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- Feb 26, 2012
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http://music.yahoo.com/news/fountai...s-al-qaeda-haqqani-links-152657795.htmlLONDON (Reuters) -
"Know that we will not lay down our arms once Afghanistan is free." The fight must be pursued to liberate "the defenseless Muslims of the world" from Kashmir to Palestine to Samarkand, the speaker said.
It was 1988, a conference in Gujrat in Pakistan's Punjab province; a time when the enthusiasm of the anti-Soviet jihad fused with internationalist causes popular among Arab fighters and the Pakistani backers of the mujahedeen to forge the ideology of al Qaeda.
The speaker was Jalaluddin Haqqani, patriarch of one of the most formidable fighting forces in Afghanistan.
The story is told in an account of Haqqani's links with al Qaeda in a book published this month: "Fountainhead of Jihad: The Haqqani Nexus 1973-2012," by Vahid Brown and Don Rassler.
Based partly on new primary sources, the book highlights one of the big failures of the Afghan war. Meant to defeat al Qaeda, the war has failed to break the resilience of the group with which it has the closest ties - the so-called Haqqani network.
As a result, western hopes that talks with the Afghan Taliban might persuade them to break with al Qaeda in return for a share of power face a serious flaw.
Al Qaeda is, and always has been, based in Haqqani territory, and the Haqqani network is excluded from those talks after Washington designated it a terrorist organization last year.
Western officials have long said the ties between the Haqqanis and al Qaeda make it hard to include them in a political settlement - contradicting Pakistani assertions they could play a useful role in Afghanistan after most foreign combat troops withdraw at the end of 2014.
But "Fountainhead of Jihad" is unusual in detailing quite how close those ties are.
"Know that we will not lay down our arms once Afghanistan is free." The fight must be pursued to liberate "the defenseless Muslims of the world" from Kashmir to Palestine to Samarkand, the speaker said.
It was 1988, a conference in Gujrat in Pakistan's Punjab province; a time when the enthusiasm of the anti-Soviet jihad fused with internationalist causes popular among Arab fighters and the Pakistani backers of the mujahedeen to forge the ideology of al Qaeda.
The speaker was Jalaluddin Haqqani, patriarch of one of the most formidable fighting forces in Afghanistan.
The story is told in an account of Haqqani's links with al Qaeda in a book published this month: "Fountainhead of Jihad: The Haqqani Nexus 1973-2012," by Vahid Brown and Don Rassler.
Based partly on new primary sources, the book highlights one of the big failures of the Afghan war. Meant to defeat al Qaeda, the war has failed to break the resilience of the group with which it has the closest ties - the so-called Haqqani network.
As a result, western hopes that talks with the Afghan Taliban might persuade them to break with al Qaeda in return for a share of power face a serious flaw.
Al Qaeda is, and always has been, based in Haqqani territory, and the Haqqani network is excluded from those talks after Washington designated it a terrorist organization last year.
Western officials have long said the ties between the Haqqanis and al Qaeda make it hard to include them in a political settlement - contradicting Pakistani assertions they could play a useful role in Afghanistan after most foreign combat troops withdraw at the end of 2014.
But "Fountainhead of Jihad" is unusual in detailing quite how close those ties are.
