In the lair of the terrorist Hero of radical Islam
Saudi-born militant learned covert skills as a CIA operative in AfghanistanBack to the Perpetrator's Page
September 13, 2001
National Post
Isabel VincentThe Associated Press
Osama bin Laden was convicted for his alleged role in the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa, which killed 224. Bin Laden, whom U.S. officials suspect of having orchestrated Tuesday's terrorist attacks, has remained at large, living in underground caves in Afghanistan.
He lives in a cave, surrounded by high-tech surveillance equipment, and only travels under cover of darkness, in a convoy of 20 black four-wheel drive vehicles with tinted windows. His main security guard is his teenage son, who learned to handle a Kalashnikov assault rifle at the age of 14 to protect his father.
Osama bin Laden, the Saudi-born terrorist many believe orchestrated Tuesday's terrorist attacks in the United States, has used his considerable wealth, an army of young Islamic recruits and political and religious contacts around the world to wage his jihad or holy war against the United States over the last five years.
Considered a hero in the world of radical Islam, bin Laden is a savvy businessman and a skilled strategist, who learned most of his covert skills while working as a CIA operative in Afghanistan in the 1980s.
During the war against Soviet rule in Afghanistan, which began in 1979, the CIA actively supported the mujahedeen warriors there, recruiting men like bin Laden to track and destroy Soviet military installations.
In 10 years on the front lines of that war, bin Laden earned the respect of his fellow mujahedeen and became an expert on the warren of underground caves in the Afghan mountains, used by both the Afghans and the Soviets.
Terrorism experts say that bin Laden's security training from the CIA only partly explains why he has been so elusive over the years. He was convicted for his alleged role in the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa, which left 224 people dead. But he has remained at large, living in a series of underground caves in Afghanistan, protected by a complex web of tribal and religious allegiances that he has spent the past two decades carefully constructing.
Bin Laden's main source of protection comes from the Pushtunwali -- the dominant code of behaviour of the Pushtun tribes of Pakistan and Afghanistan, largely practised by the ruling Taleban authorities who control most of Afghanistan and harbour bin Laden.
The Taleban is so protective of the accused terrorist that three years ago Taleban officials put him under house arrest in order to prevent him from speaking to the international press and to protect him from any U.S.-led raids or kidnapping efforts against him.
Two years ago, in order to ensure the Taleban's complete and utter co-operation, bin Laden married his oldest daughter to Mullah Mohammad Omar, the Taleban's leader. He also took a young Pushtun woman as his fourth wife. Although her identity is not known to Western terrorism analysts, she is believed to be a member of an important Taleban clan or related to senior Pakistani officials who support his cause. Recent speculation suggests she could either be the daughter of Mullah Omar himself, or the niece of the governor of Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), who has been a patron of bin Laden in the past.
Over the years, bin Laden has become so close to the Pushtun elite that he has ensured their complete protection. The Pushtanwali code prohibits the handing over of a kinsman to non-Muslims.
Since the United States put a US$5-million bounty on his head in 1998 following the embassy bombings, bin Laden and his close associates have retreated to a series of underground caves in the mountains near Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan.
According to Yossef Bodansky, a military analyst who has studied bin Laden's movements since 1981, bin Laden's own cave consists of three rooms hollowed into a rock face. The main room is his communications and strategy centre, which he has equipped with several computers, fax machines and a satellite telephone system, which is said to be state-of-the-art, and bin Laden uses it daily to communicate with radical Islamic networks in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Europe and the United States. The cave headquarters receives reports and newspaper clippings from around the globe from jihad warriors and political organizers. Most of the communications are done by e-mail.
Bin Laden uses another room of the cave to store his personal weapons arsenal, which includes machine guns, assault rifles and mortars. The third room houses a library of Islamic works and three beds.
His closest associates live in similar caves in the nearby mountains. Egyptian military strategist Ayman al-Zawahiri, who is by far his most trusted associate and senior military advisor, lives nearby, and accompanies him on his frequent trips through Afghanistan and to neighbouring Pakistan, where he finances and operates several bases to train jihad warriors.
Other than al-Zawahiri, bin Laden has trained few other members of his organization to continue the jihad, although he has said in the past that the continuation of the holy war against the United States after his death is one of his main priorities. Sheikh Taseer Abdallah, who is also from Saudi Arabia, is another close confidant as is bin Laden's eldest son, Muhammad, now 16 years old.
Although bin Laden reportedly commands an army of 35,000 warriors, he draws upon family members, such as Muhammad for his own physical protection. Muhammad is his father's most trusted bodyguard, travelling throughout Afghanistan and Pakistan with his father. On a recent visit to a military installation in Afghanistan, Muhammad stood watch over his father all night despite being given assurances by bin Laden himself that "we are among friends here." Muhammad wouldn't budge, and reportedly mounted the all-night vigil while his father slept in a safe-house.
It is widely assumed that Muhammad, who has spent most of his youth in terrorist training camps and radical Islamic schools, will be his father's ultimate successor, working closely with al-Zawahiri and Taseer Abdallah.
In order to bolster his military capability and ensure the co-operation of his hosts, bin Laden has focused his efforts on restoring the ancient city of Kandahar, the Taleban's centre of power which was destroyed by fighting in the 1970s and 1990s.
Today, Kandahar is the centre for a series of military camps and a huge airport compound, 40 kilometres from the city centre. During the war in the 1980s, the Soviets built the defensive perimeter around the airport, which withstood all mujahedeen attacks. Using his considerable wealth and expertise in the construction business, bin Laden has spent the last two years repaving the runways so that they can now support the latest in heavy aircraft. He has also built clandestine bases for his own use concealed in ravines in the mountains east of Kandahar, which links the ancient city to bases in Pakistan. Terrorism experts believe that bin Laden's weapons of mass destruction are stored in this warren of underground bunkers.
In addition to building military installations in and around Kandahar, bin Laden has financed the construction of mosques and homes in a complex for the Taleban elite. According to Mr. Bodansky, the first building in the site is bin Laden's own home -- "a massive stone building with a tower surrounded by a tall wall on a side street just across from the Taleban's Foreign Ministry building. The complex has several other luxurious homes hidden by walls and topped with pink and green pinnacles. Above the gate is an Arabic inscription with the Koranic verse: 'Remember Allah at all times.' " Mr. Bodansky says bin Laden recently presented this complex to Mullah Omar as a wedding present.
Following U.S. cruise missile strikes against Afghanistan in 1998 as retaliation for the bombings of the U.S. embassies, bin Laden set about building a new command and control centre for international terrorism near the border with Tajikistan. The site, which is very close to the Tajik border patrolled by Russian forces, was carefully chosen. Washington would probably think twice about attacking it for fear of a Russian response, and the site also ensures strong co-operation with Iranian intelligence in Tajikistan, a major support system for bin Laden, willing to provide him a safe way out of Afghanistan should he need to leave in a hurry.