Afghanistan News October 15, 2003

October 15, 2003

U.N. OKs Expanding Afghan Peacekeeping
By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press
UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. Security Council has given NATO the green light to expand its peacekeeping mission throughout Afghanistan to improve security, a move long sought by the Afghan government. But so far only Germany has offered more troops. The 15-member council unanimously approved a resolution sponsored by Germany late Monday to allow the 5,500-strong international force to operate outside the capital, Kabul, after NATO's secretary-general, Lord Robertson, sent a letter requesting the expanded mission.

U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said the United States "proceeded cautiously on this ... in part because there was an absence of countries who were willing to undertake missions outside of Kabul."

Since NATO took over command of the multinational force in August from Germany and the Netherlands, he said, "there is a willingness, at least to a limited extent, to undertake missions outside of Kabul" so Washington supported the expansion.

The Afghan government praised the decision. "The news coming out of the Security Council is very much welcomed by the Afghan government and the Afghan people," Foreign Ministry spokesman Omar Samad told The Associated Press. "We have been asking for some sort of expansion of ISAF for a long time and see it as an important step as we embark on a new phase of the political process and accelerated activities in the reconstruction field."

German and Canadian troops make up the bulk of the current force. With the resolution adopted, Germany will now seek parliamentary approval for an expanded force of between 230-450 troops who will deploy in the northern city of Kunduz, Germany's U.N. Ambassador Gunter Pleuger said after the vote.

"If this is successful we hope that this is considered as a pilot project that could be copied in other parts of Afghanistan," he said. Two weeks ago, Pleuger said the expanded force being envisioned would have international troops deployed to eight separate urban "islands" across the country including Herat in the west, Kandahar in the south and Kunduz and Mazar-e-Sharif in the north.

The aim would be to duplicate the relative success of the International Security Assistance Force, known as ISAF, in bringing stability to Kabul in key provincial cities. Pleuger said as a second stage, once the cities are stabilized, the plan envisions linking the eight "ISAF islands" using mobile military units.

Afghan provincial officials were quick to lobby for an ISAF presence in their own regions. Abdul Hamid Balkhi, the intelligence chief in Kunduz, said the people of his area had been "desperately waiting for this decision." "We are ready to cooperate with our German brothers," he told AP by satellite phone. Sadokhan Ambarkhil, the deputy governor of southeastern Paktika province, said his area was in more desperate need than Kunduz.

"It is good that they are going to Kunduz, but we urgently need them here in Paktika," he said. "The fire is raging more in the homes of the Paktika people than it is in Kunduz, and al-Qaida and Taliban are more active here. We need them as soon as possible."

The German ambassador is leading a Security Council mission to Afghanistan on Oct. 31 to study the work of the peacekeeping mission. Negroponte, the current council president, and other ambassadors are also going.

But Security Council diplomats cautioned against expectations that large numbers of ISAF troops will be deployed anywhere but Kunduz initially, because other countries aren't offering troops. Afghan President Hamid Karzai called on the world body last month to deploy peacekeepers into regions where increasing lawlessness is causing many Afghans to long for the security that marked the rule of the rigid Taliban regime.

The Afghan government, which took over after the U.S.-led coalition ousted the Taliban militia, has little control in most of the 32 provinces, where governors often rule like warlords with private militias. Karzai warned that unless the world steps up its reconstruction aid and sends more troops, Islamic radicals could regain control in Afghanistan. The resolution authorizes the expansion of ISAF's operations so that Afghan authorities as well as United Nations and humanitarian personnel "can operate in a secure environment."

Negroponte said the resolution "helps pave the way for the increased security in Afghanistan upon which nearly everything else is dependent."

Taliban and al-Qaida rebels have been launching increasingly bold assaults in recent months, raiding police stations, killing aid workers and confronting U.S. troops in growing numbers. ISAF is separate from the U.S.-led combat operation in Afghanistan where 11,500 troops are searching for the remnants of the Taliban and al-Qaida.

Afghan Leader Hails Vote on Peacekeepers
By PAUL HAVEN, Associated Press Writer
KABUL, Afghanistan - The Afghan president on Tuesday hailed a U.N. vote allowing an international peacekeeping force to expand beyond the capital, a crucial boost for Afghan efforts to rein in warlords and prepare for historic elections next year. The 15-member U.N. Security Council voted unanimously late Monday to allow the 5,500-strong force to fan out to key cities in some of Afghanistan's most lawless provinces, where feuding warlords hold sway and Taliban rebels are engaging in an ever-fiercer insurgency.

The International Security Assistance Force is under NATO command, with Germany and Canada supplying the most troops.

"This is what the Afghan people have been asking for since the beginning of the interim administration and I'm glad that the voice of Afghans for better security has been heard by the international community," President Hamid Karzai said Tuesday in a statement.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Omar Samad also welcomed the move, saying, "We have been asking for some sort of expansion of ISAF for a long time and see it as an important step as we embark on a new phase of the political process and accelerated activities in the reconstruction field."

