Al-Qaeda:  Taliban Sought Scientists Help

Gul Nazir, head of organic chemistry at Kabul University, said last week he repeatedly turned down offers from the Taliban and Pakistani and Arab delegations to produce substances that could be used in chemical weapons and to help mine uranium.  Nazir and Ahmed Massoud, another chemist, said six delegations of Pakistani scientists visited them in the last three years with offers from the Taliban’s Defense Ministry to fund chemical weapons programs and efforts to purify heroin. 

One delegation from the Taliban defense minister offered to renovate Nazir’s and Massoud’s laboratories in exchange for their work.  Another group asked for assistance to obtain large amounts of sodium cyanide and thionyl chloride, which can be used to produce mustard gas and cyanide gas, although they also have peaceful uses. 

Nazir also said an Arab delegation in August presented a proposal to begin mining for uranium in Afghanistan and offered to pay the wages of scientists who would help.

More Discoveries in Kabul Houses

Nazir’s statement came as journalists and Northern Alliance police discovered more documents in former al-Qaeda houses that suggested al-Qaeda and the Taliban were pursuing weapons of mass destruction (London Times, Nov. 25).

Materials discovered in several Kabul houses abandoned by the Taliban and al-Qaeda indicated al-Qaeda was studying chemical, biological and nuclear weapons (see GSN, Nov. 19).  U.S. officials said the documents they have seen confirm that al-Qaeda was working to develop weapons of mass destruction but did not provide evidence whether the organization had acquired such weapons.

Much of the sensitive material related to al-Qaeda abilities and intentions has disappeared from the houses, mostly taken by the Taliban or by journalists who investigated the houses before Northern Alliance police began guarding them, Northern Alliance Interior Minister Younus Qanouni said last week.  He said his ministry would consider providing copies of the papers they had discovered to the United States (Cottrell/Wolffe, Financial Times, Nov. 25). 

Anthrax Plans Found in Mehmood’s Charity’s Headquarters in Kabul

Plans that suggested efforts to build an anthrax bomb were discovered at the Kabul headquarters of the Foundation for Construction, a relief charity founded by Sultan Bashiru-din Mehmood, according to the London Times.  Pakistani authorities had detained Mehmood, a former top Pakistani nuclear scientist, for questioning regarding his contacts with the Taliban and al-Qaeda (see related GSN story, today).  Mehmood said his meetings with bin Laden and the Taliban only involved discussions of charitable work.  A chart explaining how to distribute anthrax using a hot-air balloon, copies of media articles about anthrax and a computer disk showing former U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen explaining that anthrax could destroy much of Washington were also discovered in the charity’s headquarters.

Sarin Gas Discovery?

Meanwhile, reporters have been unable to confirm the discovery at the Farm Hada training camp near Jalalabad of vials labeled “Sarin/V-Gas” (see GSN, Nov. 20).  Two Spanish reporters who claimed to find the vials were killed in an ambush last Monday (London Times, Nov. 25).

Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Wednesday that he could not confirm the sarin gas discovery.  Pace said U.S. forces had a list of facilities the United States suspected were used to produce chemical or biological weapons, and U.S. forces would visit the locations and take samples to determine if dangerous biological or chemical materials had been present.  U.S. officials had already taken some samples that were being analyzed, but Pace said he had no results yet (U.S. Defense Department transcript, Nov. 21). 

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Iraq:  Changes to Sanctions Opposed

Iraq said yesterday it would oppose any changes to the U.N. oil-for-food program and would continue to ban U.N. weapons inspectors from the country.

If the United Nations accepted proposed U.S. and British changes to the sanctions without Iraqi approval, “this means that the other party, that is the U.N., does not want an extension of the [oil-for-food] agreement,” said Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri. 

The United States and Britain have proposed creating “smart sanctions,” which would lift many trade restrictions on Iraq but tighten enforcement of the arms embargo and block smuggling (see GSN, Nov. 7), according to the Associated Press.  The oil-for-food program comes up for its annual six-month review at the end of November, the AP reported.

“The logical thing for the United Nations is to move for an improvement of the situation, not for tightening the sanctions against Iraq as is the case with the smart sanctions,” Sabri said, and added he expected Russia to support Iraq’s position (Waiel Faleh, Associated Press/Washington Post, Nov. 25).

Weapons Inspectors Opposed

The U.N. sanctions against Iraq were put into place after the Gulf War and are conditioned on Iraq dismantling its weapons of mass destruction programs.  Iraq was not ready to reaccept U.N. weapons inspectors who have been banned since the end of 1998, Sabri said, urging the U.N. Security Council to lift the sanctions.  “We have finished the stage of disarmament,” Sabri said.  “The U.N. Security Council [resolution on Iraq] calls for lifting sanctions after Iraq has implemented its own obligations [of disarmament].”

The United States last week said that Iraq, among several other nations, has biological weapons (see GSN, Nov. 19).  Iraq denies the charge, according Reuters (Reuters/New York Times, Nov, 25).

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