Bill Longley
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TerrorismMonitor Volume VII u Issue 33 u November 6, 2009
The Jamestown Foundation - The Jamestown Foundation
While the Western press has been occupied
recently with accounts of fraudulent elections
in Afghanistan and the alleged role of
President Hamid Karzais brother as a paid CIA agent, a
stranger but perhaps more instructive story was playing
out in Afghanistan that reveals the rather shallow
penetration NATO and Coalition efforts have made in
building trust and confidence in that country, as well as
giving some indication of what can be expected from a
Karzai administration that does not sense full support
from its former backers in the West as it begins a second
term. In addition the controversy demonstrates the very
different perceptions of the counterterrorism struggle in
the West and in Afghanistan.
For several weeks now, Afghanistan has been consumed
by stories of mysterious foreign helicopters ferrying
Taliban fighters to a new front in northern Afghanistan.
These helicopters are alleged by no less than President
Karzai to belong to foreign powers such as the United
States and its allies. The helicopters are said to land in
remote regions, but their activity has supposedly been
noted by nomads who travel through the deserts of
Baghlan and Kunduz province (Hasht-e Sobh, October
13).
Without mentioning guilty parties or offering evidence,
President Karzai suggested the reports of helicopters
delivering terrorists to north Afghanistan were true,
saying, We have received reliable reports from our
intelligence service. We have received reliable reports
from our people, and today I received a report that these
efforts [to transfer Taliban fighters] are also being made
mysteriously in the northwest. The issue of helicopters
has also been proved. We do not make any more
comments now and investigations are under way to see
to whom and to which foreign country these helicopters
belong (Tolo TV, October 11). According to Karzai,
the unknown helicopters had been taking Taliban
fighters to Baghlan, Kunduz and Samangan provinces
in northern Afghanistan. The presidents remarks were
quickly followed by a call from the Lower House
speaker, Muhammad Yunis Qanuni, for a government
debate on the issue. When the president of Afghanistan,
as the first man of the country, is raising a fact and a
problem, then it shows that the problem is important
and serious. According to Takhar MP Habiba Danesh,
the helicopter airlifts were already underway before the
elections (Tolo TV [Kabul], October 13; Ferghana.ru,
October 12; Hasht-e Sobh [Kabul], October 13).
Kunduz governor Muhammad Omar claimed the fighters
being brought to his province at night were members
of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), a group
that recently lost its longtime leader Tahir Yuldash and is
now hard pressed by the Pakistani government in South
Waziristan, their home since 2001. The governor pointed
to the detention of 15 militants by U.S. Special Forces
south of Kunduz, whom he described as supporters of
the late Tahir Yuldash (Afghan Islamic Press, October
11; Eurasia.net, October 13). At the same time, the
governor noted the security situation in his province
was improving (Tolo TV, October 11). The governor
of Baghlan province, Muhammad Akbar Barakzai, also
claims to have received intelligence that unidentified
military helicopters are making midnight landings in
remote areas of his province (Tolo TV, October 21).
Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, Karzais former rival for the
presidency, accuses the Afghan government of being
behind the transfer of Taliban fighters to the northern
provinces. They have sent to the north of the country the
most evil people, the most notorious and criminal people
who are involved in killing the people of Afghanistan
and crime against the people of Afghanistan I have
the names of these people; they sent them to the north
by helicopters so that they carry out their mission. Is
this a government? (Tolo TV, October 11).
Irans state television network, Press TV, sought to
exploit the controversy by adding a large number of
details to the helicopter story in an October 17 report,
all according to unnamed diplomats:
The British Army was responsible for relocating
Taliban fighters with Chinook helicopters to the
northern provinces from Helmand province
in south Afghanistan (though this might come
as a surprise to critics of the UKs Ministry of
Defence, who have suggested the military has
not provided enough transport helicopters to
meet British needs BBC, August 30).
The death of Afghan interpreter Sultan Munadi
in a September British Special Forces raid that
freed a New York Times reporter from Taliban
captivity, has already been a controversial issue
in Afghanistan, with repeated calls for an inquiry
into the circumstances of his death. Press TV
claimed Munadi was killed during the raid by
a British sniper because he had documents and
photographs verifying the British role in the
alleged airlift.
American forces were supplying the Taliban
militants in north Afghanistan with weapons
seized during the 2001 invasion. Most date back
to the era of Soviet occupation.
Afghan Interior Minister Mohammad Hanif
Atmar, a British educated Pashtun, was working
under the direction of the UK. The Interior
Ministry has funneled arms to the newly relocated
Taliban through Pashtun police officers. The
distribution of arms to Taliban fighters by the
Afghan police was also reported by Kabul daily
Arman-e Melli on October 13.
