Passports linked to 9/11 found along Afghan border
SHERWANGAI, Pakistan - Pakistani soldiers battling their way into a
Taliban stronghold along the Afghan border have seized passports that
may be linked to 9/11 suspects, as they confront an enemy skilled in
operating in a mountainous terrain with endless ways to wage a
guerrilla war.
The military on Thursday took foreign and local journalists for a
first look inside the largely lawless territory since it launched a
ground offensive here in mid-October. The U.S.-backed operation is
focused on a section of the tribal region where the Pakistani Taliban
are based and are believed to shelter al-Qaida.
Soldiers displayed passports seized in the operation, among them a
German document belonging to a man named Said Bahaji. That matches the
name of a man thought to have been a member of the Hamburg cell that
conceived the 9/11 attacks. Bahaji is believed to have fled Germany
shortly before the attacks in New York and Washington.
The passport included a tourist visa for Pakistan and a stamp
indicating he'd arrived in the southern city of Karachi on Sept. 4,
2001.
Another passport, from Spain, bears the name of Raquel Burgos Garcia.
Spanish media have reported that a woman with the same name is married
to Amer Azizi, an alleged al-Qaida member from Morocco suspected in
both the 9/11 attacks and the Madrid train bombings in 2004.
Her family in Madrid has had no news of her since 2001, according to
Spanish media. Her passport included visas to India and Iran, and the
army displayed a Moroccan document with Burgos Garcia's photo and
other information.
It was impossible to determine whether the passports are genuine, and
German and Spanish officials did not immediately respond to requests
for comment.
Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, the army's chief spokesman, said he had not
realized the passports matched any prominent names, and declined
further comment other than to say European militants were sprinkled
throughout the area.
The U.S. has maintained for years that South Waziristan and other
parts of the rugged frontier have sheltered Osama bin Laden and his
senior lieutenants.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, visiting this country
on Thursday, said Pakistan squandered opportunities over the years to
kill or capture al-Qaida leaders responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks.
"I find it hard to believe that nobody in your government knows where
they are and couldn't get them if they really wanted to," Clinton said
in an interview with Pakistani journalists in Lahore. "Maybe that's
the case. Maybe they're not gettable. I don't know."
Although the military spent months using airstrikes to soften up
targets in South Waziristan, nearly two weeks into the ground
offensive it has captured only a few areas, none with significant
strategic value. The army has seized weapons but is still trying to
secure the main roads and regularly comes under rocket fire.
"It's a long-drawn haul," Abbas said. "They are offering resistance,
and we are also striking them hard."
Pakistan's tribal belt, a semiautonomous stretch of land where the
government has long had little influence, is usually off-limits to
foreigners. In recent years, as the militants' influence has spread,
even many Pakistanis dare not venture here.
The tribal regions are some of the poorest, most underdeveloped areas
in the world and have long been guided by traditional codes and
councils. The Taliban have slaughtered hundreds of tribal elders in
their rise to power.
In Sherwangai, a sparsely populated district along one of the
offensive's three major fronts, army commanders said they had killed
82 insurgents and lost six soldiers in their attempt to secure the
area, where the hills are covered in brush, rocks and dust and strong
winds whip high ridges. Many battle-hardened Uzbek militants are
believed to have taken shelter here.
The military is slowly capturing isolated hamlets as it encircles the
small town of Kaniguram, its next target in the push forward. But even
where the army has taken control, much of the area remains dangerous,
filled with land mines and roadside bombs.
After an initial surge of resistance, many militants have been
fleeing. Because the army has sealed off the main passes, "they will
not be able to go out in a major way," said Maj. Gen. Khalid Rabbani,
a top battlefield commander.
Yet, he added, "If somebody chooses even to cross Mount Everest, he
will be able to do it. So there are going to be a few, changing their
disguise - taking care of their beards and long hair - they will be
able to get out."
In addition to the passports, the military displayed papers and dozens
of weapons and large amounts of ammunition it said it had recovered
from Sherwangai.
Civilians were nowhere to be seen during Thursday's trip - some
155,000 have left the region in the past few months. South Waziristan
normally has about 500,000 people.
At one military outpost, in a large mud compound in Sherwangai, smoke
could be seen rising in the distance from villages under army fire.
Officials assured reporters the civilians had left those areas.
The military previously estimated that the South Waziristan offensive
would take at least two to three months, and officials were hesitant
Thursday to give a deadline. They also declined to give a time frame
for how long troops would have to stay to prevent militants from
returning.
It also is unclear whether Islamabad has any plans for how to govern
the territory effectively and prevent the insurgency from again taking
root.
The army has deployed three divisions - about 30,000 troops - to take
on some 5,000 to 8,000 militants, Abbas said, lowering a previous
estimate of 10,000 militants. His estimate included up to 1,500
foreign fighters, most of them Uzbeks. Afghan fighters are also
reportedly filtering in from across the border.
This is the fourth major offensive the Pakistani army has launched in
South Waziristan since 2004, and this time the military has promised a
fight to the finish. The previous operations ended in setbacks or
peace deals that left the militant groups even stronger.
By NAHAL TOOSI Associated Press Writer
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