Posted on 06/21/2002 1:54:31 PM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Iran and Iraq have served as corridors for al-Qaida fighters going home to Arab countries from Afghanistan, and Iran has sheltered some members of the terrorist organization, U.S. officials said Friday.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, briefing reporters Friday, accused Iran's government of helping terrorists fleeing the U.S. war in Afghanistan.
"Iran had served as a haven for some terrorists leaving Afghanistan," he said. "It is also true it has permitted the transit of terrorists, and the supporters of terrorists, through Iran."
Some of those allowed to stay in Iran include an al-Qaida leader, Abu Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian accused of helping plot a bombing at the Radisson SAS Hotel in Amman aimed at killing Americans and Israeli tourists during millennial celebrations, a U.S. official has said.
In 1999, Jordanian authorities broke up that hotel bombing plot. Zarqawi, who has used the alias Ahmad Fadeel al-Khalayleh, went from Afghanistan to Iran not long after the U.S. war in Afghanistan began last October, and he later left, U.S. officials have said. His current whereabouts are unclear.
Iran has rejected allegations that it is tied to the those fleeing Afghanistan.
"We have no common ground with these terrorist groups and the Taliban," Vice President Masoumeh Ebtekar said in March.
Some small groups of al-Qaida have also crossed Iran and Iraq, but not to stay. Instead, U.S. officials say they returned to their home countries on the Arabian peninsula and elsewhere.
One U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity Friday, said there's no evidence that any al-Qaida members have set up a base of operations in Iraq.
Nor does the United States have any evidence of Iraqi complicity in the terrorists' using Iraq as a transit corridor to return to their home countries, the official said.
A Bush administration official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said the U.S. government remains suspicious that al-Qaida is using Iraq to hide some of its members, but acknowledged there is no hard evidence to date.
As the administration considers options to topple the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, any signs of Iraq working with al-Qaida would bolster the case for action. But no strong links have materialized.
Most al-Qaida fighters are believed to have fled from Afghanistan to Pakistan. Some stayed there, while others jumped off to their home countries.
Also Friday, Rumsfeld said Pakistan has significantly reduced militants' infiltration into Indian territory in Kashmir, contributing to a moderate reduction of tensions between the two countries that recently were at the brink of war.
"A number of things have been done by both sides" to reduce tensions, he said, adding, "Pakistan, by all reports, has significantly reduced infiltration across the line."
Pakistani militants, some motivated by Islamic ideology, others by nationalism, have crossed into India and launch attacks against Indian military and civilian targets in and near the disputed Kashmir region. India frequently accuses Pakistan's government of supporting those militants and has threatened to attack Pakistani territory to destroy their base of operation.
The infiltration probably cannot be stopped completely, Rumsfeld said.
"They can't probably know everything that is taking place," he said. "It's very rugged land."
He urged both governments to consider the costs of war.
"What will need to be done is for each side to recognize the damage ... that causes to their respective economies and to their people, and keep looking, as they are, for opportunities to take steps that will reduce those tensions," he said.
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