JULY 2010 . VOL 3 . ISSUE 7 COMBATING TERRORISM CENTER AT WEST POINT CTC SENTINEL OBJECTIVE . RELEVANT . RIGOROUS Contents The Mysterious Relationship FEATURE ARTICLE 1 The Mysterious Relationship Between Between Al-Qa`ida and Iran Al-Qa`ida and Iran By Bruce Riedel By Bruce Riedel REPORTS 4 Al-Shabab’s Agenda in the Wake of the Kampala Suicide Attacks By Tim Pippard 6 The Punjabi Taliban: Causes and Consequences of Turning Against the State By Ben Brandt 10 The Ghazi Force: A Threat to Pakistan’s Urban Centers By Syed Manzar Abbas Zaidi 12 Pakistan’s Challenges in Orakzai Agency By Tayyab Ali Shah 14 The Growing Threat of Female Suicide Attacks in Western Countries By Houriya Ahmed 18 Countering Terrorist Financing: Successes and Setbacks in the Years Since 9/11 By Michael Jonsson he relationship between al- al-Qa`ida and its Taliban allies may 21 Recent Highlights in Terrorist Activity Qa`ida and Iran is shrouded be outweighed by a desire to find ways 24 CTC Sentinel Staff & Contacts in mystery. Before and after to spoil U.S. interests in the region. the September 11 attacks on Similarly, as Washington ratchets up the Tthe United States, al-Qa`ida operatives pressure on al-Qa`ida in Pakistan, Usama transited Iran, and some found sanctuary bin Ladin and al-Qa`ida may find Iran a in the country after fleeing Afghanistan more attractive partner. Thus, what has in late 2001. Yet the hints of occasional been a hostile relationship could become operational cooperation between al- a more collaborative one. About the CTC Sentinel Qa`ida and Iran are outweighed by the The Combating Terrorism Center is an considerable and public evidence of the This article reviews the historical independent educational and research deep animosity between Sunni extremist relationship between al-Qa`ida and Iran institution based in the Department of Social al-Qa`ida and Shi`a extremist Iran. before examining the factors that could Sciences at the United States Military Academy, Antipathy for each other is at the root of cause the two entities to work together West Point. The CTC Sentinel harnesses their ideologies and narratives, and it has against the United States and its allies. the Center’s global network of scholars and been most visible in their competition for practitioners to understand and confront influence in Iraq and Afghanistan. Background contemporary threats posed by terrorism and The evidence for a secret relationship other forms of political violence. This dynamic may change, however, between al-Qa`ida and Iran is significant, if the United States and Iran move but largely limited and the facts quite toward confrontation or even conflict murky. The 9/11 Commission’s report The views expressed in this report are those of over the Iranian government’s nuclear concluded that there is evidence of the authors and not of the U.S. Military Academy, weapons ambitions. As tensions between contacts among al-Qa`ida, the Iranian the Department of the Army, or any other agency Washington and Tehran increase, Shi`a government and Iran’s Lebanese Hizb of the U.S. Government. antipathy for Sunni jihadists such as Allah ally dating back to Usama bin 1 JULY 2010 . VOL 3 . ISSUE 7 Ladin’s years in Khartoum in the mid- with an associate of a senior Hizb Allah Bin Ladin’s son, Sa`ad, reportedly left 1990s.1 During this time, it is possible official.6 Khalid Shaykh Muhammad Iran in 2008.12 The circumstances are that Hizb Allah provided some training and Ramzi bin al-Shibh, two captured unclear about whether he was released to future al-Qa`ida operatives, as Sudan al-Qa`ida operatives, confirmed that by Iranian authorities or if he escaped. was a watering hole for virtually every 8-10 of the 9/11 hijackers at some point One of Bin Ladin’s daughters left Iran terrorist and extremist group in the Middle between October 2000 and February for Saudi Arabia this year via Syria.13 East. As a result, it would not be surprising 2001 transited Iran on their way to or After the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, for the nascent al-Qa`ida group to have from Afghanistan “taking advantage it is clear that al-Qa`ida messengers encountered the Iranian Revolutionary of the Iranian practice of not stamping transited Iran to get from Pakistan to Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Iranian Saudi passports.”7 What is not clear in Iraq. The Iranian authorities apparently Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS). the report is whether Iran gave these at least tolerated such transit if not travelers any treatment different from facilitated