Growing Up Bin Laden - Jean P. Sasson [48]
Osama also met the main Egyptian Jihadists who inspired him further. All were of the same mind, wanting to remake the Muslim world as soon as the Soviets were defeated. These men would later become some of his most devoted followers, including Mohammed Atef, Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, Abu Ubaidah al-Banshiri, Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, and Omar Abdel Rahman, the blind cleric from Egypt.
Because Osama was in Pakistan and Afghanistan more than he was in Saudi Arabia, he set up a family home in Peshawar, Pakistan, so that his wives and children could join him for summer visits. Osama introduced his firstborn son, Abdullah, to the conflict in Afghanistan, bringing him to the fighting camp in Jaji, where the young boy was exposed to great danger. Osama received unexpected criticism from his family and other Jihadi leaders, including Abdullah Azzam, for doing so, yet it was only the first of many instances when Osama would push his unenthusiastic sons to the forefront of his personal passion for Jihad.
In April 1988, nine years and four months after the Soviets first invaded Afghanistan, representatives of Afghanistan, the USSR, the United States, and Pakistan met to sign an agreement calling for the Russian army to pull its forces out of Afghanistan. Afghanistan and Pakistan agreed to stop interfering in each other’s political and military affairs, and the United States agreed to end its support for the Afghan anti-Soviet groups.
Osama’s mentor, Abdullah Azzam, made the case for an extensive foundation from which believers could launch their struggle for a perfect Islamic world. In full agreement, Osama called for the planning meeting that would be named al-Qaeda al-Askariya, which translates as “the military base,” and was later shortened to al-Qaeda, “the base,” or “the foundation.” The first meeting was held at his family home in Peshawar, Pakistan, in August 1988.
The founding members decreed that Osama’s al-Qaeda organization would be a global crusade, having both an Islamic arm and a military arm, so that the organization could support Islam by violent and nonviolent means. Goals included ridding the Muslim world of western influence, overthrowing monarchies and secular governments, and making Islam the only religion in the world. As the war in Afghanistan wound down, Osama found more time to devote to the Islamic goals of al-Qaeda.
After Osama assumed a leadership role in the movement, there were tensions among some of his followers, most noticeably between Abdullah Azzam and Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, with both men competing for Osama’s support, financial and otherwise. While Abdullah Azzam was not in favor of violence against fellow Muslims, Zawahiri had no such scruples. As time went on, the tensions between the two men grew problematic for the movement.
On February 15, 1989, the last Russian soldier departed from Afghanistan. Osama and his fighting men claimed a great victory. Tragically, with the departure of the Russians, the Afghan warlords commenced quarreling, each faction determined to gain leadership of the war-weary country. Osama made some efforts to bring the warlords together, but his efforts were unsuccessful.
After the war ended, and al-Qaeda was aiming to make their movement global, there were attempts on Abdullah Azzam’s life. On November 24, 1989, Azzam and his two sons were killed when three land mines detonated as a motor caravan was taking them to the mosque in Peshawar to pray. There have been many speculations as to the guilty party, but most believe Zawahiri to be the mastermind of the assassination.
When Abdullah Azzam died at the age of forty-nine, he was probably the only person who might have cautioned Osama against future attacks against the Saudi rulers and the Americans.
Osama soon returned to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, a man whose political, religious, and militant vision had been fully awakened. From that time on, he continued to push for the growth of al-Qaeda, and