Taliban shows red eyes to Bangladesh

by Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury

(October 04, Dhaka, Sri Lanka Guardian) Local Islamists and pro-Taliban groups inside Bangladesh are actively trying to convince policymakers in the country in not sending troops to Afghanistan to join international forces there.

Meanwhile, Taliban have warned Bangladesh against sending troops to Afghanistan. The warning came after the US requested Dhaka to send combat forces to help the coalition forces in the war-ravaged country.

Richard Holbrooke, US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, made the plea for troops at a meeting with Foreign Minister Dipu Moni in New York during last week of September 2010. Mr. Holbrooke said Bangladeshi troops could help ensure security and stability in the war-torn Afghanistan. Bangladesh foreign minister assured the US envoy of further talks on the issue.

Should the government of Bangladesh accede to the American request, it would become the 48th official Troop Contributing Nation for NATO's International Security Assistance Force [ISAF] and the seventh Asia-Pacific nation to provide troops to the North Atlantic military alliance for its war in South Asia, one which has further advanced across Afghanistan's eastern border into Pakistan with marked ferocity during the past few weeks. NATO will have gained another major ally in the building of its Asian complement using the Afghan-Pakistani war theatre as the grounds for integrating the armed forces of countries on the other side of the world from the North Atlantic for what is expanding into a global U.S.-led military network.

Bangladesh's combat forces would join military units from Malaysia, Mongolia, Singapore, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand among Asia-Pacific countries, with a report that a 275-troop marine contingent from Tonga is also to arrive in Afghanistan soon. Japan has personnel assigned to NATO's Provincial Reconstruction Teams in the country and in the past has supplied the U.S. with naval assistance for the war effort.

The inclusion of Bangladesh into the ranks of NATO's ISAF, however, would constitute a milestone in two key ways. It would be the only country in South Asia with troops in the war zone aside from the two nations in which the expanding conflict is being fought: Afghanistan and Pakistan. And Bangladesh would be the second most populous state contributing to NATO's military campaign, only surpassed by the U.S., as it has the seventh largest population in the world at 160 million.

Following this meeting Taliban have responded by posting messages in Arabic and Pashto on its website and Jihadist forums calling on Dhaka to spurn the US request.

"[We] believe that the leader of Bangladesh has enough Islamic knowledge and political wit not to involve his [Sic] people in the fight against Islam and against the Afghan people by sending a few hundred soldiers to Afghanistan," the message read.

"Assuming that the leader would commit such a historic mistake, the religious Muslim people of Bangladesh will not allow their leaders to assist the eternal enemy of Islam against an Islamic neighboring country."

Meanwhile, several pro-Islamist or pro-leftist politicians, social activists and a section of anti-US media including The Daily Star is continuing massive campaign with the motive of putting pressure on Bangladeshi policymakers in not sending any troops to Afghanistan. It may be mentioned here that, The Daily Stat leads anti-US and anti-Semitic propaganda in Bangladesh with its current status as Bangladesh’s largest English language daily newspaper. On the other hand, US and European nations are continuing to support and cooperating this newspaper without evaluating it’s anti-West and anti-Semitic notion.

It is clearly understood that, anti-West media and figures in Bangladesh are actively raising voice against sending troops to Afghanistan, when the current government in Dhaka is actively moving ahead with firm determination in combating militant Islam and religious militancy. It may be mentioned here that, for years, Islamists and leftists have formed hidden alliance with the goal of combating United States, Israel and the West.

Obaidul Quader, presidium member of the ruling Bangladesh Awami League was quoted by anti-US newspaper The Daily Star saying “the government must consider the socio-political impact and reality before taking a decision on the matter. The US can make a request, but we have our own reality and limitations,”

Mujahidul Islam Selim, general secretary of Communist Party of Bangladesh, termed America's request for troops “audacious”.

“It is entirely their [US] strategic matter and so there's no question of sending our troops there,” he said.

“The US dares to make such request because of submissive policy taken by every government of our country,” the communist leader observed.

Hasanul Haque Inu, president of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal [leftist party], said "We don't accept American interferences in different countries in the name of War on Terror."

Writer, journalist and activist Shahriar Kabir said, "I don't consider the Taliban threat important, but in principle I think we should not send troops to Afghanistan.”

Anti-US, anti-Israel and anti-West groups in the Muslim country are always seen active in various actions and statements, which ultimately goes in favor of religious militancy and militant Islam. Such activities are remarkably intensifying in Bangladesh when it is slowly becoming an attractive haven for international terrorist groups, including Al Qaida. Pakistani groups such as the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba [LeT] and Jaish-e-Mohammad [JeM] that are affiliated with Al Qaida reportedly have a presence in the country. Several LeT operatives were arrested last year from a madrassa in Chittagong, Bangladesh's main seaport and second-largest city. Rogue elements from within Pakistan's intelligence agency reportedly provided the support structure for LeT and other terror groups to operate in Bangladesh. Following increased security and counter-terrorist operations in Southeast Asia, Jemaah Islamiya leader and alleged mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, Hambali, planned on shifting his operatives to Bangladesh. In fact Hambali was on his way to Bangladesh when he was arrested in Thailand in August 2003. Despite the crackdown, the government still faces challenges from Islamic radicals and violent extremists seeking to destabilize the country's democratic institutions and establish Sharia law.

