Abdel Bari Atwan, The Editor-in-Chief of Arabic newspaper Alquds Alarabi, is an expert on al-Qaeda. He became one of the very few Western journalists to interview Osama bin Laden, when he met the elusive figure in Tora Bora caves in Afghanistan in 1996. He went on to write The Secret History of al-Qaeda, an authoritative account of the terror organisation and its methods.
Abdel Bari Atwan talks to Shishir Prasad and Charles Assisi on the ramifications of the Mumbai terror attacks.
Question: What is the significance of the attack on Mumbai in light of what is happening in the Middle East, Pakistan and Afghanistan?
Answer: The most significant reading is that Islamic radical groups are gaining momentum. The US war against terror has failed in its objective. Now that al-Qaeda has returned home [al-Qaeda began in Afghanistan] after seven years in Iraq, they are sharing all their knowledge gathered in Iraq with other Islamic radical groups like Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar. Al-Qaeda is freely operating inside the tribal belt on the edges of Pakistan.
Question: Why do you think a Jewish organisation was targeted in the Mumbai attacks?
Answer: There has always been a criticism of radical Islamic organisations that in most of their attacks they end up killing Muslims only rather than Jewish people (as most of their operations are in the Middle East). The Islamic radical groups are also accused of not being able to attack Israel. They tried to do so in Mombasa [in 2002] but failed to shoot down the plane. I think they were trying to set the record straight.
Question: But why choose an Indian city to attack Israel?
Answer: For a mix of reasons. Many in the Arab world, especially states like Saudi Arabia and UAE think India has switched its allegiance away from the Arab world. There was a time India was firmly behind the idea of Palestine as a free country. Today India is seen as moving closer to Israel in business ties as well as importing weapons from Israel.
But apart from the Israel angle, there has been anger in the Jihadi world over India’s support to the Karzai government in Afghanistan.
Question: What is the reaction that you get to hear in Jihadi world as well as official Arab world position on India?
Answer: I think the official position of Arab states towards India has not changed. They still view it as a friend but the radical groups don’t like the shift in India’s stance. Most Arab states are very scared of the emergence of Iran as a regional superpower. Iran’s nuclear programme may give them nuclear weapon capability soon and that really worries Saudi Arabia and UAE. And radical groups in these places don’t like that India has had close relationship with Iran.
Question: After this attack on Mumbai, what do you think of the position of Pakistan?
Answer: Pakistan is a semi-failed state. And radical groups thrive on such states. Taliban has almost 80,000 people under its Army now. And they would love to see Pakistan descend into anarchy. India should think about this before it considers a confrontation with Pakistan.
Shishir Prasad is deputy editor and Charles Assisi is executive editor at the new business magazine to be launched by Network18 in alliance with Forbes.
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