Afghanistan is moving toward its first national elections in years, with a vote scheduled for June. Officials acknowledge that improving security nationwide is critical for the vote to succeed.

Still, the speed and scope of the ISAF expansion was unclear, and there has not been any official word on how many additional troops might be involved. Very few countries have offered soldiers for the expansion.

Germany's U.N. ambassador, Gunter Pleuger, said his country will seek parliamentary approval for to deploy up to 450 German troops in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz. The area is relatively peaceful compared with southern and eastern regions, where insurgents have targeted aid workers, Afghan officials and soldiers, and U.S. troops.

Pleuger said two weeks ago the expanded force would deploy international troops to eight urban "islands," including Herat in the west, Kandahar in the south and Kunduz and Mazar-e-Sharif in the north.

Mazar-e-Sharif has been the scene in recent days of intense fighting between two rival warlords — both nominally loyal to the government — and residents say they desperately need international forces to restore order.

Provincial officials were quick to lobby for an ISAF presence in their own regions. Abdul Hamid Balkhi, the intelligence chief in Kunduz, said the people of his area were "desperately waiting for this decision." "We are ready to cooperate with our German brothers," he told The Associated Press.

Sadokhan Ambarkhil, the deputy governor of southeastern Paktika province, said his area was in more desperate need than those in Kunduz.

"It is good that they are going to Kunduz, but we urgently need them here in Paktika," he said. "The fire is raging more in the homes of the Paktika people than it is in Kunduz, and al-Qaida and Taliban are more active here. We need them as soon as possible."

Paktika has been the scene of near-daily Taliban attacks, and a U.S. soldier was killed in the province late last month. The area borders Pakistan, and al-Qaida and Taliban fighters are believed to be hiding out in the mountains straddling the two countries.

The Foreign Ministry's Samad said the Karzai government was thankful for the peacekeeper commitment and confident the force would be expanded over time to fill Afghanistan's considerable security needs. "It does not mean that overnight you will see 10,000 peacekeepers fan out across the country, but you will see on expansion on a per need basis," he said.

UN Urges Quick Expansion of Afghan Peacekeeping
By David Brunnstrom
KABUL (Reuters) - The United Nations urged nations on Tuesday to provide troops for an expanded NATO peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan and said they needed to be deployed quickly and over a wide area. The U.N. Security Council on Monday authorized the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to send troops anywhere in Afghanistan rather than confine them to Kabul.

The government said the unanimous resolution was evidence of strong international support for the transitional administration of President Hamid Karzai. "This is obviously going to have a positive impact on the political process, the reconstruction process and the security situation," said foreign ministry spokesman Omar Samad. "We will have to see how long it is before the deployment."

The spokesman for the U.N. mission in Afghanistan said it welcomed the decision to expand peacekeeping into the unruly provinces, a move it has long been urging, but added the deployment should not be delayed or too limited.

"We know Afghans will be disappointed if the deployment does not take place early enough and widely enough to respond to the aspirations of the Afghan people and security requirements of the country," Manoel de Almeida e Silva told a news briefing.

"Now that the Security Council has granted authorization for the expansion of ISAF, it is very important that member states provide ISAF with the necessary means to expand beyond Kabul." NATO military planners last month proposed various options for expanding the 5,500-strong ISAF, with suggestions ranging from around 2,000 to 10,000 troops.

But they said the main constraint was a shortage of troops due to other priorities in Iraq, the Balkans and Africa, and member nations' budget restrictions, which mean the Security Council resolution is likely to have little immediate impact.

The first ISAF troops in the Afghan provinces are expected to come from Germany, which has said it wants to send up to 450 to the northern town of Kunduz to form a civilian-military Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), which will have a dual role in bolstering security and aid work.

ISAF spokesman Squadron Leader Paul Rice said the speed of the deployment would depend on approval by the German parliament, which was expected by the end of the month. He said he did not yet know how far NATO might expand its mission. "We are now waiting for military advice on options for expansion and it will also be down to individual countries and their parliament to authorize deployments," he said.

Non-governmental aid agencies, which have suffered a big increase in Taliban attacks in the past year, say troops must go to the parts of the country where they are most needed. Barbara Stapleton of the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief said Kunduz was considered "relatively benign" from a security point of view compared with the high-risk south.

Samad said the government wanted to see NATO troops widely deployed. "There has to a presence in various parts of the country. We want to see them wherever they are needed." Diplomats say NATO aims to increase the number of PRTs now provided by the separately mandated U.S.-led Operation Enduring Freedom from four to eight, but critics like Stapleton question whether such teams are adequate to meet security needs.

"We are concerned that PRTs are an incremental approach and it's going to take time to develop public confidence," she said. "We cannot see that in the short-term they are capable, as constructed, of significantly impacting on security."

