foreigners and they are agreeing to that. At times they even facilitate us," Nazir said.

I then asked about the former Northern Alliance, the bloc in north Afghanistan that bitterly opposed the Taliban regime, in connection with the international peace efforts.

"They were very enthusiastic, but the Taliban made it clear to them that they would have to make some sacrifices too ... and they backed off." Nazir added that several top-level commanders of the Northern Alliance wanted to discuss a future political setup with the Taliban.

"They included all Panjshir [province in the north] commanders including Martial Fahim. They dished out a formula in which they would recognize any future government headed by Mullah Mohammad Omar and in which they were given the second-largest number of portfolios.

"We accepted their demand, saying we did not have any objections to offering them ministerial positions, but first they would have to resign from their present political offices and join forces with the Taliban against the foreign occupation. They backed off," Nazir said.

"But that was not the only peace offer. We have received under-the-table offers from foreigners as well. Last year, British forces in Helmand province send a message to the Taliban that all major operations were carried out by the Americans, so if we did not target them, the British forces would not target the Taliban," Nazir said.

I was on the point of asking for elaboration when Nazir said, "Why don’t you join us for lunch," indicating in the most polite but unmistakable manner that the interview was over.

(Note: This article was written before the death of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden on May 2.)

Part 2: Kicking around in South Waziristan

Statement of the Leadership Council of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

Statement Of The Leadership Council Of The Islamic Emirate Of Afghanistan

Regarding The Martyrdom Of The Great Martyr Sheik Osama Bin Laden

Jamadi-ul-Thani 02, 1432 A.H, Friday, May 06, 2011

In the Name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful

Among the believers, there are men who have been true to their covenant with Allah. Some fulfilled their vow by death and some are still awaiting and they have not changed in the least. (S:33-V:23)

The Caller to Islamic Jihad against the invading infidels, Sheikh Osama bin Laden, embraced martyrdom as per the Will of the Almighty Allah during an abrupt attack by the American invading soldiers. (We are creation of Allah and return to Him.)

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan extends its deep condolence to the family of the martyr, to his followers and to fighter Mujahideen of the way of Truth and to the Islamic Ummah on this occasion of the great tragedy. We pray to the Almighty Allah to accept, in His Sight, the sacrifice of the martyr. May, the Almighty Allah, salvage the Islamic Ummah from the current situation of crisis due to the impact of the blessing of the sacred Jihad and martyrdom of the martyr.

The martyr took part in the Jihad against the Soviet invasion with great honesty and bravery shoulder to shoulder with the Afghans. He offered such sacrifices in this way that the history of the Islamic Ummah will for ever remain proud of. Sheikh Osama bin Laden was the ardent advocate of the legitimate cause of the first Qibla of the Muslims, the Aqsa Mosque and the occupied Palestine . He was an indefatigable fighter against the Christian and Jewish aggressions in the Islamic World and was not sparing any effort in this cause. The life of this Mujahid, who felt the antagonism against Islam, was full of fatigues, sacrifices and hardships. The history of Islam will always keep their memory alive.

The way of Jihad and the path of defense of Islam is a way fraught with sacrifices and martyrdoms. Like any other follower of this way, Sheikh Osama had been aspiring to attain martyrdom in the cause of the Almighty Allah. He reached his ambition with bravery, dedication and commitment in the last moments of his life.

If the invading Americans and their Allies wallow in this optimism that the morale and ranks of Mujahideen will weaken in Afghanistan and other occupied Islamic countries following the martyrdom of Sheikh Osama bin Laden, it will only show their lack of insight. The sapling of Jihad has always grown, spruced and reached fructification through irrigation by pure blood. The martyrdom of a martyr leads to hundreds more to head to the field of martyrdom and sacrifice.

The current Jihadic movement of Afghanistan sprouted from among the masses and is representative of the aspirations of this proud people. In this land of the braves, a strike by colonialism breeds sympathy and produces (an urge) to strike back. If the Mujahid people were prone to submit to force and tyranny, then is there any gimmick both in terms of military muscles showdown and other devilish conspiracies that has been left by the Americans during the last decade? But the ground realities have it that the use of force brings in opposite consequences here. This popular movement can be bracketed with a spring which, when you pressurize, bounces back with the same intensity.

The Islamic Emirate believes, the martyrdom of Sheikh Osama bin Laden will give a new impetus to the current Jihad against the invaders in this critical phase of Jihad. The tides of Jihad will gain strength and width. The forthcoming time will prove this both for the friends and the foes, if God willing.

The Leadership Council of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

While Qaddafi should not Initiate this Platform, the principles still stand and we are getting closer than they could ever imagine - CRASH!!!

The Palestinian State and Neo-Liberal Capitalism

Inside the Afghan jailbreak tunnel

Bin Laden cost the U.S. 'trillions'

Noam Chomsky's Response to the Assassination of Osama bin Laden

It’s increasingly clear that the operation was a planned assassination, multiply violating elementary norms of international law. There appears to have been no attempt to apprehend the unarmed victim, as presumably could have been done by 80 commandos facing virtually no opposition—except, they claim, from his wife, who lunged towards them. In societies that profess some respect for law, suspects are apprehended and brought to fair trial. I stress “suspects.” In April 2002, the head of the FBI, Robert Mueller, informed the press that after the most intensive investigation in history, the FBI could say no more than that it “believed” that the plot was hatched in Afghanistan, though implemented in the UAE and Germany. What they only believed in April 2002, they obviously didn’t know 8 months earlier, when Washington dismissed tentative offers by the Taliban (how serious, we do not know, because they were instantly dismissed) to extradite bin Laden if they were presented with evidence—which, as we soon learned, Washington didn’t have. Thus Obama was simply lying when he said, in his White House statement, that “we quickly learned that the 9/11 attacks were carried out by al Qaeda.”

Nothing serious has been provided since. There is much talk of bin Laden’s “confession,” but that is rather like my confession that I won the Boston Marathon. He boasted of what he regarded as a great achievement.

There is also much media discussion of Washington’s anger that Pakistan didn’t turn over bin Laden, though surely elements of the military and security forces were aware of his presence in Abbottabad. Less is said about Pakistani anger that the U.S. invaded their territory to carry out a political assassination. Anti-American fervor is already very high in Pakistan, and these events are likely to exacerbate it. The decision to dump the body at sea is already, predictably, provoking both anger and skepticism in much of the Muslim world.

