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Al-Ahram Weekly 29 June - 5 July 2000 Issue No. 488 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 29 June - 5 July 2000 Issue No. 488
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Laden in controversy
By Tanya Goudsouzian
Suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden was catapulted into international headlines two years ago as the alleged mastermind behind the bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Since then, the international community, spearheaded by the United States, has zeroed in on the die-hard Islamic militant for the threat he ostensibly poses to all things Western. The larger political landscape in which bin Laden operates, however, is little discussed.
Having found refuge in Afghanistan, bin Laden's handover has become one of the conditions that must be met by the Taliban in order to gain US recognition. Heretofore reluctant in succumbing to US demands, the Taliban said last week that it is prepared to be more cooperative, the Arabic BBC reported. But the statement holds little water without taking into account the controversial role played by Pakistan.
"Pakistan has created the Taliban against us," charged A G Ravan Farhadi, permanent representative of the Islamic State of Afghanistan to the United Nations. "They have helped them and they have armed them in order to perpetuate their plan of conquering all Afghanistan," Farhadi told Al-Ahram Weekly . Farhadi presents the perspective of the roughly 10 per cent of Afghan territory that has not been overrun.
The remainder, distinguished as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is under Taliban jurisdiction, recognised only by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Taliban popularity is on the decline, however, both domestically and internationally, claims Farhadi. "There is popular resistance all over Afghanistan," he said, drawing a makeshift map on a piece of paper, and demarcating resistance areas in the south and centre of the country with dotted circles.
Farhadi ruled out the possibility of the Taliban ever surrendering bin Laden. "It is quite clear that these are only words," he said. "They have adopted the policy that he is a 'guest' and this [handover] is not something that will happen soon. Bin Laden will remain there as long as the Taliban is there." Farhadi quickly whipped out a list of complaints against the Taliban, including charges of collaboration with Pakistani intelligence in setting up training camps for extremist militants and the production of narcotics to finance war costs.
The "guest factor" was also stressed upon by Anwar Kemal, ambassador of Pakistan to Egypt. Kemal explained that as an ethnically divided society, Afghanistan is still driven by tribal affiliations and customs. These tribal customs dictate that bin Laden is a "guest." "Because it is a tribal custom, if they surrender bin Laden, their own people will turn against them," Kemal told the Weekly. "It is part of the Afghan code of honour -- especially [for] a guest who fought against the Russians with them."
Afghanistan is comprised of roughly 80 per cent Pashtun tribe members, 15 per cent Tajik and Uzbek, and 5 per cent Hazara. It is these tribal features that are the source of many of the country's political ills. The president of the Islamic State of Afghanistan, Burhan-ud-din Rabbani, belongs to the Tajik tribe. The Taliban is primarily Pashtun, who have rejected being governed by a member of another tribe. Pakistan officially recognises the Taliban as the only ruling body of Afghanistan, vehemently dismissing the government set up along the mountains of Panjsheer Valley that has successfully warded off Taliban encroachment thus far.
Pakistan has taken on the role of mediator of sorts. On the one hand, it serves to clarify the actions and the motives of the Taliban; on the other, it advises them "to allay the international concerns expressed over the presence of controversial people, whose presence spoils Afghanistan's relations with the rest of the world," said Kemal.
Pakistan has facilitated a number of talks between US and Taliban officials, but Farhadi dubs them "useless." In February of 1999 a US delegation headed by Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs Karl Inderfurth held a meeting with Taliban representatives in Pakistan in which the US presented a wide-ranging list of proposals. Among these was the all-important request that bin Laden be expelled from Afghanistan or handed over to the US or Saudi Arabia. After this meeting, the Taliban announced it had cut off bin Laden's telephone and restricted access to people seeking to meet with him. In March of 1998 it was alleged that bin Laden was no longer in Afghanistan.
"He is not in the area in control of the Taliban," Abdul-Hakeem Mujahid, the Taliban's designated representative, told the UN. Following US air-strikes in August of 1998 on bases in Afghanistan suspected to be used by his group, it was widely speculated that he had relocated to Chechnya, Somalia or Iraq. In response to the attacks, bin Laden's spokesman had vowed retaliation "with action, not words."
