http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,,1870265,00.html Village where Osama bin Laden plotted 'a terrible calamity'
At 5.16pm local time yesterday, the moment the first plane hit the World Trade Centre, a pair of chirpy young boys skipped past Osama bin Laden's house in eastern Afghanistan, schoolbooks in hand. Predictably, nobody was home. Across the unpaved street a group of bearded old men shuffled out of the half-completed village mosque. On the pitch behind, a lively game of cricket was under way. Nobody seemed to remember much about the neighbour who hastily left five years ago, except that he kept to himself and turned out to be nothing but trouble. "Convoys of 10 vehicles would come and go in the dead of night, filled with Arabs," said Akhtar Gul, a 24-year-old labourer. "Nobody saw Osama but we knew it was him." "People used to think he was a good man for helping us fight the Russians," said Abdullah Rahimdad, a 16-year-old student. "But then he led to the destruction of Afghanistan. He was a bad man." It is a long way from this plot of stony ground to New York - 6,782 miles, to be precise. But it is in this desolate area, a 20-minute drive from Jalalabad city, that Bin Laden put down his Afghan roots and, quite possibly, plotted the greatest terrorist acts of our time. After being expelled from Sudan in 1996 Bin Laden flew to Jalalabad, where he was welcomed by Maulvi Khalis, a conservative militia leader. He granted Bin Laden land and a house. Two years later, two US embassies in Africa were blown up. Three years later it was the World Trade Centre. Haji Said Arif learned of the 9/11 attacks by radio because the Taliban had banned all TV. When he found out that his next door neighbour was responsible, he immediately packed his bags. "We were afraid of air strikes," he said. Afghans commemorated the September 11 attacks with little sentimentality yesterday - after a quarter century of conflict, many consider it a luxury - but still expressed deep sympathy with the American victims. "A terrible calamity, such a waste of lives and business," said Jan Muhammad, a teacher in Jalalabad. Passions were higher about the war's mixed aftermath. The US-led ousting of the Taliban in late 2001 brought new freedoms, western-style elections and several billion dollars in development aid. But this year it has also produced a surge in Taliban attacks and an unprecedented drugs boom. There is also bitter disappointment with the pace of reconstruction. The Taliban were restrictive but at least there was 24-hour electricity, said Azim Khan, captain of the cricket team near Bin Laden's house. "Now we are lucky if we get a few hours once a week," he said. Many Afghans are sceptical of western efforts to hunt Bin Laden. Several said he was being sheltered by the US. "Osama is their golden cow," said Mr Muhammad, the teacher. "Killing or capturing him will destroy their system of worldwide colonisation." [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
