(UPI) Arnaud de Borchgrave - According to retired Gen. Aslam Beg, when the CIA sought the support of jihadis from all over the Muslim world to fight the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, some 60,000 mujahedin passed through a system sponsored by the U.S., Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia. They "form the core of the global Muslim resistance...fighting in Chechnya, Palestine, Kashmir, Afghanistan, and Iraq," says Beg. Pakistan's madrasas, or religious schools, are still churning out 750,000 jihadi-prone male teenagers a year with the same hateful views of America, Israel, and India. The fossilized clerics in charge have stood their ground - with Wahhabi clergy money still reaching them from Saudi Arabia. President Musharraf estimates the number of extremists at "no more than 1% of the population." That's 1.5 million religious fanatics.
2003-11-28 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive