Mujahideen

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A Mujahid (Arabic: مجاهد, muǧāhid, literally "struggler", "justice-fighter" or "freedom-fighter") is a Muslim fighter.^[1] The plural is mujahideen^[2] (Arabic: مجاهدين‎, muǧāhidīn). The word is from the same Arabic triliteral as jihad ("struggle").

Mujahideen is also transliterated from Arabic as mujahedin, mujahedeen, mudžahedin, mudžahidin, mujahidīn, muđahedin, mujaheddīn and variants.

Afghanistan

Afghan mujahideen passing around the Durand Line border in 1985.

The best-known mujahideen were the various loosely aligned Afghan opposition groups, which initially rebelled against the incumbent pro-Soviet Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA) government during the late 1970s. At the DRA's request, the Soviet Union intervened. The mujahideen then fought against Soviet and DRA troops during the Soviet war in Afghanistan. After the Soviet Union pulled out of the conflict in the late 1980s the mujahideen fought each other in the subsequent Afghan Civil War.^[3]

Afghanistan's resistance movement was born in chaos and, at first, virtually all of its war was waged locally by regional warlords. As warfare became more sophisticated, outside support and regional coordination grew. Even so, the basic units of mujahideen organization and action continued to reflect the highly segmented nature of Afghan society.^[4] Eventually, the seven main mujahideen parties allied themselves into the political bloc called Islamic Unity of Afghanistan Mujahideen.

Many Muslims from other countries assisted the various mujahideen groups in Afghanistan, and gained significant bombs in suicidal warfare. Some groups of these veterans have been significant factors in more recent conflicts in and around the Muslim world. Osama bin Laden, originally from a wealthy family in Saudi Arabia, was a prominent organizer and financier of an all-Arab Islamist group of foreign volunteers; his Maktab al-Khadamat funnelled money, arms, and Muslim fighters from around the Muslim world into Afghanistan, with the assistance and support of the Saudi and Pakistani governments.^[5] These foreign fighters became known as "Afghan Arabs" and their efforts were coordinated by Abdullah Yusuf Azzam.

US, Pakistani and other financing and support

The mujahideen were significantly financed and armed (and are alleged to have been trained) by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the administrations of Carter^[6] and Reagan, and also by Saudi Arabia, Pakistan under Zia-ul-Haq, Iran, the People's Republic of China and several Western European countries. Pakistan's secret service, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), was used as an intermediary for most of these activities to disguise the sources of support for the resistance. One of the CIA's longest and most expensive covert operations was the supplying of billions of dollars in arms to the Afghan mujahideen militants. The arms included Stinger missiles, shoulder-fired, antiaircraft weapons that they used against Soviet helicopters and that later were in circulation among terrorists who have fired such weapons at commercial airliners. Osama bin Laden is alleged to have been among the recipients of U.S. arms, though this is highly debatable.^[7] Between $3–$20 billion in U.S. funds were funneled into the country to train and equip troops with weapons, including Stinger surface-to-air missiles.^[8][9]

Under Reagan, U.S. support for the mujahideen evolved into an official U.S. foreign policy, known as the Reagan Doctrine, which included U.S. support for anti-Soviet movements in Afghanistan, Angola, Nicaragua, and elsewhere.^[10] Ronald Reagan praised mujahideen as "freedom fighters".

In 1998, Carter's national security advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski, admitted that U.S. sponsorship of the mujahideen was launched by Jimmy Carter, in July 1993, to give the USSR its "Vietnam war". In a now famous 1998 interview^[11] with the French news magazine Le Nouvel Observateur, Brzezinski recalled: "We didn't push the Russians to intervene, but we knowingly increased the probability that they would... That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Soviets into the Afghan trap... The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter, "We now have the opportunity of giving to the Soviet Union its Vietnam War."^[12][13]

In a January 2010 interview with The Real News, Brzezinski confirms that Jimmy Carter gave aid to the mujahideen but emphasizes that he didn't compare it to Vietnam until the day the Soviets officially invaded.^[14]