Afghan Business Sprouts in Shallow Soil
Capital Enjoys Spending Boom, but Poor Infrastructure and Bureaucracy Hamper Development
By Pamela Constable - Washington Post Foreign Service Tuesday, October 14, 2003; Page A16
KABUL, Afghanistan -- The aisles of the newly expanded Chelsea Market are a colorful barometer of the consumer craze that is sweeping Kabul, a poor but fast-growing capital of 2.5 million that is awash in foreign aid, international visitors and a steadily growing number of affluent returned refugees.

The shelves are crammed with imported items not seen here in years, if ever: microwave popcorn and "Miaow Mix", cling wrap and Clorox, Gillette razors and Grey Poupon mustard. Recently the owner, Assad Chelsi, has been experimenting with luxury items such as French cosmetics and fountain pens, and he soon plans to add a pharmacy upstairs.

"If you don't see it in the store today, I can get it for you tomorrow," Chelsi, 37, promises with the confident cheer of a born entrepreneur. He has circles under his eyes, but only from working around the clock to keep up with demand. "During the Taliban time, I had about 200 customers a day. Now I can't even count, maybe 2,000. People are free now, and everything has changed."

The view from Chelsi's corner of Kabul, a busy shopping area full of neon-flashing eateries and Internet cafes, might seem to support such buoyant hyperbole. Along the surrounding streets, there is more evidence of a spending surge: dozens of showy new or half-built houses with elaborate pillars, intricate tile designs and rooftop satellite dishes.

But just beneath the glitter lies an economy urgently in need of industrial and commercial development. Nearly two years after the collapse of extremist Islamic rule under the Taliban and the establishment of a pro-Western, U.N.-backed government, most of the Afghan economy is still a rudimentary sidewalk bazaar, propped up by foreign assistance and a burgeoning opium poppy trade.

The vast industrial park east of the capital, abandoned and destroyed during the civil war of the 1990s, is still mostly in ruins. No foreign investors have come to rebuild the empty factories, and only a handful of hardy Afghan businessmen have taken the plunge, setting up small operations that employ a few hundred workers -- in a city with tens of thousands of unemployed adults -- to make marble tiles, fiberglass bathtubs and plastic hoses.

"All my friends tell me I have made a mistake, but I think they are wrong. This is the time to invest," said Shah Agha, who invested $200,000 in a marble factory and now employs 150 people. "Last year I was the only one here. Now there are three or four more, but we have too many problems. The electricity goes off and the machines stop. People like me want to help rebuild Afghanistan, but we need to do a good business too."

The only major national development project underway -- the repaving of the central highway from Kabul to the southern city of Kandahar -- is being financed by grants from the United States. The only major businesses to open here have been two cellular phone companies, although two luxury hotels are planned and several foreign banks are expected to open branches soon.

Although the Afghan government is desperately trying to attract serious foreign investment, the obstacles are so numerous that they would make even the most patriotic millionaire think twice. First, the infrastructure is in terrible condition. Electrical power fails constantly, roads are potholed, and vacant urban land is unavailable because of title disputes, cronyism and lack of water.

Second, the Afghan bureaucracy is an impenetrable maze of red tape, best navigated with connections and cash. Until recently, obtaining a business license required completing 40 separate approvals from various agencies, often accompanied by requests for kickbacks. In the past 18 months dozens of eager potential investors, especially wealthy Afghan exiles, have abandoned projects in disgust after being beaten down by the bureaucracy.

Security is a chronic concern for investors, and conditions in Afghanistan have been deteriorating markedly in recent months. Resurgent Taliban forces and other anti-government groups have mounted repeated armed attacks, and feuding Afghan militia leaders continue to fight among themselves. Kabul remains relatively safe, but even here the business community's nerves have gotten noticeably jumpier.

Finally, there is the problem of official mixed signals. Although the government enacted an investment law with numerous incentives for new commercial ventures, it has retained tight control over the lucrative telecommunications, mining and industrial sectors. And while the finance and commerce ministers are free-market advocates, other officials in the coalition government are old-school statists with entrenched bureaucratic interests to protect.

"People are very motivated, but they get encouraged by one ministry and stopped by another. There is no coordination on a larger scale," complained Mahmoud Karzai, an Afghan American businessman and brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who has been promoting a joint chamber of commerce here. The licensing controls on manufacturing and communications, he said, are especially daunting. "That's where the real money and real potential are. The rest is small potatoes."

Afghan officials said they are keenly aware of the barriers to investing and are determined to break them down. This month the government will open a "one-stop shop" for potential investors, a computerized office with a single, short business application form and English-speaking staffers who can help investors find their way through the bureaucracy and even waive onerous procedures, such as checking for outstanding debts with long-defunct banks.

Some officials, such as Commerce Minister Seyyed Mustafa Kazemi, express frank frustration with the remaining legal restrictions on business, the continued dependence on imported goods that could easily be produced in Afghanistan, and the bureaucratic resistance that has doomed numerous investment projects.

