What the Signs Indicate

Hossein Shari’atmadari

All the signs prove that Burhanuddin Rabbani, Peace Council Chief and Afghanistan’s first president in the post-USSR occupation era, fell victim to a joint US-Saudi plot. His martyrdom signifies a mixed message of anger and worry by Washington and its Western and regional allies in the wake of the unexpected success of the Islamic Awakening Conference hosted by Tehran. This is not speculation, but a reality proved by a plethora of evidence. Read:

1.      Burhanuddin Rabbani’s residence-- site of the assassination-- is located in the well-known Wazir Muhammad Akbar Khan neighborhood of Kabul, in the vicinity of the US Embassy in Kabul which is tightly guarded by American troops. Security measures had been particularly bolstered after the Taliban’s attack on the US embassy, perpetrated nearly two weeks ago. Except for senior US Army commanders and high-ranking Afghan officials, no individual was admitted inside the zone without close inspection. Nevertheless, the two attackers who martyred Mr. Rabbani had evaded the process while the deadly explosives were placed inside their turbans! One may attribute this to their disguise as official Taliban negotiators. This argument will be dismissed by the evidence which follows.

2.      Burhanuddin Rabbani was among the prominent figures invited to Tehran's Islamic Awakening Conference. His resistance background and religious profile brought him into the spotlight during the conference. Rabbani had announced his decision to stay in Tehran for a few days after the end of the conference. On the second day of the conference, however, Afghanistan’s president Hamid Karzai, attending the UN General Assembly in New York, asked him to return to Kabul to start negotiations with Taliban negotiators. Despite his wish to stay, Burhanuddin made a hasty departure to Afghanistan via Dubai. Rabbani had only a one-hour respite to prepare for talks with the assassins. The catastrophe occurred during the early minutes of the meeting. Two points appear noteworthy:

a.       Martyr Burhanuddin Rabbani was appointed to Afghanistan’s High Peace Council one year ago. During this period, he held frequent meetings with various Afghan groups and as the formal protocols dictate, such meetings were planned well in advance. Moreover, no serious developments had occurred during the recent days which would necessitate an urgent negotiation. Therefore, it seems that Rabbani’s assassination plan was contrived during recent days; otherwise, the terrorists could have easily implemented the plot earlier. This proves that the masterminds behind the assassination had no intention of assassinating Rabbani until recent days, or at least did not think of it as urgent. But what compelling event forced them –namely the US, the Saudi monarchy and their infantry, the Taliban- to rubberstamp the plot? The only significant event of the recent days was Tehran’s Islamic Awakening Conference and its overachievement in bringing Muslim nations on board to confront US hegemony and oust the puppet dictators of the Muslim World.

b.      Hamid Karzai’s insistence on Rabbani’s return to Kabul and him meeting with Taliban does not implicate the Afghan President in the crime. Rabbani was an outspoken critic of the Taliban as much as Karzai is, though their opposition to the radical Islamist group stemmed from two different viewpoints. Moreover, Hamid Karzai was aware that his phone call to Rabbani and his demand for the Peace Council Chief’s return to Kabul would be no secret. If he was aware of the assassination plot, he would remain furtive about the call.

3.      As Martyr Rabbani returned to Kabul, the two Taliban envoys entered his residence. Against the bodyguards’ demands for inspection, they responded that it could be considered by Taliban as an offensive gesture, an argument which sounded convincing to Rabbani and his bodyguards. Let’s return to an argument put forth in the introduction of this article: against the speculation aforementioned, the assassins could not have possibly entered the security zone without passing any inspection by American troops, even by disguising themselves as official Taliban envoys: firstly, in their initial conversation with Rabbani’s bodyguards they claimed –falsely- to have been scrutinized by the Americans. Secondly, the bodyguards’ decision to inspect the visitors proved that this was a routine security procedure. Thirdly, the attackers were not well-known characters who might be able to dodge the Americans’ scrutiny. As Martyr Rabbani’s bodyguards stepped back, one of the envoys approached Rabbani for a greeting. In the meantime, two Taliban members in the Peace Council present there conspicuously moved away from Rabbani. Interestingly, after a few steps, they started slouching away! It was then that Martyr Rabbani, the honest patron of the oppressed nation of Afghanistan, the close companion of Imam [Khomeini] and the Supreme Leader of Iran [Ayatollah Khamenei], met his God beheaded.

4.      There are three distinguishable strands in the Taliban:

a.       The mainstream group which ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. It was –nominally- led by Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar. Since the killing of bin Laden by the US Navy Seals, the Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahiri has taken helm of the al Qaeda organization. As Husni Mubarak confessed in an interview with the NY Times, Zawahiri was linked to CIA agents in Cairo. Bin Laden did not deny his affiliation with the CIA but claimed that he had split off from the security apparatus! Americans and the late Pakistani PM Benazir Bhutto have confessed that the Taliban is a joint product of ‘US direction, Saudi patronage, and local logistical support of Pakistan’s intelligence services.’ Rabbani’s assassination was conducted by this group, mostly consisting of non-Afghan citizens coming from countries such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

b.      The moderate faction led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. This group assertively demands its share of the power cake in Afghanistan. Rabbani and Karzai had agreed to relinquish the rule of 16 southern provinces of Afghanistan to the Taliban during their recent negotiations with Hekmatyar.

c.       The group known as the “local Taliban”, forming the majority, but usually marginalized in negotiations and trade-offs.

Evidently, only the first group, the US- and Saudi-backed Taliban, had strong motives to assassinate Burhanuddin Rabbani. They have proven that they will not lift a finger without the US’ consent, and contacts between their leaders and the former Commander of US Forces in Afghanistan, Gen. David Petraus, have been disclosed.

The Tehran Islamic Awakening Conference-- held in attendance of more than seven hundred Muslim intellectuals-- had several demands on its agenda: serious confrontation with the US’ hegemony, ousting puppet dictators and establishing a political system based on Islamic teachings, and vigilance against political currents backed by Imperialist powers and stifling their efforts to manipulate the regional Islamic uprisings. Since the news of the Tehran Conference spread, and after its phenomenal success -admitted by friends and foes and bolstered by His Excellency Ayatollah Khamenei’s sagacious speech- chances for manipulation of the regional Islamic revolutions shrank. Are there any doubts that Burhanuddin Rabbani fell victim to the anger and grudge of Washington and its allies with the ‘road map’ unveiled for Muslim nations in the Tehran Conference?

*Hussein Shari’atmadari is the Editor-in-Chief of Kayhan. His editorials are read with special attention among the media and political groups in Tehran due to his unique access to security and political data.