The Islami Oikya Jote is alleged to have ties to the extremist HuJI-B, a group on the U.S. State Department's list of terrorist organizations. HuJI-B was founded in 1992 by Bangladeshi mujahedin returning from Afghanistan reportedly with assistance from Osama bin Laden. The organization is a signatory to bin Laden's 1998 fatwa that declared holy war against America and her allies. The group is also tied to the January 2002 attack on the American Center in Kolkata.

Foreign-linked Islamist charities play a significant role in financing religious extremism in Bangladesh. After the August 2005 terrorist bombings, Bangladeshi intelligence agencies issued a report accusing Mideast-based NGOs operating in the country of funneling cash to extremist groups. The report exposed a "deep-rooted" nexus between the charities and leaders of the JI and the Islami Oikya Jote. Five foreign officials working for the charity Revival of the Islamic Heritage Society [RIHS] were deported from the country following the August attacks. Before joining the RIHS, the five had worked for Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation [AIF] in Bangladesh, a U.S.-designated Saudi charity linked to Al Qaida. In April 2006, the Central Bank of Bangladesh fined Islami Bank, the country's largest Sharia lender, for violating anti-money laundering laws by wiring funds to extremists.

There has been an explosive growth of madrassas [Islamic schools] and kindergarten madrassas in the country, several reportedly funded by Saudi charities. Madrassas have been known to provide weapons training in some remote parts of the country. The Chittagong Hill Tracts region of Bangladesh, for instance, is notorious for its radical madrassas and HuJI-B is alleged to run several training camps in the region. It has also been reported that a staggeringly high proportion of army recruits come from madrassas, resulting in deepening Islamist penetration within the ranks of the Bangladeshi army.

While there is clear sign from the current government in Dhaka of taking all necessary steps in combating local, regional and international militancy as well as consider US request for sending Bangladeshi troops to Afghanistan, anti-US newspaper The Daily Star is continuing to spread anti-US venom through numerous editorials and opeds.

In one of its recent editorials, written by its editor [Defence and Strategic Affairs], Brig. General Mahbub Anam Khan, it said, “If Bangladesh were to concede to the request it would be the first Muslim country (except of course Turkey which has deployed troops as a part of Nato) to provide combat elements to the war in Afghanistan. Although the UAE, Turkey, Jordan and Egypt are cited as important Muslim countries by many western analysts to show that the US is not without Muslim allies, none of these countries has combat troops on the ground, and Egypt has only a field hospital in Bagram air base. Does our being a Muslim majority country have anything to do with the request?

“It is not for the first time that we have been asked to join the US military bandwagon. The first was in Operation Desert Storm, for which a host of armies from Muslim countries were arrayed to retake Kuwait from Saddam. We had very little option then but to join in, given the hints that were dropped of the consequences if we did not.

“Saddam's occupation of Kuwait was a godsend opportunity for the US to establish a firm foothold in the most geo-strategically important region in the world. Kuwait occupation was encouraged by the US too; recall the comments of the US ambassador to Iraq, April Gillespie, who, shortly before the invasion, was called to a meeting with Saddam and told him: "We have no opinion on the Arab-Arab conflicts, like your border disagreement with Kuwait."

“Which way is the Afghan war going? According to a reputed US analyst on the Middle East, nobody seems to have the answer to the three essential questions, which are, what the US goal in Afghanistan is and what is their mission and strategy there? Obviously there is only one way the war can go -- down. But then there is also a moral issue here.

“The war is not being conducted in the most principled manner. It is in part waged also by the CIA through its secret army as Bob Woodward revealed in his new book "Obama's Wars." And it looks as if the US is trying to make the drone attacks a strategy for success. And many believe that the US goal in Afghanistan is more than "to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaeda's headquarters in Afghanistan and Pakistan and ensure that it no longer is a sanctuary for terrorism against America and the rest of the world."

“An unequivocal NO should be the immediate and only reply to the US request. And it is not only because the Taliban has threatened us with grave consequences if we did so but because there are also moral issues associated with it apart from the question of our national interest. But then there is also the risk of US wrath that could fall on us in subtler ways than the fury of the Taliban. We have to choose between which is the worst and which of the two we are better prepared to resist and survive.”

It is time for everyone to witness if finally Bangladesh government will stand firm on its commitment in combating Islamist militancy and immediately send troops to Afghanistan or simply bow-down to the nefarious propaganda of the anti-Us, anti-West and pro-Islamist elements inside the country.