it; they likely see such Some sources, including the 9/11 that provided to other Saudis transiting transfers as a relatively low risk method Commission, have suggested more than Iran to Afghanistan in 2001.8 to keep the United States bogged down mere contact, alleging that the two may in two wars and therefore less likely to have collaborated in the attack on the The bottom line of the 9/11 Commission’s focus its attention on Iran. U.S. Air Force barracks in Khobar, report, however, is unequivocal. It states Saudi Arabia in 1996. In the CTC that both Khalid Shaykh Muhammad Hostile Enemies? and Ramzi bin al-Shibh categorically On the other side of the ledger, the denied any relationship between the animosity between Iran and al-Qa`ida “Al-Qa`ida’s rebuke to hijackers and Hizb Allah. On Iran, the is public and abundantly clear. For Hizb Allah and Iran for commission concluded, “we have found al-Qa`ida and its allies such as the no evidence that Iran or Hizballah was Taliban, Shi`a are not true Muslims and being ‘soft’ on Israel may aware of the planning for what later should be treated as outcasts at best, if strike many in the West as became the 9/11 attack.”9 not apostates. For Iran, the Taliban and al-Qa`ida are bigots who abuse Shi`a. peculiar, but it is a visible After 9/11: Al-Qa`ida Operatives in Iran The Taliban harshly repressed Afghan manifestation of the depth After September 2001, several al-Qa`ida Hazara Shi`a in the 1990s, murdering operatives, including one of Bin Ladin’s thousands when it took over their of divide between the sons and other relatives, fled to Iran to towns and cities in 1998. The Taliban Sunni and Shi`a jihads.” escape the debacle of the collapse of the murdered several Iranian diplomats as Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Some well in 1998, and the two almost went to of these individuals have remained war over the incident.14 in Iran ever since. Their status has Sentinel, however, Thomas Hegghammer never been clear; some reports suggest Al-Qa`ida was an enthusiastic and made clear that the evidence for they are under house arrest or even in public supporter of the Taliban in its such collaboration is unconvincing.2 prison. Other reports say they are free conflict with Tehran, a lonely voice of Moreover, evidence that emerged in the to operate. It has been reported that support at the time that probably helped decade after the attack, reviewed by the these Iran-based al-Qa`ida cells played cement Bin Ladin’s relationship with author, also suggests that al-Qa`ida did a support role in the al-Qa`ida attacks Taliban leader Mullah Omar. Al-Qa`ida not have involvement in the Khobar on foreigners living in Riyadh on May provided troops and money for the fight attacks.3 Bin Ladin has said the same.4 12, 2003 that killed 35 people, including against Iran’s Northern Alliance allies. eight Americans.10 It has also been The IRGC and MOIS were consistent The 9/11 Commission’s report also found suggested that the Iranian government supporters of al-Qa`ida’s Afghan that a senior Hizb Allah official visited may be using its al-Qa`ida detainees enemy, the Northern Alliance, and Saudi Arabia in October 2000 to assist as hostages to help dissuade the had operatives in Afghanistan before Saudis traveling to Afghanistan.5 Three terrorist group from attacking Iranian and after 9/11. When the first Central of the 9/11 hijackers reportedly traveled interests. Tehran may also have hoped Intelligence Agency team arrived in the from Saudi Arabia to Beirut, then to to trade them to the United States for Pansjhir Valley in late 2001 to overthrow Iran and into Afghanistan on a flight Mujahidin-i-Khalq leaders captured in the Taliban and al-Qa`ida, they found Iraq in 2003.11 Their value to the Iranian that the Iranians were already active in 15 1 The 9/11 Commission Report (New York: W.W. Norton government may change over time. the area. & Co., 2004). 2 Thomas Hegghammer, “Deconstructing the Myth 6 Ibid. 12 “Bin Laden Son Saad Left Iran, Now in Pakistan-US,” about al-Qa`ida and Khobar,” CTC Sentinel 1:3 (2008). 7 Ibid. Reuters, January 16, 2009. 3 The author was present at the Khobar Towers hours 8 Ibid. 13 “Bin Laden’s Daughter Set Free from Iran,” CBS/AP, after the attack. During the next decade, the author re- 9 Ibid. March 23, 2010. viewed all the available evidence on the attack and did 10 Douglas Jehl and Eric Schmitt, “US Suggests a Qaeda 14 “Taliban Threatens Retaliation if Iran Strikes,” CNN, not find an al-Qa`ida hand in the operation. Cell in Iran Directed Saudi Bombings,” New York Times, September 15, 1998.