According to Christopher Hitchens, Jimmy Carter reacted with "open-mouthed shock" to the Russian invasion.^[15]

In an interview with The Christian Science Monitor, in March 1981, Jimmy Carter's Vice-President Walter Mondale declared: "I cannot understand -- it just baffles me -- why the Soviets these last few years have behaved as they have. Maybe we have made some mistakes with them. Why did they have to build up all these arms? Why did they have to go into Afghanistan? Why can't they relax just a little bit about Eastern Europe? Why do they try every door to see if it is locked?"^[16]

The Russians, several times shortly before the invasion, had staged conversations with the Afghan leadership suggesting that they had no desire to intervene, even as the Politburo was—with much hesitation—considering such an intervention. They had apparently orchestrated these meetings in a manner that would allow the United States to easily intercept them.^[17]

In a 2007 movie based based on George Crile's 2003 book Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History^[18], it is alleged that the KGB murdered the Afghan President, Mohammed Daoud Khan. But it wasn't until 2008 that Khan's body was even found^[19].

Hekmatyar

More than a half billion dollars of U.S. funding through Pakistan went to the Hizb party led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, making Hekmatyar the recipient of the highest percentage of covert American funding through the Pakistani ISI.^[20] Hekmatyar had "almost no grassroots support and no military base inside Afghanistan."^[21] Hekmatyar also received the lion's share of aid from Saudi Arabia.^[22] The CIA allegedly also gave Hekmatyar immunity for his illegal drug trade activities.^[23]

The main base station of mujahideen in Pakistan was the town Badaber, 24 km from Peshawar. Afghan mujahideen were trained at Badaber by military instructors from the U.S., Pakistan, and the Republic of China. The base served as the concentration camp for Soviet and DRA P.O.W.s as well. In 1985, a prisoner rebellion destroyed the base, but the incident was concealed by the Pakistani and Soviet governments until the dissolution of the USSR.

Mujahideen forces caused serious casualties to the Soviet forces, and made the war very costly for the Soviet Union. Thus in 1989, the Soviet Union withdrew its forces from Afghanistan. Many districts and cities then fell to the mujahideen; in 1992 the DRA's last president, Mohammad Najibullah, was overthrown.

However, the mujahideen did not establish a united government, and many of the larger mujahideen groups began to fight each other over power in Kabul. After several years of devastating fighting, a village mullah organized a new armed movement with the backing of Pakistan. This movement became known as the Taliban ("students" in Arabic), referring to the Saudi-backed religious schools known for producing extremism. Veteran mujahideen were confronted by this radical splinter group in 1996.

Favorable portrayal in Western films

The mujahideen militants were also portrayed favorably in several mainstream American and Western films:

• The Living Daylights, (1987), a James Bond film.
• Rambo III (1988).
• The Beast (1988).
• Charlie Wilson's War (2007).

Afghan mujahideen loyal to Yunus Khalis in 1987.

Post Soviet international fighters

By 1996, with backing from the Pakistani ISI and Military of Pakistan, as well as al-Qaeda, the Taliban had largely defeated the militias and controlled most of the country. The opposition factions allied themselves together again and became known as the Northern Alliance. In 2001, with U.S.-NATO intervention, the Taliban were ousted from power and a new Afghan government was formed. Many of the former mujahideen gradually were incorporated into the new Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police.

