The Taliban took Kabul at the end of 1996 and from then ruled Afghanistan.

Osama bin Laden moved to Kandahar in 1997 from where he was able to run his worldwide terrorist organisation, al-Qaida. The Taliban let him do what he wanted in exchange for money and the help of his warriors when needed. Osama bin Laden soon became the Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar's friend. It is believed that he gave the Taliban about 100 million dollars in five years, most of it coming from donations by Muslims of other countries. Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida soon started building training camps all over Afghanistan.

Thousands of fundamentalist Muslins volunteers willing to fight the Jihad (the Holy War against the Infidels, the non-Muslims) have gone through these camps. Apparently the best fighters were offered to work for al-Qaida while the others were sent back to their countries to work for their national organisations. In addition to the usual military training (use of guns, explosives, radio communication,...), they participated in orthodox religious seminars. There they were explained why the Jihad is necessary, and that it is imposed in the Koran.

Moreover, they were repeatedly told that those who die fighting the Jihad war become martyrs for Islam; they are going to paradise where 70 virgins are waiting each of them. The number of al-Qaida fighters was estimated to be around 5,000 in 2001. Most of them came from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Yemen, Jordan, Chechnya, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Somalia, Singapore, Algeria, Tunisia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. Pakistani embassies around the world were known for granting easy visas to all Muslims giving "preaching" as the reason of their visit. Crossing into Afghanistan was then easy, and no border stamps were put on their passports. Al-Qaida gets its money from foreign fundamentalists who feel morally obliged to contribute financially to the Jihad, if they cannot personally participate in it. Some financial organisations, often disguised as charities, collect the money and put it at al-Qaida?s disposal. Huge sums of money are put together in this way.

At the beginning of August 2002, the American defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, ordered the head of the US Special Forces, General Charles Holland, to increase the hunt for senior al-Qaida leaders. It is true that until now the American cannot boast too much about their achievements in Afghanistan. They bombed a country already destroyed by more than 20 years of war, brought it into submission, and killed lots of civilians with the help of the Northern Alliance. Now the US is considering sending assassination squads in any country of the world to kill al-Qaida leaders, even without informing the local government.

It is well known that the CIA has done it before, directly or using local killers, but what they suggest to do now is totally unacceptable. Let us hope that if some of these US killers are caught, they will be punished according to the local law. The American television networks CNN and CBS acquired 64 videotapes in Afghanistan showing how the al-Qaida fighters were trained for war and to make explosives, as well as some new footage of Osama bin Laden. These tapes also show some experiments where dogs are killed by poison gas, probably Sarin, the gas used in the attack on the Tokyo subway a few years ago. If the tapes were true, and not propaganda toys made by the US, they would show that al-Qaida has some chemical and biological weapons. Initially CNN said that they did not pay any money to get them but, later on, they admitted that they pay $30,000! What is the real cost, if it was not US propaganda?

In June 2002, the FBI and the CIA admitted that the quick victory over the Taliban and al-Qaida in Afghanistan had increased, and not decreased, the terrorist threat to the west. The war disrupted Osama bin Laden?s network, but spread the threat around the world together with the surviving al-Qaida members. At the end of August 2002, an United Nations report admitted that the al-Qaida terrorists had still access to most of their money; that would allow them to strike again in the near future. Moreover, according to the CIA director, George Tenet, the surviving al-Qaida members are regrouping and, in mid-October 2002, they represent the same danger that they did in summer 2001.

In August 2002, Mullah Mohammed Omar, the leader of the Taliban, was back in Afghanistan where he is living in remote hideouts in the south of the country, possibly in Oruzgan, the remote and mountainous province north of Kandahar, where he grew up. He fled for some time in Pakistan but, according to American intelligence, he came back to his country some time ago. The US tried to locate him but, until now, they failed.

