Related Research Articles
Al-Qaeda is a pan-Islamist militant organization led by Sunni Jihadists who self-identify as a vanguard spearheading a global Islamist revolution to unite the Muslim world under a supra-national Islamic caliphate. Its membership is mostly composed of Arabs, but also includes people from other ethnic groups. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian, economic and military targets of the US and its allies; such as the 1998 US embassy bombings, the USS Cole bombing and the September 11 attacks. The organization is designated as a terrorist group by NATO, the UN Security Council, the European Union, and various countries around the world.
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was a Saudi Arabian-born Islamist dissident and militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda from 1988 until his death in 2011. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, he participated in the Afghan jihad against the Soviet Union and supported the activities of the Bosnian mujahideen during the Yugoslav Wars. Bin Laden is considered to have been the mastermind behind the September 11 attacks in the United States.
Ayman Mohammed Rabie al-Zawahiri was an Egyptian-born pan-Islamist militant and physician who served as the second general emir of al-Qaeda from June 2011 until his death in July 2022. He is best known for being one of the main orchestrators of the September 11 attacks.
Wali Khan Amin Shah is a Saudi man who fought with the Afghan Arabs in Afghanistan, and called for the jihad movement to focus on attacking the United States. He had a role in the foiled Bojinka plot. He was convicted of terrorism and imprisoned on these charges from 1995 to 2021.
Harkat-ul-Mujahideen is a Pakistan-based Islamist jihadist group operating primarily in Kashmir. The group have been considered as having links to Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar.
Jaish-e-Mohammed is a Pakistan-based Deobandi Jihadist terrorist group active in Kashmir. The group's primary motive is to separate Kashmir from India and merge it into Pakistan.
The Inter-Services Intelligence is the largest and best-known component of the Pakistani intelligence community. It is responsible for gathering, processing, and analyzing any information from around the world that is deemed relevant to Pakistan's national security. The ISI reports to its director-general and is primarily focused on providing intelligence to the Pakistani government.
Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil Abdul Ghaffar is an Afghan politician who has been a member of the militant Taliban organization. He was the Taliban foreign minister from 27 October 1999 in their first Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan rule, until the Taliban were deposed in late 2001. Prior to this, he served as spokesman and secretary to Mullah Mohammed Omar, leader of the Taliban. After the Northern Alliance, accompanied by U.S. and British forces, ousted the regime, Muttawakil surrendered in Kandahar to government troops.
Osama bin Laden, the founder and former leader of al-Qaeda, went into hiding following the start of the War in Afghanistan in order to avoid capture by the United States for role in the September 11 attacks, and having been on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list since 1999. After evading capture at the Battle of Tora Bora in December 2001, his whereabouts became unclear, and various rumours about his health, continued role in al-Qaeda, and location were circulated. Bin Laden also released several video and audio recordings during this time.
Abdullah Tabarak Ahmad is a citizen of Morocco, who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.
Qari Saifullah Akhtar was an alleged member of Al-Qaeda who was in Pakistani custody a few times prior to his death. Akhtar, a graduate of Jamia Uloom-ul-Islamia in Karachi, had been the leader of Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI), a jihadi organization. He was a key figure and founder of HUJI and was involved in jihadi groups since the early 1980s. He was appointed the head of HUJI following the killing of Mawlana Irshad Ahmed at Sharana during clashes with Soviet forces in June 1985. He was reportedly involved in the 1995 coup attempt to topple the Pakistani government led by Benazir Bhutto. When HUJI merged with Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM) around 1990 to form Harkat-ul-Ansar (HUA), Akhtar acted as deputy to former HUM leader and then amir Maulana Fazalur Rehman Khalil. HUA splintered into two separate groups in 1997, allowing Akhtar to become amir of HUJI. Since 1998 when Osama bin Laden released a fatwa under the banner World Islamic Front for Jihad Against the Jews and Crusaders, segments of HUJI have joined al-Qaeda. It has been reported that Akhtar was running a training camp at Rishkhor, Afghanistan before the US invaded Afghanistan in 2001, and had trained 3,500 persons in conventional and unconventional combat. He disappeared from Afghanistan but was apprehended in August 2004 in the United Arab Emirates. He was then handed over to Pakistan.
