9/11 ANALYSIS: From Ronald Reagan and the Soviet-Afghan War to George W Bush and September 11, 2001

9/11 ANALYSIS: From Ronald Reagan and the Soviet-Afghan War to George W Bush and September 11, 2001by Michel Chossudovsky on September 10, 2010 Spread it!    Share16        | More   By Michel Chossudovsky* | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.bizThis
 article summarizes earlier writings by the author on 9/11 and the role 
of Al Qaeda in US foreign policy. For further details see Michel 
Chossudovsky, America's "War on Terrorism", Global Research, 2005"The
 United States spent millions of dollars to supply Afghan schoolchildren
 with textbooks filled with violent images and militant Islamic 
teachings….The primers, which were filled with talk of jihad and 
featured drawings of guns, bullets, soldiers and mines, have served 
since then as the Afghan school system's core curriculum. Even the 
Taliban used the American-produced books,..", (Washington Post, 23 March 2002)"Advertisements,
 paid for from CIA funds, were placed in newspapers and newsletters 
around the world offering inducements and motivations to join the 
[Islamic] Jihad." (Pervez Hoodbhoy, Peace Research, 1 May 2005)"Bin
 Laden recruited 4,000 volunteers from his own country and developed 
close relations with the most radical mujahideen leaders. He also worked
 closely with the CIA, … Since September 11, [2001] CIA officials have 
been claiming they had no direct link to bin Laden." (Phil Gasper, International Socialist Review, November-December 2001)
 
 Osama bin Laden, America's bogyman, was recruited by the CIA in 1979 at
 the very outset of the US sponsored jihad. He was 22 years old and was 
trained in a CIA sponsored guerilla training camp. The 
architects of the covert operation in support of "Islamic 
fundamentalism" launched during the Reagan presidency played a key role 
in launching the "Global War on Terrorism" in the wake of 9/11. President Ronald Reagan met the leaders of the Islamic Jihad at the White House in 1983
 Under the Reagan adminstration, US foreign policy evolved towards the 
unconditional support and endorsement of the Islamic "freedom fighters".
 In today's World, the "freedom fighters" are labelled "Islamic 
terrorists". In the Pashtun language, the word "Taliban" means 
"Students", or graduates of the madrasahs (places of learning or coranic
 schools) set up by the Wahhabi missions from Saudi Arabia, with the 
support of the CIA. Education in the years preceding the Soviet-Afghan 
war war largely secular in Afghanistan. The number of CIA sponsored 
religious schools (madrasahs) increased from 2,500 in 1980 to over 
39,000.The Soviet-Afghan war was part of a CIA covert 
agenda initiated during the Carter administration, which consisted in 
actively supporting and financing the Islamic brigades, later known as 
Al Qaeda.The Pakistani military regime played from the outset in 
the late 1970s, a key role in the US sponsored military and intelligence
 operations in Afghanistan. in the post-Cold war era, this central role 
of Pakistan in US intelligence operations was extended to the broader 
Central Asia- Middle East region. From the outset of the Soviet Afghan 
war in 1979, Pakistan under military rule actively supported the Islamic
 brigades. In close liaison with the CIA, Pakistan's military 
intelligence, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), became a powerful 
organization, a parallel government, wielding tremendous power and 
influence.America's covert war in Afghanistan, using Pakistan as a
 launch pad, was initiated during the Carter administration prior to the
 Soviet "invasion":"According to the official version
 of history, CIA aid to the Mujahideen began during 1980, that is to 
say, after the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan, 24 Dec 1979. But the 
reality, secretly guarded until now, is completely otherwise Indeed, it 
was July 3, 1979 that President Carter signed the first directive for 
secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And that 
very day, I wrote a note to the president in which I explained to him 
that in my opinion this aid was going to induce a Soviet military 
intervention." (Former National Security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, Interview with Le Nouvel Observateur, 15-21 January 1998) Defense Secretary Robert GatesIn
 the published memoirs of Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who held the 
position of deputy CIA Director at the height of the Soviet Afghan war, 
US intelligence was directly involved from the outset, prior to the 
Soviet invasion, in channeling aid to the Islamic brigades.With CIA 
backing and the funneling of massive amounts of U.S. military aid, the 
Pakistani ISI had developed into a "parallel structure wielding enormous
 power over all aspects of government". (Dipankar Banerjee, "Possible 
Connection of ISI With Drug Industry", India Abroad, 2 December 1994). 
