Ilyas Kashmiri alive, lays out future terror strategy

* Al Qaeda’s guerrilla chief blames US for militancy in region
* Warns world Mumbai attacks were nothing compared to what they have planned

Daily Times Monitor

LAHORE: As the army gears up to stage a military operation against the Taliban in South Waziristan, Al Qaeda leader Muhammad Ilyas Kashmiri - believed to be the head of military operations - provided Asia Times Online with his views on what the upcoming battle will look like, what its targets will be and how it will impact the West in relation to the destabilisation of Pakistan.

Ilyas provided his first media interview to the newspaper in a bid to quash rumours that he had been killed in a drone attack [in September]. The high profile commander, with a bounty of Rs 50 million rupees on his head, heads the 313 Brigade, which is believed to be the main catalyst of high-profile operations such as the Mumbai attack and others in Afghanistan.

To questions on whether he thought the upcoming South Waziristan operation would be the “mother of all operations”, he said he could discuss the strategy of upcoming battles only after explaining “the basics of the present war theatre”. He said NATO did not have significance or relevance in the current climate. “They have lost the war in Afghanistan. Now, when they realized their defeat, they developed an emphasis that this entire battle is being fought from outside of Afghanistan, that is, the two Waziristans,” he added. He claimed this military thesis had created a situation that had led to reactions and counter-reactions.

When confronted with the fact that the relocation of his 313 Brigade from Kashmir, where it was battling the Indian army, to Waziristan was itself proof that foreign hands were involved in Afghanistan, he said: “If you discuss myself and 313 Brigade, I decided to join the Afghan resistance as an individual and I had quite a reason for that. Everybody knows that only a decade ago I was fighting a war of liberation for my homeland Kashmir.”

US game: He said he had realised that the “entire game was in the hands of the great Satan, the USA”, which has caused the failure to resolve the Palestinian issue, the Kashmir issue and the plight of Afghanistan. “So I and many people all across the world realised that analysing the situation in any narrow regional political perspective was an incorrect approach. This is a different ball game altogether for which a unified strategy is compulsory. The defeat of American global hegemony is a must if I want the liberation of my homeland Kashmir, and therefore it provided the reasoning for my presence in this war theatre,” he added. “When I came here I found my step justified; how the world regional powers operate under the umbrella of the great Satan and how they are supportive of its great plans. This can be seen here in Afghanistan,” he said, adding Al Qaeda’s regional war strategy, in which they have hit Indian targets, was actually to chop off American strength.

Kashmiri alleged, “The RAW [India’s Research and Analysis Wing] has detachment command centres in the Afghan provinces of Kunar, Jalalabad, Khost, Argun, Helmand and Kandahar. The cover operations are road construction companies. For instance, the road construction contract from Khost city to the Tanai tribe area is handled by a contractor who is actually a current Indian army colonel. In Gardez, telecommunication companies are the cover for Indian intelligence operations. Mostly, their men operate with Muslim names, but actually the employees are Hindus.”

More to come: To a question on whether the world should expect more “Mumbai-like” attacks, he said: “That was nothing compared to what has already been planned for the future.” He said he had chosen to join Al Qaeda because they were “both victims of the same tyrant”. “If all of the Muslim world is asked to elect their leader, their choice would be either [Taliban leader] Mullah Omar or Sheikh Osama,” he added.

“Pakistan is my beloved country and the people who live there are our brothers, sisters and relatives. I cannot even think of going against its interests. It was never the Pakistan Army that was against me, but certain elements who branded me as an enemy to cover up their weaknesses and to appease their masters,” Ilyas said to questions on how he had become the leading enemy of the Pakistan Army.

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