US spies walked into al-Qaeda's
trap
By Syed
Saleem Shahzad
ISLAMABAD Jan, 05, 2010 - The suicide attack on the United
States Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA's) forward operating
base of Chapman in the Afghan province of Khost last week was
planned in the Pakistani tribal area of North Waziristan.
The attacker - a handpicked plant in the Afghan National Army
(ANA) - detonated his explosive vest in a gym at the base,
killing seven agents, including the station chief, and wounding
six. The base was officially for civilians involved in
reconstruction.
The plan was executed following several weeks of preparation by
al-Qaeda's Lashkar al-Zil (Shadow Army), Asia Times Online has
learned. This was after Lashkar al-Zil's intelligence outfit
informed
its chief commander, Ilyas Kashmiri, that the CIA planned to
broaden the monitoring of the possible movement of al-Qaeda
leader Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Well-connected sources in militant camps say that Lashkar al-Zil
had become aware of the CIA's escalation of intelligence
activities to gather information on high-value targets for US
drone attacks. It emerged that tribesmen from Shawal and Datta
Khel, in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal area, had been
invited by US operatives, through middlemen, to Khost, where the
operatives tried to acquire information on al-Qaeda leaders.
Such activities have been undertaken in the past, but this time
they were somewhat different.
"This time there was clearly an obsession to hunt down something
big in North Waziristan. But in this obsession, they
[operatives] blundered and exposed the undercover CIA facility,"
a senior leader in al-Qaeda's 313 Brigade said. The brigade, led
by Ilyas Kashmiri, comprises jihadis with extensive experience
in Pakistan's Kashmir struggle with India.
Once it became clear that efforts to track down al-Qaeda were
being stepped up and that the base in Khost was being
extensively used by the CIA, the Lashkar al-Zil (Brigade 055)
moved into top gear. It is the soul of al-Qaeda, having being
involved in several events since the September 11, 2001, attacks
on the US. Under the command of Ilyas Kashmiri, its intelligence
network's coordination with its special guerrilla action force
has changed the dynamics of the Afghan war theater. Instead of
traditional guerrilla warfare in which the Taliban have taken
most of the casualties, the brigade has resorted to special
operations, the one on the CIA base being the latest and one of
the most successful.
Lashkar al-Zil comprises the Pakistani Taliban, 313 Brigade, the
Afghan Taliban, Hezb-e-Islami Afghanistan and former Iraqi
Republican Guards. It has taken on special significance since
the US announcement of a 30,000 troop surge in Afghanistan, due
to kick into action this week.
Leaders of the Lashkar al-Zil now knew that CIA operatives were
trying to recruit reliable tribal people from Afghanistan so
that the latter could develop an effective intelligence network
along the border with North Waziristan's Shawal and Datta Khel
regions, where high-profile al-Qaeda leaders often move around.
Laskhar al-Zil then laid its trap.
Over the past months, using connections in tribal structures and
ties with former commanders of the Taliban and the Hezb-e-Islami
Afghanistan, the militants have planted a large number of men in
the ANA.
One of these plants, an officer, was now called into action. He
contacted US personnel in Khost and told them he was linked to a
network in the tribal areas and that he had information on where
al-Qaeda would hold its shura (council) in North Waziristan and
on the movement of al-Qaeda leaders.
The ANA officer was immediately invited to the CIA base in Khost
to finalize a joint operation of Predator drones and ground
personnel against these targets.
Once inside, he set off his bomb, with deadly results.
"It's a devastating blow," Times Online quoted Michael Scheuer
as saying. "[Among others] we lost an agent with 14 years'
experience in Afghanistan." Scheuer is a former head of Alec
Station, the unit created to monitor bin Laden five years before
the attacks of September 11.
Unlike the Taliban's mostly rag-tag army, Laskhar al-Zil is a
sophisticated unit, with modern equipment such as night-vision
technology, the latest light weapons and finely honed guerrilla
tactics. It has a well-funded intelligence department, much like
the Hezb-e-Islami Afghanistan had during the resistance against
the Soviets in the 1980s when it had access to advance
information on the movement of the Red Army.
However, Laskhar al-Zil is one step ahead of the Hezb's former
intelligence outfit in that it has been able to plant men in the
ANA, and these "soldiers" are now at the forefront of al-Qaeda-led
sabotage activities in Afghanistan.
In addition, a large number of senior government officials both
in the capital, Kabul, and in the provinces are sympathetic to
the Hezb-e-Islami Afghanistan, and, by extension, to the
Taliban. Similarly, several former top Taliban commanders have
been given responsibilities by the central government in
district areas, and as the insurgency has grown, these former
militants have been increasingly useful to the Taliban-led
insurgency.
In sum, the US troop surge, coupled with increased US efforts to
track down al-Qaeda, has resulted in a shift in southeastern
Afghanistan. There has been hardly any uprising against foreign
troops in which the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
could hit the Taliban hard. The insurgents now select specific
targets for the most effective outcome, such as the spy base in
Khost - it took just one insurgent's life for the "devastating"
result.
Consequently, for the first time in the many years that
Afghanistan has been at war, the winter season is hot. Last
October, the US withdrew its troops from its four key bases in
Nuristan, on the border with Pakistan, leaving the northeastern
province as a safe haven for the Taliban, under the command of
Qari Ziaur Rahman. Kurangal Valley in Kunar province is heavily
under siege and Taliban attacks on US bases there could see US
forces pulling back from Kunar as well.
And in the meantime, Lashkar al-Zil can be expected to be
planning more strikes of its own. |
