Return-Path: <sentto-279987-3764-1004934601-fc=all.net@returns.groups.yahoo.com> Delivered-To: fc@all.net Received: from 204.181.12.215 [204.181.12.215] by localhost with POP3 (fetchmail-5.7.4) for fc@localhost (single-drop); Sun, 04 Nov 2001 20:31:08 -0800 (PST) Received: (qmail 2237 invoked by uid 510); 5 Nov 2001 04:29:07 -0000 Received: from n2.groups.yahoo.com (216.115.96.52) by 204.181.12.215 with SMTP; 5 Nov 2001 04:29:07 -0000 X-eGroups-Return: sentto-279987-3764-1004934601-fc=all.net@returns.groups.yahoo.com Received: from [10.1.4.53] by n2.groups.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 05 Nov 2001 04:30:01 -0000 X-Sender: fc@red.all.net X-Apparently-To: iwar@onelist.com Received: (EGP: mail-8_0_0_1); 5 Nov 2001 04:30:01 -0000 Received: (qmail 87099 invoked from network); 5 Nov 2001 04:30:01 -0000 Received: from unknown (216.115.97.171) by m9.grp.snv.yahoo.com with QMQP; 5 Nov 2001 04:30:01 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO red.all.net) (65.0.156.78) by mta3.grp.snv.yahoo.com with SMTP; 5 Nov 2001 04:30:01 -0000 Received: (from fc@localhost) by red.all.net (8.11.2/8.11.2) id fA54UWR02224 for iwar@onelist.com; Sun, 4 Nov 2001 20:30:32 -0800 Message-Id: <200111050430.fA54UWR02224@red.all.net> To: iwar@onelist.com (Information Warfare Mailing List) Organization: I'm not allowed to say X-Mailer: don't even ask X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.5 PL3] From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net> X-Yahoo-Profile: fcallnet Mailing-List: list iwar@yahoogroups.com; contact iwar-owner@yahoogroups.com Delivered-To: mailing list iwar@yahoogroups.com Precedence: bulk List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:iwar-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com> Date: Sun, 4 Nov 2001 20:30:32 -0800 (PST) Reply-To: iwar@yahoogroups.com Subject: [iwar] [fc:Taliban.has.massive.spy.network] Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Taliban has massive spy network Haq's undoing: Children inform on families; neighbours betray neighbours Julian West The Daily Telegraph Zainal Abd Halim, Reuters Abdul Haq PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Abdul Haq, the Afghan warlord executed by the Taliban last week, was not betrayed -- he simply fell foul of the far-reaching intelligence network erected by the country's fundamentalist rulers. Afghan experts yesterday said the charismatic former commander was caught by a spy network that extends as far as Pakistan and employs not only professional agents but also hundreds of thousands of ordinary citizens and an army of small children. Children as young as five have been recruited to spy on their own neighbours and friends. Many are war orphans, others are tribes of ragged street urchins. Many more come from poor families who have joined Taliban madrassas, or religious schools, on promises of free food and shelter. Aid agencies estimate there are currently several thousand of these children spying for the Taliban. "The Taliban are using these children to inform on their parents, to tell them who their parents are supporting and to tell them if there are weapons hidden in houses," said Fataneh Gilani, head of the Afghan Women's Society, a Peshawar-based aid agency. "But because they are children they often get things wrong. A lot of innocent people have been betrayed by children." The Taliban have built up one of the world's most efficient spy networks, comparable to those of China or Burma. Istakh Barat, the Taliban's opaque intelligence ministry, which is run by Qari Amadullah, a cleric, is believed to employ about 20,000 spies and up to 100,000 informers, originally trained by the KHAD, Afghanistan's Soviet-era spy agency. In addition, the Taliban rely on the notorious religious police, who have thousands of informers in ministries, hospitals, the military and aid agencies. They have also created a vast spy network of ordinary citizens, too afraid of the Taliban to resist their orders. As in China, every city now has an informer in each residential block, who spies on his neighbours and reports unusual movements, such as visitors; while villagers and mullahs are expected to report strangers to the secret police. Foreign journalists visiting Kabul, the capital, must stay in the Taliban-run Intercontinental Hotel, under the watchful eye of an official translator; elsewhere, visitors can expect to be tailed by at least one Taliban spy and any number of freelance informers. It was these informers that tailed Abdul Haq on a mountain pass last Friday. While many questions still remain unanswered about the commander's ill-fated trip, it is now clear how he was caught. "The Taliban knew what he was going to do even before he left his house in Peshawar," said a former Pakistani intelligence officer. Copyright © 2001 National Post Online | Privacy Policy | Corrections National Post Online is a Hollinger / CanWest Publication. ------------------ http://all.net/ Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : 2001-12-31 20:59:58 PST