Commentary posted to the Manila Times (Nov 6, 2021): Issues emerging from 1980s Afghanistan place PH in the cross-hairs of global terror (By Rafael Alunan 3rd)
Rafael Alunan 3rd
[Remarks of Philippine Council on Foreign Relations Chairman Rafael Alunan 3rd, at a webinar on the "Repercussions of the Now Taliban-led Afghanistan to Philippine National Defense, Security and Public Safety," held on Nov. 3, 2021]
TODAY's webinar aims to dissect a most troubling development in Afghanistan with potentially harmful repercussions for the Philippines and the world.
When Afghanistan fell to the Taliban three months ago with breathtaking speed, I recalled my days as chairman of the National Committee on Anti-hijacking and Terrorism, one of several hats I wore as Secretary of the Interior and Local Government under President Fidel Ramos.
In 1989, the USSR quit Afghanistan 10 years after invading it. Its government and economy were on the ropes. It eventually collapsed in 1991. While it was there, the US collaborated with Pakistan's ISI (or Inter-Services Intelligence) to fund, train and arm anti-Russian mujahideen and wage a successful CIA-directed guerrilla war against Russia. Among them was Osama bin Laden.
Radicalized Filipinos fought there, too, recruited from the ranks of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). They were aided by bin Laden's brother-in-law Jamaal Khalifa who operated a network of companies and NGOs to fund terrorist activities, and the travel needs of local and foreign elements.
When I was dispatched to Pakistan by President Ramos to meet with President Benazir Bhutto to firm up intelligence ties and, later, to other parts of the world for other missions in preparation for the first Counter-Terrorism Summit in Asia in February 2016, I was joined by a cross-section of the AFP-PNP-NSC community to meet their counterparts. Fighting terror required unity, solidarity and teamwork, and the team I brought along symbolized that.
Filipino recruits
Vital intelligence information was either obtained or confirmed in those trips. Among them:
– MILF chief Hashim Salamat had a direct line to Osama.
– Filipino recruits were sourced from the MNLF and MILF, and from Egyptian, Pakistani and Saudi Arabian universities. Others were radicalized overseas workers.
– Their cover was to undertake religious studies in Islamabad.
– The real intent was to smuggle them into Afghanistan for OJT, or "on-the-job-training," after receiving military training in Peshawar.
We also learned that:
– America left behind millions of firearms and heavy weapons, including Stinger Manpads, after the USSR retreated in defeat.
– Those weapons were smuggled out by gunrunners or by radical groups to wage their local wars of liberation through terror.
That explains, in a nutshell, the birth of the Abu Sayaff Group led by the late Abdurajak Janjalani, its long trail of terror to this day, and the source of inspiration for other jihadist black flag groups allied with either al-Qaida or the Daesh.
Afghanistan was al-Qaida's strategic base to wage its global war of terror against the US and allied countries. The Taliban protected it in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The once strategic partners against the USSR turned on each other to advance their now divergent core interests.
FYI, 9/11 had its origins in the Philippines, featuring al-Qaida's failed Oplan Bojinka — the plot to kill Pope John Paul 2nd and plant bombs on 11 US airliners including a kamikaze attack on the CIA's headquarters in Langley, Virginia. But that's another story for another time. I only brought it up because the train of events emanating from Afghanistan, from the 1980s to the present, have placed the Philippines in the crosshairs of terrorism and the global war on terror.
After 9/11, America returned to Afghanistan to find bin Laden. It also re-invaded Iraq. Yet, after Saddam Hussein was overthrown, and after bin Laden was killed in Pakistan, America stayed on. It sparked outrage that gave birth to other black flag groups, most especially the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or IS, known by its Arabic acronym Daesh, that unleashed waves of terror in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Near East and Southeast Asia. We were not spared.
We suffered many casualties — both uniformed and civilian — in ambushes, bombings, raids and massacres without any regard for collateral damage. Meanwhile, America's two-decades-long war on terror — its longest on record — resulted in failure after spending $2 trillion on its war machine and propping up interim governments.