Not all Afghan officials believe in the nocturnal activities
of the mystery helicopters. Amrullah Saleh, the chief
of the National Directorate of Security (NDS the
Tajik-dominated national security agency), dismissed
the helicopter reports, as did many other members of
Afghanistans security services. Amrullah maintains
that the reports are designed solely with the intention of
reducing trust in Western forces engaged in Afghanistan
(Hasht-e Sobh, October 13). Even a member of Karzais
campaign team, MP Nur Akbari, noted diplomatically
that the presidents assertions were unexpected,
saying that security officials had not provided any
such information in the past (Hasht-e Sobh, October
13). President Karzais endorsement of the mystery
helicopter theory compelled U.S. ambassador to
Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry to issue a clear denial of
the rumors about the reinforcement of the Afghan
governments armed opposition in the north by the
U.S.A. These rumors are baseless (Tolo TV, October
14).
Nevertheless, one Afghan daily reported widespread
belief in the mystery helicopter phenomenon. The
people strongly believe that these helicopters belong to
the British and U.S. forces. They also believe that these
helicopters have transferred some armed residents of
the neighboring provinces to northern provinces and
the killing of several armed men from these areas in
the north seem to confirm this issue (Arman-e Melli
[Kabul], October 13).
It was not long before the mystery helicopters
were seen in Pakistan, where the foreign allies of
the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) were alleged to
be rescuing Taliban militants from the government
offensive in South Waziristan. An Islamabad daily
reported the belief of some experts that the airlift was
part of a deal between the Western nations and the socalled
good Taliban (Pakistan Observer [Islamabad],
October 19).
Existing rumors of a Western airlift of Taliban fighters
were no doubt adopted and exploited by the Karzai
administration to express its displeasure with the Wests
refusal to rubber stamp his election victory, but they
mask a more serious problem how has the Taliban
managed to expand its operations in the north and what
can be done to stop it before the Taliban is in a position
to interfere with vital NATO supply lines that cross the
region? By endorsing such rumors, President Karzai
appears ready to endanger years of Western civil and
military efforts in Afghanistan if he feels it necessary to
ensure his domestic political survival.
Andrew McGregor is Director of Aberfoyle International
Security, a Toronto-based agency specializing in security
issues related to the Islamic world and the managing
editor of the Jamestown Foundations Global Terrorism
Analysis publications.
The Jamestown Foundation - The Jamestown Foundation
While the Western press has been occupied
recently with accounts of fraudulent elections
in Afghanistan and the alleged role of
President Hamid Karzais brother as a paid CIA agent, a
stranger but perhaps more instructive story was playing
out in Afghanistan that reveals the rather shallow
penetration NATO and Coalition efforts have made in
building trust and confidence in that country, as well as
giving some indication of what can be expected from a
Karzai administration that does not sense full support
from its former backers in the West as it begins a second
term. In addition the controversy demonstrates the very
different perceptions of the counterterrorism struggle in
the West and in Afghanistan.
For several weeks now, Afghanistan has been consumed
by stories of mysterious foreign helicopters ferrying
Taliban fighters to a new front in northern Afghanistan.
These helicopters are alleged by no less than President
Karzai to belong to foreign powers such as the United
States and its allies. The helicopters are said to land in
remote regions, but their activity has supposedly been
noted by nomads who travel through the deserts of
Baghlan and Kunduz province (Hasht-e Sobh, October
13).
Without mentioning guilty parties or offering evidence,
President Karzai suggested the reports of helicopters
delivering terrorists to north Afghanistan were true,
saying, We have received reliable reports from our
intelligence service. We have received reliable reports
from our people, and today I received a report that these
efforts [to transfer Taliban fighters] are also being made
mysteriously in the northwest. The issue of helicopters
has also been proved. We do not make any more
comments now and investigations are under way to see
to whom and to which foreign country these helicopters
belong (Tolo TV, October 11). According to Karzai,
the unknown helicopters had been taking Taliban
fighters to Baghlan, Kunduz and Samangan provinces
in northern Afghanistan. The presidents remarks were
quickly followed by a call from the Lower House
speaker, Muhammad Yunis Qanuni, for a government
debate on the issue. When the president of Afghanistan,
as the first man of the country, is raising a fact and a
problem, then it shows that the problem is important
and serious. According to Takhar MP Habiba Danesh,
the helicopter airlifts were already underway before the
elections (Tolo TV [Kabul], October 13; Ferghana.ru,
October 12; Hasht-e Sobh [Kabul], October 13).
