THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD: THE AFGHANISTAN CONNECTION

C O N F I D E N T I A L DUSHANBE 1266 E.O. 12356: DECL: OADR TAGS: PREL MASS PINR PTER AF SUBJECT: THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD: THE AFGHANISTAN CONNECTION REF: A) STATE 291823, B) DUSHANBE 1176 ¶1. CONFIDENTIAL - ENTIRE TEXT. ¶2. INTRODUCTION/SUMMARY: WE KNOW LITTLE OF INDIGENOUS MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD ORGANIZATIONS IN AFGHANISTAN. ON THE OTHER HAND THERE IS A LONG HISTORY OF NON-AFGHAN MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD ORGANIZATIONS ("IKHWAN") OPERATING IN AFGHANISTAN USUALLY IN CONJUNCTION WITH ONE OR MORE OF THE FUNDAMENTALIST AFGHAN TANZIMS. WE OFFER THE FOLLOWING WITH THE CAVEAT THAT IT LACKS THE DETAIL WHICH SHOULD BE AVAILABLE ELSEWHERE. END INTRODUCTION/SUMMARY. TRENDS IN IKHWANI ACTIVITY IN AFGHANISTAN -------------- ¶3. THE FOLLOWING REFLECTS OUR UNDERSTANDING OF RECENT TRENDS IN IKHWAN ACTIVITY IN AFGHANISTAN. WE BELIEVE THAT THERE IS AN ETHNIC DIVISION OF IKHWANIS IN AFGHANISTAN WITH PASHTUNS COALESCING AROUND GULBUDDIN AND TAJIKS UNITING BEHIND AHMED SHAH MASOUD. EVER SINCE THE MURDER OF OVER 30 SHURA NAZAR COMMANDERS BY GULBUDDIN'S COMMANDERS IN 1989, THERE HAS BEEN A MOVEMENT OF HEZBI ISLAMI - GULBUDDIN COMMANDERS WHO ARE ETHNIC TAJIKS TOWARD AHMED SHAH MASOUD. THIS TREND ACCELERATED IN 1992-93 WITH THE GROWING CONFRONTATION BETWEEN GULBUDDIN AND MASOUD. THE RESULT HAS BEEN GROWING INFLUENCE OF THE IKHWANI WING WITHIN MASOUD'S FOLLOWERS IN SHURA NAZAR AND MORE GENERALLY WITHIN JAMIAT-I ISLAMI. ¶4. AS REF B SOUGHT TO ELABORATE, THERE APPEARS TO BE SIGNIFICANT DIVISION WITHIN THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD AND WITHIN THE INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALIST NETWORK GENERALLY OVER THE QUESTION OF WHETHER TO SUPPORT GULBUDDIN OR AHMED SHAH MASOUD. IKHWANI AND OTHER FUNDAMENTALIST ISLAMIC ACTIVITY IN AFGHANISTAN -------------- -------------- (GAMA AL ISLAMIA) ¶5. GAMA AL ISLAMIA AND GAMA AL JIHAD HAVE HAD SENIOR PARTY FIGURES IN AFGHANISTAN SINCE THE EARLY-MID 1980'S. GAMA AL JIHAD HAS IN THE PAST HAD TIES TO (AND FINANCIAL SUPPORT FROM) THE ARAB FUNDAMENTALIST FINANCIER ASMANA BIN LADIN. GAMA AL ISLAMIA WAS LONG UNDER THE DIRECTION/INFLUENCE OF TWO INDIVIDUALS WHO FUNCTIONED AS COMMANDERS AS WELL AS PARTY CADRE: THESE WERE MOHAMMED SHAUQI ISLAMBULLI (WHOSE BROTHER ORCHESTRATED THE SADAT ASSASSINATION) AND TALUT FUAD KASSEM. ACCORDING TO ARAB JOURNALISTS BASED IN PESHAWAR, THE TWO GAMA AL ISLAMIA LEADERS HAD GOOD REPUTATIONS AS COMMANDERS AND LED FORCES OF APPROXIMATELY ¶300. ¶6. GAMA AL ISLAMIA WAS INVOLVED IN THE FAILED 1989 OFFENSIVE AT JALALABAD, PLANNED AND ORGANIZED BY THE ISID. GAMA AL ISLAMIA WAS ALSO INVOLVED IN THE ULTIMATELY SUCCESSFUL 1992 DRIVE ON KHOST. GAMA AL ISLAMIA WAS TIGHTLY ORGANIZED ON A CELL-LIKE BASIS AND SHUNNED PUBLICITY. MUCH OF THE LITTLE WE KNOW OF THIS ORGANIZATION'S OPERATIONS SUGGESTS IT TENDED TO CONFINE ITSELF TO NANGARHAR AND PAKTIA PROVINCES (THOUGH THIS MAY REFLECT THE LIMITED RANGE OF KNOWLEDGE OF OUR SOURCES). ¶7. OUR INFORMATION SUGGESTS THAT TALUT WENT TO SUDAN IN 1992, AS RECENTLY AS FEBRUARY 1993, ISLAMABULI WAS IN JALALABAD WHERE (IN FEBRUARY) HE GAVE AN INTERVIEW TO A LONDON-BASED ARAB NEWSPAPER. ¶8. ANOTHER KEY FIGURE IN THE GAMA AL ISLAMIA IS SHEIK OMAR ABDUL RAHMAN, WHOSE ALLEGED INVOLVEMENT IN THE WORLD TRADE CENTER BOMBING BROUGHT GAMA AL ISLAMIA INTERNATIONAL ATTENTION. SHEIK OMAR OPERATED OUT OF PESHAWAR IN 1988 AND IN 1990 -- AND POSSIBLY IN INTERVENING PERIODS. (HADIMAT ISLAMI) ¶9. HADIMAT ISLAMI, ALSO KNOWN AS THE "SERVICE OFFICE," WAS THE FIRST INTERNATIONALIST ISLAMIC OFFICE ESTABLISHED TO ASSIST THE AFGHAN JIHAD. ITS PRINCIPAL LEADER WAS ABDULLAH AZAM, WHO WAS KILLED IN A CAR BOMB ASSASSINATION IN PESHAWAR IN 1991. THE SERVICE BUREAU, WHICH WORKED WITH BUT MAY NOT HAVE BEEN UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD, OPERATED REST HOUSES IN THE PESHAWAR AREA FOR COURIERS AND FIGHTERS TRAVELLING TO AND FROM AFGHANISTAN. COMMENT: ¶10. THE PUTATIVE CONCORDAT BETWEEN GENERAL DOSTUM'S NORTHERN ALLIANCE AND JAMIAT-I ISLAMI (AND SHURA NAZAR) AGAINST GULBUDDIN POSES A DILEMMA FOR TAJIK IKHWANI'S WHO MUST CHOOSE BETWEEN THEIR ETHNIC KIN AND THEIR IDEOLOGICAL BROTHERS -- THE IKHWANI'S WITH GULBUDDIN. MAKING THE CHOICE EVEN MORE DIFFICULT IS THE BACKGROUND OF EX-NAJIBULLAH LEADER DOSTUM, WHOSE DEVOTION TO ISLAM IS UNDERSTANDABLY SUSPECT AND WHO IS SURROUNDED BY MANY WATTAN PARTY CADRE WHO SOUGHT HIS PROTECTION AFTER NAJIBULLAH'S FALL. ESCUDERO