"Why should we be importing water and juice and shampoo?" Kazemi demanded. "Why should an investor have to be asking which [militia] commander he should become partners with, which agency he should bribe? It all needs to be reformed. We need to make investing as simple and as easy as possible."

Despite the problems, Kazemi said he remains optimistic. On paper, at least, a total of $4.5 billion in private development projects have been registered with the government, from pharmaceutical plants to fruit-packing operations. "All we need is a spark," he said, "and then a year from now you won't believe it's the same Afghanistan."

In some areas of the economy, impatient local entrepreneurs are literally lighting their own way. Electricity may be erratic, but the capital is illuminated thanks to thousands of imported Japanese and Korean generators -- a lucrative cottage industry in itself. Stores selling TV sets and other electronic entertainment, once banned by the Taliban, fill an entire street. At night new restaurants and wedding salons beckon with displays of multicolored lights.

And if commercial and industrial development are lagging, residential building is on a roll. In some neighborhoods, entire blocks are being torn down and rebuilt by returned wealthy exiles or profit-minded landlords. Among the biggest-selling items in Kabul these days are modern bathroom fixtures, which arrive in trucks from Iran and Pakistan protectively wrapped in straw.

Mohamedullah Nasir, an energetic young man whose family imported tea and foods during the Taliban years, now presides over a thriving empire of home-construction products, from flooring tiles to chrome faucets. Most of his materials are imported, but several months ago he decided to open a small factory to make sinks, tubs and chairs out of molded fiberglass.

"Eighty percent of our business is residential, and it has increased 80 percent in the last year," Nasir said. Although he has kept his own family in Pakistan until he is more confident of security conditions here, he has begun bringing in Pakistani masons and other workers because, after two decades of conflict and flight, there simply are not enough skilled Afghan laborers left.

This week, Nasir showed a visitor around his new factory, a former open-air bakery where workers daubed paint on upside-down molds, including a baby blue heart-shaped bathtub. The conditions were rudimentary but the workmen's mood was upbeat; the air was redolent of both paint fumes and promise.

"It's just a first step. I go to business conventions abroad and get a lot of exciting ideas, but then I come back here and realize how little I can do," Nasir said. But beyond one wall came a buzzing drone of stonecutting and polishing machines -- Shah Agha's marble factory. "That's the sound of Afghanistan being rebuilt," Nasir said.

Iranian Force Has Long Ties to Al Qaeda
Terrorism Support Group Operates Independently of iran's Elected Leaders By Dana Priest and Douglas Farah Washington Post Staff Writers Tuesday, October 14, 2003; Page A17

The elite Iranian force believed to be protecting Saad bin Laden and two dozen al Qaeda leaders is one of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' five branches, and has been given the mission of "exporting the Islamic revolution" by training, arming and collaborating with foreign terrorist groups -- even those that do not share Iran's fundamentalist Shiite brand of Islam.

The Jerusalem Force, also known as the Qods Force, is highly trained and well-funded. It has provided instruction to more than three dozen Shiite and Sunni "foreign Islamic militant groups in paramilitary, guerrilla and terrorism" tactics, according to a recent U.S. intelligence analysis.

Groups including Hezbollah, or Party of God; the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas); and Palestinian Islamic Jihad have received arms and training at one of several specialized sites in Iran, according to that document.

The Jerusalem Force's former commander, Ahmad Vahidi, allegedly helped plan the 1994 bombing of the Amia Jewish Center in Buenos Aires, in which 85 civilians were killed and 230 injured, according to Argentine intelligence officials and others.

The group has also maintained ties with the al Qaeda terrorist network for more than a decade, according to U.S. and European intelligence officials. Senior al Qaeda leaders first met and formed a tactical alliance with the nascent Jerusalem Force in Sudan in the early 1990s, according to intelligence officials. The group was creating terrorist training camps there at the same time that Osama bin Laden had begun to create his own financial and training infrastructure.

Bin Laden's second-in-command, Ayman Zawahiri, used his decade-old relationship with Vahidi, then commander of the Jerusalem Force, to negotiate a safe harbor for some of al Qaeda's leaders who were trapped in the mountains of Tora Bora, Afghanistan, in 2001, according to a European intelligence official.

The group is "a state within a state, and that is why they are able to offer protection to al Qaeda," one European intelligence analyst said. "The Force's senior leaders have long-standing ties to al Qaeda, and, since the fall of Afghanistan, have provided some al Qaeda leaders with travel documents and safe haven."

The organization's autonomy from Iran's elected leaders underscores the deep split between the moderate government of President Mohammad Khatami and the unelected hard-line clerics who control much of the nation's security apparatus.

