Word: chechnya
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...roots in Afghanistan, investigators now think that the "Afghan" nature of the group is subtly changing. The war against the Soviets ended in 1991. Increasingly, al-Qaeda's captains in the field are too young ever to have fought in Afghanistan, though some may have joined Islamic brigades in Chechnya--or in Bosnia, as Abu Zubaydah did. Many of the new fighters were born and raised not in the Arab lands but in the Muslim communities of Europe, around which they travel with ease. And there is a growing sense that a number of them are "Takfiris," followers...
...happen," Daymi says. Adam Armstrong, 35, a Luton teacher who converted to Islam in 1989 because he felt "something was missing" in his life, endorses that view. The volunteers, however few, are "devout Muslims, often university students," he says, the sort of idealists who used to go to Chechnya and now go to Afghanistan. Asked why mostly Britons seem to have volunteered so far, he said that Muslims are better organized in Britain, often have families in Pakistan or Kashmir and enjoy greater freedom of movement. There are no national identity cards, giving authorities less knowledge of their whereabouts...
...FINANCIAL BACKING] ITALY [ARRESTS/DETENTIONS][FOILED TERRORIST ATTACK] ALBANIA [ARRESTS/DETENTIONS] [FOILED TERRORIST ATTACK] TUNISIA MAURITANIA [ARRESTS/DETENTIONS] ALGERIA CZECH REPUBLIC KOSOVO LIBYA LEBANON [ARRESTS/DETENTIONS] JORDAN [ARRESTS/DETENTIONS] KUWAIT [FINANCIAL BACKING] QATAR U.A.E. [ARRESTS/DETENTIONS] [FINANCIAL BACKING] ERITREA ETHIOPIA [FINANCIAL BACKING] [TERRORIST ATTACK] UGANDA [TERRORIST ATTACK] [ARRESTS/DETENTIONS] KENYA [TERRORIST ATTACK][ARRESTS/DETENTIONS] TANZANIA [TERRORIST ATTACK] CHECHNYA, RUSSIA AZERBAIJAN [ARRESTS/DETENTIONS] UZBEKISTAN KYRGYZSTAN TAJIKISTAN BANGLADESH MALAYSIA [ARRESTS/DETENTIONS...
...Alliance victory, there may have been other factors weighing on the Taliban's decision to retreat rather than make a stand so far north of the movement's Pashtun heartland. Many of the Taliban's fighters in Mazar were reportedly not Afghan at all, but hardcore volunteers from Pakistan, Chechnya and the Arab world. That, and the history of bloody massacres each time Mazar-i-Sharif has changed hands precluded the possibility of surrender, and the overwhelming hostility of the local population to the Taliban left them little chance of prevailing in a street-by-street battle. Alliance commanders were...
...sure, surrender was never an option for the 5,000 Taliban troops defending the city. Many of them are reportedly not Afghan at all, but hardcore volunteers from Pakistan, Chechnya and the Arab world. And the history of bloody massacres each time Mazar-i-Sharif has changed hands in recent years gives them every incentive to fight to the last man. On the other hand, the Taliban forces were considered outside occupiers by the city's residents, most of whom are ethnic Hazaris whose Shia brand of Islam is held in contempt by the Sunni Taliban - and the Alliance...