The ISI had a staff composed of military and intelligence officers, 
bureaucrats, undercover agents and informers, estimated at 150,000. 
(Ibid)Meanwhile, CIA operations had also reinforced the Pakistani military regime led by General Zia Ul Haq:"Relations
 between the CIA and the ISI had grown increasingly warm following 
[General] Zia's ouster of Bhutto and the advent of the military regime. …
 During most of the Afghan war, Pakistan was more aggressively 
anti-Soviet than even the United States. Soon after the Soviet military 
invaded Afghanistan in 1980, Zia [ul Haq] sent his ISI chief to 
destabilize the Soviet Central Asian states. The CIA only agreed to this
 plan in October 1984." (Ibid)The ISI operating 
virtually as an affiliate of the CIA, played a central role in 
channeling support to Islamic paramilitary groups in Afghanistan and 
subsequently in the Muslim republics of the former Soviet Union.Acting
 on behalf of the CIA, the ISI was also involved in the recruitment and 
training of the Mujahideen. In the ten year period from 1982 to 1992, 
some 35,000 Muslims from 43 Islamic countries were recruited to fight in
 the Afghan jihad. The madrassas in Pakistan, financed by Saudi 
charities, were also set up with US support with a view to "inculcating 
Islamic values". "The camps became virtual universities for future 
Islamic radicalism," (Ahmed Rashid, The Taliban). Guerilla training under CIA-ISI auspices included targeted assassinations and car bomb attacks."Weapons'
 shipments "were sent by the Pakistani army and the ISI to rebel camps 
in the North West Frontier Province near the Afghanistan border. The 
governor of the province is Lieutenant General Fazle Haq, who [according
 to Alfred McCoy] . allowed "hundreds of heroin refineries to set up in 
his province." Beginning around 1982, Pakistani army trucks carrying CIA
 weapons from Karachi often pick up heroin in Haq's province and return 
loaded with heroin. They are protected from police search by ISI 
papers."(1982-1989: US Turns Blind Eye to BCCI and Pakistani Government Involvement in Heroin Trade See also McCoy, 2003, p. 477) . Front
 row, from left: Major Gen. Hamid Gul, director general of Pakistan's 
Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI), Director of Central 
Intelligence Agency (CIA) Willian Webster; Deputy Director for 
Operations Clair George; an ISI colonel; and senior CIA official, Milt 
Bearden at a mujahedeen training camp in North-West Frontier Province of
 Pakistan in 1987. (source RAWA)Osama Bin LadenOsama
 bin Laden, America's bogyman, was recruited by the CIA in 1979 at the 
very outset of the US sponsored jihad. He was 22 years old and was 
trained in a CIA sponsored guerilla training camp.During the 
Reagan administration, Osama, who belonged to the wealthy Saudi Bin 
Laden family was put in charge of raising money for the Islamic 
brigades. Numerous charities and foundations were created. The operation
 was coordinated by Saudi intelligence, headed by Prince Turki 
al-Faisal, in close liaison with the CIA. The money derived from the 
various charities were used to finance the recruitment of Mujahieen 
volunteers. Al Qaeda, the base in Arabic was a data bank of volunteers 
who had enlisted to fight in the Afghan jihad. That data base was 
initially held by Osama bin Laden.The Reagan Administration supports "Islamic Fundamentalism"Pakistan's
 ISI was used as a "go-between". CIA covert support to the Mujahideen in
 Afghanistan operated indirectly through the Pakistani ISI, –i.e. the 
CIA did not channel its support directly to the Mujahideen. In other 
words, for these covert operations to be "successful", Washington was 
careful not to reveal the ultimate objective of the "jihad", which 
consisted in destroying the Soviet Union.In December 1984, the 
Sharia Law (Islamic jurisprudence) was established in Pakistan following
 a rigged referendum launched by President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. Barely a
 few months later, in March 1985, President Ronald Reagan issued 
National Security Decision Directive 166 (NSDD 166), which authorized 
"stepped-up covert military aid to the Mujahideen" as well a support to 
religious indoctrination.The imposition of The Sharia in Pakistan
 and the promotion of "radical Islam" was a deliberate US policy serving
 American geopolitical interests in South Asia, Central Asia and the 
Middle East. Many present-day "Islamic fundamentalist organizations" in 
the Middle East and Central Asia, were directly or indirectly the 
