Face-to-face with a Taliban commander

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Taliban cleric Faqir Mohammed is tall, thin, very serious and very religious. His eyes are hard and he speaks slowly. He never smiles.

And when you hear what he has to say, you won’t be smiling either.

"If we get hold of nuclear weapons – which we hope to get very soon – then we will safeguard them until Allah Almighty guides us when and against whom to use them," he told NBC News in an interview at his mountain hideout.

These days, the 38-year-old cleric prefers to be called "Commander Faqir." He thinks it befits his new role as deputy leader of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the umbrella organization that was formed last December to try and unite Pakistani militants.

Faqir Mohammed, left, speaks with NBC News Mushtaq Yusufzai, center, at his remote mountain top stronghold near the Pakistan/ Afghanistan border while Faqir's bodyguards standby in the rear.

Faqir is considered by many to be equal in importance, if not even more important, than Baitullah Mehsud, the top Taliban commander in Pakistan, who has been linked to the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto last December.

Remote mountain top meeting
Maulvi Omar is Faqir's spokesman and a seasoned Taliban fighter who goes by several names. He is now in charge of the Taliban's media machine. Omar arranged for NBC News’ Mushtaq Yusufzai to meet Faqir to discuss the ongoing attempts between the Pakistani government and the local Taliban militants to negotiate a peace deal. The newly elected democratic government in Islamabad is trying to kick start those negotiations  by offering separate peace deals to different tribes and factions in hopes of bringing an end to hostilities in the tribal areas.

Yusufzai met Omar, in Khar, the capital of Bajaur, one of Pakistan’s seven semi-autonomous tribal regions along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. From there, he was escorted by armed men in two white Toyota pick-up trucks to Faqir’s mountain stronghold, less than two miles from the Afghanistan border.

They travelled for half an hour through wheat fields, high mountains and deep ravines, passing several check posts controlled by Faqir’s fighters armed with AK-47 rifles, heavy machine guns and rocket propelled grenades. They seldom travel the same way more than once. In fact, some of Faqir’s men operate as scouts who regularly explore new routes so as to avoid capture and detection by the U.S. and NATO forces.

"When I entered his house-like hideout, I saw Commander Faqir, his AK-47 in his hand, sitting with dozens of armed bodyguards," said Yusufzai. "He greeted me warmly and thanked me for risking my life to come and talk with him."

American helicopter gunships hover
Yusufzai described the surreal setting of the rendezvous, "As we sat down to eat traditional chicken kerai, dried fruits and green tea, U.S. and Afghan forces engaged with a couple hundred of Faqir’s fighters right on the border. American gunship helicopters crossed over into Pakistan and hovered right above the mountain where we were sitting."

"I was scared," said Yusufzai. "I was sure that the U.S. forces knew Faqir was in the area and were looking for him. They had missed him twice before."

Faqir must have thought so too – they quickly left the house and walked further up the mountains to a cave-like fortress where he said he seeks shelter from U.S. spy planes.

Faqir explained how he and his men avoid detection. He said never carries a cell phone and never uses the Internet or any other form of modern communication. And he demands his men do the same. "Most of the top al-Qaida fighters have remained safe because they do not use any electronic devices," he said.

"All messages are conveyed through trusted couriers and the letters are immediately burned with a lighter that every fighter keeps in his pocket," said Faqir. Close ties to top al-Qaida leadership
Faqir claims to have close links to al-Qaida’s number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

It was Faqir who organized a January 2006 dinner party for al-Zawahiri at Damadola in the Bajaur district. Al-Zawahiri never showed up, but U.S. predator drones did – firing missiles which killed at least 17 people, six of those alleged to have been al-Zawahiri’s lieutenants. 

Ten months later, in October, the Pakistani government was ready to sign a peace deal with Faqir and his militants. Yusufzai was in Bajaur to cover the negotiations for NBC News when U.S. predator missiles destroyed the madrassa (religious school) run by Faqir. But again the drones missed their man. Eyewitnesses claim that at least 80 people were killed – mostly students returning to school after a Muslim holiday. The proposed peace agreement was dead too.

Women, too, want to lay down their lives
Faqir said that the attack by the U.S. was unwarranted and only served to help his recruitment efforts. "Americans attack us in our homes on suspicion, not on solid information," said Faqir. "I ask you – was Osama, al-Zawahiri or Mullah Omar ever present in any house where they attacked? It is the innocent people who are being killed," he said.

Faqir believes all Muslims should unite to free Afghanistan from U.S. and NATO forces. And on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border there are thousands of young men who agree with him.

"Our people have resorted to suicide attacks because of the atrocities the U.S. and allied forces have committed against us Pashtuns," Faqir insisted. "We have many requests from our men to offer this ultimate sacrifice and now even our women want to die for this sacred cause," he said. "One woman, who lost her entire family to American bombs, threatened to hold me accountable on judgment day if I didn’t give her the chance to sacrifice herself."

Not tossing out friends – al-Qaida
The Bajaur tribal area is across the mountains from Kunar Province in Afghanistan, where U.S. troops are engaged in fighting al-Qaida and the Taliban. Faqir holds sway here. He hands down a harsh Taliban form of justice through tribal and religious courts and has forced the local population to comply. His men have successfully pushed the Frontier Corps, Pakistan's paramilitary force in the tribal areas, to abandon their check posts throughout Bajaur and retreat back to the barracks in the main city of Khar. Faqir has made Bajaur a state within the Pakistani state.

"The Pakistani security forces imposed this war on us," Faqir told Yusufzai in the interview. "We never wished to fight the Pakistani army and still want to have peace with them. We are ready to negotiate with the new government in Islamabad," he said.

But those negotiations will be conditional on laying down arms and expelling foreign fighters from the tribal territories – and that means getting rid of al-Qaida. For Faqir that is a deal-breaker. The talks are stalled.

"The Pashtuns cannot allow anyone to dishonor or humiliate their guests," Faqir insisted. "These are very difficult times for us and we consider anyone who takes up arms against U.S. forces to be our guest and we will protect them."

A tribal code of honor
All the Pashtun tribes of Pakistan and Afghanistan abide by their own 5,000-year-old tribal code of honor called "Pashtunwali." Pashtunwali also means hospitality – to turn away a guest, regardless of his past, would bring dishonor and shame.

"If I could host Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri and Mullah Omar, it would be the happiest day of my life," Faqir said.

At the same time, the Pakistani government is counting on Pashtunwali to separate militants like Faqir from their tribes. They hope tribal discipline, the ultimate allegiance to one’s tribe and tribal elders – even over a radical religious ideology – may eventually isolate the extremists and allow peace negotiations to succeed.

And as for those nukes – Pakistan's generals aren't too concerned over Faqir's bluster. They say the nukes are locked up and in control of the army. The warheads are kept separate from their detonation components making it impossible to seize a complete nuclear weapon.  And they say there are only a few trusted generals who know the key to the elaborate system of command and control. Even the Bush administration is on record saying it believes that Pakistan's nukes are in safe hands-for now. http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/05/06/984755.aspx

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