 In October 2002, the Kurds said - but without showing any evidence for it - that al-Qaida was now running training camps in northern Iraq with the support of the Ansar al-Islam (supporters of Islam). The Kurds believed that 150 al-Qaida members who fled from Afghanistan were present there at that time. Do we really believe that such a force is a threat to the US? The US military authorities revealed that they are planning an attack on the region to destroy these fighters, if they really exist at all. However, this information, coming from the Kurds who have everything to win from a change of regime in Iraq, is not credible. To make sure that the Americans are interested, the Kurds added that some tests of chemical and biological weapons took place there, and that Ansar men taken prisoners admitted that their group receive money from Iran, Saudi Arabia and, of course, Iraq. How convenient!

On Thursday November 21, 2002, the US captured a senior al-Qaida leader, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, described as the chief of operation in the Persian Gulf. He is accused to have participated in the planning of the embassy bombings in East Africa in 1998 and the October 2000 attack on the American destroyer USS Cole in Yemen. It is not known where he was captured, or where he is held; his captors said that he was cooperating and answering questions. The al-Qaida leaders Osama bin Laden, Ayman al Zawahri, Saif al Adil, Kalid Ashaikh Mohammed, Saad bin Laden (oldest son of Osama bin Laden), and others are still at large at the end of November 2002. Abd al Rahim al Nashiri, Ramzi Binalshibh, Abu Zubair al Haili and Abu Zubaydah were captured while Gaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi was killed.

In December 2002 we were told that some al-Qaida training camps have been reactivated in eastern Afghanistan and that Islamist volunteers are again being trained there. Osama bin Laden financial network has been fairly well dismantled, but the group still has a lot of money. Later on interim President Karzai denied this information. Two al-Qaida men collecting money in Britain for the terrorist organisation have been sentenced to 11 years in jail on April 1, 2003. Brahim Benmerzouga and Baghdad Meziane, both Algerian, have been sentenced at the Leicester crown court for raising about ?200,000 by credit card fraud. They were also involved in recruitment activities. The money is believed to have been used to finance the training camps in Afghanistan.

On April 26, 2003, new 'so-called proofs' trying to link again Saddam Hussein to al-Qaida were 'discovered'. Documents, allegedly found by a British journalist in the ruins of the headquarters of the Iraqi secret service, the Mukhabarat, mention that negotiations for a possible alliance between Iraq and al-Qaida took place in 1998. It is not surprising that such ?incriminating documents? are found by journalists and not by the American troops; nobody would believe them to be real if found by soldiers. A few days later even the Americans played down any possible links between Iraq and al-Qaida.

On October 16, 2003, the media said that the war in Iraq has increased the number of al-Qaida members and hardened their will to fights to defend the honour of the Muslims. Already before, the British MI5 and MI6 had issued the same warning, while the Americans said that al-Qaida was on the run after about 3,000 suspected members had been arrested or killed. On November 30, 2003, the US authorities said that they captured three al-Qaida members in northern Iraq. If it is true then it is the first time that al-Qaida members have been found there.

On December 19, 2003, the US Navy seized an old boat carrying nearly 2 tons of hashish in the Persian Gulf. The Naval authority said immediately that 3 of the 12 men crew were linked to al-Qaida. It was enough for the USA to say that al-Qaida was linked to the drug trade to build-up its diminishing finances. The drug seized had a street value of 8 to $10m. On December 20, two more boats (known as dhows) were seized in the northern Arabian Sea. Although the crew threw about 200 bags overboard, 85 pounds of heroin and 150 pounds of methamphetamine were found -street value ~$3m- and 21 crew members arrested. It was not clear if al-Qaida was involved. On February 24, 2004 President Bush said, without giving any evidence, that nearly two thirds of al-Qaida leaders had been captured or killed.

However, on May 25, 2004, the think-tank "International Institute of Strategic Studies" said that the results of a broad inquiry show that the invasion of Iraq has been a boost to al-Qaida that was able to recruit many members, and increase worldwide terrorism. They estimate that al-Qaida has at least 18,000 members in 60 countries.

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