Posted on 12/30/2001 1:43:07 PM PST by knighthawk
AFGHANISTAN'S interim interior minister accused Pakistan's secret services yesterday of aiding suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden, who he said was moving back and forth between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
In an interview with Iranian television, Yunis Qanuni said: "We think that when Mr Osama travels to Pakistan, it does not mean that his activities are not monitored by the ISI [Interservices Intelligence].
"Undoubtedly they knew what was going on. The fact that there has not been any reaction and that [bin Laden] has not been arrested, indicates that he is somehow being supported by the Pakistani ISI."
Mr Qanuni added the attitude of Pakistan's leadership was "distinct to that of the ISI".
The Afghan minister said that, as before, bin Laden and his companions were not staying put.
"According to our latest information, he is still doing what he was doing before. It means that they are not in a fixed location.
"When he is outside Afghanistan, he mainly goes to Pakistan. He has also been spotted in one of the eastern areas of Afghanistan."
Asked whether allied forces, particularly the Americans, had located bin Laden, he said: "Until now, they have not been able to do that."
Meanwhile, US President George W. Bush revealed that American-led forces pursued bin Laden and clues to his whereabouts in a campaign he said involved tactics to "rout a new kind of enemy".
Two B1-b bombers have struck a complex occupied by members of the fallen Taliban leadership that had harboured bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorists, Major Brad Lowell, of the US Central Command, said.
British and US forces joined Afghans in the search of caves of the former al-Qaeda complex near Tora Bora, looking for intelligence as well as al-Qaeda members who may still be hiding.
US troops doubled to nearly 140 the number of Taliban and al-Qaeda prisoners they detained for questioning or prosecution.
From among thousands captured by Afghan fighters, the prisoners were selected for interrogation in the hopes they will give information about bin Laden, other terrorists or planned attacks.
In his last radio address of the year, Mr Bush lauded progress made in the war on terrorism.
"The men and women of our military have successfully fought a new kind of war," he said. "They applied tactics and technology to rout a new kind of enemy."
Pakistan Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar called "very far fetched speculation" the idea that bin Laden had escaped to his country.
"There is no information at the disposal of the Government, not an iota of information, which should lead to the speculation that Osama bin Laden or any of his associates are on Pakistan territory, except those who tried to enter, were apprehended at the border," he said.
Duh.
The ISI, the Taliban, and al Qaeda have been in the heroin business together since the 1980's, to the tune of $30 billion annually (on the Paki heroin producing side). bin Laden has been the Senior VP Of Security for opium manufacturing in Afghanistan.
Follow the money.
My thoughts exactly.
True, but consider the source here. If Aghanistan's Interior Minister is someone from the Northern Alliance (a strong possibility, but a fact unknown to me), then he speaks with a huge anti-Pakistan bias.
The Northern Alliance hated Pakistan, and with good reason. The Taliban was assisted by Pakistan, and the Northern Alliance by India, among others. The animosity was enormous and there's no reason to think it evaporated overnight.
Never ceases to amaze me how, in the American press and FR, the ISI and the little dictator (Mashareef) are somehow not related to each other.
Before the attacks the head of the Pakistan Intelligence Agency was removed from office as he was "not politically hued" to the realities of the offensive being taken by the US.
Why is this a surprise?
It is my hope that both India and Pakistan avert a war or the further esculation of hostilities as it is evident that there is goading being performed and that if they "react" they are playing into the hands of their manipulators.
JUST SAY NO TO MANIPULATORS!
What instead the Indians need to do is take the Tel Aviv approach.. and ruthlessly hunt down any involved parties to the attack. It will take time but is the better way to proceed. In addition it allows Pakistan the opportunity to take care of their own problems before somebody else has to do it.
By the way: I define terrorists as an attack on the government of another "democratically elected government" by a group that does not represent a "democratically elected government."
That my friends "is" the difference between war and terrorism. If Pakistan wants to avert war I hope India sees the long term perspective, makes a vow to retaliate judicously, and hope that the Indians get their justice.
The state of India has been a reliable friend of the US and an emerging member of the "modern world." ANYONE who witnessed the attack on the Pentagon, the Anthrax attacks, or the WTC understands their anger. BUT! In the same way as the US made specific demands that OBL be turned over to the US prior to the attacks on Afghanastan I hope India has their anger focused.
I honestly don't know if 50 arrests were sufficient.
I honestly don't know, but as the movie "14 days" demonstrated: "Only men of good faith" can avert a greater trajedy.
