Jihad and Apple Pie

16 May 2010
Special to Gulf News 16 May 2010

On May 1, a Pakistani-born American citizen – Faisal Shahzad - attempted to set off a car bomb in New York City's Times Square. The Pakistani Taliban (TTP) claimed the attack shortly afterwards but intelligence agencies dismissed the idea. Neither the Afghan nor Pakistani branches of the Taliban had struck outside their own territory before.

I was fairly certain, however, that this was not only a demonstration of the increasing reach of the al-Qa'ida-Taliban nexus but an advertisement of their common cause.

A few days before the attack, Hakimullah Mehsud – the TTP leader that US commanders claimed to have killed in a drone attack – had posted threats against American cities on the internet, citing revenge for the slaying of his predecessor Beitullah Mehsud.

The YouTube News Channel which broadcast the pre-recorded claim by TTP explosives-expert Qari Hussein Mehsud had been created the day before the actual bombing specifically for that purpose.

The TTP is a major force with an estimated 40 – 80,000 fighters. It was formed in 2007 as an umbrella for several groups and has close ties to organisations such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, implicated in the 2008 Mumbai atrocities.

Al-Qa'ida's link with the Afghan Taliban, under Mullah Omar, became a formal alliance in 2007; the inclusion of the TTP was not far behind.

The three groups have carried out several joint attacks. The most serious against US-interests to date was the 31 December 2009 suicide attack on the CIA base in Khost, Afghanistan, in which seven US and one Jordanian intelligence agents were killed (including America's top al-Qa'ida expert). Al-Qa'ida and both branches of the Taliban each claimed the bombing – not out of any confusion but to underscore a highly sophisticated, well-planned intelligence and logistical collaboration.

The Jordanian perpetrator, Dr Hammam Khalil al-Balawi, left a clue to the Times Square plot in his video-taped 'will' when he talked of 'emigrant' fighters hosted by the TTP. The previously nationalist entity with a Pakistan-centric agenda was transforming into a multi-national one looking increasingly outward.

Al-Qa'ida is providing an ideological cement which binds jihadis from various backgrounds and with different agendas. That this comprises a global vision and foreign targets is particularly worrying for the west.

Al-Qa'ida itself has had a strong presence and training camps in Pakistan since 2001 when it was forced to flee the US bombardment of Osama bin Laden's Tora Bora HQ in revenge for 9/11.

At least two of the four 7/7 London suicide-bombers who killed 52 in 2005 had recently returned from an al-Qa'ida camp in Pakistan. Failed plots targeting the UK in 2006 and 2007 also had Pakistan connections.

By claiming the Times Square bombing, the TTP (prompted, conceivably, by al-Qa'ida) is widening the allies' recruitment net to include disenfranchised American-Asians who, like British Asians, are mostly of Pakistani origin, having less in common -culturally and linguistically - with the Arab-dominated al-Qa'ida organisation.

Al-Qa'ida itself has been targeting western recruits – who now constitute up to 10% of its membership - for several years. 'Azzam al-Amriki' (aka Adam Ghadan) – a US national who was born Adam Pearlman - is a prominent spokesman for the organisation. Bryant Vinas, another American citizen, pleaded guilty in late 2008 to trying to blow up a US commuter train and confessed that he had trained with al-Qa'ida.

Bekkay Harrach, non de guerre Al Hafidh Abu Talha al Almani, is a young German who has appeared in several videos threatening his native country (in German) and urging his countrymen to join him in jihad.

Faisal Shahzad was typical of the 'home-grown' terrorist western intelligence agencies so rightly fear. Living the American dream with a wife and two kids, he was described by neighbours as 'a normal kind of guy'. He left the US for Pakistan in September 2009, returning five months later without his family and in possession of a deadly mission.

Others, too, have recently struck at the heart of their adopted country. On June 1 2009, Memphis-born Abdulhakim Muhammad shot one soldier dead and wounded another, describing himself at his trial as 'a soldier for al-Qa'ida'. On 5 November 2009 US army officer Major Nidal Malik Hassan gunned down 13 soldiers, wounding 30 more, at Fort Hood in Texas.

In another twist, these three attackers had each encountered US-born Imam Anwar al-Awlaki who moved from the US, via London, to Yemen in 2004. Closely linked to al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), many suspect his ties to the wider organization pre-date 9/11.

Al-Awlaki is also believed to have hosted 'underpants bomber' Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in Yemen shortly before he attempted to blow up a plane full of people over Detroit on Christmas day 2009.

With his excellent American-English and western provenance, Awlaki bridges the gap between al-Qa'ida and its potential 'foreign' foot soldiers. Awlaki has also developed a strong presence on the internet, often via AQAP sites. Faisal Shahzad told investigators that he had been 'inspired' by al-Awlaki's powerful online lectures urging young Moslems to jihad.

Unlikely as it seems, the US may be home to many like Faisal Shahzad. A Pew survey in January 2010 found that only 36% of Asian-Americans Moslems had a 'very unfavourable' view of al-Qa'ida.

In March, al-Awlaki posted an online broadcast that included this chilling sentence: 'Jihad is becoming as American as apple pie and as British as afternoon tea'.