Full circle
America's gone full circle with the Taliban. For 10 years, as mujahideen, they were allied against the USSR. Then, for 20 years, America and its NATO allies fought the Taliban. Despite its humiliation last August, America is offering to help the Taliban fight IS but, more likely, to fend off China's diplomatic advances to gain a foothold in Afghanistan. That only goes to show that in international relations there are no permanent friends, only permanent interests.
Meanwhile, the presence of Jemaah Islamiyah, al-Qaida's Southeast Asian arm, is still felt in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. Black flag-inspired groups are still terrorizing parts of Mindanao with Marawi as Exhibit A, and, most recently, the death of Salahuddin Hassan, leader of the Dawlah Islamiyah in Central Mindanao. With Afghanistan firmly in Taliban hands, with America trying to prevent them from orbiting around a pro-active China, terrorism could once again be exploited in the shadows and exported worldwide in unimaginable ways.
That backdrop was necessary to help me explain why we're holding today's webinar. The global war on terror involved military forces, police forces, and intelligence units from many nations and institutions where national defense, internal security and public safety policies, as well as planning and operations, were closely intertwined, where the principle of "need to share" information, expertise and resources is as crucial today against terrorism as yesterday's.
What steps, what measures?
Hence, our webinar today to discuss the complex situation and potential repercussions of Afghanistan's fall to the Taliban on our national defense, security and public safety.
– What steps have been taken by the Department of National Defense to deal with large-scale domestic and foreign threats with respect to reorienting, retraining, rearming and re-positioning the Armed Forces (AFP)?
– What measures are being undertaken by the DILG-PNP to detect and foil terror plots from harming society? Is it ready to take over the internal security role of the AFP?
– In what ways should the intelligence community be reinvented to ensure real-time situational awareness for all its stakeholders in the government?
– Is the Anti-Terrorism Act being effectively applied?
– What else is needed by way of legislation, executive orders and international agreements to effectively combat terrorism?
[Rafael M. Alunan 3rd chairs the Harvard Kennedy School Alumni Association Inc. and the Philippine Council for Foreign Relations. He served in the Cabinets of President Corazon C. Aquino and President Fidel V. Ramos as Secretary of Tourism and Secretary of the Interior and Local Government, respectively.]
[Remarks of Philippine Council on Foreign Relations Chairman Rafael Alunan 3rd, at a webinar on the "Repercussions of the Now Taliban-led Afghanistan to Philippine National Defense, Security and Public Safety," held on Nov. 3, 2021]
TODAY's webinar aims to dissect a most troubling development in Afghanistan with potentially harmful repercussions for the Philippines and the world.
When Afghanistan fell to the Taliban three months ago with breathtaking speed, I recalled my days as chairman of the National Committee on Anti-hijacking and Terrorism, one of several hats I wore as Secretary of the Interior and Local Government under President Fidel Ramos.
In 1989, the USSR quit Afghanistan 10 years after invading it. Its government and economy were on the ropes. It eventually collapsed in 1991. While it was there, the US collaborated with Pakistan's ISI (or Inter-Services Intelligence) to fund, train and arm anti-Russian mujahideen and wage a successful CIA-directed guerrilla war against Russia. Among them was Osama bin Laden.
Radicalized Filipinos fought there, too, recruited from the ranks of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). They were aided by bin Laden's brother-in-law Jamaal Khalifa who operated a network of companies and NGOs to fund terrorist activities, and the travel needs of local and foreign elements.
When I was dispatched to Pakistan by President Ramos to meet with President Benazir Bhutto to firm up intelligence ties and, later, to other parts of the world for other missions in preparation for the first Counter-Terrorism Summit in Asia in February 2016, I was joined by a cross-section of the AFP-PNP-NSC community to meet their counterparts. Fighting terror required unity, solidarity and teamwork, and the team I brought along symbolized that.
Filipino recruits
Vital intelligence information was either obtained or confirmed in those trips. Among them:
– MILF chief Hashim Salamat had a direct line to Osama.
– Filipino recruits were sourced from the MNLF and MILF, and from Egyptian, Pakistani and Saudi Arabian universities. Others were radicalized overseas workers.
– Their cover was to undertake religious studies in Islamabad.
– The real intent was to smuggle them into Afghanistan for OJT, or "on-the-job-training," after receiving military training in Peshawar.