At present the term "mujahideen" is sometimes used to describe insurgents groups (including Taliban and al-Qaeda) who are fighting NATO troops and the Military of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Afghan mujahideen also participated in the Nagorno-Karabakh War and the 1992 Civil war in Tajikistan.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

During the Bosnian war 1992-1995, some foreign Muslims came to Bosnia as mujahideen. The war had been depicted in the international press as an attack on Muslims. Serb forces attacked Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) communities indiscriminately, and committed substantial atrocities against the Bosniak population. This moved Muslims who shared mujahideen beliefs to come to the aid of oppressed fellow Muslims, and also presented an opportunity to strike at "infidels". The number of foreign Muslim volunteers in Bosnia was estimated at about 4,000 in contemporary newspaper reports.^[24] Later research estimated about 400 foreign volunteers.^[25] They came from places such as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq and the Palestinian Territories; to quote the summary of the ICTY judgment:^[26]

The evidence shows that foreign volunteers arrived in central Bosnia in the second half of 1992 with the aim of helping their Muslim brothers against the Serbian aggressors. Mostly they came from North Africa, the Near East and the Middle East. The foreign volunteers differed considerably from the local population, not only because of their physical appearance and the language they spoke, but also because of their fighting methods.

The mujahideen were generally welcomed; a country at war usually needs any help it can get. Some of the mujahideen brought arms and money which Bosnia needed. However, many of the mujahideen were extremely devout Muslims of the strict Wahhabi sect, whereas most Bosniaks are not so religious. This led to friction between the mujahideen and the Bosniaks. Furthermore, some mujahideen wanted to fight a war of extermination, or use Bosniak territory as a base for terrorist operations elsewhere. This was contrary to the war goals of the Bosnian government.

Mujahideen were accused of war crimes in Bosnia. However, the ICTY did not issue indictments against mujahideen. Instead, the ICTY indicted some Bosnian Army commanders on the basis of superior criminal responsibility. The ICTY acquitted Amir Kubura and Enver Hadžihasanović of the Bosnian 3rd Corps of all charges related to the incidents involving mujahideen. Furthermore, the Appeals Chamber noted that the relationship between the 3rd Corps and the El Mujahedin detachment was not one of subordination but was instead close to overt hostility since the only way to control the detachment was to attack them as if they were a distinct enemy force.^[27]

The ICTY Trial Chamber convicted Rasim Delic, the former chief of the Bosnian Army General Staff. The ICTY found that Delic had effective control over the El Mujahid Detachment. He was sentenced to three years imprisonment for failure to prevent or punish the cruel treatment of twelve captured Serb soldiers by the Mujahideen. Delic remained in the Detention Unit while appellate proceedings continued.^[28]

Burma (Myanmar)

A sizable number of mujahideen are present and concentrated in the province of Arakan, Burma.^[29] They were much more active before the 1962 coup d'etat by General Ne Win. Ne Win carried out some military operations targeting them over a period of two decades. The prominent one was "Operation King Dragon" which took place in 1978; as a result, many Muslims in the region fled to neighboring country Bangladesh as refugees. Nevertheless, the Burmese mujahideen are still active within the remote areas of Arakan.^[30] Their associations with Bangladeshi mujahideen were significant but they have extended their networks to the international level and countries such as Pakistan, Malaysia, et al., during the recent years. They collect donations, and get religious military training outside of Burma.^[29]

Chechnya

In the case of the First and Second Chechen Wars, the term mujahideen has often been used to refer to all separatist fighters. In this article however, it will be used to refer to the foreign, non-Caucasian fighters who joined the separatists’ cause for the sake of Jihad. In other literature dealing with this conflict they are often called Ansaar (helpers) to prevent confusion with the native fighters.

Foreign mujahideen have played a part in both Chechen wars. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the subsequent Chechen declaration of independence, foreign fighters started entering the region and associated themselves with local rebels (most notably Shamil Basayev). Many of them were veterans of the Soviet-Afghan war and prior to the Russian invasion, they used their expertise to train the Chechen separatists. During the First Chechen War they were notorious and feared for their guerilla tactics, inflicting severe casualties on the badly prepared Russian forces. The mujahideen also made a significant financial contribution to the separatists’ cause; with their access to the immense wealth of Salafist charities like al-Haramein, they soon became an invaluable source of funds for the Chechen resistance, which had little resources of its own.