According to the Indian foreign minister on Fox News Sunday, these arrests are not sufficient, since they do not include the leaders of the three terrorist groups well-known to India. The leaders who have been arrested are under house-arrest, which is a joke to India: "reserved for VIP's" is the way the minister put it.
No offense intended, but "cart before horse."
The heroin money is used to finance al Qaeda. Just as al Qaeda's predecessor - the criminal enterprise BCCI - Bank Of Credit & Commerce International - was explicitly created and designed to finance the construction of the "Muslim Bomb," i.e., Pakistan's nuclear capability.
The same thing is true in Columbia with FARC, which uses a cocaine "tax" (so they say) to finance arms, bombs, and other military hardware to be used against the elected government of Columbia.
You can search the Web or read the literature (e.g., Yossef Bodansky's "bin Laden"). There's enough dosumentation in the aggregate to make it quite clear that the Pakistani ISI, bin Laden, the Taliban, and al Qaeda rely primarily on drug profits to finance terrorist activities. Be it the U.S., Kashmir, India, Indonesia .... you name it. And there is a lot of already laundered money remaining in the waiting.
Destroy the ISI heroin labs in Pakistan and you at least destroy the ongoing cash flow to al Qaeda and the remaining Taliban. And probably to the government of Pakistan itself (India is saying only half of it when it describes Pakistan as a criminal government ... since Pakistan is actually a 100 percent heroin-financed regime).
You do not understand what we're dealing with here, or the magnitude of the sums involved. Tens of billions. 80 percent of the world's heroin supply. bin Laden and ISI run it.
Hoo-haa, let's roll ....
If that is the case as you have stated it: "I would be irritated." Imagine holding Bin Laden under house arrest?
While I hope for a peaceful settlement in that region, still hold peace as a valued commodity.. there is "no economic zone" in a war zone... I can understand the natural frustation that would result.
You have to hope for the best but still be a pragmatist. You have to perenially offer an olive branch. But there are times in my personal life where I put in a "stop loss" similar to the stock market; or where I make a resolved decision based on my sensibilities.
I posted a post on the disarmament of nuclear materials in the USSR and it was met with I believe some rational concerns that the program was not as successful as the report indicated. And yet I know that the true answer for the safety of "all concerned" is to monitor and police these materials in such a manner that they "cannot be used against the makers and owners" of these materials.
Is the US policies "always" perfect? Nooo! Is the USSR policies "always" perfect? Nooo! But if you had discussed the level of "pragmatic" cooperation between these two nations 20 years ago yu would have been laughed at.
As far as Pakistan goes the question is not of differences but of "intent." If it is the response of the government to put under house arrest these leaders then the pragmatic approach was not pursued.
I can accept differences but not stupidity. If that was the Pakistan decision then yes the world court of the opinion of western civilized nations is against them.
I see the dillemas, don't look for "escapist" or simple answers. But harboring a group that again meets my definition of terrorist is a crime. Condoning these groups is defacto endorsement. Then the act on the part of Pakistan to my way of thinking is an act of war from the perspective of the government in Pakistan.
I hope that India knocks the hell out of them.
It's BS to play up to the camera like Arafat and talk peace and condone terrorism.
It is commonly agreed in law enforcement that Afghanistan has produced anywhere from 70 to 80 percent of the world's opium supply for at least the last decade. E.g., "Afghanistan produced over 70 percent of the world's supply of illicit opium in 2000." -- Asa Hutchinson Administrator, Drug Enforcement Administration, October 3, 2001.
In addition, it has been repeatedly documented that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence has been involved in the processing and trafficking side of the equation since the late-1980's. More recently - and under pressure from organizations such as the UN Drug Control Program - the Pakistani heroin labs have been shut down, and simply moved across the border into Afghanistan. A simple shell game. Again from Hutchinson, "In the past, many opium processing laboratories were located in Pakistan, particularly in the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP). These laboratories appear to have relocated to Afghanistan, both to be closer to the source of opium and to avoid law enforcement actions by the Government of Pakistan."
Actually, you might want to read all of Hutchinson's comments, since he does a reasonably good job of summarizing the relationship between bin Laden, the Taliban, and opium/heroin distribution.
Unfortunately Pakistani involvement has been downplayed to some extent for the last several years, and there's little discussion of the degree to which bin Laden secured heroin deals with the Russian Mafiya. But still a worthwhile read.
Even cursory research makes it clear that al Qaeda and bin Laden are financing their activities through 70 to 80 percent of the world's wholesale opiate traffic (depending upon whose numbers you use).
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