Hasan Mahsum, also known as Abu-Muhammad al-Turkestani and Ashan Sumut, was an Uyghur militant who was the leader of the Turkistan Islamic Party, an Islamic extremist group suspected of having ties with Al Qaeda. He was shot dead in a counter-terrorism operation on October 2, 2003 by the Pakistani Army.
Abu Ubaidah al-Banshiri was the nom de guerre of Ali Amin al-Rashidi, was a founding member of al-Qaeda and served as the groups first military commander. He was known within the group as the "most capable and popular leaders".
American officials have reported that the late al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had numerous bodyguards. They reported that the detainees held in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp included at least 30 of Bin Laden's bodyguards.
Hamza bin Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden, better known as Hamza bin Laden, was a Saudi Arabian-born member of al-Qaeda. He was a son of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, and, following his father's death in 2011, he was described as an emerging leader of the al-Qaeda organization.
Mahfouz Ould al-Walid, kunya Abu Hafs al-Mauritani, is a Mauritanian Islamic scholar and poet previously associated with al-Qaeda. A veteran of the Soviet–Afghan War, he served on al-Qaeda's Shura Council and ran a religious school called the Institute of Islamic Studies in Kandahar, Afghanistan, from the late 1990s until the American invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
Ilyas Kashmiri, also referred to as Maulana Ilyas Kashmiri, Mufti Ilyas Kashmiri and Muhammad Ilyas Kashmiri, was a Pakistani ex-Special Forces Islamist guerrilla insurgent who fought against Indian troops in Kashmir.
Fazal ur Rehman Khalil is a founder of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and current leader of Ansar-ul-Umma, which is accused of being a front organization of the banned HuM. He also runs the Jamia Khalid Bin Walid, a madrasa or Islamic seminary located in the Shams Colony of Islamabad’s Golra town which has been accused of supporting the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan. He is considered to be close to the Talibans and former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Pakistan's principal intelligence and covert action agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), has historically conducted a number of clandestine operations in its western neighbor, Afghanistan. ISI's covert support to militant jihadist insurgent groups in Afghanistan, the Pashtun-dominated former Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and Kashmir has earned it a wide reputation as the primary progenitor of many active South Asian jihadist groups.
The following is an outline of the series of events that led up the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021).
References
- ↑ "View UN Notices - Individuals".
- ↑ Bill Roggio (2011-09-21). "Pakistan frees al Qaeda commander: report". Long War Journal . Retrieved 2012-05-06.
Dr. Amin al Haq, who served as the security coordinator of Osama bin Laden's Black Guard, was recently released by Pakistani authorities, according to a report in the Afghan Islamic Press, a jihadist news organization based in Peshawar. Al Haq was released from Pakistani custody several weeks ago, his family members told the Afghan Islamic Press.
- ↑ Mark Memmott (September 2011). "Reports: Pakistan Has Freed Bin Laden's Former Bodyguard". National Public Radio . Retrieved 2012-05-06.
As CBS adds, the release 'raises more questions about Pakistan's commitment to tackle Islamic militant groups which operate within parts of the nation with near impunity.'
- ↑ "Pakistan frees Osama bin Laden bodyguard". CBS News. September 29, 2011. Retrieved 2013-02-15.
- ↑ Guido Olimpio (31 August 2021). "Afghanistan, ricompare Amin ul Haq, il vecchio compagno di lotta di Osama bin Laden". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). Archived from the original on 31 August 2021. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
Nulla di clandestino, è ricomparso in pubblico osannato dai suoi seguaci
- ↑ "Osama bin Laden's former aide Amin-ul-Haq returns to Afghanistan". 30 August 2021.
- ↑ Guramani, Nadir (19 July 2024). "CTD Punjab arrests senior Al-Qaeda leader in intelligence-based operation". DAWN.
- ↑ Dogar, Babar (19 July 2024). "Pakistan says it arrested an al-Qaida leader who was a close aide to Osama bin Laden". The Associated Press. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
- ↑ "Pakistan arrests Al-Qaeda leader listed by United Nations". Reuters. July 19, 2024.