We also learned that:
– America left behind millions of firearms and heavy weapons, including Stinger Manpads, after the USSR retreated in defeat.
– Those weapons were smuggled out by gunrunners or by radical groups to wage their local wars of liberation through terror.
That explains, in a nutshell, the birth of the Abu Sayaff Group led by the late Abdurajak Janjalani, its long trail of terror to this day, and the source of inspiration for other jihadist black flag groups allied with either al-Qaida or the Daesh.
Afghanistan was al-Qaida's strategic base to wage its global war of terror against the US and allied countries. The Taliban protected it in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The once strategic partners against the USSR turned on each other to advance their now divergent core interests.
FYI, 9/11 had its origins in the Philippines, featuring al-Qaida's failed Oplan Bojinka — the plot to kill Pope John Paul 2nd and plant bombs on 11 US airliners including a kamikaze attack on the CIA's headquarters in Langley, Virginia. But that's another story for another time. I only brought it up because the train of events emanating from Afghanistan, from the 1980s to the present, have placed the Philippines in the crosshairs of terrorism and the global war on terror.
After 9/11, America returned to Afghanistan to find bin Laden. It also re-invaded Iraq. Yet, after Saddam Hussein was overthrown, and after bin Laden was killed in Pakistan, America stayed on. It sparked outrage that gave birth to other black flag groups, most especially the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or IS, known by its Arabic acronym Daesh, that unleashed waves of terror in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Near East and Southeast Asia. We were not spared.
We suffered many casualties — both uniformed and civilian — in ambushes, bombings, raids and massacres without any regard for collateral damage. Meanwhile, America's two-decades-long war on terror — its longest on record — resulted in failure after spending $2 trillion on its war machine and propping up interim governments.
Full circle
America's gone full circle with the Taliban. For 10 years, as mujahideen, they were allied against the USSR. Then, for 20 years, America and its NATO allies fought the Taliban. Despite its humiliation last August, America is offering to help the Taliban fight IS but, more likely, to fend off China's diplomatic advances to gain a foothold in Afghanistan. That only goes to show that in international relations there are no permanent friends, only permanent interests.
Meanwhile, the presence of Jemaah Islamiyah, al-Qaida's Southeast Asian arm, is still felt in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. Black flag-inspired groups are still terrorizing parts of Mindanao with Marawi as Exhibit A, and, most recently, the death of Salahuddin Hassan, leader of the Dawlah Islamiyah in Central Mindanao. With Afghanistan firmly in Taliban hands, with America trying to prevent them from orbiting around a pro-active China, terrorism could once again be exploited in the shadows and exported worldwide in unimaginable ways.
That backdrop was necessary to help me explain why we're holding today's webinar. The global war on terror involved military forces, police forces, and intelligence units from many nations and institutions where national defense, internal security and public safety policies, as well as planning and operations, were closely intertwined, where the principle of "need to share" information, expertise and resources is as crucial today against terrorism as yesterday's.
What steps, what measures?
Hence, our webinar today to discuss the complex situation and potential repercussions of Afghanistan's fall to the Taliban on our national defense, security and public safety.
– What steps have been taken by the Department of National Defense to deal with large-scale domestic and foreign threats with respect to reorienting, retraining, rearming and re-positioning the Armed Forces (AFP)?
– What measures are being undertaken by the DILG-PNP to detect and foil terror plots from harming society? Is it ready to take over the internal security role of the AFP?
– In what ways should the intelligence community be reinvented to ensure real-time situational awareness for all its stakeholders in the government?
– Is the Anti-Terrorism Act being effectively applied?
– What else is needed by way of legislation, executive orders and international agreements to effectively combat terrorism?
[Rafael M. Alunan 3rd chairs the Harvard Kennedy School Alumni Association Inc. and the Philippine Council for Foreign Relations. He served in the Cabinets of President Corazon C. Aquino and President Fidel V. Ramos as Secretary of Tourism and Secretary of the Interior and Local Government, respectively.]
https://www.manilatimes.net/2021/11/06/opinion/columns/issues-emerging-from-1980s-afghanistan-place-ph-in-the-cross-hairs-of-global-terror/1821126
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.