Khatami, who has repeatedly denied that senior al Qaeda figures are in Iran, has no control over security organs such as the Revolutionary Guard, which answer to the office of the supreme religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Although Iran is a Shiite Muslim nation, the Jerusalem Force's willingness to work with rival Sunni Muslim organizations has made it particularly dangerous as a liaison between Iran and other Islamic groups that share its goal of destroying secular Muslim states.

The Jerusalem Force has agents in "most countries with substantial Muslim populations," according to the U.S. analysis. "Their mission is to form relationships with Islamic militant and radical groups and offer financial support either to the groups at large or to Islamic figures within them who are sympathetic to the principles and foreign policy goals of the Iranian government."

The Force's training regime includes psychological and guerrilla warfare operations, with emphasis on the use of hand grenades, mines, booby-trap techniques, camouflage and ambushes. Its terrorist-related training includes assassinations, kidnapping, torture and explosives, according to the U.S. intelligence analysis.

Bin Laden Son Plays Key Role in Al Qaeda
By Douglas Farah and Dana Priest Washington Post Staff Writers Tuesday, October 14, 2003; Page A01
Saad bin Laden, one of Osama bin Laden's oldest sons, has emerged in recent months as part of the upper echelon of the al Qaeda network, a small group of leaders that is managing the terrorist organization from Iran, according to U.S., European and Arab officials.

Saad bin Laden and other senior al Qaeda operatives were in contact with an al Qaeda cell in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in the days immediately prior to the May 12 suicide bombing there that left 35 people dead, including eight Americans, European and U.S. intelligence sources say. The sources would not divulge the nature or contents of the communications, but the contacts have led them to conclude that the Riyadh attacks were planned in Iran and ordered from there.

Although Saad bin Laden is not the top leader of the terrorist group, his presence in the decision-making process demonstrates his father's trust in him and an apparent desire to pass the mantle of leadership to a family member, according to numerous terrorism analysts inside and outside government.

Like other al Qaeda leaders in Iran, the younger bin Laden, who is believed to be 24 years old, is protected by an elite, radical Iranian security force loyal to the nation's clerics and beyond the control of the central government, according to U.S. and European intelligence officials. The secretive unit, known as the Jerusalem Force, has restricted the al Qaeda group's movements to its bases, mostly along the border with Afghanistan.

Also under the Jerusalem Force's protection is Saif al-Adel, al Qaeda's chief of military operations; Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, the organization's chief financial officer; and perhaps two dozen other top al Qaeda leaders, the officials said. Al-Adel and Abdullah are considered the top operational deputies to Osama bin Laden and his second-in-command, Ayman Zawahiri, who communicate with underlings almost exclusively through couriers.

The presence of Saad bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders in Iran has become part of a debate within the governments of the United States and Saudi Arabia over the best way to reduce Iranian support for terrorism. U.S. officials have sent stern warnings to the government of President Mohammad Khatami that Iran's harboring of senior al Qaeda operatives would have repercussions for a nation the Bush administration has labeled part of the "axis of evil."

Intelligence officials believe that although the State Department is eager to renew talks with Iran on a variety of issues, primarily its nuclear program, it is not clear whether that nation's civilian government could deliver its end of any bargain, especially if it entailed turning over al Qaeda leaders.

"Iran will continue to pursue an asymmetric strategy in which they court Western acceptance, while maintaining their surrogate leadership roles within the Islamic extremist community," a U.S. intelligence analysis says.

Similarly, Saudi Arabia, which in recent years has tried to thaw relations with its larger and more powerful neighbor across the Persian Gulf, is trying, unsuccessfully, to persuade Iran to extradite Saad bin Laden and others suspected in the Riyadh bombing. Saudi officials estimate there are as many as 400 al Qaeda members there.
"Those people are in Iran and somebody must be helping them. The question is who?" Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi ambassador, told the San Francisco Chronicle last month. "This is the problem with Iran. The people who we can deal with can't deliver, they can't lead eight ducks across the street. And the guys who can deliver, they're not interested."

As a child, Saad bin Laden was at his father's side in Afghanistan in the mid-1980s when Osama bin Laden formed the al Qaeda network. The younger bin Laden was groomed to take a leadership role in the terrorism organization. He is fluent in English and is computer-literate, two qualities rare among al Qaeda leaders and assets that have enhanced his importance beyond his family name.

Yet Saad has only recently emerged as an important target for the CIA, FBI and other organizations trying to disrupt the terrorist network. It has only been since his arrival in Iran in the past year that he has assumed a more active role in directing al Qaeda, and that he has been identified as a senior leader. Before that, analysts said, he often sat with his father in leadership meetings but seldom spoke and was not given a voice in deliberations.

Many experts believe, for example, that he also had direct involvement in coordinating a series of bombings on May 16 that killed 45 people in Casablanca, Morocco. Kenneth Katzman, a terrorism analyst for the Congressional Research Service, said Saad "is touted as his father's stand-in. Because his father is incommunicado, a lot of people are looking to Saad to give them direct instructions."

