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Source: http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/watch/Policywatch/policywatch2003/699.htm
Ansar al-Islam: Iraq's Al Qaeda Connection
(Washington Institute for Near East Policy) - Jonathan Schanzer Ansar al-Islam, an al Qaeda affiliate active in Iraqi Kurdistan since September 2001, is a textbook example of the ongoing challenges posed by the war on terror. Following a visit by several Kurdish Islamist leaders to the al Qaeda leadership in Afghanistan in August 2001, Ansar al-Islam was created using $300,000 to $600,000 in al Qaeda seed money, in addition to funds from Saudi Arabia. Today, Ansar operates in fortified mountain positions along the Iran-Iraq border known as "Little Tora Bora." There, the group's Kurdish, Iraqi, Lebanese, Jordanian, Moroccan, Syrian, Palestinian, and Afghan members train in a wide array of guerrilla tactics. The U.S. State Department has yet to designate the group as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.