Edition: U.S. / Global

A NATION CHALLENGED; Qaeda's Grocery Lists And Manuals of Killing

Published: March 17, 2002
(Page 3 of 5)

Harkat members fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan, but their true obsession was India's control of the disputed territory of Kashmir. In the moldering basement of the group's Kabul house, amid rocket-propelled grenades, ammunition boxes and land mines, sat boxes of glossy green labels for a recruiting cassette featuring ''sermons of distinguished Muslim scholars'' and ''jihadi poems.''

Fighters from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan had a different agenda: installing an Islamic government in Uzbekistan, and ultimately uniting Central Asia and Xinjiang, a predominantly Muslim region of western China, into an sprawling Islamic theocracy called Turkestan.

''All the Muslim people of Turkestan have lost their patience and have chosen the holy road to emigration for preparing for jihad-in-the-way-of-God,'' said a flier found in the headquarters of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan in Mazar-i-Sharif. ''Thank God that all these new immigrants have completed jihad training and are prepared for practical jihad.''

Push-Ups and Sit-Ups

A sprawling training camp in the serene farming village of Rishkhor, 20 miles south of Kabul, is mostly rubble now. Walls are still painted with Koranic verses and slogans invoking the jihad. ''All the Christians, Jews and infidels have joined hands against Afghanistan,'' one poster begins. Bombing by American fighters last fall destroyed all but two of the dozen or so buildings and turned fields into a landscape of craters. The ground is littered with unexploded mines and unspent ammunition. Everywhere there is paper.

Documents from Rishkhor -- where Afghans, Pakistanis and Arabs trained -- along with records, notebooks and manuals found elsewhere in Afghanistan, show that recruits received the kind of regimented, demanding basic training that infantry soldiers get in much of the world, but with steady infusions of Islamic fervor. This is reflected in the ''Rules for the Day'' found at a Harkat house. It declares:

''Follow all Islamic principles.

''Pray five times a day.

''Punctual for food.

''No ammunition training without the permission of the teacher.


''Clean beds and tents once a week.

''Clean the environment.

''Do not leave compound.

''No political discussions.

''No arguments.

''No drugs.

''Go to bed early.''

Physical training began at 6 a.m., according to a schedule found at the house. Calisthenics performance was scrupulously monitored. One morning, a recruit named Abu Turab led his class of 38, knocking off 45 push-ups and 40 sit-ups and crawling 25 meters in 21 seconds, according to a chart.

Abu Rashid was in the middle of the pack, with 30 push-ups, 30 sit-ups and 35 seconds in the crawl. Even injured men took part. Abu Hanza, who the chart noted had a wounded hand, and Asad Ullah, with a wounded leg, did 30 sit-ups each and crawled 25 yards in 23 seconds. (They skipped push-ups.)

Others struggled to make the grade. Saif Ullah took a full 60 seconds to crawl those 25 yards. Others labored to complete a group run. Khalid was ''slightly behind,'' Abdullah ''cannot run along,'' and Asad Ullah ''stopped three times,'' according to the chart. Tipu Sultan appeared to be the worst of all, managing only 11 push-ups and 10 sit-ups and skipping the group run. His name was scratched off the list.

After their workout, recruits took a break, presumably for breakfast, and returned for basic infantry classes from 8:30 to 9:10, 9:15 to 10:40 and 11:10 to 12:35. After lunch and prayers, the afternoon was for Koran study, sports and lectures. Students answered essay questions. ''It is not easy to write on martyrs such as these,'' one said in answering a question on the lives of the great Muslim martyrs. ''The pen does not give them their due.''

Classes at the different camps followed the same basic infantry lesson plan. A training notebook from a recruit named Muhammad Rashid Arghany moved through the use of the Kalashnikov, rocket-propelled grenades, mortars, map reading and celestial navigation. The course was highly detailed, and the recruit appears to have taken handwritten notes every step of the way.

Military instruction drew on religious doctrine. ''Without a sign from the leader you should not retreat,'' read the notes of a student in a class on ambush tactics. ''Because the Koran says: 'Do not retreat, but stay steady; in time of war there is no death. My only power is the power of Allah.' ''

The instructor emphasized the importance for gunmen to remain completely still while laying in wait. ''This is very difficult work, and therefore in order to save oneself from melancholy, and selfishness and confusion, you must remain in prayer and meditation on Allah,'' the class notes say.

The notebook goes on to describe how to carry out a coordinated infantry assault, a carefully timed maneuver in which infantrymen advance while support troops on their flank fire directly in front of them. If the timing is off, the advancing soldiers can be killed by the fire of their comrades.

''If he is hit by their own bullets or if the enemy's fire becomes intense, do not become upset, but do your work with patience and care,'' the notes say. The lecturer explained that a soldier killed by his own forces would still be considered a ''shahid,'' or martyr, and be granted immediate entrance to heaven.