product of US covert support and financing, often channeled through 
foundations from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States. Missions from the 
Wahhabi sect of conservative Islam in Saudi Arabia were put in charge of
 running the CIA sponsored madrassas in Northern Pakistan.Under NSDD 166, a series of covert CIA-ISI operations was launched.The
 US supplied weapons to the Islamic brigades through the ISI. CIA and 
ISI officials would meet at ISI headquarters in Rawalpindi to coordinate
 US support to the Mujahideen. Under NSDD 166, the procurement of US 
weapons to the Islamic insurgents increased from 10,000 tons of arms and
 ammunition in 1983 to 65,000 tons annually by 1987. "In addition to 
arms, training, extensive military equipment including military 
satellite maps and state-of-the-art communications equipment" 
(University Wire, 7 May 2002). Ronald Reagan meets Afghan Mujahideen Commanders at the White House in 1985 (Reagan Archives)
 
 Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3f9mlUQzJA
With William Casey as director of the CIA, NSDD 166 was described as the largest covert operation in US history:The
 U.S. supplied support package had three essential 
components-organization and logistics, military technology, and 
ideological support for sustaining and encouraging the Afghan 
resistance….U.S. counterinsurgency experts worked closely with 
the Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in organizing 
Mujahideen groups and in planning operations inside Afghanistan.…
 But the most important contribution of the U.S. was to … bring in men 
and material from around the Arab world and beyond. The most hardened 
and ideologically dedicated men were sought on the logic that they would
 be the best fighters. Advertisements, paid for from CIA funds, were 
placed in newspapers and newsletters around the world offering 
inducements and motivations to join the Jihad. (Pervez Hoodbhoy, 
Afghanistan and the Genesis of the Global Jihad, Peace Research, 1 May 
2005)Religious IndoctrinationUnder
 NSDD 166, US assistance to the Islamic brigades channeled through 
Pakistan was not limited to bona fide military aid. Washington also 
supported and financed by the U.S. Agency for International Development 
(USAID), the process of religious indoctrination, largely to secure the 
demise of secular institutions:… the United States 
spent millions of dollars to supply Afghan schoolchildren with textbooks
 filled with violent images and militant Islamic teachings, part of 
covert attempts to spur resistance to the Soviet occupation.The 
primers, which were filled with talk of jihad and featured drawings of 
guns, bullets, soldiers and mines, have served since then as the Afghan 
school system's core curriculum. Even the Taliban used the 
American-produced books,..The White House defends the religious 
content, saying that Islamic principles permeate Afghan culture and that
 the books "are fully in compliance with U.S. law and policy." Legal 
experts, however, question whether the books violate a constitutional 
ban on using tax dollars to promote religion.… AID officials said
 in interviews that they left the Islamic materials intact because they 
feared Afghan educators would reject books lacking a strong dose of 
Muslim thought. The agency removed its logo and any mention of the U.S. 
government from the religious texts, AID spokeswoman Kathryn Stratos 
said."It's not AID's policy to support religious instruction," 
Stratos said. "But we went ahead with this project because the primary 
purpose . . . is to educate children, which is predominantly a secular 
activity."… Published in the dominant Afghan languages of Dari 
and Pashtun, the textbooks were developed in the early 1980s under an 
AID grant to the University of Nebraska -Omaha and its Center for 
Afghanistan Studies. The agency spent $ 51 million on the university's 
education programs in Afghanistan from 1984 to 1994." (Washington Post, 
23 March 2002)The Role of the NeoConsThere
 is continuity. The architects of the covert operation in support of 
"Islamic fundamentalism" launched during the Reagan presidency played a 
key role in role in launching the "Global War on Terrorism" in the wake 
of 9/11.Several of the NeoCons of the Bush Junior Administration were high ranking officials during the Reagan presidency.Richard
 Armitage, was Deputy Secretary of State during George W. Bush's first 
term (2001-2004). He played a central key role in post 9/11 negotiations
 with Pakistan leading up to the October 2001 invasion of Afghanistan. 