Kunduz governor Muhammad Omar claimed the fighters
being brought to his province at night were members
of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), a group
that recently lost its longtime leader Tahir Yuldash and is
now hard pressed by the Pakistani government in South
Waziristan, their home since 2001. The governor pointed
to the detention of 15 militants by U.S. Special Forces
south of Kunduz, whom he described as supporters of
the late Tahir Yuldash (Afghan Islamic Press, October
11; Eurasia.net, October 13). At the same time, the
governor noted the security situation in his province
was improving (Tolo TV, October 11). The governor
of Baghlan province, Muhammad Akbar Barakzai, also
claims to have received intelligence that unidentified
military helicopters are making midnight landings in
remote areas of his province (Tolo TV, October 21).
Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, Karzais former rival for the
presidency, accuses the Afghan government of being
behind the transfer of Taliban fighters to the northern
provinces. They have sent to the north of the country the
most evil people, the most notorious and criminal people
who are involved in killing the people of Afghanistan
and crime against the people of Afghanistan I have
the names of these people; they sent them to the north
by helicopters so that they carry out their mission. Is
this a government? (Tolo TV, October 11).
Irans state television network, Press TV, sought to
exploit the controversy by adding a large number of
details to the helicopter story in an October 17 report,
all according to unnamed diplomats:
The British Army was responsible for relocating
Taliban fighters with Chinook helicopters to the
northern provinces from Helmand province
in south Afghanistan (though this might come
as a surprise to critics of the UKs Ministry of
Defence, who have suggested the military has
not provided enough transport helicopters to
meet British needs BBC, August 30).
The death of Afghan interpreter Sultan Munadi
in a September British Special Forces raid that
freed a New York Times reporter from Taliban
captivity, has already been a controversial issue
in Afghanistan, with repeated calls for an inquiry
into the circumstances of his death. Press TV
claimed Munadi was killed during the raid by
a British sniper because he had documents and
photographs verifying the British role in the
alleged airlift.
American forces were supplying the Taliban
militants in north Afghanistan with weapons
seized during the 2001 invasion. Most date back
to the era of Soviet occupation.
Afghan Interior Minister Mohammad Hanif
Atmar, a British educated Pashtun, was working
under the direction of the UK. The Interior
Ministry has funneled arms to the newly relocated
Taliban through Pashtun police officers. The
distribution of arms to Taliban fighters by the
Afghan police was also reported by Kabul daily
Arman-e Melli on October 13.
Not all Afghan officials believe in the nocturnal activities
of the mystery helicopters. Amrullah Saleh, the chief
of the National Directorate of Security (NDS the
Tajik-dominated national security agency), dismissed
the helicopter reports, as did many other members of
Afghanistans security services. Amrullah maintains
that the reports are designed solely with the intention of
reducing trust in Western forces engaged in Afghanistan
(Hasht-e Sobh, October 13). Even a member of Karzais
campaign team, MP Nur Akbari, noted diplomatically
that the presidents assertions were unexpected,
saying that security officials had not provided any
such information in the past (Hasht-e Sobh, October
13). President Karzais endorsement of the mystery
helicopter theory compelled U.S. ambassador to
Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry to issue a clear denial of
the rumors about the reinforcement of the Afghan
governments armed opposition in the north by the
U.S.A. These rumors are baseless (Tolo TV, October
14).
Nevertheless, one Afghan daily reported widespread
belief in the mystery helicopter phenomenon. The
people strongly believe that these helicopters belong to
the British and U.S. forces. They also believe that these
helicopters have transferred some armed residents of
the neighboring provinces to northern provinces and
the killing of several armed men from these areas in
the north seem to confirm this issue (Arman-e Melli
[Kabul], October 13).
It was not long before the mystery helicopters
were seen in Pakistan, where the foreign allies of
the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) were alleged to
be rescuing Taliban militants from the government
offensive in South Waziristan. An Islamabad daily
reported the belief of some experts that the airlift was
part of a deal between the Western nations and the socalled
good Taliban (Pakistan Observer [Islamabad],
October 19).
Existing rumors of a Western airlift of Taliban fighters
were no doubt adopted and exploited by the Karzai
administration to express its displeasure with the Wests
refusal to rubber stamp his election victory, but they
mask a more serious problem how has the Taliban
managed to expand its operations in the north and what
can be done to stop it before the Taliban is in a position
to interfere with vital NATO supply lines that cross the
region? By endorsing such rumors, President Karzai
appears ready to endanger years of Western civil and
military efforts in Afghanistan if he feels it necessary to
ensure his domestic political survival.
Andrew McGregor is Director of Aberfoyle International
Security, a Toronto-based agency specializing in security
issues related to the Islamic world and the managing
editor of the Jamestown Foundations Global Terrorism
Analysis publications.
