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Jihad after Iraq: Lessons from the Arab Afghans

2009; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 32; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/10576100802639600

1521-0731

Mohammed M. Hafez,

Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence

Abstract The defeat of Al Qaeda in Iraq may generate new threats associated with the dispersal of its fighters in the region and around the world. Veterans of earlier insurgencies and civil wars in Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Chechnya moved from one conflict zone to another, lending combatants valuable skills and networks of support. The flight of Iraq's irreconcilable insurgents is a greater threat to global security than the one posed by the Arab Afghans because of the range of combat experiences and skills acquired in Iraq since 2003. This manuscript revisits the history of Arab veterans of the anti-Soviet struggle in Afghanistan (1979–1989) to draw out lessons for countering the current bleed out from Iraq. It explores the diverse pathways taken by these "Arab Afghans" and the factors that facilitated different patterns of dispersal around the globe. The article concludes with broad strategic recommendations for counterterrorism measures. Notes 1. Richard A. Oppel, Jr., "Foreign Fighters in Iraq Are Tied to Allies of U.S.," New York Times, 22 November 2007. 2. Mohammed M. Hafez, Suicide Bombers in Iraq: The Strategy and Ideology of Martyrdom (Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace, 2007). 3. The term "Arab Afghans" was initially used by some Arab governments—especially Egypt and Algeria—in the early 1990s as a derogatory reference to individuals that were seen as "troublemakers" or religious zealots that donned Afghan-style clothing. The term implied that Islamic activists that went to Afghanistan brought with them alien ideologies and habits that were the source of political turmoil at home. 4. See the works of Steve Coll, Ghost Wars (New York: Penguin Books, 2005); Peter Bergen, The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of al Qaeda's Leader (Washington, DC: Free Press, 2006); and Lawrence Wright, The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (New York: Knoph, 2006). 5. Camille Tawil, Al-Qadea and Its Sisters (Arabic; London: Al-Saqi Books, 2007); John R. Schindler, Unholy Terror: Bosnia, Al-Qa'ida, and the Rise of Global Jihad (Osceola, WI: Zenith Press, 2007); Evan F. Kohlmann, Al-Qaida's Jihad in Europe: The Afghan-Bosnia Network (Oxford, UK: Berg Publishers, 2004). 6. Abdullah Anas, The Birth of the Arab Afghans: The Autobiography of Abdullah Anas between Masoud and Abdullah Azzam (Arabic; London: Dar Al Saqi, 2002), p. 87. Anas was one of the early volunteers to Afghanistan and a close aid to, and the son-in-law of, Azzam. He also fought with Ahmed Shah Masoud, one of the legendary commanders of the Afghan Mujahidin. 7. According to Steve Coll, Ghost Wars, p. 201, "The CIA's Islamabad station estimated in a 1989 cable to Langley that there were probably about four thousand Arab volunteers in Afghanistan, mainly organized under [Abdurrab Rasul] Sayyaf's leadership." See similar estimates by Foreign Report, "Arab Volunteers in Afghanistan," Jane's Intelligence, 18 May 1989; and Anthony Davis, "Foreign Combatants in Afghanistan," Jane's Intelligence Review, 1 July 1993. 8. Anas, The Birth of the Arab Afghans; Muhammad Salah, "Events of the Jihad Years: The Journey of Afghan Arabs from Everywhere to Washington and New York" (Arabic), Al-Hayat, 17–21 October 2001, 5-part series. 9. Ibid. 10. The story of Abdullah Ali Mekkawi, a Saudi volunteer to Afghanistan, is instructive. At the age of 18, he expressed a desire to aid the jihad in Afghanistan after learning about it through two magazines, Al-Jihad and Al-Bunyan. Both of these were widely available in the Gulf. He gained permission from his mother and Sheikh Abdel Aziz bin Baz to go. His mother bought him the ticket. He wrote down the address of Abdullah Azzam's Services Bureau in Peshawar, Pakistan, from the back of Al-Jihad magazine. Nasser al-Buraq, "Volleyball Player that Turned to Jihad Tells Al-Hayat His Tales with the Arab Afghans" (Arabic) Al Hayat, 9 May 2007. 11. Anas, The Birth of the Arab Afghans, p. 14. 12. Foreign Report, "Arab Volunteers in Afghanistan"; Mustafa Hamid (Abu Walid al-Masri), "The Story of the Arab Afghans: From the Time of their Arrival in Afghanistan until their Departure with the Taliban" (Arabic), Asharq al-Awsat, 12 December 2004, part 5. 13. Salah, "Events of the Jihad Years"; Davis, "Foreign Combatants in Afghanistan." 14. Ibid. 15. Foreign Report, "Arab Volunteers in Afghanistan." 