In November of 1998 bin Laden was believed to be in Peshawar, Pakistan, as the guest of a senior government official. During this visit, he reportedly met with a number of religious leaders. Soon after former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's return from Washington, where he had met with President Bill Clinton, police raided guesthouses in Lahore and Islamabad, thereby lending credibility to the reports of bin Laden's presence in the country. Despite repeated US requests for assistance in arresting bin Laden and cutting off relations with the Taliban, Pakistan stands its ground. It cannot make Afghanistan do what it does not want to do, but "we are ready to help bring Afghanistan and the US together," said a Pakistani official.
Not only does Taliban-controlled Afghanistan not have diplomatic relations with the US (and most other countries), it is currently under stringent sanctions imposed both by Washington and the UN -- the latter as of 14 November 1999.
"If you deny [Afghanistan] economic assistance, it is the people who suffer," said Kemal. "This method has not worked in Iraq, Cuba or North Korea. [Afghanis] are people who value their faith more than money. You cannot force them or bribe them. In order to influence them, you must engage them, not isolate them."
Sure enough, in July of 1999, bin Laden reappeared on Afghani ground, having established a new base in an eastern part of the country. In October of 1999, however, officials in Afghanistan claimed the suspected terrorist wanted to leave the country of his own volition.
"Perhaps Osama wants to leave Afghanistan because he feels that the country is facing a lot of hardships because of his stay here," said Taliban spokesman Tayyab Agha. The statement came at a time when the deadline set by the UN was around the corner. Nonetheless, bin Laden remains alive -- although perhaps not so well -- somewhere in Afghanistan.
"They say that bin Laden is a good man," said Farhadi. "They say that what happened in East Africa, there is no proof. But [when presented with proof] they have rejected proof." Farhadi points to an area on his makeshift map, south-east of Afghanistan, near the Pakistani border. "This is where he is now."
"Osama bin Laden has been blown out of proportion," claimed one Pakistani official. "He is afraid of being traced, so he does not use telephones or other modern means of communication. How much power can this man wield? His knowledge, strength and capabilities are highly exaggerated."
And if the threat posed by bin Laden has been blown out of proportion, what of the allegations laid at Pakistan's doorstep insofar as its involvement in Afghanistan? The Rabbani government contends that Pakistan's ultimate aim is to have a subservient Afghanistan region and thereby obtain strategic depth in facing India militarily. Indian officials claimed that bin Laden was involved in the September 1999 Pakistani intrusion in Kashmir dubbed the "Kargil misadventure."
According to the Pakistani official, strategic depth may have been relevant in the conventional wars fought 100 years ago, but today both Pakistan and India are nuclear states. "We have gone far beyond the strategy that required strategic depth," the Pakistani official said.
Farhadi persistently promotes the idea of a nexus between Pakistan and the Taliban. He claims "the real mentors and leaders of the Taliban are in Pakistan," citing one of them as Fadl-Ar-Rahman, leader of the extremist Jamat Ulema Islam party. "Fadl-Ar-Rahman does not want to give up bin Laden, and Pakistan's government has no power to face this man," said Farhadi. "His supporters are vast."
The Pakistani official downplays these charges. "Fadl-Ar-Rahman may be important but he is not so powerful as they would have us believe," he said, adding that the Jamat Ulema Islam was defeated in all the elections and essentially sustains its private religious schools on charity. It is the schools, however, that are the point of contention. Farhadi's argument is that since the Taliban arose out of religious scholars, many of whom studied in Pakistani schools, Pakistan and particularly figures such as Fadl-Ar-Rahman, exercise great power over the ongoings in Afghanistan.
"How much influence do teachers have on students?" retorts the Pakistani official. "It is unfair to accuse Pakistan for the wrongdoings of Afghanistan. Being a close neighbour, we are naturally concerned. Being close allies, we are also naturally involved, but we cannot be held accountable."
What will come of Taliban's latest pronouncement of cooperation on the bin Laden front? Not much, if Pakistan has limited influence, as it claims; even less, if Pakistan's mullahs have greater influence; virtually nil, if the Taliban indeed sets tribal customs over improving its links with the international community.
