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Oerdin
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of Internet Music.
Sep 2001
time: 21:32
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Where Taliban Go To Find Warm Beds And Recruits
By Scott Baldauf and Owais Tohid
KAMALZAI, PAKISTAN – With a bitter winter chill and the largest US ground offensive in nearly two years afoot in Afghanistan, Taliban commander Maulvi Pardes Akhund and his fighters are cheered by the warm reception and accommodations in a refugee camp for Afghans here.
Mr. Akhund's band, and others like them, have come to Pakistan's sprawling Balochistan Province for a bit of R&R and to recruit new blood for the Islamic militia's fight in Afghanistan. Recruitment is going well, Akhund says, with 10 new fighters joining the ranks this week, and donations from local people pouring in.
"We fought bravely against the Americans during the summer," says Akhund. "We lived in caves, planned our attacks against infidel forces [Americans], and hardly slept. So all of us need some rest in the winter."
While Islamabad says it is doing everything it can to rein in the Taliban movement, a coalition of extremist religious parties controls the provincial government and around 300,000 Afghan refugees still live here. That makes it simple for the resurgent militia to blend in and difficult for the Army to crack down.
"Balochistan has always been, and is still, a second home to the Taliban," says a Pakistan-based Western diplomat. "It has served as second headquarters after Kandahar during the Taliban's rule and now it is providing a new lease on life to its guerrilla warfare against the US and its western allies."
"The more they gain ground in Balochistan, the more their movement will get strengthened," the diplomat adds. "They can easily channel their financial support and regain their ideological support."
No small haven
Encompassing 43 percent of Pakistan's territory, Balochistan's expanse and location make it an ideal place for the Taliban to regroup. The province is a gateway to southern Afghanistan provinces like Kandahar and the opium-producing province of Helmand.
The Al Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions Committee (ATSC) of the UN, which is currently on a visit to Pakistan, says it believes that Taliban have entered Pakistan in significant numbers, posing as refugees in camps along the border. The seven-member ATSC team reportedly told Pakistani officials of a growing need to share information about those arrested in Pakistan for their links with Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
The committee members also suggested that bank accounts of all pro-Taliban and Al Qaeda organizations should be frozen to halt their activities.
Sources in religious circles here say the Taliban fighters are still getting financial support from the banned Al-Rasheed and Al-Akhtar Trust, which worked in Afghanistan during the Taliban regime, and other welfare organizations, besides collecting huge amount of donations from rich and influential traders in Karachi. Many of these traders donate to the Taliban on a monthly basis.
Afghanistan's mirror image
In Balochistan itself, Taliban fighters enjoy vocal support from the ruling alliance of religious extremist parties, and they can easily mingle with Afghan refugees, mostly ethnic Pashtuns, settled here during the last two decades of turmoil in Afghanistan. Many, but not all, take shelter in madrassahs, or religious seminaries.
In refugee camps like Gidri Jungle, the scene is virtually indistinguishable from Afghanistan just a few hours drive to the north. Men wear Taliban-style salwar kameez and turbans, while women remain hidden in their homes or under all- covering veils. Pro-Taliban graffiti, written in Pashto, can be easily seen and refugees say some hard-liners hoist the Taliban white flags on rooftops in neighborhoods in rural areas.
But on a more tangible level, the Taliban influence feels like a defense of Islamic and Pashtun cultural values.
"From our village only, people donated 1.7 million rupees [around $30,000], and two truckloads of blankets, warm clothes, and medicines were dispatched for the Taliban," says Abdus Salam, a local villager in Killi Karbala. "People support the Taliban not only because they are Muslims, but when they were in power people here could travel across the border easily, as there was peace and security."
The local supporters of the Taliban operate in teams with specific tasks. One such sympathizer, Mir Waiz, receives the injured and sick fighters and takes them to "supportive" doctors. He also raises funds for their medicines. Others are dispatched to find shelters and homes, collect donations, and arrange transport.
Militants as media moguls
Taliban sources say their influence is increasing so much in Balochistan that they clandestinely publish a magazine and a newspaper in Pashto from Balochistan. Former Taliban leader, Mullah Muttaqi, is said to be its editor-in-chief.
According to these sources, the top 10 Taliban commanders visit Balochistan and its capital city of Quetta. The one-legged military head of the Taliban forces, Mullah Dadullah, sources say, has visited the province several times for the reorganization and regrouping of the Taliban, and has stayed at a madrassah run by a prominent pro-Taliban extremist leader.
For lower-level commanders like Akhund, life revolves around the battlefield.
"I am with Mullah Omar since his eye was martyred against the Russians and I will remain with him till my death," says Akhund. "I carry his message to wage jihad in the name of Allah against the Americans."
President Hamid Karzai recently said Mullah Omar was seen at a mosque in Quetta, a claim denied by Pakistani officials. Akhund says that his own meetings with Mullah Omar took place near the border on Afghanistan soil.
"The last time I met him was two or three month ago," says Akhund. "He looked changed. He has slightly trimmed his beard and was surrounded by around 15 armed motorbike riders. He himself rides an Iranian motorcycle and doesn't stay in one place for more than a day."
No satellite phones
Mullah Omar usually maintains contact with Taliban commanders through written orders.
"We obey the orders of Mullah Omar and the commands of Mullah Dadullah," says Akhund. "Every commander visits Mullah Dadullah after every two weeks. He has disguised himself as a cleric at a mosque in Afghanistan, where he delivers lectures and discusses military actions with commanders."
The fighters on the ground have learned to be extra cautious of the possible US attacks.
"We don't use satellite phones or wireless sets," says Akhund. "We convey our messages through trusted men. Usually we use only two code words - for help and when to run away from enemies."
