Along with the Frontline report about the resurgence of the Taliban, a recent interview with Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, it's starting to feel a lot like deja vu around here. (Sure, there's some diplomatic dance off's going on with Iran, but that's just pretty-stepping.)
Three weeks ago, Pakistani satellite station Geo TV conducted an interview with the Afghan warlord that was just aired, confirming that OBL and Zawahiri were taken to an undisclosed location during the 2001 Tora Bora attacks.
Hekmatyar was a big Northern Alliance player and ally of ours against the Soviets during our clandestine guerrilla war in the 1970's which left Afghanistan in ruins, associating with OBL back when it was cool do to so. I still feel that this indicates OBL & Zawahiri are in Pakistan (and at the very least have enjoyed tacit cover by Pakistan) due to Hekmatyar's intimate association with the ISI. Since preferring to fight rather than participate in what he sees as an occupying force/government, he's been in hiding and is rarely heard from. In the 70's he formed a political party that's active in Pakistan, Hizb-i-Islami (Party of Islam) and was Prime Minister of Afghanistan from '93-'94. That's influence.
That he bailed when the Taliban took over in the mid '90s to live in Iran for a while makes some people think he's in with the Iranians and, therefore, an "undisclosed area" could possibly be in Iran. US pressure kicked Hekmatyar out of Iran. Get that? US pressure - that means us - on Iran - which further means we've got relations with Iran - made Hekmatyar a persona non grata there. So, more likely, the 2nd best place after Pakistan for hiding, would be Turkmenistan.
Two things, one to watch, one to listen:
- Frontline's excellent summary documentary on Pakistan and the Taliban, The Return of the Taliban. It's all on line. Watch it. Or, if you like, catch it on HD on PBS.
- Soundprint's Feminism and the Veil. A great piece on the use of the veil in contemporary Egyptian society. Listen (when they put it up on line).
- KGNU's Thursday Call In Show is on "Shi'ite and Sunni Islam," 01/11/2006 @ 6pm MST, a chat with Imam Ibrahim Kazerooni, an Iraqi Shia alim, and part of Denver's St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral's interfaith organization "Abrahamic Initiative" and head of the Islamic Center of Ahl Al-Beit in west Denver.