Invisible War on Terror Accelerates Worldwide

For all the focus on Afghanistan, the U.S.-led war on terrorism has quietly picked up pace worldwide, with increasing results even in problem areas ranging from Sudan in Africa and Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula to the Philippines in Southeast Asia, according to U.S. officials.

The United States has tangible evidence that terrorist attacks outside Afghanistan have been disrupted, delayed or prevented by the four-month global effort, the officials say.

Often with U.S. assistance, the multipartite campaign has made significant inroads in “busting cells and breaking down operations,” according to a senior Bush administration official.

The growing number of arrests and the freezing of financial assets are “beginning to impair Al Qaeda operations and their ability to launch terrorist actions,” the official said, referring to Osama bin Laden’s far-flung terrorism network. “There are clearly instances where the lack of funding is delaying or setting back operations.”

As the fighting winds down in Afghanistan, the focus will increasingly be on this largely invisible half of the war and expanding it deeper into areas such as Somalia, an unruly country on the Horn of Africa where Al Qaeda has been active in the past--and still has ties, U.S. officials say.

“In terms of looking forward, what we’re looking at is how . . . to take down a global network. We haven’t ever done that before,” the official said.

Between 800 and 1,000 terrorism suspects have been arrested or detained in more than 50 countries, not including the more than 640 held in the United States, according to U.S. officials. Many of the foreign arrests have not been made public.

More than 140 countries have also frozen funds in 270 accounts with assets of $65 million. Most of the arrests and frozen assets are linked to Al Qaeda, but other extremist groups have also been affected.

In contrast to the Afghan operation, the other half of the war so far involves limited or no military use of American troops.

“The military is not the preferred means and not necessarily the most effective means. And not all military actions require the U.S. military,” said a senior State Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

In the other half of the war, covert intelligence operations or operations involving local militias or militaries are more likely to be used, U.S. officials say. Each operation has been tailored to local circumstances.

“Besides, you don’t need to shoot them all,” the State Department official added, referring to the terrorists. “You can choke off the links and ties among groups and eliminate their bases. You can take away their food and shelter and starve them and arrest them. That’s underway in many places where they used to be able to operate. We’re doing things all over the place.”

In the war outside Afghanistan, countries fall into one of three tiers, according to administration officials. The first is made up of countries, most notably in Europe, that have the will and means to act on their own against terrorism. The U.S. role on the first tier has usually been limited to sharing intelligence.

The second tier includes countries that have the will but need active support from U.S. law enforcement, intelligence, counter-terrorism or military advisors. Support includes “all the things you can do without putting [soldiers’] boots on the ground,” said the senior State Department official.

The third tier consists of countries whose desire or ability to deal with terrorism remains in question.

The five nations under the most intense scrutiny in the invisible war, because of their political environments or past links to Al Qaeda, are Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, the Philippines and Indonesia, U.S. officials said. Four are unstable Muslim nations, and the Philippines has a militant separatist movement within its Muslim minority.

Power Vacuum in Somalia Feeds Concern

Somalia has long been the biggest concern because conditions there are even worse than in Afghanistan. Somalia is a largely destitute Muslim country with a power vacuum and a highly armed population prone to internal clashes.

After Sept. 11, the Bush administration put the Somalian movement Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya on its terrorist list and froze the assets of Al Barakaat, Somalia’s largest remittance firm, alleging that it was being used by Al Qaeda.

The United States is particularly interested in Ras Kamboni, an area near the border with Kenya where Al Qaeda cells have operated in the past, U.S. officials say. U.S. intelligence is also closely monitoring the coastline for suspicious shipping traffic that might infiltrate Al Qaeda forces back into Somalia.

U.S. diplomat Glenn Warren went to Somalia last month on the first visit by a U.S. official to the capital, Mogadishu, since 1995, to talk with the 18-month-old transitional government of President Abdiqassim Salad Hassan, who vowed to support U.S. efforts. A five-man military mission also reportedly met last month with Somalian militiamen to discuss possible Al Qaeda locations.

After Warren’s visit, Somalia arrested eight Iraqis and a Palestinian on suspicion of ties to Al Qaeda. But the U.S. is skeptical about the government’s ability to follow through on those arrests, since it controls only half of the capital.

“Somalia, given the circumstances that exist there now, is one of the areas we have to keep our eye on. We want to prevent them from being used as a harbor for terrorism,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Friday. “Al Qaeda elements have gone in and out of Somalia.”

Interesting Progress With War-Torn Sudan

But progress has been made even in some of these most vulnerable countries.

One of the most interesting breakthroughs has been in Sudan, Africa’s largest country, a war-torn nation where Bin Laden lived, ran terrorist training camps and set up multinational business interests and a bank from 1991 to 1996. Sudan remains on the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism.

But the country, ruled by an Islamic government, is now cooperating closely with Washington, most notably by arresting about two dozen Al Qaeda operatives and making them available to U.S. investigators for interrogation, U.S. officials say. Sudan also has provided intelligence data about Bin Laden’s activities, allies and financial network.

In the Philippines, U.S. troops have trained local forces, which have carried out a series of raids on Muslim militants. Among them is the Abu Sayyaf group, believed to have long-standing ties to Al Qaeda.

After more than a year of tension with Yemen over the slow investigation into the attack on the U.S. destroyer Cole in October 2000, the U.S. turned a corner with the country after a visit to Washington in November by President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Guided by U.S. intelligence on individuals and locations, Yemeni forces launched raids in search of militants in Marib province in mid-December, according to diplomatic sources.

Bin Laden’s father was born in Yemen, and Al Qaeda has reportedly long had operatives and allies in Hadhramaut province. After its worries about Somalia, the U.S. has the greatest concern about Al Qaeda operatives infiltrating into poor, overpopulated Yemen.

Of the five nations under most intense scrutiny, the biggest unknown is Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country, which is undergoing a troubled political period.

“Indonesia is potentially a real harbor for Al Qaeda elements and Muslim extremists, and it’s not clear what the attitude--or capability--of the government will be to deal with it,” the senior administration official said.