Uzbek fighters lose public support in tribal areas

Landi Kotal, Khyber Agency – Uzbeks aligned with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) have acquired a reputation as some of the most savage militants fighting Pakistani forces in the tribal regions and coalition forces in Afghanistan.

Reports of their brutality have driven their popularity among residents of the region to its lowest point since their occupation of the mountainous Pakistani tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. Pakistani military analysts say operations by the Pakistani army and by coalition forces in Afghanistan have reduced Uzbek fighters’ numbers from about 4,500 (including Chechens, Tajiks and Uighurs) in 2007 to about 1,000 today.

The Uzbek fighters first came to Afghanistan to fight the Soviet army in the 1980s. They have been there since, long after the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the subsequent war between the secular Afghan government and the Taliban.

“It was a time when al-Qaeda had also set its foot in Afghanistan and had lured most of these Uzbek fighters into jihad against what that it called ‘infidels’ or ‘enemies of Islam’”, said Brig. (ret.) Mehmood Shah, a military analyst and former secretary of security of the tribal areas.

“Al-Qaeda wanted to capture some Central Asian states and increase its influence in Afghanistan and Pakistan, thus paving the way for the creation of an Islamic state”, Shah said.

He said al-Qaeda also wanted to capitalise on the combat skills of Uzbek fighters, most of whom had ideological affiliations with the IMU.

“They are the best fighters, but very ruthless. Pakistani Taliban also greatly rely on their fighting skills, and they always served as [the Taliban’s] front-line soldiers”, said Ismail Khan, resident editor in Peshawar of the daily Dawn.

Khan said the Uzbeks are a key element in the struggle against Pakistani security forces and have enhanced the combat capability of the Taliban. “Even the Pakistani military officials have acknowledged this fact”, he said.

Juma Namangani was their leader when they came to Afghanistan during the fight against the Soviet Union. Pakistani intelligence reports said that the al-Qaeda leadership in Afghanistan later set up training camps for Uzbek fighters and some Pakistani militant (jihadi) organisations at Kargha, near Kabul, in 1999-2000.

Namangani died in a coalition air strike in Afghanistan's Paktika province in 2001. His death paved the way for Takhir Yuldash to take over as commander of the Uzbek fighters. Yuldash was rumoured to have been killed in 2009 but appeared in a new video released this month.

It was at Kargha and other training camps in Afghanistan that Pakistani tribal militant commanders such as Nek Mohammad, Mulvi Nazir, Faqir Muhammad, Mulvi Liaqat and others became better acquainted with the Uzbeks, paving the way for them to settle in the Azam Warsak, Wana and Kalosha areas of South Waziristan after coalition forces drove them out of Afghanistan.

At first the Uzbeks received a warm welcome in the tribal areas. Residents in North and South Waziristan told Central Asia Online that Taliban sympathisers gave their daughters in marriage to Uzbeks, leased agricultural land to them and went into business with them.

However, local tribal sources say that atrocities by the Uzbeks led to their expulsion from South Waziristan by a pro-Taliban group headed by Mulvi Nazir in 2007. The Uzbeks then took shelter in North Waziristan. There they divided into two groups, with Yahiya Muradov forming his faction of the Islamic Jihad Union. Another band of Uzbeks made common cause with Uighurs and other Muslims from China's Xinjiang province under the name Islamic Movement of Turkestan.

The Uzbeks have a reputation for beheading victims and conducting other brutalities. In contrast, militants from the tribal areas say they reject such methods.

Dr. Said Alam Mehsud, a Waziristan tribal political activist, said the Uzbeks: “…are mercenaries. They are totally devoid of human feelings and don't have any regard for human beings”.

“They massacred our elders, trampled our culture and social values under their ugly feet and destroyed the very fabric of tribal society”, Mehsud said. “It was due to the butchering and kidnapping of opponents and respected tribesmen that the Ahmadzai tribe unanimously decided to expel the Uzbeks from the territory”.

Shah calls the Uzbeks “soldiers of fortune”. He said the locals evicted the Uzbeks from the region because they engaged in homosexual acts and molested new recruits. Homosexuality is strictly prohibited by Islam.

“Their gruesome and barbaric acts ... earned them the titles of ‘butchers’ and ‘inhuman and wild creatures’”, said Ali Gul Wazir, a resident of Wana.

“Uzbeks were considered a symbol of terror and destruction in the tribal areas, as they would not tolerate any opposition to their acts of brutality”, he said, adding that the Ahmadzai Wazir were not ready to “tolerate the very existence of these barbaric Uzbeks on their land”.

A tribal journalist from South Waziristan who requested anonymity said he fled his home after the Uzbek militia ordered his death for reporting the number of Uzbeks killed in fighting against local tribesmen.

Besides the Uzbeks, the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies in 2007 estimated there were some 5,000 Arab fighters in the tribal areas; 3,000 Yemenis; 2,000 Egyptians; 2,800 Algerians; and 1,200 assorted Tunisians, Iraqis, Libyans and Jordanians.

But Shamim Shahid, a senior journalist in Peshawar who specialises in Afghan and tribal area issues, insists that new recruits are still coming from Uzbekistan. “The new recruits are mostly orphans or being kidnapped from different educational institutions in Uzbekistan and then brought to Pakistan via Afghanistan and Turkey”, he said. Shahid alleged that most of the top Uzbek leadership have criminal records and are fugitives from their homeland’s justice.

Ali Gul Wazir, a Wana resident, said donations from local tribesmen have almost dried up because of the brutality and anti-tribal policies of the Uzbeks. The cut-off of funding has led the Uzbeks to turn to other forms of financing.

“Their main sources of income (now) are kidnapping for ransom, carjacking, arms trading, transfer of money through illegal means and financial assistance from Taliban and al-Qaeda sympathisers in the Gulf and Arab countries”, said Shahid.