We might ask ourselves how we would be reacting if Iraqi commandos landed at George W. Bush’s compound, assassinated him, and dumped his body in the Atlantic. Uncontroversially, his crimes vastly exceed bin Laden’s, and he is not a “suspect” but uncontroversially the “decider” who gave the orders to commit the “supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole” (quoting the Nuremberg Tribunal) for which Nazi criminals were hanged: the hundreds of thousands of deaths, millions of refugees, destruction of much of the country, the bitter sectarian conflict that has now spread to the rest of the region.

There’s more to say about [Cuban airline bomber Orlando] Bosch, who just died peacefully in Florida, including reference to the “Bush doctrine” that societies that harbor terrorists are as guilty as the terrorists themselves and should be treated accordingly. No one seemed to notice that Bush was calling for invasion and destruction of the U.S. and murder of its criminal president.

Same with the name, Operation Geronimo. The imperial mentality is so profound, throughout western society, that no one can perceive that they are glorifying bin Laden by identifying him with courageous resistance against genocidal invaders. It’s like naming our murder weapons after victims of our crimes: Apache, Tomahawk… It’s as if the Luftwaffe were to call its fighter planes “Jew” and “Gypsy.”

There is much more to say, but even the most obvious and elementary facts should provide us with a good deal to think about.

A country of dogs will always remain a country of dogs

And the honorable Lion lives on forever Allahu Akbar

Osama bin Laden’s American Legacy

Bin Laden carries on as a ghost as long as Washington continues to fight its disastrous wars in his old neighborhood.

— By Tom Engelhardt

Back in the 1960s, Senator George Aiken of Vermont offered two American presidents a plan for dealing with the Vietnam War: declare victory and go home. Roundly ignored at the time, it's a plan worth considering again today for a war in Afghanistan and Pakistan now in its tenth year.
As everybody not blind, deaf, and dumb knows by now, Osama bin Laden has been eliminated. Literally. By Navy Seals. Or as one of a crowd of revelers who appeared in front of the White House Sunday night put it on an impromptu sign riffing on The Wizard of Oz: "Ding, Dong, Bin Laden Is Dead."

And wouldn't it be easy if he had indeed been the Wicked Witch of the West and all we needed to do was click those ruby slippers three times, say "there's no place like home," and be back in Kansas. Or if this were V-J day and a sailor's kiss said it all.

Unfortunately, in every way that matters for Americans, it's an illusion that Osama bin Laden is dead. In every way that matters, he will fight on, barring a major Obama administration policy shift in Afghanistan, and it's we who will ensure that he remains on the battlefield that George W. Bush's administration once so grandiosely labeled the Global War on Terror.

Admittedly, the Arab world had largely left bin Laden in the dust even before he took that bullet to the head. There, the focus was on the Arab Spring, the massive, ongoing, largely nonviolent protests that have shaken the region and its autocrats to their roots. In that part of the world, his death is, as Tony Karon of Time Magazine has written, "little more than a historical footnote," and his dreams are now essentially meaningless.

Consider it an insult to irony, but the world bin Laden really changed forever wasn't in the Greater Middle East. It was here. Cheer his death, bury him at sea, don't release any photos, and he'll still carry on as a ghost as long as Washington continues to fight its deadly, disastrous wars in his old neighborhood.

The Tao of Terrorism

If analogies to The Wizard of Oz were in order, bin Laden might better be compared to that film's wizard rather than the wicked witch. After all, he was, in a sense, a small man behind a vast screen on which his frail frame took on, in the US, the hulking proportions of a supervillain, if not a rival superpower. In actuality, al-Qaeda, his organization, was, at best, a ragtag crew that, even in its heyday, even before it was embattled and on the run, had the most limited of operational capabilities. Yes, it could mount spectacular and spectacularly murderous actions, but only one of them every year or two.

Bin Laden was never "Hitler," nor were his henchmen the Nazis, nor did they add up to Stalin and his minions, though sometimes they were billed as such. The nearest thing al-Qaeda had to a state was the impoverished, ravaged, Taliban-controlled part of Afghanistan where some of its "camps" were once sheltered. Even the money available to Bin Laden, while significant, wasn't much to brag about, not on a superpower scale anyway. The 9/11 attacks were estimated to cost $400,000 to $500,000, which in superpower terms was pure chump change.

Despite the apocalyptic look of the destruction bin Laden's followers caused in New York and at the Pentagon, he and his crew of killers represented a relatively modest, distinctly non-world-ending challenge to the US And had the Bush administration focused the same energies on hunting him down that it put into invading and occupying Afghanistan and then Iraq, can there be any question that almost 10 years wouldn't have passed before he died or, as will now never happen, was brought to trial?

It was our misfortune and Osama bin Laden's good luck that Washington's dreams were not those of a global policeman intent on bringing a criminal operation to justice, but of an imperial power whose leaders wanted to lock the oil heartlands of the planet into a Pax Americana for decades to come. So if you're writing bin Laden's obituary right now, describe him as a wizard who used the 9/11 attacks to magnify his meager powers many times over.

After all, while he only had the ability to launch major operations every couple of years, Washington—with almost unlimited amounts of money, weapons, and troops at its command—was capable of launching operations every day. In a sense, after 9/11, Bin Laden commanded Washington by taking possession of its deepest fears and desires, the way a bot takes over a computer, and turning them to his own ends.

It was he, thanks to 9/11, who insured that the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan would be put into motion. It was he, thanks to 9/11, who also insured that the invasion and occupation of Iraq would be launched. It was he, thanks to 9/11, who brought America's Afghan war to Pakistan, and American aircraft, bombs, and missiles to Somalia and Yemen to fight that Global War on Terror. And for the last near-decade, he did all this the way a Tai Chi master fights: using not his own minimal strength, but our massive destructive power to create the sort of mayhem in which he undoubtedly imagined that an organization like his could thrive.

Don't be surprised, then, that in these last months or even years bin Laden seems to have been sequestered in a walled compound in a resort area just north of the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, doing next to nothing. Think of him as practicing the Tao of Terrorism. In fact, the less he did, the fewer operations he was capable of launching, the more the American military did for him in creating what collapsing Chinese dynasties used to call "chaos under heaven."

