Afghan Arabs

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A generally ineffective group of fighters in the Soviet-Afghan War, the spin surrounding the Arab fighters enhanced their reputation, giving them almost hero status within the Arab world for defeating the “godless communists”. Most famous among their number is Osama bin Laden.

1 Origin
2 Composition
3 After the war with the Soviets
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Origin

Sheikh Abdullah Yusuf Azzam (1941–1989) is often credited with creating enthusiasm for the Afghan mujahideen cause in the Arab Muslim and greater Muslim world. When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979, Shaikh Azzam issued a fatwa, Defense of the Muslim Lands, the First Obligation after Faith ^[1] declaring defense jihad in Afghanistan fard ayn (a personal obligation) for all Muslims. While Jihad in Palestine was more important: "Whoever can, from among the Arabs, fight jihad in Palestine, then he must start there. And, if he is not capable, then he must set out for Afghanistan." For practical reasons, "It is our opinion that we should begin [Jihad] with Afghanistan before Palestine." ^[2]The edict was supported by other Shiekhs including Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti (highest religious scholar), Abd al-Aziz Bin Bazz.

Sometime after 1980, Adullah Azzam established Maktab al-Khadamat (Services Office) to organize guest houses in Peshawar just across the Afghan border in Pakistan and paramilitary training camps in Afghanistan to prepare international recruits for the Afghan war front. Using financing of a wealthy young Saudi recruit, Osama bin Laden, Maktab al-Khadamat paid for "air tickets and accommodation, dealt with paperwork with Pakistani authorities and provided other such services for the jihad fighters" from the Muslim world.

Its estimated that Azzam organizing paramilitary training for more than 20,000 Muslim recruits from about 20 countries around the world. Abdullah_Yusuf_Azzam#Life_in_Pakistan_and_Afghanistan

[edit] Composition

One company of the Arabs recruited to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan comprised an estimated 10,000 men, not all of whom saw combat. They included some 2,000 Egyptians, 2,800 Algerians, 400 Tunisians, 370 Iraqis, 300 Yemenis, 200 Libyans, hundreds of Jordanians and other Arabs.

[edit] After the war with the Soviets

In Foreign Affairs Peter Bergen writes:

The foreign volunteers in Afghanistan saw the Soviet defeat as a victory for Islam against a superpower that had invaded a Muslim country. Estimates of the number of foreign fighters who fought in Afghanistan begin in the low thousands; some spent years in combat, while others came only for what amounted to a jihad vacation. The jihadists gained legitimacy and prestige from their triumph both within the militant community and among ordinary Muslims, as well as the confidence to carry their jihad to other countries where they believed Muslims required assistance. When veterans of the guerrilla campaign returned home with their experience, ideology, and weapons, they destabilized once-tranquil countries and inflamed already unstable ones.^[3]

After the war, many stayed in Afghanistan and took Afghan wives. Others returned to their home countries, often getting into trouble for political agitation. In a most extreme case fighters established in Algeria the Armed Islamic Group, a group who aim it was to overthrow the government in that country.

They made up an essential core of the foot soldiers of Al-Qaeda. During the American campaign in Afghanistan in late 2001, many coherent units of Arab fighters were destroyed by JDAMs. Some Arab fighters have been held by Afghan tribesman for ransom paid by Americans.^[4]