Alex Strick van Linschoten - An Enemy We Created: The Myth of the Taliban-Al Qaeda Merger in Afghanistan

AN ENEMY WE CREATED

ALEX STRICK VAN LINSCHOTEN AND FELIX KUEHN

The Myth of the Taliban-Al Qaeda Merger in Afghanistan

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Strick van Linschoten, Alex.
An enemy we created : the myth of the Taliban-al Qaeda merger in Afghanistan / Alex Strick van
Linschoten and Felix Kuehn.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-19-992731-9 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. TalibanHistory. 2. Qaida (Organization)History.
3. AfghanistanHistory20th century. 4. AfghanistanHistory20015. War on Terrorism, 20012009.
6. TerrorismReligious aspectsIslam. I. Kuehn, Felix, 1979 II. Title.
DS371.3.S758 2012

958.104dc23 2012006855

1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2

Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper

Any manuscript of this size necessarily involves the input and assistance of a large number of different voices and perspectives. First and foremost, it would have been impossible to conduct our research without the support of Afghan friends and colleagues in Afghanistan, particularly in Kandahar. Unfortunately, the ongoing conflict means we cannot name individuals out of concern for their safety, but we hope they know who they are and how important they were (and are) to our ability to do this kind of work. This project would simply not have happened were it not for this help.

An Enemy We Created was originally commissioned as a study for New York Universitys Center on International Cooperation. Barney Rubin (as Senior Fellow and Director of Studies) was instrumental in ensuring we could get on with our research uninterrupted and was extremely patient with our late submission of the draft manuscript back in October 2010. Jake Sherman and Tom Gregg were extremely helpful with the administrative side of the project. Funding from the Center on International Cooperation was important in allowing us to translate key texts and to facilitate our research.

Our interviews for this project were conducted in several countries. In Afghanistan, these ranged from government members and tribal elders to Taliban fighters, more senior members of the movements political cadre, as well as ordinary people, too. We spoke with journalists, analysts and researcher colleagues based in and outside Afghanistan, and humanitarian and political practitioners themselves.

These included: Abdullah Anas; Orzala Ashraf; Martine van Bijlert; Vahid Brown; Bob Churcher; Faisal Devji; Vanda Feldab-Brown; Kathy Gannon; Antonio Giustozzi; Joanna Nathan; Gretchen Peters; Ahmed Rashid; Naeem Rashid; Michael Semple; Saleem Shahzad; James Shinn; Brendan Simms; Yaro-slav Trofimov; Francesc Vendrell; and Marvin Weinbaum. There were many other encounters in Europe and in the United States. We thank them all for taking the time to talk to us. In addition, Sebastian Dietrich helped find some very useful out-of-print documents for us; Naira Antoun conducted an interview on our behalf in London as well as some background research; David Rohde generously helped find some documents left in Kabul in 2001 by Afghan Taliban and foreign fighters.

We want to express our thanks, too, to Peter and Margaret Ann McCann and the staff of Castle Craig in Scotland for hosting us for several weeks in late 2010 while we were finishing the first draft of the manuscript. Similarly, in Germany, Klaus, Inge and Peter Kuehns continued support has been invaluable.

Our research required a fairly complex technical back-end and we were lucky to receive advice and support from Mark Anderson, Mark Bernstein, Nathan Matsias and Stacey Mason; all helped with the tricky-yet-indispensable Tinderbox programme.

Early drafts (partial and full) of the manuscript were read by a small group of some of the best minds working on these issues: Mariam Abou Zahab; Matthieu Aikins; Steve Coll; Gilles Dorronsoro; Jere van Dyk; Andrea Binder; Joshua Foust; Marcus Geisser; Tom Gregg; Thomas Hegghammer; Ron Neumann; William Reeve; David Rohde; Barney Rubin; Thomas Ruttig; and Farida Strickel. We are grateful for their comments and suggestions. This book is better for it, although needless to say any errors and omissions remain ours and ours alone.

Among this group a few friends went above and beyond in their help: Christian Bleuer delivered voluminous and useful criticism; Leah Farrallone of the top unknown scholars working on al-Qaeda-related issuesprovided constant and dependable feedback over the course of the past year; Anand Gopalsurely the best new-generation writer researching the Taliban and their Afghan affiliatesgenerously offered his time and titbits from his research archive throughout; Anatol Lieven was happy to discuss Pakistan and India at length on multiple occasions; Jean MacKenzie continued to offer us a roof over our heads whenever when we were in Kabul and kept us regularly supplied with good conversation and pizza; Graeme Smiththe grandfather of post-2001 journalism and research in southern Afghanistanpatiently kept in touch and offered his advice throughout.

Larry Landrigan offered painstakingly detailed line edits of the entire text when we were going through the final proofs.

We have been very lucky with our publisher. Hurst punches well above its weight in the leagues of serious scholarship, and we are glad to be able to call Michael Dwyer our friend as well as our editor.

The authors also wish to thank O.W. and S.I..

A history in which every particular incident may be true may on the whole be false.

Thomas Babington Macaulay

Human life could scarcely go on without myths. Certainly politics cannot.

John Gray, Al Qaeda and what it means to be modern

There are no pure ideas and straight lines in the history of great events.