Dead and Alive

As is now obvious, bin Laden's greatest wizardry was performed on us, not on the Arab world, where the movements he spawned from Yemen to North Africa have proven remarkably peripheral and unimportant. He helped open us up to all the nightmares we could visit upon ourselves (and others)—from torture and the creation of an offshore archipelago of injustice to the locking down of our own American world, where we were to cower in terror, while lashing out militarily.

In many ways, he broke us not on 9/11 but in the months and years after. As a result, if we don't have the sense to follow Senator Aiken's advice, the wars we continue to fight with disastrous results will prove to be his monument, and our imperial graveyard (as Afghanistan has been for more than one empire in the past).

At a moment when the media and celebratory American crowds are suddenly bullish on US military operations, we still have almost 100,000 American troops, 50,000 allied troops, startling numbers of armed mercenaries, and at least 400 military bases in Afghanistan almost 10 years on. All of this as part of an endless war against one man and his organization which, according to the CIA director, is supposed to have only 50 to 100 operatives in that country.

Now, he's officially under the waves. In the Middle East, his idea of an all-encompassing future "caliphate" was the most ephemeral of fantasies. In a sense, though, his dominion was always here. He was our excuse and our demon. He possessed us.

When the celebrations and partying over his death fade, as they will no less quickly than did those for Britain's royal wedding, we'll once again be left with the tattered American world bin Laden willed us, and it will be easy to see just how paltry a thing this "victory," his killing, is almost 10 years later.

For all the print devoted to the operation that took him out, all the talking heads chattering away, all the hosannas being lavished on American special ops forces, the president, his planners, and various intelligence outfits, this is hardly a glorious American moment. If anything, we should probably be in mourning for what we buried long before we had bin Laden's body, for what we allowed him (and our own imperial greed) to goad us into doing to ourselves, and what, in the course of that, we did, in the name of fighting him, to others.

Those chants of "USA! USA!" on the announcement of his death were but faint echoes of the ones at Ground Zero on September 14, 2001, when President George W. Bush picked up a bullhorn and promised "the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!" That would be the beginning of a brief few years of soaring American hubris and fantasies of domination wilder than those of any caliphate-obsessed Islamic fundamentalist terrorist, and soon enough they would leave us high and dry in our present world of dismal unemployment figures, rotting infrastructure, rising gas prices, troubled treasury, and a people on the edge.

Unless we set aside the special ops assaults and the drone wars and take a chance, unless we're willing to follow the example of all those nonviolent demonstrators across the Greater Middle East and begin a genuine and speedy withdrawal from the Af/Pak theater of operations, Osama bin Laden will never die.

On September 17, 2001, President Bush was asked whether he wanted bin Laden dead. He replied: "There's an old poster out West, as I recall, that said 'wanted dead or alive.'" Dead or alive. Now, it turns out that there was a third option. Dead and alive.

The chance exists to put a stake through the heart of Osama bin Laden's American legacy. After all, the man who officially started it all is theoretically gone. We could declare victory, Toto, and head for home. But why do I think that, on this score, the malign wizard is likely to win?

“On the Occasion of the Great Martyr Shaykh Mujāhid Usāmah Bin Lāden”

Jamadi-ul-Thani 02, 1432 A.H, Friday, May 06, 2011

In the Name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful

“Among the believers, there are men who have been true to their covenant with Allah. Some fulfilled their vow by death and some are still awaiting and they have not changed in the least”.

(The Holy Quran, Surah 33. “The Clans”, verse 23)

The Caller to Islamic Jihad against the invading infidels, Sheikh Osama bin Laden, embraced martyrdom as per the Will of the Almighty Allah during an abrupt attack by the American invading soldiers. (We are creation of Allah and return to Him.)

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan extends its deep condolence to the family of the martyr, to his followers and to fighter Mujahideen of the way of Truth and to the Islamic Ummah on this occasion of the great tragedy. We pray to the Almighty Allah to accept, in His Sight, the sacrifice of the martyr. May, the Almighty Allah, salvage the Islamic Ummah from the current situation of crisis due to the impact of the blessing of the sacred Jihad and martyrdom of the martyr.

The martyr took part in the Jihad against the Soviet invasion with great honesty and bravery shoulder to shoulder with the Afghans. He offered such sacrifices in this way that the history of the Islamic Ummah will for ever remain proud of. Sheikh Osama bin Laden was the ardent advocate of the legitimate cause of the first Qibla of the Muslims, the Aqsa Mosque and the occupied Palestine . He was an indefatigable fighter against the Christian and Jewish aggressions in the Islamic World and was not sparing any effort in this cause. The life of this Mujahid, who felt the antagonism against Islam, was full of fatigues, sacrifices and hardships. The history of Islam will always keep their memory alive.

The way of Jihad and the path of defense of Islam is a way fraught with sacrifices and martyrdoms. Like any other follower of this way, Sheikh Osama had been aspiring to attain martyrdom in the cause of the Almighty Allah. He reached his ambition with bravery, dedication and commitment in the last moments of his life.

If the invading Americans and their Allies wallow in this optimism that the morale and ranks of Mujahideen will weaken in Afghanistan and other occupied Islamic countries following the martyrdom of Sheikh Osama bin Laden, it will only show their lack of insight. The sapling of Jihad has always grown, spruced and reached fructification through irrigation by pure blood. The martyrdom of a martyr leads to hundreds more to head to the field of martyrdom and sacrifice.

The current Jihadic movement of Afghanistan sprouted from among the masses and is representative of the aspirations of this proud people. In this land of the braves, a strike by colonialism breeds sympathy and produces (an urge) to strike back. If the Mujahid people were prone to submit to force and tyranny, then is there any gimmick both in terms of military muscles showdown and other devilish conspiracies that has been left by the Americans during the last decade? But the ground realities have it that the use of force brings in opposite consequences here. This popular movement can be bracketed with a spring which, when you pressurize, bounces back with the same intensity.

The Islamic Emirate believes, the martyrdom of Sheikh Osama bin Laden will give a new impetus to the current Jihad against the invaders in this critical phase of Jihad. The tides of Jihad will gain strength and width. The forthcoming time will prove this both for the friends and the foes, if God willing.