16. Michael Knights, "Saudi Terrorist Cells Await Return of Jihadists from Iraq," Jane's Intelligence Review, 1 December 2005. 17. Foreign Report, "Arab Volunteers in Afghanistan"; Salah, "Events of the Jihad Years"; Coll, Ghost Wars. 18. Anas, The Birth of the Arab Afghans. 19. Anas, The Birth of the Arab Afghans; Wright, The Looming Tower. 20. Hamid (Abu Walid al-Masri), "The Story of the Arab Afghans," parts 5–6; Combating Terrorism Center, "Cracks in the Foundation: Leadership Schisms in al-Qa'ida from 1989–2006," Harmony Project (West Point), October 2007. For more on the limited fighting role of the "Arab Afghans," see Davis, "Foreign Combatants in Afghanistan." 21. Zarqawi went to Peshawar, Pakistan, in 1989, and moved on to Khost, Afghanistan, to fight against the regime of Najibullah. In 1993, he returned to Jordan and shortly after created a militant cell with other "Arab Afghans" known as "Bayat al-Imam" (Allegiance to the Imam) group. The cell was discovered and its members imprisoned until a royal pardon freed them in 1999. Zarqawi went back to Afghanistan and set by a training camp in the Herat region bordering Iran. Following the collapse of the Taliban regime, Zarqawi made his way to Northern Iraq to seek a new safe haven. Shortly after the United States invaded Iraq, he created and led the Tawhid wal-Jihad group, which later became Al Qaeda in Iraq. See Fuad Husayn, "Al-Zarqawi: The Second Generation of Al-Qaeda" (Arabic), Al-Quds al-Arabi (London), 13–30 May 2005, parts 1–15. 22. Coll, Ghost Wars, p. 144 (emphasis added). 23. Salah, "Events of the Jihad Years"; Mustafa Hamid (Abu Walid al-Masri), "The Story of the Arab Afghans," part 7. 24. Al-Buraq, "Volleyball Player that Turned to Jihad." 25. Salah, "Events of the Jihad Years." 26. Ibid. 27. Open Source Center (OSC), "Egypt: Leading Arab Afghan on Mistakes of Arab Afghans, Dispute with Bin Laden," 27 July 2002. 28. Anas, The Birth of the Arab Afghans, pp. 90 and 99. 29. Hamid Mustafa (Abu Walid al-Masri), "Chatter on the World's Rooftop" (Arabic), serialized by Asharq al-Awsat, 28 October 2006, part 5. Abu Walid al-Masri is one of the earliest volunteers to Afghanistan and became the brother-in-law of Sayf al-Adl (Muhammad Ibrahim Makkawi), Al Qaeda's security chief currently in hiding. Mustafa became a member of Al Qaeda's consultative council in 1998. When Al Qaeda leaders moved to the Sudan, he remained in Afghanistan to run the training camps in Khost. He oversaw the "Furqan Project," which involved training militants from the former Soviet Union, including members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan's Nahda Party. When the Taliban came to power, he served as the editor of their Arabic version of their magazine, The Emirate. 30. Quoted in Coll, Ghost Wars, p. 153. 31. Khalid Sharaf al-Din, "Fundamentalists' Leaders Bogus Organizations to Confuse the Security Organs" (Arabic), 7 March 1999, part 2 of 3. 32. Hamid (Abu Walid al-Masri), "The Story of the Arab Afghans." 33. Montage entitled "And Worship Shall Be Only for Allah," issued by the Media Division of AQI in June 2005, available at www.alaflam.ws/wdkl/index.htm (accessed 15 July 2005). 34. Quoted in Evan Kohlmann, Al-Qaeda's Jihad in Europe: The Afghan-Bosnian Network (New York: Berg, 2005, p. 17). 35. Davis, "Foreign Combatants in Afghanistan." According to Foreign Report, "Arab Volunteers in Afghanistan," there were reports that "Arab Afghans" massacred surrendering Afghan troops loyal to the communist regime. There were even rumors that their wives and daughters were sent to the Gulf as slave labor. The tendency toward beheadings, mass bombings of civilian targets, and a general hostility to non-Muslims became most manifest in Bosnia, Chechnya, and Iraq. 36. For more on training camps in Bosnia, see OSC, "B-H Croat Report Details Presence of Mujahidin in Bosnia During, After War," 24 June 2006; Kohlmann, Al-Qaed's Jihad in Europe, p. 24. 37. Hamid (Abu Walid al-Masri), "Chatter on the World's Rooftop," part 6. 38. See, for example, the video of Khattab in Afghanistan, available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfIXiaO4Qx4. 39. Hamid (Abu Walid al-Masri), "The Story of the Arab Afghans," part 4. 40. Abdullah Anas married the daughter of Abdulla Azzam; Abu Musab al-Zarqawi married his sister off to Khaled Mustafa al-Aruri (Abu Qassam or Abu Ashraf), who was one of Zarqawi's closest associates from 1989 to 2001. 41. James Bruce, "US Fears Islamic Attacks in Bosnia," Jane's Intelligence Review, 1 March 1996. 42. OSC, "Police Worried by Emergence of Transnational Islamic Groups," 11 July 1996; OSC, "B-H Croat Report Details Presence of Mujahidin." 