While there is broad agreement that Saad bin Laden's role within al Qaeda has grown increasingly important in the past six months, not everyone agrees he is now a senior operational commander. One U.S. intelligence official said Saad is "more of a player than most of the offspring, but not that significant." Osama Bin Laden has more than two dozen children with five wives.

But European intelligence officials and independent analysts said Saad bin Laden, while not the most important al Qaeda leader, is helping to make key operational decisions and is an important part of al Qaeda's logistical network. Some analysts believe he was very close to Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, who was captured in March.

"Saad is capable of mounting operations against the West because he knows the West very well," said Rohan Gunaratna, director of terrorism research at the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies in Singapore. "Saad has been very close to his father, almost functioning as his bodyguard."

Saad bin Laden is one of the eldest sons of bin Laden and his first wife, Najwa Ghanem, a Syrian who is also the terrorist leader's first cousin. The couple had 11 children, but Osama bin Laden has taken at least four other wives and divorced one, according to biographies in the Arab media and U.S. officials. Islam allows men to take as many as four wives at one time.

Born in Saudi Arabia, Saad bin Laden spent time with his father in Afghanistan during the war against the Soviet occupation. His father returned to Saudi Arabia in 1989, but left in 1991 to settle in Sudan. Again, Saad accompanied him. When bin Laden returned to Afghanistan in 1996, so did Saad.

According to one terrorism expert, Osama bin Laden was filmed in Afghanistan admonishing al Qaeda members not to expect their children to take leadership positions in the movement unless the children were willing to work hard for the cause. Bin Laden then singled out Saad for praise as a hard worker and said he was proud of his son.

Gunaratna said that an analysis of bin Laden's satellite telephone calls from 1996 to 1998 showed that more than 10 percent were placed to Iran, demonstrating the ongoing contacts with Iran during that time. Officials said there is also evidence that another key liaison between the hard-line Iranian factions and al Qaeda is Imad Mugniyah, one of the world's most wanted terrorists.

Mugniyah, a Lebanese national and senior Hezbollah leader, is responsible for the kidnapping and murder of several Americans, as well as the hijacking of aircraft and the bombing of U.S. military barracks in Beirut in the 1980s, according to the FBI and CIA. Before Sept. 11, 2001, he was responsible for the deaths of more Americans than any other terrorist.

According to court testimony of former al Qaeda operatives, Mugniyah met bin Laden several times in Sudan in the mid-1990s and agreed to train al Qaeda combatants in the use of explosives and other techniques in exchange for weapons.

A description of Mugniyah's ongoing role was provided to authorities by a member of the Jerusalem Force who defected to Britain earlier this year. In a February interview with the London-based Saudi daily Al-Sarq al-Awsat, the defector said Mugniyah remained in Iran and had personally "planned the escape of dozens of al Qaeda men to Iran."

The defector, Hamid Zakiri, said Mugniyah served as "a liaison officer with Dr. Zawahiri and with commanders of other fundamentalist organizations." Zakiri said that among those Mugniyah aided were bin Laden's youngest wife, Amal al-Saddah, and her infant child, whom he provided with safe passage from Afghanistan through Iran to her homeland of Yemen as the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan began. European intelligence sources said that much of Zakiri's information had been verified. Research editor Margot Williams contributed to this report.

Hundreds of Afghan, U.S. Troops Raid Camp
The Associated Press October 14, 2003
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Hundreds of Afghan troops backed by U.S. soldiers and helicopters have attacked a suspected Taliban hide-out in southern Afghanistan, killing at least four rebels and an Afghan soldier, police said Tuesday.

The raid started Monday in the Chaar Cheno district, about 90 miles northeast of Kandahar, after troops surrounded the suspected camp, said police chief Haji Mohamemd Akhtar. The attack was continuing Tuesday, Akhtar said, although it was not clear if there were fresh casualties. He gave no other details. The area is believed to be a Taliban stronghold. "We will either kill or capture these Taliban," Akhtar said.

U.S. military spokesmen at their headquarters at Bagram, just north of the Afghan capital, Kabul, did not immediately respond to e-mailed queries about the raid. Fighters from the hardline Muslim militia, which was ousted in late 2001 for harboring terrorists, are believed to have stepped up attacks against government troops, aid workers and U.S.-led coalition forces in recent weeks.

On Monday, gunmen ambushed a vehicle carrying two Americans, but no injuries were reported, a provincial police chief said Tuesday. The attack occurred on a dirt road in the southern Zabul province when the Americans were en route to the nearby Ghazni province, said Haji Mohammed Ayub, police chief in Zabul.

He did not disclose their identities and only said they were working on a project to construct roads in the area. "We know Taliban are behind these attacks," Ayub said. "They want to disrupt peace."