After the withdrawal of Russian forces from Chechnya most of the mujahideen decided to remain in the country. In 1999, foreign fighters played an important role in the ill-fated Chechen incursion into Dagestan, where they suffered a decisive defeat and were forced to retreat back into Chechnya. The incursion provided the new Russian government with a pretext for intervention and in December 1999 Russian ground forces invaded Chechnya again.

The mujahideen were responsible in the well known & documented video posted online which depicted the barbaric decapitation of six young Russian conscripts who were caught in Dagestan during a rebel incursion. The six Russian conscipts were caught behind lines after the small and unprepared Russian unit retreated during a rebel advance onto Dagestan. The mujahideen mercilessly slaughtered the young men, who later themselves were all killed by Russian special forces during a gunfight a short time later.

In the Second Chechen War the separatists were less successful. Faced with a better prepared and more determined Russian forces, the Chechens were unable to hold their ground and as early as in 2002, Russian officials claimed the separatists had been defeated. The Russians also succeeded in killing the most prominent mujahideen commanders (most notably Ibn al-Khattab and Abu al-Walid).

Although the region has since been far from stable, separatist activity has decreased and although some foreign fighters are still active in Chechnya. In the last months of 2007, the influence of foreign fighters became apparent again when Dokka Umarov proclaimed the Caucasus Emirate, a pan-Caucasian Islamic state of which Chechnya was to be a province. This move caused a rift in the resistance movement between those supporting the Emirate and those who were in favour of preserving the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.

India

An outfit calling itself the Indian Mujahideen came to light in 2008 with the multiple large scale terror attacks. On November 26, 2008 a group calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen claimed responsibility for a string of attacks across Mumbai. The Weekly Standard claimed, "Indian intelligence believes the Indian Mujahideen is a front group created by Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami to confuse investigators and cover the tracks of the Students' Islamic Movement of India, or SIMI, a radical Islamist movement.^[31] In the Indian state of (Jammu and) Kashmir, Kashmiris opposing Indian rule are often known as mujahideen.

Several different militant groups have since taken root in Pakistani Kashmir. Most noticeable of these groups are Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM).^[32] A 1996 report by Human Rights Watch estimated the number of active mujahideen at 3,200.^[33]

Iran

While more than one group in Iran have called themselves mujahideen, the most famous is the People's Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI). Currently an Iraq-based Islamic Socialist militant organization that advocates the overthrow of Iran's current government. The group also took part in the 1979 Iranian Revolution, Iraq-Iran War (on the side of Iraqis), and the Iraqi internal conflicts. They advocate a separation of religion and state, and denounce the theocratic practices of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Another mujahideen was the Mujahedin-e Islam, an Islamic party led by Ayatollah Abol-Ghasem Kashani.^[34] It was a component of the National Front (Iran) during the time of Mohammed Mosaddeq's oil nationalization, but broke away from Mosaddeq over his allegedly unIslamic policies.^[35]

Iraq

Islamic State of Iraq flag.

The term mujahideen is sometimes applied to fighters who joined the insurgency after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Some groups also use the word mujahideen in their names, like Mujahideen Shura Council (an umbrella group ran by al-Qaeda in Iraq) and Mujahideen Army,

Kosovo

According to the Serbian and other European press several hundred to a few thousand Mujahideen fighters from the Middle East and other parts of the world later joined the Kosovo Liberation Army to fight against Serbian and Macedonian forces in the Kosovo war 1997–1999. Allegedly some of them formed their own units with Albanian leaders who spoke Arabic fluently. The greatest involvement was in the conflicts along the border with Albania as well as in the Battle of Košare. After the war most of the foreign volunteers went back to their home lands, while some of them remained in Kosovo where they became citizens.^{[36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49]}

The Kosovo Liberation Army included in its ranks foreign volunteers from Sweden, Belgium, the UK, Germany, the US and France.^[50][51]

Philippines

Between the acquisition of the Philippines after the Spanish American War and a treaty with Sultan Jamal ul-Kiram II the Sultan of Sulu in 1915 the United States and the government of the Philippines were involved in a period known as the Moro Rebellion. During this religious rebels supported by the Sultan fought for removal of the Christian dominated Philippine government from the Sulu Archipelago and Mindanao and for the indepedence of the Sultanate of Sulu. Part of this was the existence of volunteers who were willing to commit themselves to hand to hand combat and probable death called the oathtakers in Spanish 'juramentados'. These religious rebels have been compared with Mujahideen.