The Leadership Council of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

Brothers in Tunisia call for Shariah

 Our brothers were calling for Shariah in Tunisia today until they were arrested for "praying in the street" something that remains illegal in this "Muslim majority Democracy"... with Tunisia recently signing a big World Bank loan absent any political government and the arrests and crackdown today, I am sure that the American Satan is very happy with the way things are progressing... still it is wonderful to see the Islamic identity in public display. MORE PICS ARE AVAILABLE CLEAR HERE

Congratulations to our beloved Shaykh, May Allah accept you!!!

"As for us, we are in worship and jihad. Our prophet, may the peace and blessings of Allah

be upon him, said: "Prayer for one hour within the ranks is better than worship for 60

years. What a great honor it is to be on the side of Allah Almighty fighting for the sake of

religion. We pray to Allah to accept our deeds and your deeds.

Regarding Muslims, I tell them that they should place their trust in Allah's victory. They

should also respond to the order of the Almighty Allah and His prophet, may the peace and

blessings of God be upon him, to fight world infidelity. The luckiest is the one who dies

a martyr today. The luckiest is the one who stands under the flag of Muhammad, may the

peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, the flag of Islam to fight the world Crusade.

Everyone should come forward to fight these Jews and Americans. Killing of Jews and

Americans is one of the biggest duties and closest way to Allah. Let them remember the

instructions given by our prophet, may the peace and blessings of God be upon him. The prophet, may the peace and blessings of God be upon him, told the youth Ibn-Abbas,

may Allah be pleased with him: "O young man, let me teach you these words: Hold to Allah

and Allah will hold to you. Hold to Allah and you will find Him by your side. If you are

asked anything, turned to Allah. If you seek help, turn to Allah. Remember that even if the

nation gathered to help you, it will only help you with what God has willed for you. And

if it gathered to hurt you, it will not hurt you unless Allah has willed it for you. Don't

consult anyone on killing the Americans, proceed with Allah's blessing, and remember

your rendezvous with Allah Almighty in the company of the best of the prophets, may the

peace and blessings of Allah be upon him."

~ Shaykh Osama bin Laden - interview with Tayseer Alouni shortly after 9-11

Analyzing a Critical Hadith from Malik's Muwatta - Directing your Life toward Islamic Struggle

It is recorded in Imam Malik’s Muwatta, Kitab al-Jihad (965) that,

  وَحَدَّثَنِي عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ بْنِ مَعْمَرٍ الأَنْصَارِيِّ، عَنْ عَطَاءِ بْنِ يَسَارٍ، أَنَّهُ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏"‏ أَلاَ أُخْبِرُكُمْ بِخَيْرِ النَّاسِ مَنْزِلاً رَجُلٌ آخِذٌ بِعِنَانِ فَرَسِهِ يُجَاهِدُ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ أَلاَ أُخْبِرُكُمْ بِخَيْرِ النَّاسِ مَنْزِلاً بَعْدَهُ رَجُلٌ مُعْتَزِلٌ فِي غُنَيْمَتِهِ يُقِيمُ الصَّلاَةَ وَيُؤْتِي الزَّكَاةَ وَيَعْبُدُ اللَّهَ لاَ يُشْرِكُ بِهِ شَيْئًا ‏"‏ ‏.‏

Abdullah bin Abdulrahman bin Maamar Al-Ansari told me about Aata’a bin Yasa’ar said that the Messenger of Allah (SAWS) said, “Shall I tell you who is the best of you amongst the people in grades?” “A man who directs his horse for jihad in the way of Allah.” “And do you want me to tell you who is the best of the people after this?” “A man who takes his sheep and stands for prayer and gives charity (zakat) and worships Allah and doesn’t associate with him in anything.”

This hadith gives us an amazing amount of insight into the character we should attempt to build as Muslims. There are two distinct personality types mentioned here by the Prophet (saws) and classified as the best types of character: 1) the one who uses his life in order to obtain victory for Islam and 2) the one that seeks to avoid mischief and error in the way of Allah and rather retreats to the mountain path to fulfill the purpose of ibadallah, worship of Allah (swt).

The general lesson from this hadith recorded in Muwatta is the fact that the one striving in the way of Allah holds a higher station as far as Allah (swt) is concerned. For this the Messenger (saws) used the phrase, akhada bi3naani farasihi, meaning directs his horse in jihad for the sake of Allah (swt). The verb akhada here means ‘to take deliberate hold of’, the noun 3ana is ‘the bridle of the horse’s mouth’ and farasihi means ‘his horse’. The Messenger (saws) is commenting on the courage, effort, and sacrifice it takes to direct one’s life towards a path of jihad and struggle for the sake of Allah (swt). It is indeed a struggle that requires much preparation and a conscious effort of putting an intentional focus on steering one’s life path down a road of sacrifice in order to make Allah’s Word superior. We must remember that jihad in Islam is not limited to fighting with weapons and in warfare but also includes the struggles that are associated with the pen and politics in seeking to attain liberation from the institutions of domaintion that coincide with systems of kufr and disbelief.  The Prophet (saws) said, the most righteous jihad is to speak the truth to the face of the tyrannical ruler and "Strive (jahidu) against the disbelievers with your hands and tongues." (Sahih Ibn Hibban #4708)

Both people are looked upon highly in this hadith, but the mujahhid is given a higher degree because it is harder to operate against the deceptive reality and coldness of the dunya and to encounter the risks and sacrifice necessary to race into an encounter with disbelief and all of the ways the allies of the shaytan portray themselves as more powerful than the believer. The mujahhid must fulfill the obligation of worship upon him and find the time and energy to put forth effort in the way of Allah. He must give up and sacrifice some of the pleasures of the world as this is a given in calling to Allah (swt) with sword, wealth or tongue in that there will definitely be sacrifices that must be made along the way.