Afghan Forces Besiege Taliban Guerrillas in South
KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan government troops battled a group of Taliban rebels on Tuesday who were holed up in a small village in the central province of Uruzgan, local officials said. At least one government soldier has been killed and four others badly wounded in the clashes that erupted on Monday afternoon in Char Cheny district, a day after Taliban guerrillas killed four soldiers in an ambush in the area, they said.

Local official Abdur Rahman told Reuters that local authorities had called on U.S.-led forces in the area to help them battle the militants from the ousted fundamentalist movement. "I do not know Taliban casualties or their strength," Rahman said. "We have lost one fighter and four others have been injured in heavy fighting which broke out yesterday. Our foreign friends are on their way to help us."

He said fighting was heavy on Tuesday morning and the besieged group of Taliban militants were putting up stiff resistance. Uruzgan was part of the main heartland of the Taliban regime which was overthrown by U.S.-led forces in late 2001.

The volatile province has been the scene of repeated Taliban raids since the radical militia's fall, and the latest clash comes amid growing signs of the Taliban's resurgence in the south and southeast. More than 300 people including civilians, Taliban rebels, government troops, local aid workers and several American soldiers have been killed and scores of others wounded in rising violence since August. There was no immediate comment from the U.S. military, which leads an 11,500-strong force hunting Taliban and al Qaeda remnants in Afghanistan.

Islamic Nations Seek Better World Image
By SEAN YOONG Associated Press October 14
PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia - Decrying what they perceive as a Western campaign to unfairly link their religion to terrorism, Islamic nations are calling for stronger efforts to resolve frustrations they say have fueled extremism - such as the U.S. occupation of Iraq and the Palestinian struggle.

Delegates at the summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, considered the Muslim world's most important political grouping, said many of their countries have been unjustly scrutinized for alleged links to extremists after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

"We plead with the Western world to cooperate with us, to help our vision of moderate Islam become more dominant," Munir Akram, Pakistan's ambassador to the United Nations, told The Associated Press.

"There is obviously a sense of anger in the Muslim world, since we have suffered many injustices," Akram said on the sidelines of the summit in Putrajaya, Malaysia's new administrative capital. "We may not endorse the acts of desperation, such as suicide bombings, which have followed these injustices, but that does not illegitimize important causes such as the Palestinian struggle."

OIC members range from alleged terror sponsors Iran, Libya and Syria to moderate, mostly secular nations such as Malaysia, and U.S. military allies such as Bahrain and Qatar. Delegates said the recent U.S.-led wars in Muslim-majority Afghanistan and Iraq have bolstered fallacies that Islamic countries are hotbeds of terrorist activities.

"There are many people in some circles, including the media, who are painting Muslims to be terrorists, when this is clearly not so," said Amanullah Jayhoon, Afghanistan's top envoy to Malaysia.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar, whose government has previously alleged that the global fight against terrorism has become an excuse to target Muslim countries, said foreign ministers at the summit agree they should seek more avenues for "dialogue with others, so that we will be able to project an image of Islam that is positive."

A strong statement condemning terrorism from Islamic leaders at the conference could help clear up the confusion, said Foreign Minister Hasan Wirayuda of Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, where terrorists have carried out several deadly bomb attacks in recent years.

"Islam is negatively affected by acts of terrorism committed by a small group of extremists," Wirayuda said. "At this meeting we need to reflect on this reality and reiterate our strong desire and determination to fight terrorism."

Some officials expressed worries about the potential precedent of pre-emptive U.S. military strikes, such as in Iraq, in Muslim countries in the Middle East accused of sponsoring terrorism.

"There is now a huge campaign conveyed all over the world against Islam and Muslims," said Bashar Jaafari, head of the Syrian Foreign Ministry's international organizations department. "For what reason - so that they can attack us later? Otherwise, there is no need for such accusations that Muslims are terrorists or militants."

Nonetheless, some delegates acknowledged that former leaders in a few countries have sometimes been guilty of lending support to militant networks - with some even spearheading acts of terror themselves.

Mowafak Mahdi Abboud, a diplomat in Iraq's Foreign Ministry said that Saddam Hussein's ousted regime was an example of an administration that "was not representing Islam." Saddam "tried to pretend to be a defender of Islam, but in reality, he suppressed the Muslims in Iraq and killed his own people," Abboud said.
The invasion of Iraq, however, has proven divisive for the OIC. The Governing Council has taken the OIC seat formerly held by Saddam's regime, but its pleas for reconstruction aid and peacekeepers from Muslim states have been met by urgings for a speedy end to the U.S. occupation.

Pakistan urges Canada to increase role in Afghanistan
DAILY TIMES By Shaukat Piracha
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan formally asked the Canadian government on Monday to increase its role in bringing about political stability and peace in Afghanistan.
"Canada, as a member of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), should play a pro-active role in improving the situation in Afghanistan because stability there will add to Pakistan’s own security," said Federal Minister for Interior and Narcotics Control Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat in a meeting with a Canadian delegation led by Industry Minister Allan Rock in Islamabad.