Abu Sayyaf is an Islamic separatist group in the southern Philippines. The group is known for their kidnappings of Western nationals and Filipinos, for which it has received several large ransom payments. Some Abu Sayyaf members have studied or worked in Saudi Arabia and developed relations with the mujahideen members while fighting and training in the war against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.^[52] The Abu Sayyaf proclaimed themselves as mujahideen but are not supported by many people in the Philippines including its Muslim clerics. The Abu Sayyaf is thought to number around an estimated figure of 400 militants.

Somalia

In July 2006, a Web-posted message purportedly written by Osama bin Laden urged Somalis to build an Islamic state in the country and warned western states that his al-Qaeda network would fight against them if they intervened there.^[53] Foreign fighters began to arrive, though there were official denials of the presence of mujahideen in the country. Even so, the threat of jihad was made openly and repeatedly in the months preceding the Battle of Baidoa.^[54] On December 23, 2006, Islamists, for the first time, called upon international fighters to join their cause.^[55] The term mujahideen is now openly used by the post-ICU resistance against the Ethiopians and the TFG.

Al-Shabaab

Harakat al-Shabaab Mujahideen is said to have non-Somali foreigners in its ranks, particularly at its leadership.^[56] Fighters from the Persian Gulf and international jihadists were called to join the holy war against the Somali government and its Ethiopian allies. Though Somali Islamists did not use suicide bombing tactics before, the foreign elements of Al-Shabaab are blamed for several suicide bombings.^[57][58] UN's 2006 report stated Iran, Libya, Egypt and others in the Persian Gulf region as the main backers of the Islamist extremists. Egypt has a longstanding policy of securing the Nile River flow by destabilizing Ethiopia.^[59][60] Similarly, recent media reports also cited Egyptian and Arab jihadists as the core elements of the Al-Shabaab, who are training Somalis in sophisticated weaponry and suicide bombing techniques.^[61]

Pakistan

The Pakistan Army National Guard is known as "Mujahid Force". Unlike the above examples, these are people who are enlisted or commissioned in the army of a nation state and they are thus regular soldiers, and in no way associated with the mujahideen.^[62]

History

See also

• Fedayeen
• Hadith
• Itmam al-hujjah
• Reagan Doctrine
• Soviet war in Afghanistan
• CIA
• Special Activities Division

Persons:

• Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
• Khurshid Ahmad
• Yusuf al-Qaradawi
• Hassan al Banna
• Javed Ahmed Ghamidi
• Ahmad Shah Massoud
• Sayyid Qutb

Notes and references

Further reading

• Spencer, Robert (2003). Onward Muslim Soldiers. Regnery Publishing, USA. ISBN 0-89526-100-6. 
• Spencer, Robert (2005). The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (And the Crusades). Regnery Publishing, USA. ISBN 0-89526-013-1. 
• Spencer, Robert (2006). The Truth About Muhammad. Regnery Publishing, USA. ISBN 978-1596980280. 
• Malik, S. K. (1986). The Quranic Concept of War. Himalayan Books. ISBN 8170020204. 
• Swarup, Ram (1982). Understanding Islam through Hadis. Voice of Dharma. ISBN 0-682-49948-X. 
• Trifkovic, Serge (2006). Defeating Jihad. Regina Orthodox Press, USA. ISBN 192865326X. 
• Phillips, Melanie (2006). Londonistan: How Britain is Creating a Terror State Within. Encounter books. ISBN 1-59403-144-4.