As we know from the stories of the Prophet’s victory is limited and often only comes after a series of mountainous tests and obstacles, many of which place the believer in the difficult position of coming into contact with death, worldly sacrifice, and compromise all of which make the effort exhausted and futile in the event that final tests are failed. This is explained wonderfully in the tafsir of 2:195, the ayah that is used today to refer and allegedly refute martyrdom operations as suicide mission:

Allah (swt) says, “And spend in the cause of Allah and do not throw yourselves into destruction” But Allamah Ibn Kathir (ra) reports that Aslam Abu `Imran said, "A man from among the Ansar broke enemy (Byzantine) lines in Constantinople (Istanbul). Abu Ayyub Al-Ansari was with us then. So some people said, `He is throwing himself to destruction.' Abu Ayyub said, `We know this Ayah (2:195) better, for it was revealed about us, the Companions of Allah's Messenger who participated in Jihad with him and aided and supported him. When Islam became strong, we, the Ansar, met and said to each other, `Allah has honored us by being the Companions of His Prophet and in supporting him until Islam became victorious and its following increased. We had before ignored the needs of our families, estates and children. Warfare has ceased, so let us go back to our families and children and attend to them.' So this Ayah was revealed about us:

[وَأَنفِقُواْ فِى سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَلاَ تُلْقُواْ بِأَيْدِيكُمْ إِلَى التَّهْلُكَةِ]

(And spend in the cause of Allah and do not throw yourselves into destruction.) 

The destruction refers to staying with our families and estates and abandoning Jihad'.'' Thus, even after a life of sacrifice and victory the sahaba were nearly destroyed by becoming content and ambitious to return to the pleasures they originally gave up in order to go out in the way of Allah (swt). While the hadith mentions the merit of seeking jihad, there are risks involved, and so therefore the Messenger (saws) mentioned the high station of the one that seeks to avoid failure in the way of Allah (swt) in place of retreat.  

However, we should be careful to consider the Prophet (saws) mentioning two distinct persons entails that the positive qualities associated with them are mutually exclusive and that we must adopt either an aggressive character calling to and struggling with jihad or a silent and pious character modeled on the one that takes to the mountain path. Instead, both the pious worship of the mu’min and the dedicated and passionate vigor of the mujahhid are commended; the difference is in the grades they sit in the eyes of Allah (swt).

We see a similar example in the Quran where Allah says, “but the men have a degree over them (women) 2:228; the Arabic word for degree is ‘darajaat’ and means ‘level’ but does not imply inferiority. Allah is not saying that man is superior to woman as some in the West suggest when they use this verse to point to their belief that Islam degrades women. Instead both righteous man and righteous woman are applauded throughout the Quran but here Allah is suggesting that because man has more burden and responsibility as caretaker over woman, He (swt) has granted them a degree of authority over them. In no way shape or form is this meant to belittle women generally.

The same is true of the hadith. Making jihad in the way of Allah is one of the most trying obstacles a believer faces. Allah (swt) says,

Those who believed and emigrated and strove hard and fought in the way of Allah with their wealth and lives are far higher in degree with Allah. (9:20)

Again, the word Allah chooses in this ayah is ‘darajaat’ for degree but Allah attaches the word ‘Adheem’ (highness) to signify that their difference to believers that do not go out is great indeed. This emphasis is an important distinction to note.

It is recorded elsewhere from Abu Hurrariya that the Prophet (saws) said, “Whoever believes in Allah and His Messenger, performs the salat, and observes saum during the month of Ramadan, then it will be a promise binding upon Allah to admit him to the paradise no matter whether he fights in the way of Allah or remains in the land where he is born. The people said, “Shall we inform the people of this good news?” He said, “Paradise has 100 hundred degrees which Allah has reserved for the mujahideen who fight in His cause, and the distance between each of the two grades is like the distance between the heavens and the Earth. So when you ask Allah , ask for ‘Firdaus’ (which is the middle and highest part of paradise (Buckhari Vol. 4 Hadith #48).

Also it is reported from Abu Hurrairiya that the Messenger (saws) said, “By Him in whose Hands is my life! Were it not for some men amongst the believers who dislike to be left behind me, and whom I cannot provide with means of conveyance, I would certainly never remain behind any unit going out for Jihad in Allah’s way. By Him in whose Hands my life is! I would love to be martyred in Allah’s cause and then come back to life, and then get martyred and then come back to life again, and then get martyred and then come back to life again, and then get martyred. (Buckhari, Vol. 4, Hadith #54)

It is apparent from the hadith that the one waging jihad for the sake of Allah (swt) is a degree above the one that relies solely on his worship to please Allah, but understanding this hadith to represent an excuse from devoting one’s life in Allah’s way and the fact that the one refraining from the jihad can point to this hadith as an excuse for not sacrificing in the way of Allah would be a mistake. We live in a situation where jihad is fard al ayn (incumbent on us all) as the entire Muslim world is under occupation. Thus it is imperative that we not sit idle and silent upon the mountain path while the Muslim ummah suffers a collective defeat. We know of the story of the man who was praying but not commanding good and forbidding evil and that when Allah (swt) sent for the town’s destruction he ordered him to be destroyed first for his silence. Thus if one is engaged with society it is an important reality that they must not just sit idly by and excuse themselves from action, pointing to the second character reported from the Prophet (saws) here.

The hadith records that the second best man is “A man who takes his sheep.” The Arabic word for sheep here is Ghuneema. Had the Prophet (saws) pronounced the word with a fattha (aa) rather than a dhumma (uu) and said ghaneema, he would have been saying, the second best from amongst you is a man that takes his war booty from jihad (ghaneemah) and stands for prayer and gives charity (zakat) and worships Allah and doesn’t associate with him in anything.” This is because the root of ghuneema is Ghayn- Nun – Mim which means riches and worldly wealth. So, the one that leaves the worldly wealth to engage in worship is righteous as well. This completely shatters the mentality of those that do not leave off the dunya in the manner they leave off the jihad and sacrificing with life and wealth in the way of jihad.  If one wants to only engage in worship he must also separate his self from the society and retire to the mountain path. This character is not fulfilled when someone keeps his individual worship but sits around silent while Allah’s religion and shariah are disregarded and the people walk blindly in disregard. 

