Al-Qaeda secures haven by sabotaging peace efforts

PESHAWAR - Keeping the war going in the Pakistani-Afghan border zone is “oxygen” to al-Qaeda, intellectuals, security and civil society representatives from both countries agree.

“Continuing the war in the Pak-Afghan region is al-Qaeda’s lifeline,” said Dr Ijaz Ahmed, chairman of the University of Peshawar Department of International Relations.

That’s why the terrorist group is sabotaging the peace process by fomenting war along the border and in the Pakistani tribal areas, Ahmed and others told Central Asia Online.

After Osama bin Laden was killed in May, bickering and the pursuit of shelter weakened the crumbling organisation, the observers agreed. Now, keeping the area volatile has become a matter of survival to al-Qaeda.

“Peace in this region means death to al-Qaeda,” Ahmed said. “This the main reason for sabotaging the peace process.”

Senior security analyst and former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) secretary of security Brig (Ret.) Mehmood Shah agreed.

“There will be no place for al-Qaeda if peace is restored in this region,” he said. “It can survive as long as the law-and-order situation remains volatile in the Pakistani tribal areas and the Pak-Afghan border belt.”

“Their main purpose for disrupting the peace process and launching fresh attacks is to retain those safe havens which sheltered them for years,” he remarked.

“Al-Qaeda has a criminal Middle Eastern background, and whatever image they had made in the past vanished with Osama’s death.”

People’s yearning for peace

Analysts on both sides agree on the need for peace in the region.

“Both the Pakistani and Afghan peoples have suffered greatly from the war, and when it comes to the ordinary people, we can say both sides are willing very much to support the peace process,” Parwiz Khawa, senior political editor of the Kabul-based Hahst-i-Subh newspaper, told Central Asia Online.

Al-Qaeda is the primary source of instability, but its local allies, such as the Haqqani Network, Taliban and Hizb-e-Islami, all bear equal responsibility, he said.

“The Arabs and Central Asian al-Qaeda-linked fighters are fomenting the war for their own interests, but if all the neighbouring countries including Pakistan, Central Asian states and (others) join hands, this threat can be thwarted,” he added.

Dr Sarfaraz Khan, director of the Area Study Centre at the University of Peshawar, agreed al-Qaeda wants to continue to destabilise the region. “Prolonging war and destabilisation is meant to assure its survival,” he said.

“They’re outsiders, so (operating here), they have nothing to lose but foot soldiers, who are mostly religiously motivated and are abundantly available because of poverty,” Khan said.

Trying to tie down coalition

“I would not say the outsiders are the root cause, but the local militants ... are equally part of the destabilisation,” Khan added.

Al-Qaeda and other Arab extremists have been pursuing their own agendas for many years in the region, said Dr Said Alam Mehsud, an MD and civil society activist from Peshawar.

“I ... suggest Pakistan and Afghanistan have to launch co-ordinated efforts to flush out al-Qaeda ... otherwise, restoration of peace will not be smooth sailing,” he said. “These foreign extremists have no stake in the region.”

Al-Qaeda has tormented the region at different stages, he said. “First, war-shattered Afghanistan proved a soft target ... because the Taliban helped them enter the region. Then they created a law-and-order problem to prolong their stay. Now they’re sabotaging the peace process so they can keep enjoying this space.”

“The foreigners, by all means al-Qaeda, need to be flushed out if Pakistan and Afghanistan really want to live in peace,” Shah said.

Foreign terrorists using the border zone for their own reasons

“Pakistan must clear North Waziristan Agency as it always remained a hub for the foreigners in Pakistani tribal areas,” he argued.

The period after the planned coalition departure from Afghanistan will be crucial in determining whether al-Qaeda stays, Shah continued, adding it’s the responsibility of coalition and Afghan forces to protect Afghan and regional stability.

“It’s not a war of Pashtuns and Afghans,” he said. “The stage is definitely in this region, but the players are outsiders: the Uzbeks, Arabs, Chechens, the Central Asians and all the outside militants ... they have been fighting their own countries as well as the West under the symbolic umbrella of al-Qaeda.”

“These forces want to take the world back to the pre-historic era,” Ijaz said. “Their activities can bring only death and destruction to the people of Pakistan and Afghanistan.”

“War and violence won’t benefit anyone except the war-mongers,” he said.

Government efforts

“Al-Qaeda is a common enemy, and there is no doubt that the Pakistani military and intelligence agencies have busted their sanctuaries and cells in the tribal areas and denied them space, which is the basis of success against al-Qaeda and of its elimination,” Pakistani military spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas told Central Asia Online.

"The al-Qaeda base in Damadola with (al-Qaeda chief Ayman) Al-Zawahiri allegedly operating from there was a serious threat for both Pakistan and Afghanistan and for the coalition troops, so we have flushed them out from Bajaur Agency and other parts of FATA," he said, adding, "It not only stabilised those areas but helped a long way in winning the war on terror."

"The top al-Qaeda leadership was either killed or arrested because of Pakistan's intelligence and security agencies efforts, which is an unmatched performance in the ... global fight against terrorism,” he said.

Asked about future strategy in flushing al-Qaeda and foreign militants from the region, Abbas said, “There may be differences on some issues, but there is absolutely no ambiguity that the war on al-Qaeda will continue with full force, as elimination of a common enemy is the prime responsibility of the Pakistani armed forces."