A claim of Afghan support
Fortunately, he adds, the Afghan people themselves are giving increasing support to the Taliban.
"From every 10 families, seven to nine families support us," says Akhund. "They provide food to us, give shelter and inform as in advance of any danger. So we don't become target."
A former Taliban leader, who is now hiding in Balochistan, says, "Things are changing. Karzai is losing his control in Afghanistan. Initially we used to hide from our own shadows in Afghanistan and Pakistan, but now we can easily mingle with the locals who extend us all sorts of support."
Indeed, this Taliban leader felt comfortable enough to arrange his own flight schedule at the Quetta branch of Pakistan International Airlines.
Mohammad Jalil (not his real name) is an example of the sort of local support that Taliban now enjoy. Now on a visit to his family in Balochistan, Mr. Jalil regularly works as a cook for a high-ranking Afghan military commander in Kandahar. He passes whatever information he can to his Taliban comrades.
"I work with the government, but I pass secrets to the Mujahideen, sometimes verbally and sometimes by writing it," he says proudly. "Our job is to save Jihadis from the attacks of infidels," He usually passes the information to cohorts at a local hotel in Kandahar.
"We help Taliban because they are fighting for Islam," Jalil says. "It is a dangerous job but our lives belong to Allah and his cause. We don't work for Taliban for any reward or money but they help us and our family whenever we are in need."
The Taliban say they don't purchase weapons from Balochistan as there are plenty in Afghanistan itself.
"Weapons are everywhere since the Soviet days in Afghanistan," says Akhund. "We can fight for another 15 years. We have Kalashnikovs, grenades, rocket-propelled grenades, and explosives. We have all kind of weapons. The only thing we don't have is something to counter B-52s."
Needed: warriors, not guns
As an experienced commander, he says he needs more warriors in Afghanistan. Soon he is going back to Helmand province with new guerrillas to fight against the US forces.
But the chilly winds of Afghanistan worry Akhund and other guerrilla fighters.
"Winter restricts our movement so we might have to scale down our military attacks, so we try to intensify political efforts against the infidels and defeat the loya jirga," says on former Taliban leader in Quetta. "But we are also working hard to reorganize and regroup through winter because we want our cause to blossom in spring."
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Oerdin
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of Internet Music.
Sep 2001
time: 21:32
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We need to get Pakistan to effectively control its territory or else the civil war in Afghanistan will never end. They just use the border area as their staging area to launch attacks into Afghanistan.
On another note there is finally proof of some intelligent life in Congress though the administration is doing it's best to kill it. A bipartisan coalition in the Armed Services Committee is calling for a permanent increase in US military troop strength but Rumsfield is currently saying that wouldn’t be necessary. Congress is claiming the force increases are needed because 50% of the reserves are currently activated or just got off of active duty and tours of duty have been lengthened from six months to 18 months. To pay for the increases in manpower Congress is suggesting cutting back the number of redundant systems different branches of the military uses (i.e. the marines want their own fighter planes while the Air Force wants a totally separate fighter plane). 
quote:
USA Today
December 12, 2003
Pg. 1
Push Is On For Larger Military
Congress moves after years of downsizing
By Tom Squitieri, USA Today
WASHINGTON — Members of Congress from both parties are pushing for the first significant increase in the size of the active-duty military in 16 years, despite resistance from the Pentagon.
Call-ups of part-time troops from the Army National Guard and the Army Reserve to fill the ranks in Iraq have intensified the bipartisan sentiment that the Pentagon doesn't have enough troops to fight an extended war on terrorism while keeping enough well-rested, well-trained troops ready for an emergency.
"Momentum is building in Congress for" an increase, says Harald Stavenas, a spokesman for Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. "Finally, everyone has come around to see enough is enough."
"This recognizes the reality in the strain and the stretch in all the services," says Missouri Rep. Ike Skelton, the senior Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. Skelton promises "positive action by our committee early next year."
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld strongly opposes increasing the size of the military on the grounds that the services are not efficiently using the personnel they already have, and increasing the number of troops is enormously expensive. Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita says Rumsfeld "hasn't seen any analysis that convinces him there is a need" for a large increase in active-duty troops.
If Congress forces the administration to add troops, it would mark a turning point in the downsizing of the active-duty military that began before the end of the Cold War. These forces peaked at 2.2 million in 1987 and fell back slightly because of budget concerns. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 speeded up the cuts, shrinking the force to just under 1.5 million troops in 1998, where it has remained.
For years, Congress has generally deferred to the Pentagon on troop strength. But there appears to be growing concern over the issue, even among Republicans. Among the signs of a shift:
*Congress agreed this year to spend $68 million to increase the Army by 2,400 slots, about 0.5% of the current 480,000-strong force.
*A bill has been introduced in the House to increase the size of the Army, Marines and Air Force by roughly 8% over five years. The bill would add 40,000 troops to the Army, bringing it to 522,400, while the Air Force would grow by 28,700 to 388,000 and the Marines by 15,000 to 190,000. "If the administration is going to deploy thousands of troops across the globe, the size of our military needs to reflect that," says Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., author of the bill.
*Fifty-four of the 61 members of the House Armed Services Committee, joined by the top Republican and Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, have sent President Bush a letter urging him to expand the U.S. combat force. The letter also asks Bush to reassess the ratio between active and reserve forces used in long deployments because of concerns that the military is overly reliant on the Guard and Reserve in the war on terrorism.
The drive to deal with the issue appears stronger in the House, where Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., the No. 3 Republican leader, plans to push for action early next year. But the Senate has similar concerns.
"We are dangerously stretched thin in the Army and the other services," says Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., a West Point graduate.
Contributing: Dave Moniz and Kathy Kiely |
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12-12-2003 01:57
if they get him and islamists take over... then they have the bomb. 
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