Truly this complacent and lethargic attitude and constant referencing of hadith like these is from the most important manifestations of irja affecting the ummah today. Irjah means to put off linguistically and has come to represent a certain fiqr (idea) that iman is belief in the heart only and not consisting of emotion, speech and action. Those that put off the jihad are truly throwing themselves in destruction. So we see from this hadith that it seems to represent an escape clause, but the reality is that it is a call for the true believer to seek the highest grade with Allah, and to incorporate the mannerisms and character associated with both persons. We should strive to be one that is able to strive in the way of Allah (swt) and simultaneously incorporate an emphasis on ibadaa giving up our worldly desires and taking refuge in worship of our Lord, the Majestic. The shahadaa demands much more than living the good life. When we look at the proceeding hadith included by Imam Malik in Muwatta’s Kitaab al-jihad we see that the bayaah to Islam commands effort in the way of Allah.  It reports that,  

 وَحَدَّثَنِي عَنْ مَالِكٍ، عَنْ يَحْيَى بْنِ سَعِيدٍ، قَالَ أَخْبَرَنِي عُبَادَةُ بْنُ الْوَلِيدِ بْنِ عُبَادَةَ بْنِ الصَّامِتِ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، عَنْ جَدِّهِ، قَالَ بَايَعْنَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم عَلَى السَّمْعِ وَالطَّاعَةِ فِي الْيُسْرِ وَالْعُسْرِ وَالْمَنْشَطِ وَالْمَكْرَهِ وَأَنْ لاَ نُنَازِعَ الأَمْرَ أَهْلَهُ وَأَنْ نَقُولَ أَوْ نَقُومَ بِالْحَقِّ حَيْثُمَا كُنَّا لاَ نَخَافُ فِي اللَّهِ لَوْمَةَ لاَئِمٍ ‏.‏

‏Yahya related to me from Malik that Yahya ibn Said said, ''Ubada ibn al-Walid ibn Ubada ibn as-Samit informed me from his father that his grandfather (Ubada) said, 'We made a contract with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, to hear and obey in ease and hardship, enthusiasm and reluctance, and not to dispute with people in authority and to speak or establish the truth wherever we were without worrying about criticism.'"

These conditions are incumbent on us and can hardly be realized in this era where the whole world has gathered against Islam and Muslims without devoting every step of our lives in the way of Allah (swt). As long as we are engaged with people, no matter where we live we must seek to struggle in the way of Allah. We must make a conscious effort to steer our lives in the direction of sacrifice and devote time to fulfill the obligation of engaging in efforts that may make Allah’s word superior. This can be achieved in many ways, but sitting silent whilst knowing the truth is not an option.

Allah admonishes Muslims in the Qur'an:

And why should you not fight in the cause of Allah and of those who, being weak, are ill-treated (and oppressed)? Men, women, and children, whose cry is: 'Our Lord! Rescue us from this town, whose people are oppressors; and raise for us from You, one who will protect; and raise for us from You, one who will help'. 4:75

Today, nearly every state and thus every individual seeks to oppress and prevent those calling for complete Islam from rising to a state of liberation from the systems of kufr. Increasingly Muslims are rising in every community to encounter the oppression, lies, and deception of the local tawagheet. As more do so we can be assured that the slumber of Islam will surely be lifted. Every Muslim should take the reins of direction in his or her life and ask Allah (swt) to put them on the path of struggle in His way.  Allah has power to do all things and there is nothing more rewarding than feeling as if you are moving in a motion conducive to wresting free from the satanic grips that have put this ummah asleep for far too long. Everything in Islam is based on intention, if you intend to steer your life in a way of struggle to make Allah’s word superior surely opportunities will open up which will grant you the ability to do so.  

The other option of taking to the mountain path and ignoring the society is not an option as long as you are still within society.  It is sometimes mistaken that one can live and operate under the systems of tyranny without doing anything as a means of preventing the society from being affected by his own flaws. Therefore, many sit silent living in countries that are classified as dar-ul-harb (the abode of war) while not realizing that they contribute themselves directly and indirectly to the oppression and slaughter of Muslims across the globe: their taxes fund the bombs and bullets that make their way into the bodies of Muslims over seas, their silence allows the lie that wars are fought for liberation and democracy to perpetuate, even their reversion and separation of religion from the practical reality of war breeds the notion that Islam is still Islam without the implementation of it as an entire system, that we can have Islam in the masjid but oppression, war, and imperialism in the political arenas controlled by the enemies of Allah.  Silence encumbers the community but they oftentimes misinterpret and manipulate the other end of hadith like these. If they want to take their sheep to the hilltop and worship their Lord, then by all means they should do it in a place where they are not aiding and abiding the contemporary crusade against Islam and Muslims. There is a time for peace and a time for war, and there are certain times when without war there can be no peace. We are living from amongst these times.   

Lion of Islam (Sheikh Usama Bin Laden)

At a time when the Ummah is on it's knees, a few lions stood up against the tyranny and injustices of the kuffar, but the kuffar tried to get them on their knees and silence them, otherwise gave them what they gave Hamza Ibn Abdul Muttalib (RA).

Shaikh Usama Bin Laden (may Allah preserve him if he's alive, or give him the highest levels of jannah if he has become shaheed) is a true example of the sahaba (RA), and a true hero and lion of this Ummah

Authentic Tauheed Conference 2011---May 7th, 2011 5pm EST time LIVE

Authentic Tauheed Conference 2011---May 7th, 2011 5pm EST time LIVE

More than 1500 People in Germany saying the Shahada !The Shahada is the ...

State of th Ummah: Deconstructing Modernity: Calling to the Islamic Paradigm with ALi Harfouch

Untitled from Younus Abdullah Muhammad on Vimeo.

In this edition of State of the Ummah we discuss the political realm in light of a recent conversation held with modernist Tariq Ramadan on the campus of American University in Beirut. We are joined by brother Ali Harfouch who is busy on the ground in Lebanon working in an environment of change and frustration with the status quo and we analyze the colonialist condition of the post-Sykes-Picot psychology addressing liberalism as the primary  enemy today and documenting the fundamental conceptual obstacles prevalent in the political environment today.  

Facebook Deletes “We are All Osama Bin Ladin” Page

source
After reaching more than 10,000 members in few hours in light of his assassination by American forces in Pakistan Facebook deleted we are “All Osama Bin Ladin” page.


We do not know what is the excuse this time for deleting this page, is it call for violence? we did not notice any. And this excuse that any page that calls for violence should be banned is nonsense, because if that was the case, then Obama’s page on Facebook should be banned because it contains calls for violence. The case here is not whether Obama’s call for violence against US enemies is right or not. And that is not of Facebook to decide if it wants to be for all nationalities, neutral. The case here that if we follow the standard that anypage that contains violence on Facebook should be banned then Facebook should delete Barack Obama’s page.

