(The blog formerly known as) All Things Counter Terrorism

The original can be found on Abu Walid’s blog here

Dialogues with “Leah Farrall” – The second episode of four

“Al Masri” and “Mullah Omar”

A supporting friend…not an influential consultant

Written by Mustafa Hamid

I was wanting to write an article about ( Mullah Omar.. the wronged sword of God).  {trans: means here suffering from injustice} And to address here some of the elements of that article.

There is a political trend within the West that accuses opposition movements of working for the benefit of external parties. In order to create a popular feeling of rejection of these opposition movements.

They did that with the Muslim Brotherhood movement in Egypt during the period of British occupation of that country. They now accuse Hamas and Hezbollah of endorsing an external agenda. By that they mean Iran and they state that sometimes.

As for the Taliban movement, it has received the bulk of such accusations that seem very popular in the international media.

Two elements helped in this:

First, the ferocity of the American psychological campaign against the Taliban, which it used to pave the way for an open war which it was preparing for years before it began in October 2001.

And second was a big block of elements of the Islamic work across the world, against the movement {trans: means Taliban}.  And in particular the International Organisation of the Muslim Brotherhood, who saw the Taliban’s victory over the Kabul regime, which was headed by symbols like the President Rabbani, Sayyaf, the regime priest, and Mujaddadi the first President to the government named al Mujahideen in Afghanistan. And Iran also suffered from the victory of the Taliban because Rabbani (and with him Ahmad Shah Masoud, the Minister of Defence) were very important parts of the Iranian policy in Afghanistan. As for the Arab media it is always a spontaneous reflection of and a permanent consumer of the poisonous media the West throws at it.

Nonetheless, the hostile media campaigns succeeded because there was a terrible weakness (the Islamic Emarah) in the media field, and their ability to challenge doubts because of their adoption of a strange fatwa prohibiting photography, which was more damaging than any other thing. It deprived the Emarah of an effective way of defending itself and clarifying many of the issues that were in its benefit to do so.

# On the accusations that the Taliban movement since its emergence, and up until now, is a Pakistani construct. Established by the Pakistani intelligence agencies via religious schools with American influence and with Saudi funding.

When the young men of the Taliban devastated the Afghan state with the help of tribal aid, easily in most cases or crushing battles at other times, the enemies spread that Pakistani forces fought alongside them, and that the Pakistani air force offered support and that they were all working together.

During the time of bin Laden’s presence in Afghanistan, many formed the opinion that it was Bin Laden and not Mullah who was the one that ruled Afghanistan, and that the Taliban ceded to him large areas of the country. At that time bin Laden and those with him lived in several demolished buildings at the end of the Kandahar airport.

The pumping of this ridiculous propaganda and their insistence continued  despite the absurdity and persistent exposing and their goal was to come between the Taliban and bin Laden and between the Afghan people and Taliban Movement and between Mullah Omar and bin Laden.

# We return to a point made by “Mrs Farrall” that “the Egyptian” has dominated Mullah Omar’s ear and that he is one of his senior consultants. And “the Egyptian” with the Uzbek leader “Mohammed Taher” were senior consultants to Mullah Omar, who was requesting the military and political consultation of “the Egyptian” (on other issues) Mrs Farrall didn’t want to say it, but I say clearly that this was on the subject of opium and its decisive effect on relations with the USA. And the prevention of its cultivation will cause directly the declaration of war on Afghanistan, which is literally what happened. However,  the timing was fixed to the day according to the beginning of the war and the end of it also. This was not guessing at the unknown, but with knowledge of the timing of the planting of the opium.

That was a year before the war. Anyway, it was not possible to benefit from the advice at that time.

I believe that saying I was an influential consultant is not correct and not reasonable. All of Mullah Omar’s advisors are from among the Taliban movement’s founders. They are all former mujahideen and experts with lots of experience. Mullah Omar himself is an experienced military man and fought against the Soviets in his youth. He is now at the point where he is about to defeat in his country the greatest military force in the world, supported by the largest and most powerful military alliance.

Why would Mullah Omar need consultation from “the Egyptian” or “Taher” or others?

