MIRAN SHAH, 1 October 2003 — Pashtun tribesman Anargul Khan has a Russian-made AK-47 assault rifle around his shoulder and a red rose behind his ear. The rose, Khan says, shows he is a lover of peace — the gun that he is ready for war.
It is men like Khan, children of this unforgiving and unconquerable tribal belt along the Pakistan-Afghan border, that the United States and Pakistan are struggling — and failing — to win over in their quest to hunt down Osama Bin Laden, the Al-Qaeda mastermind believed hiding in their midst.
Tribal leaders have allowed Pakistani soldiers unprecedented access to their land, proof, they say, that they are willing to cooperate. But tribesmen told The Associated Press during a rare journey to their autonomous homeland that they are deeply mistrustful of the government and turning over men they see as holy warriors to infidel Americans would be unconscionable.
“I would sacrifice my own life, but I would never turn Bin Laden over,” said the 20-year-old Khan, flower tucked behind his ear — as is local custom. The large US bounty on the Al-Qaeda leader’s head means nothing to him, he added: “What is $25 million? If your faith is strong, then $100 million cannot buy you. If your faith is weak you can be bought for 10 rupees (15 cents).”
Bin Laden and his chief deputy, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, are believed to be hiding somewhere in the mountains between Afghanistan and Pakistan, leaning on the support of tribesmen like Khan to elude the largest dragnet in history. Afghan and Western officials are convinced Taleban and Al-Qaeda fighters are hopping across the border from Waziristan.
Even North Waziristan’s Islamabad-appointed chief political officer, Sher Zada, says the area is a rough place for the government to operate.
“There are some very, very, very difficult areas in North and South Waziristan. Some areas are totally inaccessible,” Sher Zada said from his Miran Shah office. He said many residents sympathize with Al-Qaeda and the Taleban, but insisted his intelligence network was strong, and that a figure like Bin Laden could not stay hidden forever.
It is not a welcoming place. Nearly all men carry AK-47s and most women are dressed in body-shrouding burkas. Turreted mud fortresses owned by tribal elders and smugglers rise out of the hills. Feuds are common between families and clans, and often turn deadly. Poverty is endemic and illiteracy the norm. The Pakistani government reached an agreement with tribal elders in Waziristan about 10 months ago to allow army checkpoints and patrols in their territory in return for building schools and hospitals and improving irrigation.
As a result, Pakistani soldiers are operating in tribal areas that have not conceded to outside military forces in hundreds of years — not from Pakistan and not from former British rulers. Residents say they have also seen American special forces in the area.
It is a shaky arrangement, at best. This month, a Pakistani military operation to hunt Al-Qaeda suspects in Bannu was met by a barrage of rockets fired from within the tribal area.