During the Reagan era, he held the position of Assistant Secretary of 
Defense for International Security Policy. In this capacity, he played a
 key role in the implementation of NSDD 163 while also ensuring liaison 
with the Pakistani military and intelligence apparatus.Meanwhile,
 Paul Wolfowitz was at the State Department in charge of a foreign 
policy team composed, among others, of Lewis Libby, Francis Fukuyama and
 Zalmay Khalilzad. Wolfowitz's group was also involved in laying the 
conceptual groundwork of US covert support to Islamic parties and 
organizations in Pakistan and Afghanistan.Bush's Secretary of 
Defence Robert Gates also was also involved in setting the groundwork 
for CIA covert operations. He was appointed Deputy Director for 
Intelligence by Ronald Reagan in 1982, and Deputy Director of the CIA in
 1986, a position which he held until 1989. Gates played a key role in 
the formulation of NSDD 163, which established a consistent framework 
for promoting Islamic fundamentalism and channeling covert support to 
the Islamic brigades. He was also involved in the Iran Contra scandal. .The Iran Contra OperationRichard Gates, Colin Powell and Richard Armitage, among others, were also involved in the Iran-Contra operation.Armitage
 was in close liaison with Colonel Oliver North. His deputy and chief 
anti-terrorist official Noel Koch was part of the team set up by Oliver 
North.Of significance, the Iran-Contra operation was also tied 
into the process of channeling covert support to the Islamic brigades in
 Afghanistan. The Iran Contra scheme served several related foreign 
policy:1) Procurement of weapons to Iran thereby feeding the Iraq-Iran war,2) Support to the Nicaraguan Contras,3) Support to the Islamic brigades in Afghanistan, channeled via Pakistan's ISI.Following
 the delivery of the TOW anti-tank missiles to Iran, the proceeds of 
these sales were deposited in numbered bank accounts and the money was 
used to finance the Nicaraguan Contras. and the Mujahideen:"The
 Washington Post reported that profits from the Iran arms sales were 
deposited in one CIA-managed account into which the U.S. and Saudi 
Arabia had placed $250 million apiece. That money was disbursed not only
 to the contras in Central America but to the rebels fighting Soviet 
troops in Afghanistan." (US News & World Report, 15 December 1986).Although
 Lieutenant General Colin Powell, was not directly involved in the arms'
 transfer negotiations, which had been entrusted to Oliver North, he was
 among "at least five men within the Pentagon who knew arms were being 
transferred to the CIA." (The Record, 29 December 1986). In this regard,
 Powell was directly instrumental in giving the "green light" to 
lower-level officials in blatant violation of Congressional procedures. 
According to the New York Times, Colin Powell took the decision (at the 
level of military procurement), to allow the delivery of weapons to 
Iran:"Hurriedly, one of the men closest to Secretary 
of Defense Weinberger, Maj. Gen. Colin Powell, bypassed the written 
"focal point system" procedures and ordered the Defense Logistics Agency
 [responsible for procurement] to turn over the first of 2,008 TOW 
missiles to the CIA., which acted as cutout for delivery to Iran" (New 
York Times, 16 February 1987)Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was also implicated in the Iran-Contra Affair.The Golden Crescent Drug TradeThe
 history of the drug trade in Central Asia is intimately related to the 
CIA's covert operations. Prior to the Soviet-Afghan war, opium 
production in Afghanistan and Pakistan was directed to small regional 
markets. There was no local production of heroin. (Alfred McCoy, Drug 
Fallout: the CIA's Forty Year Complicity in the Narcotics Trade. The 
Progressive, 1 August 1997).Alfred McCoy's study confirms that 
within two years of the onslaught of the CIA operation in Afghanistan, 
"the Pakistan-Afghanistan borderlands became the world's top heroin 
producer." (Ibid) Various Islamic paramilitary groups and organizations 
were created. The proceeds of the Afghan drug trade, which was protected
 by the CIA, were used to finance the various insurgencies:"Under
 CIA and Pakistani protection, Pakistan military and Afghan resistance 
opened heroin labs on the Afghan and Pakistani border. According to The 
Washington Post of May 1990, among the leading heroin manufacturers were
 Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, an Afghan leader who received about half of the 
covert arms that the U.S. shipped to Pakistan. Although there were 
complaints about Hekmatyar's brutality and drug trafficking within the 
ranks of the Afghan resistance of the day, the CIA maintained an 
uncritical alliance and supported him without reservation or restraint.Once
 the heroin left these labs in Pakistan's northwest frontier, the 
Sicilian Mafia imported the drugs into the U.S., where they soon 
captured sixty percent of the U.S. heroin market. That is to say, sixty 
percent of the U.S. heroin supply came indirectly from a CIA operation. 