During our time in Kandahar I noticed that Mullah Omar’s political opinions were more correct and more mature than those of bin Laden and the rest of the senior Arabs who got used to looking down on the Afghan’s opinions, especially their political opinions.

This didn’t prevent Mullah Omar requesting advice from those he trusted outside his circle of advisors and from outside the Taliban movement.

He requested it from bin Laden in a famous time I wrote about in my book (Cross over the Kandahar sky) under the title of (The Arabs cut off Central Asia oil). I was in attendance during this event. That was understood from the narrative context when I said that the session was attended by a number of hawks and that one of them (was “The Egyptian”) started the talk with the refusal of Pakistan’s offer, describing Pakistan’s Interior Minister, who brought the American proposal to the Emarah, as a thief.

Bin Laden’s speech, which was the conclusion of the whole subject contained the advice which was taken by the Emarah.

After that all negotiations with the American side failed until the American negotiator said at the end of the negotiation sessions (July 2001) that the weapons will decide the matter.

I say that (The Emarah) in Kandahar took the Arab suggestion because it was also their point of view otherwise it would have rejected it immediately.

In the same session the subject of the need for the Emarah to obtain money to rebuild Afghanistan was discussed because the rejection of the American oil offer which Pakistan passed meant that the Emarah would not have the most important source available (and that was 15 million dollars the Emarah can get once only and that is forever!!!).

One of the hawks at that session (and he was al Masri) told the Emarah delegate sent by Mullah Omar: you should build your country using opium revenues. And compared it to countries like India which sells opium by the billions to world pharmaceutical companies.  The Emarah did not adopt the suggestion despite Mrs Farrall saying that “the Egyptian” had the ear of Mullah Omar.

An extraordinary consultant!!

“Mrs Farrall” says that “the Egyptian” is an influential advisor to al Qaeda, the Taliban and the jihad movements of “greater Khorosan”. I think that this is beyond the power of an office of national security formed of senior generals and politicians.

If the matter is  related to the confidence and love between us that is right to the maximum degree and settles the matter under consideration.

The consultations thing is not an organised job. And if this consultation or advice occurs, it can be accepted or rejected very freely and with a sporting spirit. When I see a mistake that may cause damage I go directly to the party responsible and I speak quietly or not quietly, and it may come to a result or it may not, but we don’t leave the sites of friendship and love at all.

It doesn’t mean that my job was (an extraordinary consultant of the international terrorism) as you the security people want to exaggerate and make it very big. We were friends and we sit and confer on almost everything, family and personal subjects. We discus everything because we were all a single society living in the same circumstances and hardship of the migration and these circumstances can came from directly from external dangers on our borders, and terrible psychological wars which damage our reputation and even our families back home abandoned us.

Each of us was requesting from the others advice on big and small subjects in general and special advice. That is also correct for me, I requested advice from my brothers many times on many things. I consulted them for example about my acceptance of a position to work with al Jazeera Channel and some supported and some opposed this, and consulted them about my marrying for the second time and some of them nominated to me my Australian wife.

We were all doing the same thing requesting advice from each other. We didn’t have the position of senior public consultant and the consultation was not monopolised by one person, and there was no consideration for organisational loyalty in it, our personal relations were more important and greater than any other thing. And a number of my most important friends who I knew before they joined any organisation. Including Osama bin laden himself, and my friend the Uzbek Mohammed Taher and his wonderful military commander Juma Bai and Abu Hafs al Masri and Abu Obaida al Banshiri, who established the al Qaeda organisation and the independent lion Abu al Hareth al Urdani and many other Arabs and Afghanistan and others from many nationalities who didn’t join any organisation.

It is possible to say that consultation was a general culture between us, and also it is religious manners between us as Muslims.

As for my suggestions, many were ignored or not adopted. From many different authorities, either al Qaeda and the Emarah or other organisations and groups who were present in Afghanistan at that time. This is normal, because counselling or advice stays as advice. It is not something compulsory.

I have been for Mullah Mohammad Omar, a supporting friend, and a caring advisor, whenever I could and when necessity required it. I was not a day a formal consultant {trans: “formal” is used here because he means whose advice was binding or compulsory to listen to}. That was not possible because of many circumstances and is not a role wanted by anyone.

Written by Mustafa Hamid