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WASHINGTON, Oct 16: The United States officials believe that Al Qaeda may have a crude chemical and possibly biological skills, including an anthrax capability.
Reports to this effect have surfaced amidst a rapid multiplication in the number of anthrax exposure cases reported in the US and in some other Western countries in the past week.
At a briefing by senior US defence officials the other day, it was underlined that a distinction should be made between Al Qaeda actually having weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and a base-line WMD capability. If Al Qaeda also has a nuclear capability, it is, in the words of one of the briefers, “liable to be more radiological than fissile”.
Chemical or biological weapons capability could include “poisons, possibly chlorine and phosgene”. There were, one of the officials said, other possibilities. “Of course, anthrax is a possibility. But that’s a baseline that is probable ..... and this could be a bucket full, this could be a ton.”
Asked to elaborate on the nuclear possibility and whether this meant a nuclear bomb, the defence officials said: “That’s a NBCR — that is an NBCR-type, nuclear/biological/chemical/radiological. It falls into that. The damage to human beings comes from the radiation. It’s radiological material.”
But the officials stressed that they were not saying that Al Qaeda had the ability to use radiological weapons.
NORTHERN ALLIANCE: The defence officials also gave an extensive briefing on the anti-Taliban forces, and said a “ballpark estimate” of the number of troops that used to be directly under the command of the late Ahmad Shah Masood, killed in a suicide attack last month, was 15,000. The Hezb-i-Wahdat is believed to have some 5,000 to 15,000 men.
The officials said characterizing the Northern Alliance as a real alliance would be a bit of an exaggeration, given the competition within its various groups, but it was highly possible that the alliance’s claim of defections from Taliban ranks were correct.
They said the alliance was reporting that 40 Taliban commanders and 12,000 fighters had defected, but the US was not sure of the numbers because the alliance, historically, was given to making rather inflated claims.
The most prominent of the groups within the alliance is the Jamiat Islami that was led by Ahmad Shah Masood. This is followed by General Rashid Dostum’s Uzbek troops and the forces of Ismail Khan in the Herat area.
If reports that the alliance has captured Chagcharan in Khosht province are true, it will provide an opportunity for the militia of Ismail Khan to link up with Gen Dostum’s army.
It is widely believed here that the US is conducting its military operations in Afghanistan in a manner that does not give an opportunity to the Northern Alliance to seize Kabul before the Americans and the international community have worked out the broad outlines of a post-Taliban set-up.
It has been noted that Secretary of State Colin Powell, in his talks with President Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad, has agreed that moderate elements in the Taliban should be part of a broad-based government in Kabul.
Masood Haider adds from New York: The bio-terrorism scare has spread across the world as plethora of reports from Berlin to Brazil pour in with the suspect powder laced material being discovered in the mail systems following discovery in the United States.
The US Federal Authorities have expanded their investigation into the widespread breakout of anthrax cases around the world and are looking into links with Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network.
In most cases they were tested negative for the anthrax bacteria, the reports said.
The offices of the German chancellor, Gerhard Schrvder, were sealed off after a letter containing white powder was delivered there. Two workers in the mail room noticed that powder had leaked from the letter and immediately left the area of the huge new building, which is Germany’s White House, the New York Times reported.
A government spokesman said later that the powder was being tested and that the results would not be available until Tuesday.
The NYT said that the anthrax scare in Berlin was just one of many around the world on Sunday and Monday, wire services reported. Many nations were taking precautions, though most of the tests of suspect substances were negative.
The French police evacuated four buildings in Paris, and about 55 people went to hospitals for testing after envelopes containing white powder were sent to addresses around the city.
In Britain, Home Secretary David Blunkett proposed emergency draft legislation to tighten anti-terrorism, extradition and asylum laws.
