Al-Qaeda's guerrilla chief lays out strategySyed Saleem Shahzad, Asia Times Online: Mohammad Ilyas Kashmiri, who, according to American intelligence is al-Qaeda's head of military operations and whose death they wrongly confirmed in a recent US Predator drone attack in North Waziristan, spoke to Asia Times Online...
If today al-Qaeda is divided into three spheres, Osama bin Laden is undoubtedly the symbol of the movement and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri defines al-Qaeda's ideology and broader strategic vision. Ilyas, with his unmatched guerrilla expertise, turns the strategic vision into reality, provides the resources and gets targets achieved, but he chooses to remain in the background and is very low key...
'Saleem! I will draw your attention to the basics of the present war theater and use that to explain the whole strategy of the upcoming battle. Those who planned this battle actually aimed to bring the world's biggest Satan [US] and its allies into this trap and swamp... Afghanistan is a unique place in the world where the hunter has all sorts of traps to choose from.
'It might be deserts, rivers, mountains and the urban centers as well. This was the thinking of the planners of this war who were sick and tired of the great Satan's global intrigues and they aim for its demise to make this world a place of peace and justice. However, the great Satan was full of arrogance of its superiority and thought of Afghans as helpless statues who would be hit from all four sides by its war machines, and they would not have the power and capacity to retaliate.
'This was the illusion on which a great alliance of world powers came to Afghanistan, but due to their misplaced conceptions they gradually became trapped... Today, NATO does not have any significance or relevance. They have lost the war in Afghanistan... The reality is that the trap of Afghanistan is successful and the basic military targets on the ground have been achieved...
'East Timor's issue was resolved without losing much time. Why? Because the entire game was in the hands of the great Satan, the USA. Organs like the UN and countries like India and Israel were simply the extension of its resources and that's why there was a failure to resolve the Palestinian issue, the Kashmir issue and the plight of Afghanistan'...
He added that al-Qaeda's regional war strategy, in which they have hit Indian targets, is actually to chop off American strength...
'So should the world expect more Mumbai-like attacks?' I asked.
'That was nothing compared to what has already been planned for the future,' Ilyas replied.
'Even against Israel and the USA?' I asked.
'Saleem, I am not a traditional jihadi cleric who is involved in sloganeering. As a military commander, I would say every target has a specific time and reasons, and the responses will be forthcoming accordingly,' Ilyas said.
