Posted on 10/01/2001 1:31:13 AM PDT by garyhope
THE WEST AT WAR: MEETING THE ENEMY: WE HAVE LOTS OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND WILL USE THEM IF WE HAVE TO, MR BLAIR
CHILLING THREAT BY THE GRINNING TALIBAN CHIEFTAIN
IT takes a fortnight and 15 fraught phone calls before the short, almost illegible, note is delivered.
I have finally been granted a meeting with Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, one of the senior figures in Afghanistan's feared Taliban regime.
An ancient taxi takes me to a run-down flat in a dusty neighbourhood of Islamabad, Pakistan.
Armed guards usher me into a small and grimy room in Flat 308. It contains a small desk with a battered copy of the Koran, a threadbare prayer mat, and a table.
At the table sits Ahmed, vice-president of the Jamiat-E-Ulama Islam, the League of Islamic Scholars. With his long beard, white robes and pleasant face he has the demeanour of an indulgent uncle. It's hard to imagine that this is a man who has fought alongside terror warlord Osama bin Laden in savage battles to drive the Russians from Afghanistan.
This is his first-ever interview with a Western journalist and he is unfailingly polite, highlighting the Muslim tradition of hospitality.
But his words betray him. As a retinue of servants pour strong Afghan quhava tea, without a trace of emotion he utters threats which will send a chill through the Western world.
For the first time a senior Taliban official claims that the regime has nuclear weapons - and is prepared to use them.
"If the US and Britain attack Afghanistan with nuclear weapons, we will respond with the same type of warfare. We will not give in. We will have no hesitation in striking back immediately. It is vital the world knows this," he says.
"We bought our nuclear weapons from the USSR when it broke up. We have a huge stockpile but I am forbidden from saying anything more. It is top secret.
"There are also Muslim-minded people in the West who have sworn they can provide us with the latest military technology. If the war starts we can call upon unlimited resources from our network of supporters across the world.
"This will be the Third World War."
As we speak, me the Western journalist in jeans and trainers, him the sworn enemy of the West in his religious robes, his voice is far removed from the hysterical tub-thumping associated with Muslim fundamentalists.
But his message is just as disturbing as he clasps his hands together, displaying a £1,000 Longines gold watch on his wrist.
"All the Muslim nations in the world will fight against the US and their allies if they attack," he says.
"In the Baluchistan province of Pakistan alone we have recruited 36,000 men. In all of Pakistan more than three million men are ready to die in the name of Allah." Ahmed, 55, who lives in a secret bunker in the Afghan capital of Kabul for six months each year, hails from the remote and mountainous province of Baluchistan, whose capital city Quetta is a hotbed of fanatical Taliban support.
His threats to the West even include a personal message for Tony Blair.
"This is a dispute between the US and Afghanistan," he says. "Tony Blair is the puppet of George W. Bush. He is meddling in a dispute which has nothing to do with him.
"I can tell you that any country which carries out attacks on Afghanistan will be subjected to revenge attacks. Yes, that includes London and other cities of the allies, no matter where they are. Mr Blair, you should listen very carefully, and think before you rush into any decision."
At this point one of Ahmed's three mobile phones - a Nokia - rings. We later learn from our translator that the call is from another high-ranking Taliban official urging him not to talk to "the Western journalist".
But he ignores the demand and returns to the cracked veneer table. I ask him if he has a message for Mr Bush and Mr Blair.
"Mr Bush, please be calm." he replies. "We are a people of peace, not of war. Afghanistan has already defeated the USSR. You are welcome to try and attack Afghanistan. By the grace of God your country will be smashed into 52 pieces.
"Mr Blair, we have no dispute with you and your government. However, if you act with the USA we will teach your nation and your soldiers a lesson you will never forget."
Asked what message he has for those who lost loved ones in the terrorist attacks in America, Ahmed, replies: "I condemn this horrific action. My heart goes out to every man, woman and child who has lost a loved one.
"I feel deep grief for their loss, but the Americans and all the rest of the world should recognise the reasons for this attack. It is because they continue to support the Jews in every conflict.
"Has not Israel been involved in terrorist atrocities in Palestine? If the US continues its policy of supporting Jews across the world, then I'll predict there will be more attacks like that in New York."
Ahmed is careful to say that "Osama", as he affectionately refers to his former partner in battle, is NOT responsible for the atrocities in New York and Washington and is no longer with the Taliban.
"We are in regular contact with Osama. I am afraid I cannot tell you when we last spoke to him, but it was in the last few days. Osama is not a terrorist. He is a kind, polite and very religious man. His only wish is for the USA forces to pull out of his beloved Saudi Arabia. I believe he has now left Afghanistan and is living in some other country."
Ahmed's boast that the Taliban has a nuclear stockpile, as the first such claim by a senior figure in the regime, will send shockwaves through the Allied forces.
Immediately after the September 11 attacks Prime Minister Tony Blair and Jack Straw told Parliament that terrorist forces might be prepared to use chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. And US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told Nato counterparts in Brussels there was an "alarming connection" between states sheltering terrorists and those trying to develop nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.
The CIA have known for 10 years that the Russian Mafia have been selling such weapons and components stolen from the former Soviet Union's arsenal.
The US government believes Osama bin Laden is already running a secret nuclear weapons laboratory inside Afghanistan, supported by Iraq's Saddam Hussein. It is designed to build a "Dirty Bomb" - which kills by spreading radioactive fallout over a wide area rather than causing an atomic explosion.
That would wake up those in deep slumber!
It's amazing to think that 9/11 didn't do the trick!
It will take more, maybe much more, to reach the left-wing academics!
Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
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