Canadian High Commissioner to Pakistan Margaret Huber also attended the meeting. sources said Pakistan wanted the expansion of the ISAF in Afghanistan for curbing growing Taliban forces in the war-torn country. "Pakistan has formally raised the expansion of ISAF’s role today (Monday) with a senior Canadian minister keeping in view the arrival of Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien by this weekend to this region," sources said. "During his talks, Pakistan and Afghanistan authorities will discuss the issue of expanding ISAF role with Mr Chrétien," sources added.

Mr Hayat also discussed bilateral issues with the Canadian dignitary. "Other issues that came under discussion included talks on bilateral relations between the two countries, particularly after President Pervez Musharraf’s recent visit to Canada," said an official statement released after the meeting. The Canadian minister praised the Pakistani government’s efforts on stopping human trafficking and praised the government’s efforts in making Pakistan a moderate, tolerant and democratic Islamic state as well as steps taken for eliminating the production and trafficking of drugs. They agreed that both countries should enhance cooperation in further curbing this menace.

Mr Hayat also discussed issues concerning the Pakistani community in Canada, particularly immigration and asked the Canadian government to extend all possible help to solve their problems.

Afghan government shuts down newspaper
via Daily Times october 13, 2003 AP
KABUL: The Afghan government has shut a state-run newspaper apparently after it ran a series of articles critical of President Hamid Karzai and his administration - the latest crackdown on an increasingly independent-minded press after years of censorship. The newspaper, the Armon Mali - or Public's Desire - was told late Saturday to stop publishing immediately, its chief editor Mirhaidar Motahar said Sunday.

He said the government did not give a reason for canceling the paper's license, which left 15 journalists and 17 other staff unemployed. But Motahar said he believed it was because political leaders were fed up with articles that highlighted the public's frustrations with the US-backed coalition government.

"People tell us they are not happy with Karzai because he is not doing a good job and this is what we write," he said. Deputy Information Minister Abdul Hamid Mubarrez denied the government closed the newspaper to end the criticism.

He said that scores of newspapers that have started publishing in the two years since the ouster of the Taliban meant there was no longer a need for four state-sponsored dailies and that the government had decided to cut one.

"In a country where only 35 percent of the public can read, 265 newspapers are too many," Mubarrez said. "So, we decided to decrease the number." Motahar said the Armon Mali gets part of its funding from the defence ministry, which is headed by Mohammed Fahim, a powerful ethnic-Tajik warlord. Fahim is also a possible political rival of Karzai, who is a member of the Pashtun ethnic group.

Fahim and other members of the mainly Tajik Northern Alliance grouping of warlords met earlier this month in the capital, Kabul, while Karzai was overseas, and are believed to have discussed withdrawing their support for the president in the run-up to elections in June.

While the Dari-language Armon Mali is critical of Karzai, its regular readers say the paper rarely criticizes Fahim or others close to him. In May, New York-based Human Rights Watch, said "press freedom in Afghanistan is under assault" after security forces allegedly arrested several local journalists and threatened some with death if they criticized powerful leaders.

In the latest crackdown, two reporters working for a weekly newspaper, Aftab, were arrested in June and detained for seven days on blasphemy charges after they published an article titled "Holy Fascism," which lashed out at top political leaders and accused them of going astray of Islam.

The two journalists fled Afghanistan after they were released from detention before their trial. Afghanistan's media has sprung back from years of censorship during the Taliban regime, which only permitted state-approved newspapers to publish and tolerated no criticism.

Pakistan Fires Medium-Range Missile in Third Test
Bloomberg News 10/14/2003
Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Pakistan successfully tested a nuclear- capable medium-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile, the country's third such test this month, the Pakistan Army said in a statement.

The test of the Hatf-4, or Shaheen, missile was a continuation of one Last week ``to validate certain additional parameters,'' the army said in its statement. The missile, which has a range of 700 kilometers (437 miles), is capable of carrying all types of warheads. Pakistan fired a Hatf-3 missile, also known as Ghaznavi, on Oct. 3 in the first of this month's tests. The government said it informed neighboring countries, including India, of the tests.

Pakistan and India, both nuclear powers, have tested a series of missiles in the past two years. The countries came to the brink of war after terrorist attacks on India's parliament in December 2001, recalling their ambassadors and cutting transport links.

Relations improved after a phone conversation between Pakistani Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in April. They have now reappointed ambassadors and restored The transportation links.

Pakistan will test a Hatf missile with a longer range in the future, The army said in its statement, without giving a date. Today's test Concludes the series started Oct. 3, it said. The tests ``reflect Pakistan's resolve and determination to continue to consolidate its minimum deterrence needs and national security,'' it said.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since independence from the U.K. in 1947. India accuses Pakistan of training and equipping terrorists fighting its rule in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan has said it provides only moral support.