During the decade of this operation, the 1980s, the substantial DEA 
contingent in Islamabad made no arrests and participated in no seizures,
 allowing the syndicates a de facto free hand to export heroin. By 
contrast, a lone Norwegian detective, following a heroin deal from Oslo 
to Karachi, mounted an investigation that put a powerful Pakistani 
banker known as President Zia's surrogate son behind bars. The DEA in 
Islamabad got nobody, did nothing, stayed away.Former CIA 
operatives have admitted that this operation led to an expansion of the 
Pakistan-Afghanistan heroin trade. In 1995 the former CIA Director of 
this Afghan operation, Mr. Charles Cogan, admitted sacrificing the drug 
war to fight the Cold War. "Our main mission was to do as much damage to
 the Soviets. We didn't really have the resources or the time to devote 
to an investigation of the drug trade," he told Australian television. 
"I don't think that we need to apologize for this. Every situation has 
its fallout. There was fallout in terms of drugs, yes, but the main 
objective was accomplished. The Soviets left Afghanistan." (Alfred
 McCoy, Testimony before the Special Seminar focusing on allegations 
linking CIA secret operations and drug trafficking-convened February 13,
 1997, by Rep. John Conyers, Dean of the Congressional Black Caucus)Lucrative Narcotics Trade in the Post Cold War EraThe
 drug trade has continued unabated during the post Cold war years. 
Afghanistan became the major supplier of heroin to Western markets, in 
fact almost the sole supplier: more than 90 percent of the heroin sold 
Worldwide originates in Afghanistan. This lucrative contraband is tied 
into Pakistani politics and the militarization of the Pakistani State. 
It also has a direct bearing on the structure of the Pakistani economy 
and its banking and financial institutions, which from the outset of the
 Golden Crescent drug trade have been involved in extensive money 
laundering operations, which are protected by the Pakistani military and
 intelligence apparatus:According to the US State Department International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (2006) (quoted in Daily Times, 2 March 2006),"Pakistani
 criminal networks play a central role in the transshipment of narcotics
 and smuggled goods from Afghanistan to international markets. Pakistan 
is a major drug-transit country. The proceeds of narcotics trafficking 
and funding for terrorist activities are often laundered by means of the
 alternative system called hawala. … ."Repeatedly, a network of 
private unregulated charities has also emerged as a significant source 
of illicit funds for international terrorist networks," the report 
pointed out. … "The hawala system and the charities 
are but the tip of the iceberg. According to the State Department 
report, "the State Bank of Pakistan has frozen more twenty years] a 
meager $10.5 million "belonging to 12 entities and individuals linked to
 Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda or the Taliban". What the report fails to 
mention is that the bulk of the proceeds of the Afghan drug trade are 
laundered in bona fide Western banking institutions.The Taliban Repress the Drug TradeA major and unexpected turnaround in the CIA sponsored drug trade occurred in 2000.The
 Taliban government which came to power in 1996 with Washington's 
support, implemented in 2000-2001 a far-reaching opium eradication 
program with the support of the United Nations which served to undermine
 a multibillion dollar trade. (For further details see, Michel 
Chossudovsky, America's War on Terrorism, Global Research, 2005).In 2001 prior to the US-led invasion, opium production under the Taliban eradication program declined by more than 90 percent.In
 the immediate wake of the US led invasion, the Bush administration 
ordered that the opium harvest not be destroyed on the fabricated 
pretext that this would undermine the military government of Pervez 
Musharraf."Several sources inside Capitol Hill noted 
that the CIA opposes the destruction of the Afghan opium supply because 
to do so might destabilize the Pakistani government of Gen. Pervez 
Musharraf. According to these sources, Pakistani intelligence had 
threatened to overthrow President Musharraf if the crops were destroyed.
