Al-Qaida in a New Guise

An increase in the size of the Afghan army and police force was announced, followed immediately afterwards by another terrorist attack in Kabul on the Hotel Intercontinental. An international terrorist network is actively working under various names, using unorthodox means.

The official announcement from the Afghanistan Ministry of the Interior confirmed that as a result of the yesterday’s night attack on the Hotel Intercontinental, 18 people were confirmed perished and 12 were wounded.

The Intercontinental, situated on a green hill over Kabul, hosts more Afghan VIPs and foreign journalists than other hotels in the capital. During the night between Tuesday and Wednesday, 15 attackers, all dressed in the national white dress, stormed the hotel armed with grenade launchers and other weapons. After killing the guards, they spread through the hotel and started to shoot those who they encountered after bursting into their rooms. Some of the guests jumped from balconies to save themselves.

In the shootout with the police and the New Zealand Special Forces who came to the rescue, three of the terrorists blew themselves up. Several attackers were on the roof, where NATO helicopters eliminated them as the upper floor of the hotel was engulfed in a large fire.

Less than a day before the attack on the Intercontinental, the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee approved General John Allen as the new commander of the U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. According to Reuters, the general expressed support for U.S. President Barack Obama’s decision regarding the withdrawal of troops, which other American and NATO troops doubted. Republican Senator John McCain, who participated in the committee meeting, further criticized the decision. He asked, “After all that we have given to this mission — the money we have committed to it, the decade we have devoted to it, and the precious lives we have lost in it — why would we do anything now that puts our mission at greater risk of failure?” Allen acknowledged that the Taliban wants to take advantage of the situation in order to recover their lost cause, and that the Afghan army is still not a reliable force that can resist the Taliban.

As for reliable forces, Lieutenant General William Caldwell, the person responsible for training the Afghan army, made an announcement at the Atlanta Press Club regarding a general increase in personnel of the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police by up to 352,000 on that very same day. Caldwell said that this would be enough to ensure security in Afghanistan without the help of Western coalition forces.

The American military, much like the Soviet military in its time, is worried about their own human losses during the process of withdrawing forces. Our Afghan experience shows that it is possible to negotiate with the enemy about a safe corridor for departure, but not with those who want to continue a war to hoist the green flag over the Capitol, the Kremlin, the Eiffel Tower, and so on.

The network of Islamic terrorist-radicals continues to operate in Afghanistan, Pakistan and around the world, though it is not always called al-Qaida. The newspaper La Republica wrote that according to the diaries found in Osama bin Laden’s lair, the head of al-Qaida was planning to change the organization’s name to something more intimidating. One of the options would have been the “Group for the Restoration of the Caliphate.”

United Press International reported that Afghan security forces and NATO forces, in a joint operation in Kunduz province in northern Afghanistan, captured one of the leaders of a terrorist organization called the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan in disguise wearing a woman’s burqa. He is suspected of providing funds to suicide bombers and of planning an attack on Afghan police and security forces. The IMU in Afghanistan stands on the side of the Taliban and is included on the list of terrorist organizations according to the United States, Russia, and the republics of Central Asia.

Last week, according to CNN, as a result of many months of joint undercover operation, the Pentagon and the CIA ordered an air strike in Kismayo, Somalia, on the base of the organization al-Shabaab, a branch of al-Qaida, which was preparing terrorist acts in Europe and the United States.

Reuters has published an overview of the Arab Spring and the demonstrations in Europe called “Protests Without Leaders,”* turning attention to cyber-groups and Internet communities, similar to the self-led components of al-Qaida. This is a network of “semi-independent” branches based in commercial chain stores, gas stations, and so on.

Even al-Qaida knows how to use the free market. Just look at the fuss made over the video recently posted on the Internet in which the viewers supporting jihad and a “holy war for Islam” offered to buy arms, which are easily sold in American stores.

*Editor’s Note: This article could not be verified in English.