October 22, 2001	Monday	Shaba'an 4, 1422

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PESHAWAR, Oct 21: The Taliban have deployed Arab fighters at key strategic positions around Afghanistan as more Arab supporters of Osama bin Laden arrive from neighbouring Iran to wage a Jihad against the United States, said Afghan, Pakistani and western officials.

These officials said the deployment was important because the Arab fighters had an unrelenting fighting style and were likely to muster a loyal defence of the ruling Taliban. The move coincided with the spread of news among Afghans that some US commandos were already on the ground in southern Afghanistan, the Taliban heartland.

Many experts regard the Arab fighters as dangerous foes because they are generally hostile to the west. They are effectively trapped in Afghanistan, and are either unable or unwilling to return to their homelands, where some face arrest on terrorism or other charges.

Official sources said that Afghanistan’s Arab forces which until recently numbered some 3,000 to 4,000, had been bolstered by the fresh arrival of about 1,500 fighters who travelled overland through Iran after the Sept 11 attacks in the US.

These officials said that Osama’s new supporters passed through the western Afghan border crossing near the city of Herat, reflecting Iran’s role as a principal channel for Arab fighters travelling to and from Afghanistan.

A western diplomat said a rival Iranian government faction seemed to be responsible for the traffic, and not the nation’s leadership, which strongly opposes the Taliban but refused to support the US-led strikes on Afghanistan. “We are absolutely sure that Iran is being used as a channel to transport these radicals into Afghanistan. It does not mean Iran’s official policy. There are elements within Iran’s officialdom who support these guys,” western diplomats said.

One group of Arab fighters is deployed 25 miles north of Kabul, where the Northern Alliance has a bridgehead. The Arabs fighters are deployed just 400 yards from the frontlines, according to Afghan leaders in Peshawar.

A Pakistani official familiar with the situation said that two large concentrations of Arab forces were assigned to protect Jalalabad, Afghanistan’s traditional winter capital, strategically situated on the land route to Pakistan.

One force, led by an Egyptian commander Abu Qasim, was deployed on a road from Jalalabad to a mountainous area called Khogiani, the official said. He said the Arabs “actively protect caves there,” but didn’t know what is stored inside. Many of Osama’s safe houses and control centres are situated in caves.

A second Arab commander known as Abu Haris was posted with his men on the strategic main road from Jalalabad to Khost, the official said. Arab fighters in Afghanistan are routinely given a nickname.

However, Afghan leaders said in interviews with Dawn that in recent days a large number of Arabs were shifted to the southern provinces of Helmund and Kandahar. Still a large number of them had been deployed in Jalalabad, they said. “There are Arabs, Chechens and Pakistanis there,” one Afghan commander who recently returned from Nangarhar’s capital said. “The redeployment included the fresh Arab troops who arrived from Iran,” official sources confirmed.

The Arabs have already suffered casualties, according to the Pakistani official. He said up to a dozen Arabs were killed in recent days when a US bomb crashed into a downtown Jalalabad guest house where they were staying. “Either it was good luck or good intelligence that one of the bombs hit the guest house, killing about a dozen Arabs,” the official said.

Until recently, many of the Arab fighters apparently lived in camps around Jalalabad, Kandahar, Khost and the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, analysts say. But they apparently scattered, leaving the camps mostly empty after the US made it clear it planned to bomb Afghanistan, analysts say. “They have abandoned their houses and drive around in pickup, trucks and cars. The vehicles they use are easily distinguishable for their black tinted windows and special white registration plates with the black inscription of alphabet ‘S’ (Security)”, an Afghan commander said. “Nobody can question them,” he said.

IRAN DENIES: A senior Iranian diplomat in Peshawar denied reports that Arab supporters of Osama bin Laden are crossing over into Afghanistan from Iran. “Of course, we deny the report,” Iranian Consul General Abbas Ali Abdulahi told Dawn.

“Our government has been very vigilant in granting visas to foreign nationals going to Afghanistan and Pakistan,” he added.