43. Bruce, "US Fears Islamic Attacks in Bosnia." 44. Kohlmann, Al-Qaeda's Jihad in Europe, chap. 3. 45. Mohammed M. Hafez, Why Muslims Rebel: Repression and Resistance in the Islamic World (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2003). 46. Mohammed Muqadem, "The Journey of the Algerian Afghans from the [Armed Islamic] Group to the Al Qaeda Organization" (Arabic), Al-Hayat, 25 November 2001, part 3 of 7. 47. Quoted in Salah, "Events of the Jihad Years," part 4 of 5. 48. Hamid (Abu Walid al-Masri), "The Story of the Arab Afghans," part 5. 49. OSC, "Arab Afghans Said to Launch Worldwide Terrorist War," 1 December 1995. For a recent assessment of Pakistan's historical legacy of shielding Islamists, see Carlotta Gall and David Rohde, "Militants Escape Control of Pakistan, Officials Say," New York Times, 15 January 2008. 50. Paul Tumelty, "The Rise and Fall of Foreign Fighters in Chechnya," Terrorism Monitor (Jamestown Foundation), 4(2) (26 January 2006); also see the online video biography of Khattab as related by jihadists at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v = BfIXiaO4Qx4 51. Salah, "Events of the Jihad Years," part 3. 52. Wright, The Looming Tower; Bergen, The Osama bin Laden I Know. 53. Ibid. 54. Salah, "Events of the Jihad Years." 55. International Crisis Group, "Yemen: Coping with Terrorism and Violence in a Fragile State," ICG Middle East Report, No. 8, 8 January 2003; Jonathan Schanzer, Al-Qaeda's Armies: Middle East Affiliate Groups and the Next Generation of Terror (Washington, DC: Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 2004). 56. Davis, "Foreign Combatants in Afghanistan." 57. OSC, "Arab Afghans Said to Launch Worldwide Terrorist War," 1 December 1995; OSC, "Police Worried by Emergence of Transnational Islamic Groups," 11 July 1996; OSC, "Report on Islamic Movements in Britain," 12 December 1997; Salah, "Events of the Jihad Years," parts 3–5; Muqadem, "The Journey of the Algerian Afghans," parts 1–7; Anthony Davis, "The Afghan Files: Al-Qaeda Documents from Kabul," Jane's Intelligence Review, 1 February 2002; Gordon Corera, "How Militant Islam Found a Home in London," Jane's Intelligence Review, 1 August 2002. 58. Kohlmann, Al-Qaeda's Jihad in Europe, pp. 19–23. 59. Muqadem, "The Journey of the Algerian Afghans," parts 1–7. 60. Salah, "Event of the Jihad Years," part 3. 61. Khalid Sharaf al-Din, "Fundamentalist Leaders Create Bogus Organizations to Confuse the Security Organs" (Arabic), Asharq al-Awsat, 7 March 1999, part 2–3. 62. Quoted in Kathy Evans, "Pakistan clamps down on Afghan Mojahedin and Orders Expulsion of Arab Jihad Supporters," The Guardian (London), 7 January 1993. 63. Bruce, "US Fears Islamic Attacks in Bosnia." 64. OSC, "Arab Afghans Said to Launch Worldwide Terrorist War"; OSC, "Police Worried by Emergence of Transnational Islamic Groups;" Bruce, "US Fears Islamic Attacks in Bosnia." 65. Coll, Ghost Wars, pp. 248–249 and 278. 66. These estimates are derived from the Brookings Institution Iraq Index reports of December 2004 (available at http://www.brookings.edu/fp/saban/iraq/index20041215.pdf) and June 2007 (available at http://www.brookings.edu/fp/saban/iraq/index20070628.pdf). In its January 2008 report (available at http://www.brookings.edu/saban/~/media/Files/Centers/Saban/Iraq%20Index/index.pdf), foreign fighters are estimated to range from 300 to 2,000 for each month of 2007. The variance in estimates of the size of Iraq's insurgents is substantial. As early as 2005, General Mohammed Abdullah Shahwani, the Iraqi intelligence director, estimated that there were 40,000 hard-core insurgents (see Tom Squitieri, "General Says New War Could Strain Military," USA Today, 16 February 2005). In 2006, General John Abizaid estimated the insurgent force to be between 10,000 and 20,000 (see Jim Michaels, "19,000 Insurgents Killed in Iraq Since '03," USA Today, 26 September 2007). 67. Hafez, Suicide Bombers in Iraq; Oppel, Jr., "Foreign Fighters in Iraq." 68. Michael Knights, "Saudi Terrorist Cells Await Return of Jihadists from Iraq," Jane's Intelligence Review, 1 December 2005; Michael Knights and Brooke Neumann, "A New Afghanistan? Exploring the Iraqi Jihadist Training Ground," Jane's Intelligence Review, 1 July 2006; Jane's World Insurgency and Terrorism, "Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI)," 26 October 2007. 69. Qasim Hamadi, "Detailed Information on 600 Al Qaeda Fighters in Documents Captured by American Forces in Al-Anbar" (Arabic), Al-Hayat, 13 January 2008; Karen De Young, "Papers Paint New Portrait of Iraq's Foreign Insurgents," Washington Post, 21 January 2008. 70. Brian Knowlton, "Intelligence Chief Cites Qaeda Threat to U.S.," New York Times, 5 February 2008.