So Facebook is implementing double standards when it comes Anything related to Palestine or Islam. If someone calls for the freedom of Palestine like the third Palestinian intifada, the page is banned. But as many people call him terrorist, Obama has the right to spread his hate and call for violence against Muslims on facebook.

You might dislike Osama Bin Ladin, you have that right, we are not defending him, but also people have the right to express themselves and clarify what they believe even if you dislike it.

People who liked “we are all Osama bin laden” page think of him as a hero, as a freedom fighter who fought the head of international tyranny and the head of International terror: USA.
To them USA has committed many crimes against Muslims and non-muslims a like, even before Alqaeda was founded. From 1991 tell 2000 USA killed 1 million children in Iraq via its sanctions against that country, the depleted uranium used by its forces in the first gulf war caused countless of disease among innocent Iraqi civilians . To people who liked his page USA supports Israel with all its might, to them Israel is at error state that steals the land and kills people in Palestine. Israel kicked millions of Palestinian out from their land and homes in to excel in Jordan, Syria and lebanon. To them Israel is America and America is Israel.
To Them USA supports dictatorships regimes in the Muslim world, depriving them from their freedom and the well to have non corrupt socities, these people who do not want you to be deceived by the calls of state department that USA supports democracy in the Arab world, to them this is what PR is for the criminals at the US government. “Kill em and then tell them we love you.”
To them USA killed 2 million Iraqis from 2003 to 2008 according to International humanitarian agencies. To them the Zionist regime in America is at war against Islam and Muslims and Osama was the hero who had 100s of millions of Dollars instead of spending them in the goodies of life he spend them to help oppressors fight back the head of international terror :USA .

The people who liked Osama remembers that he was a hero who destroyed the soviet union and shaken the ground behind the heads of International tyranny.

To others, Osama is a terrorist who is behind killing US civilians as such he deserve to die, but the people who support Osama think differently that America has killed before and after 911 millions of Muslims. Lets note that there are some people who support Osama in his fight against US government and Arab governments but differentiate between US government and the American people.

Authentic Tauheed Conference 2011---May 7th, 2011 5pm EST time LIVE

The 3 Principles, Sheikh Abu Mohammad Al Maqdisi

This is another talk by the Scholar of our time Abu Mohammad Al Maqdisi Fak Allahu Asrah at a funeral, about the three questions of the Grave

The Taliban's Comments on The Death of Usamah Ibn Laden

Remarks Of Zabihullah Mujahid Regarding The Announcement Made By Obama About The Death Of Sheikh Usama Bin Laden

From one point of view, the Americans did not present sufficient evidence to prove their claim, and from the other point of view, the sources close to Sheikh Usama bin Laden have not announced their position - confirming or denying - what Obama announced about the above-mentioned martyrdom, and therefore, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan considers discussion about the subject, before the release of an official statement from sources close to the Sheikh, premature.

The Spokesman of Islamic Emirate
Zabihullah Mujahid
05/03/2011

Are al-Qaida and the Taliban driven by the desire to help others? | Aditya Chakrabortty | Comment is free | The Guardian

Are al-Qaida and the Taliban driven by the desire to help others? | Aditya Chakrabortty | Comment is free | The Guardian

It seems hard to countenance, but could academics be right in thinking that Islamist terrorists are driven by 'basically altruistic' thoughts?

Osama bin Laden was the most famous terrorist in the world; he also served as the single biggest distraction from a serious analysis of the roots of terrorism. With his murderous version of Muslim piety and references to a 7th-century caliphate, the al-Qaida head helped define Islamist extremism as ideological, apocalyptic and imperialist. That story bore as much relation to the truth as a skinny man's reflection in a hall of mirrors – but it's the one that US and British politicians bought. Judging by yesterday's comments from US secretary of state Hillary Clinton and defence secretary Liam Fox, it's the version they still believe. Not only is that account wrong; some of the best academic research suggests that following it does little to tackle terrorism.

The conventional view of Islamist terrorism is the one set out by Clintonyesterday, of a "violent ideology that holds no value for human life": evil, inexplicable, and irreconcilable with any civilised values. Yet analysis from social scientists suggests the opposite.

However odd it may seem to use these terms of would-be jihadists and suicide bombers, some researchers describe Islamist terrorists as in the main rational, desperate figures operating in wrecked countries. Over the decades, two academics working in separate disciplines have come up with a particularly compelling, heavily researched account both of what Islamist terrorists are not, and of what drives them on.

The first is Ariel Merari, a psychologist who fought in the Arab-Israeli war of 1973 and has spent the past three decades studying the attitudes of terrorists. Some of his most notable work is on Palestinian suicide bombers. He has spoken to friends and families of suicide bombers, and even to would-be attackers who failed to detonate their explosive belts before being captured.

His first conclusion is that Palestinian suicide bombers are usually not suicidal. They aren't depressed, or otherwise mentally ill, nor do they tend to be drug or alcohol abusers. What's more, these supposed Islamic warriors aren't especially religious. By and large, they didn't suggest religion as their primary motivation, nor was there much hope of a glorious afterlife.

That fits with what we know of suicide bombers elsewhere. The organisation that carried out most suicide attacks in the late 20th century was the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka, nominally a neo-Marxist, atheist organisation. The PKK in Turkey is also secular and leftwing, but has encouraged members into suicide attacks.

What Merari's research shows is "a large pool of psychologically healthy, basically altruistic suicide attackers". That description comes from Eli Berman, at the University of California, San Diego. His use of the term "basically altruistic" is surely intended to be provocative, but what the economist means is that terrorists are often acting out of a desire to help others in their group. His work is full of other such terms that will raise hackles. But as someone who has spent years studying the Taliban, Hamas, Hezbollah and even the Mahdi Army in Iraq, he is someone you have to read to understand what drives terrorists.

A former Israeli soldier in the 1982 Lebanon war, what Berman stresses is that Islamic terrorist groups survive by providing vital infrastructure and social services. The breakthrough moment for the Taliban came in the mid-90s, when they were able to run a secure toll road from Kandahar in southern Afghanistan to Herat in the west of the country. In a notoriously unsafe country overrun by rival warlords, the Taliban showed they could provide a public utility, and that its militiamen could make a living from the tollroad business.

