They made wrong friends.

Muslims in Central Asia and the Future Battle of Islam by Abu Musab al-Suri

“Muslims in Central Asia and the Future Battle of Islam,” a twenty-seven page white paper authored by Abu Musab al-Suri AKA Musatafa Setmarian Nasar in November 1999, advocates jihad in the states of East Turkistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, and the capture of resources. This document is circulated amongst other archived al-Suri materials, such as his 1,600 page book International Islamic Resistance Call , and an assortment of terrorist training lectures, currently placed on a hacked directory of the website, “Meat’s Joke of the Day,” www.mjotd.com . Abu Musab al-Suri writes historically of the Soviet invasion of Central Asia, the strategic importance of the area in terms of natural resources, industrial institutions, Islamic capitals, commercial market, and the “military vigor” of the Muslims in this region.

As this document is written in 1999, al-Suri references the success of the Afghan jihad and the availability of the Taliban regime for providing assistance and experience to the mujahideen in Central Asia, spearheading a “rejoicing Islamic and Jihadi arousal”. The states of this region are purportedly subjected to a “vehement crusading invasion,” formerly occupied by the Russians, but now open to economic invasion by the West, including heavy financial investments. Al-Suri summarizes aggression against Muslims in addition to the aforementioned, highlighting “hostile policy” and armed clashes. He cites arrests and confrontations in Tajikstan and Uzbekistan to illustrate rancor by these governments towards the mujahideen and Muslims.

Concerning the importance of jihad in Central Asia and reasons for its priority, Abu Musab al-Suri explains that in the new global order, this region is the “weakest spot of the enemy,” and may be a prudent epicenter for operations. He notes the natural geography of the countries, and the “the military inheritance, including equipment, structures and ammunition of the [former] Soviet Union that has accumulated in this region is a military resource and an inheritance that the people of Islam cannot even dream of finding elsewhere”. Importantly, al-Suri advocates the possession of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in the hands of Central Asian Muslims because they will not be able to wage a successful “classical war” against the West. The weapons are to be used for threatening and casting fear amongst the enemy. Further, the document reads: “The developed state of the industries and the existence of raw materials for these weapons make Central Asia a base, as well as the subject of the Muslims’ hope, for possessing these weapons”.

Media reports indicate that a suspect believed to be Abu Musab al-Suri was captured in Quetta, Pakistan during the beginning of November 2005. Abu Musab al-Suri, AKA Mustafa Setmarian Nassar, or Umar Abd al-Hakim, is an al-Qaeda operative who ran terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and instructs in poison and chemical warfare. On November 18, 2004, the U.S. State Department offered a $5 million for information leading to his arrest. Al-Suri, meaning “The Syrian,” was indicted in Spain in 2003 for allegedly training al-Qaeda sleeper cells for deployment in Spain, Italy, and France and is believed to have masterminded the Madrid train bombings in March 2004.