 …'If they [the CIA] are in fact opposing the destruction of the 
Afghan opium trade, it'll only serve to perpetuate the belief that the 
CIA is an agency devoid of morals; off on their own program rather than 
that of our constitutionally elected government'" .(NewsMax.com, 28 March 2002)Since
 the US led invasion, opium production has increased 33 fold from 185 
tons in 2001 under the Taliban to 6100 tons in 2006. Cultivated areas 
have increased 21 fold since the 2001 US-led invasion. (Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, 6 January 2006)In
 2007, Afghanistan supplied approximately 93% of the global supply of 
heroin. The proceeds (in terms of retail value) of the Afghanistan drug 
trade are estimated (2006) to be in excess of 190 billion dollars a 
year, representing a significant fraction of the global trade in 
narcotics.(Ibid)The proceeds of this lucrative multibillion 
dollar contraband are deposited in Western banks. Almost the totality of
 the revenues accrue to corporate interests and criminal syndicates 
outside Afghanistan.The laundering of drug money constitutes a 
multibillion dollar activity, which continues to be protected by the CIA
 and the ISI. In the wake of the 2001 US invasion of Afghanistan.In retrospect, one of the major objectives of the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan was to restore the drug trade.The
 militarization of Pakistan serves powerful political, financial and 
criminal interests underlying the drug trade. US foreign policy tends to
 support these powerful interests. The CIA continues to protect the 
Golden Crescent narcotics trade. Despite his commitment to eradicating 
the drug trade, opium production under the regime of Afghan President 
Hamid Karzai has skyrocketed.The Assassination of General Zia Ul-HaqIn
 August 1988, President Zia was killed in an air crash together with US 
Ambassador to Pakistan Arnold Raphel and several of Pakistan's top 
generals. The circumstances of the air crash remain shrouded in mystery.Following
 Zia's death, parliamentary elections were held and Benazir Bhutto was 
sworn in as Prime Minister in December 1988. She was subsequently 
removed from office by Zia's successor, President Ghulam Ishaq Khan on 
the grounds of alleged corruption. In 1993, she was re-elected and was 
again removed from office in 1996 on the orders of President Farooq 
Leghari.Continuity has been maintained throughout. Under the 
short-lived post-Zia elected governments of Nawaz Sharif and Benazir 
Bhutto, the central role of the military-intelligence establishment and 
its links to Washington were never challenged.Both Benazir Bhutto
 and Nawaz Sharif served US foreign policy interests. While in power, 
both democratically elected leaders, nonetheless supported the 
continuity of military rule. As prime minister from 1993 to 1996, 
Benazir Bhutto "advocated a conciliatory policy toward Islamists, 
especially the Taliban in Afghanistan" which were being supported by 
Pakistan's ISI (See F. William Engdahl, Global Research, January 2008)Benazir
 Bhutto's successor as Prime Minister, Mia Muhammad Nawaz Sharif of the 
Pakistan Muslim League (PML) was deposed in 1999 in a US supported coup 
d'Etat led by General Pervez Musharraf.The 1999 coup was 
instigated by General Pervez Musharaf, with the support of the Chief of 
General Staff, Lieutenant General Mahmoud Ahmad, who was subsequently 
appointed to the key position of head of military intelligence (ISI). Chief of General Staff, Lieutenant General Mahmoud AhmadFrom
 the outset of the Bush administration in 2001, General Ahmad developed 
close ties not only with his US counterpart CIA director George Tenet, 
but also with key members of the US government including Secretary of 
State Colin Powell, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, not to 
mention Porter Goss, who at the time was Chairman of the House Committee
 on Intelligence. Ironically, Mahmoud Ahmad is also known, according to a
 September 2001 FBI report, for his suspected role in supporting and 
financing the alleged 9/11 terrorists as well as his links to Al Qaeda 
and the Taliban. (See Michel Chossudovsky, America's "war on Terrorism, Global Research, Montreal, 2005)Concluding Remarks These
 various "terrorist" organizations were created as a result of CIA 