Berman's work is studded with similar examples. Hezbollah? It runs hospitals and schools, as well as provides a refuse collection service – and even manages an electricity grid. The academic describes these groups as economic clubs, whose members run these services, earning a living, preferential treatment, and popular support.

This is, of course, an economist's account: it is more concerned with incentives than mobilising ideologies and symbols. Berman is also more concerned with organisations than individuals. But if Bush and Obama – and Blair, Brown and Cameron – had followed his ideas they might have saved themselves a wasted decade in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Rather than winning hearts and minds, Berman suggests western powers should always have been focused on providing sewage and schools. Rather than occupying territory, the logical conclusion of his work is that foreign governments should have restricted themselves to supporting aid and development projects carried out by NGOs. The same principle would also apply to Israel's dealings with Hamas: Netanyahu would find it most productive to channel money and development projects into the Gaza Strip.

Some of the economist's prescriptions sound pedestrian and mechanical – do X and Y will happen. But they are no more simplistic than some of the actual policies followed in tackling Islamist extremism.

Towards the end of 2005, members of the Bush administration began making speeches on Osama's desire to establish an Islamic caliphate. One US general likened this supposed masterplan to the importance of Mein Kampf in setting out Hitler's worldview. Rubbish, warned experts – and they were right, of course. But it suited both Bush and Osama better to pretend such threats were in earnest.

The bottom line from reading Berman and Merari is this: Islamist terrorism is deadly and unjustifiable. But it is also, at its root, prosaic. Most of all, it is soluble.

Bin Laden and his son fought for 2 hours. Helicopter was shot down

Some moments of truth have still leaked out behind the noisy propaganda crackling and triumphant euphoria that overwhelmed the infidel media and cheap fables that bin Laden was "hiding from the bullets behind his wife".

As it turned out, the first reported about the fierce battle in his microblog Twitter was a local IT-consultant Sohaib Athar, who lives in Abbottabad, where all the events occurred, reports BBC News.

In Twitter, shortly before the battle, he wrote that helicopters probably belonged to the armed forces of Pakistan flying over Abbottabad. He noted that it is quite rare in these areas.

Then, according to records of Athar, there were explosions heard. Later it became known that it was the damaged helicopter blown up. Sohaib Athar had not only described his observations on Twitter, but also gathered information from his friends who were on the web.

So, he found out that not all the helicopters belonged to the Pakistani armed forces, and that a helicopter was probably shot down, and not crashed.

Athar himself realized what helicopter it was and happened only after heard Obama's speech in which he declared the assassination of Osama bin Laden.

However, it was found out from a resident of Abbottabad in his microblog that the shootout in the city (western propaganda called it a "military presence in the city") lasted about 2 hours, while the US military said earlier that "the operation lasted less than 40 minutes".

It is to be recalled thereupon that, after several contradictory statements, Americans have nevertheless recognized that the aim of the attack in Abbottabad was the capture of bin Laden alive. However, Emir of al-Qaeda did not allow them to do so. Americans told that upon the offer to surrender bin Laden and his son opened fire to defeat.

If believe the version of the Americans, they have not managed to get close to bin Laden. Emir of al-Qaeda was killed by a sniper bullet in the head. (Later, the Americans have changed this version and said that bin Laden had not put resistance at all and was just a shot in the abdomen and head).

Additionally it became known that together with bin Laden and his in the house were 2 women. No accurate information available about their fate. It was reported that they were both killed, then it was stated that there was only one woman, and that she was wounded and now is in captivity of the US.

American propaganda is now replete with all sorts of little details of what happened. Here we have Obama watching the operation in the "live", and the CIA noting that "no one carrying out trash from the enormous mansion", and fly of special forces for an operation, etc. etc.

Photos of the shattered house with traces of blood have been published. The media runs the standard disinformation stories interspersed with cheap lies that usually done in such cases.

However, there are still quite a number of natural questions.


Why Americans do not publish any video or photos of the killed bin Laden. Furthermore, it seems improbable the version of the Americans that bin Laden's "buried" in the Arabian Sea (i.e. 1200 km. from the scene) in a few hours after his murder.

At the very least, it looks strange also the allegation that the US had made a genetic examination of the bin Laden's DNA in a matter of hours (as reported by cutting off his hand, which looks more like a pagan ritual), including while still at such examination they had required a few days.

We think there are only 2 reasons to explain this.

First - bin Laden was not in the house that was attacked by Americans.

Second - Bin Laden was indeed killed, but the body was so badly damaged, or Americans desecrated his body doing some their pagan ritual, that it is not possible to identify him visually.

Americans declared that they had allegedly buried the body in the sea (performing the Islamic funeral prayer), because they fear attacks on US targets inside Pakistan with the demand to give the body.

In fact, it is well known that by Sharia it is not allowed to bury the dead in the water, on which, incidentally, has already pointed out Islamic scholars of Egypt and other countries that have commented on the contentious US statement about the "bin Laden's burial in the sea with the observance of Islamic customs".

There could be a third purely hypothetical version. The Pakistanis did not allow Americans to take the body of bin Laden, which, however, is unlikely.

We would like to point out in conclusion that if bin Laden's martyrdom confirmed, it will only prove that he met his death on the fact on what he lived his life, and as called Muslims for Jihad. He took martyrdom in battle, as befits the Mujahideen. This fact is not able to be distorted even by the most sophisticated propaganda lies.

The death of bin Laden is really only a symbolic victory for America, as most experts suggest. It certainly will increase the rating of Obama and boost his chance to regain a seat in the White House, but not more so.

10 years. 2 wars. Millions of dead and wounded. Hundreds of billions spent to kill one man. Glorious is Allah! Who in the right mind could consider this a victory?!

In addition, it is even sufficient surfactant to look at the Muslim world to clearly recognize the undeniable fact - bin Laden's death cannot stop the jihad. The flame of Jihad spread with relentless force, and Americans themselves fanned it, unleashing a global war against Islam.

And this war is not of tanks and planes, not of commanders and soldiers. This is a war of ideas and ideologies, a war of meanings and ways of life, a war of hearts and human will. This is a war in which peace is impossible without a complete and final victory.

Ruslan Sinbarigov
for KC