CSS Forums - Alqaida........

General (retd) Mirza Aslam Beg was the Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army succeeding General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, after the latter died in the air crash on August 17, 1988. He continued to hold the powerful post of Army Chief till 1991.

After retirement General Beg founded a policy think-tank called “Friends”.He expressed his views regarding Al Qaeda formation in his column Osama and Al Qaeda: Sifting facts from fiction. Remember he was at the helm of affairs during Afghan-Soviet war so his views can be relied.

“[B]In order to build an “ideological wall” against the Communists in Afghanistan, a chain of Madrassas was established on the Pak-Afghan borders jointly by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia with full support of the US. These institutions were also to serve as nurseries for Jihad. The Taliban, therefore were the end product of these Madrassas, which were single-mindedly committed to end the Soviet occupation.

Dr. Abdullah Azaam who belonged to Jordan established an educational-cum-military institution at Ghunda-e-Shahadat, naming it as Ghunda-e-Jadeed, located beyond Para Chinar, in the Afghan territory. The Arab philanthropists were the main financers of this institution. It was in 1986 that Osama bin Laden got integrated into this institution. As he was a wealthy man, he was able to construct roads in the far-flung areas and built sanctuaries in the mountains, so that the Mujahdeen and their weapons and equipments could be protected from the Soviet air strikes. Abdullah Azaam used to visit his family in Hayat Abad near Peshawar where he was assassinated in 1987. After his death Osama took charge of Ghunda Shahdat training center. Arab Mujahdeen formed the bulk of this institution, which was augmented by fighters from other Islamic countries like Chechnya, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippine and India etc. Due to increasing resistance by the Mujahdeen, Soviets began to use their elite commando brigades, called Spitnaz. In spite of pressures, Ghunda Shahadat training centre continued to provide well trained manpower to resist the aggressor.

It was about this time that Prof. Abdul Rauf Saif established a military academy at Sadda, near Tal city, where over five thousand Mujahdeen were trained at a time, while Osama founded the International Islamic Front and developed relations with Islamic movements working at the global level. The US was not only aware of all these activities of Bin Laden but it also provided all necessary support to achieve the objectives. Osama bin Laden was acclaimed as a symbol of resistance against the Soviet forces in Afghanistan, and was highly respected. According to a press report, Adil Aljabir, the present advisor to the Saudi government, has disclosed that, “Osama and his outfit were paid by US government over 500 million US dollars annually, for waging jihad against the Soviets”, but he was declared a terrorist when the Soviets retreated.”[/B]

So Osama decided to form Al-Qaeda

[B]“Al-Qaeda was founded by Osama during period, 1996-97. Between the years 1997 and 2001 Al-Qaeda was organized at the international level and old associations with Islamic organizations were revived. During this period, several terrorist attacks took place in Africa and elsewhere which introduced Al-Qaeda to the international media. As a reaction to Al-Qaeda’s growing activities, USA launched cruise missile attacks on the sanctuaries of Al-Qaeda at Jalalabad in 1998 and the pharmaceutical plant in Sudan. Sanctions were imposed on Taliban government. As a consequence Al-Qaeda had to encounter great loss and it was forced to shift its base from Jalalabad to a place near Kandhar. Due to sanctions, the Al-Qaeda members in Afghanistan were reduced to less than a thousand and its international support considerably dwindled.”[/B]

Apart from Abu Jazeed stance, everyone knows that in modern time war is not all about fighting in battlefield. Muslims have to strengthen themselves in fields of research, economy and military to equal US and Jewish might. What about their efforts in Kashmir, in Chechniya, in Palestine, in Iraq, in Afghanistan? Although they are giving US tough time but question is how long…..?Unless and until we will not deliver unanimous effort we can’t beat US army.

It is well known fact that Holy prophet (S.A.W.S) strictly forbade Muslim army from harming civilians and public property during Jihad. Before answering Abu Jazeed comments on suicide bombings analyze who is suffering due to these; civilians whether they are in WTC or in Islamabad (Danish Embassy). Is there any Hadith or refernce from Quran to support killings of innocent civilians? Ask this to those mothers, who have lost their child due to these suicide bombings and from those sisters who have lost their brothers. How can these people play with the innocent lives on the name of Islam?

One interesting thing about this interview is that a correspondent from Geo has an access to Al Qaeda leadership but US,despite of having Satellites and state of the art technology, cannot locate them……………………..! Isn’t it interesting? whom they are trying to fool?