support. They are not the product of religion. The project to establish 
"a pan-Islamic Caliphate" is part of a carefully devised intelligence 
operation.CIA support to Al Qaeda was not in any way curtailed at
 the end of the Cold War. In fact quite the opposite. The earlier 
pattern of covert support not only extended, it took on a global thrust 
and became increasingly sophisticated.The "Global War on 
Terrorism" is a complex and intricate intelligence construct. The covert
 support provided to "Islamic extremist groups" is part of an imperial 
agenda. It purports to weaken and eventually destroy secular and 
civilian governmental institutions, while also contributing to vilifying
 Islam. It is an instrument of colonization which seeks to undermine 
sovereign nation-states and transform countries into territories.For
 the intelligence operation to be successful, however, the various 
Islamic organizations created and trained by the CIA must remain unaware
 of the role they are performing on geopolitical chessboard, on behalf 
of Washington.Over the years, these organizations have indeed 
acquired a certain degree of autonomy and independence, in relation to 
their US-Pakistani sponsors. That appearance of "independence", however,
 is crucial; it is an integral part of the covert intelligence 
operation. According to former CIA agent Milton Beardman the Mujahideen 
were invariably unaware of the role they were performing on behalf of 
Washington. In the words of bin Laden (quoted by Beardman): "neither I, 
nor my brothers saw evidence of American help". (Weekend Sunday (NPR); 
Eric Weiner, Ted Clark; 16 August 1998)."Motivated by
 nationalism and religious fervor, the Islamic warriors were unaware 
that they were fighting the Soviet Army on behalf of Uncle Sam. While 
there were contacts at the upper levels of the intelligence hierarchy, 
Islamic rebel leaders in theatre had no contacts with Washington or the 
CIA." (Michel Chossudovsky, America's War on Terrorism, Chapter 2).The
 fabrication of "terrorism" –including covert support to terrorists– is 
required to provide legitimacy to the "war on terrorism".The 
various fundamentalist and paramilitary groups involved in US sponsored 
"terrorist" activities are "intelligence assets". In the wake of 9/11, 
their designated function as "intelligence assets" is to perform their 
role as credible "enemies of America".Under the Bush 
administration, the CIA continued to support (via Pakistan's ISI) 
several Pakistani based Islamic groups. The ISI is known to support 
Jamaat a-Islami, which is also present in South East Asia, 
Lashkar-e-Tayya­ba, Jehad a-Kashmiri, Hizbul-Mujahidin and 
Jaish-e-Mohammed.The Islamic groups created by the CIA are also 
intended to rally public support in Muslim countries. The underlying 
objective is to create divisions within national societies throughout 
the Middle East and Central Asia, while also triggering sectarian strife
 within Islam, ultimately with a view to curbing the development of a 
broad based secular mass resistance, which would challenge US imperial 
ambitions.This function of an outside enemy is also an essential 
part of war propaganda required to galvanize Western public opinion. 
Without an enemy, a war cannot be fought. US foreign policy needs to 
fabricate an enemy, to justify its various military interventions in the
 Middle East and Central Asia. An enemy is required to justify a 
military agenda, which consists in " going after Al Qaeda". The 
fabrication and vilification of the enemy are required to justify 
military action.The existence of an outside enemy sustains the 
illusion that the "war on terrorism" is real. It justifies and presents 
military intervention as a humanitarian operation based on the right to 
self-defense. It upholds the illusion of a "conflict of civilizations". 
The underlying purpose ultimately is to conceal the real economic and 
strategic objectives behind the broader Middle East Central Asian war.Historically,
 Pakistan has played a central role in "war on terrorism". Pakistan 
constitutes from Washington's standpoint a geopolitical hub. It borders 
onto Afghanistan and Iran. It has played a crucial role in the conduct 
of US and allied military operations in Afghanistan as well as in the 
context of the Pentagon's war plans in relation to Iran.