Mil-Tech

Terrorist Actions Against The U.S.

Osama bin Laden was born in Saudi Arabia into a family of immigrants to Saudi Arabia from Yemen.

His family had a lot of money and well established, but bin Laden was influenced by extremist Muslim authorities who led him to pursue a radical political life that took him to Sudan in Africa, back to Saudi Arabia, and finally to Afghanistan when the Soviets invaded that state.

He had become unpopular with the Saudi government, though supported by wealthy Saudis who responded to his extremist Muslim views.

In Afghanistan, bin Laden found a country that was consist mostly of rural locations (more than 80 percent), but which was experiencing modern pressures.

He, with his wealth, became popular because of money he spent on behalf of the Afghans and his personal fight against the Soviet Union.

In 1965, a Marxist-oriented group, the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan, a communist party, caused to existence.

Soon, Afghanistan faced considerable political turmoil and finally a PDPA coup in 1978. By December of 1979 the PDPA was in considerable trouble, and the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan.

Osama bin Laden was soon drawn into that conflict against the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union could never stabilize its power and was driven out in 1988.

The United States and Saudi Arabia working through the ISI – Pakistani Intelligence Service – assisted the Afghans in driving out the Soviets.

More than 2 million Afghans were killed and more than 6 million fled to Pakistan, Iran and other countries. The United States and the government of Saudi Arabia pumped more than $6 billion into that conflict.

Growing out of the conflict and with the presence of Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda was formed.

Under the leadership of bin Laden the movement grew: a terrorist leadership, training camps for terrorists, and a strategy against any state that was not a “true Islamic” state were established.

The United States because of its world prominence was targeted.

A second force to contend with, the Taliban was officially established in 1994 under the leadership of Mullah Omar, an Afghan, in response to the heavy activity of the Pakistani ISI in Afghanistan.

It seems likely that much of the money that the U.S. and Saudi Arabia spent in the fight against the Soviet Union was used to lay the foundation for the creation of the Taliban. Also, elements in the Pakistani ISI perhaps were helpful in establishing the Taliban.

It must be mentioned that other anti-U.S. and anti-government groups were also functioning in Afghanistan. The political environment is complex.

The Taliban began its attempt to take over Afghanistan from the five regional armed forces that had developed during the Soviet period. From its headquarters in Qandahar it moved toward Kabul and took control in September of 1996.

In a short time the Taliban controlled about 90 percent of the country. The ideology of the Taliban was mixed among sub-groups, but the Islamic extremists were in control.

Many Afghans found the Taliban to be oppressive and as a result, many fled Afghanistan, complicating further the refugee problem in Pakistan.

While Afghanistan had been Muslim for some time, the Islamic faith generally had not been rigorously enforced.

The Taliban changed that, especially with respect to the position of women, forms of dress, and strict application of Islamic law (Shari’ah).

The Taliban recruited many men from within Afghanistan and from Pakistan as well as from other Muslim countries. It drew heavily on younger refugees and Pakistani youth who attended the many madrassas in western Pakistan.

These madrassas are “schools” for Islamic youth who are heavily indoctrinated in the faith, even to the point of becoming martyrs for the Islamic cause.

Out of this new Afghan environment, terrorists were trained and sent out to strike the “evil” world.

In the early 90’s the World Trade Center in New York was bombed, and later in the 90’s U.S. Embassies were bombed in Kenya and Tanzania. President Clinton blamed the bombings on Islamic extremists and demanded of Afghanistan that terrorist activities cease and that bin Laden be turned over to the U.S. for appropriate punishment.

When the Clinton demand was not responded to, the U.S., in August 1998, hit the bin Laden terrorist training camps, funded by some wealthy Saudis, with cruise missiles fired from U.S. Navy ships in the Arabian Sea.

U.N. sanctions were imposed in November 1999 for the same reason, and all military aid to Afghanistan was cut off in 2001. After September 11, 2001 – when the World Trade Center in New York was destroyed and 3000 people killed, the attack on the Pentagon, and endangered White House – the U.S. demanded the surrender of bin Laden, the shut-down of the al-Qaeda by the Taliban, and closing the terrorist training camps.

The refusal of the Taliban to cooperate led to the bombing of Afghanistan by the U.S. with the assistance of the British.

Efforts to close down the terrorist problem began in earnest with the attacks in the United States: 1) Forces within Afghanistan began to move against the Taliban, 2) the United States moved troops into Afghanistan, and 3) NATO eventually took command of the International Security Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan under a UN mandate. Politics began to change in Afghanistan, and Pakistan began to experience internal political pressures as a result of turmoil in Afghanistan.

In spite of the years of effort and use of resources in war in Iraq, the U.S. is still determined to eliminate or greatly reduce the terrorist threats from the Central Asian area.

Harold Sare has studied, conducted research and taught university courses focused on the region of which he writes, and has lived and traveled in that area, specifically in India, including Kashmir, and in Pakistan. He now lives in Stillwater. Tomorrow: Part 3, action against terrorism in Central Asia.

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