Note: this article, published in 1992 in London's Guardian newspaper, was probably the first report filed on Osama Bin Laden and what would become Al-Queida in an English-language paper.
Peshawar- The "Kabulis"—veterans of the Afghan war—who killed eight policemen in Algeria yesterday come from an international force of Islamic militants that has been nurtured since the mid-80s, according to Arab diplomats in Pakistan.
The lawless hills of Afghanistan have proved idea for training militants in military skills in conditions of great secrecy.
Because of the hostility towards foreigners and unsafe conditions in Afghanistan, little is known of how many fundamentalists may have passed through for training in the 13-year war. Mojahedin sources in Peshawar say that about 10,000 Arabs had been been trained and participated in the jihad (holy war) there. About 2,000 Arabs are believed to be living in the Pakistani border town of Peshawar. Many more are still inside Afghanistan. Between 300 and 400 Algerians are thought to be in Pakistan. Other volunteers are from Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Sudan, Palestine and Yemen. Arab diplomats say many would be unwelcome in their own countries now.
"They are now viewed with suspicion," a conservative Arab official in Islamabad said yesterday. "We thought this training would come to an end with the withdrawal of the Soviets in 1989, but it didn't because religious groups in the Middle East had their own agenda."
Nor was the movement confined to Arabs. Diplomats say that Filipinos from the Moro Liberation Front, Burmese Muslims, Kashmiris and even Japanese Muslim converts have received training in Afghanistan.
With the winding down of the Afghan war and the suspension of funding to mojahedin groups, a number of Arabs are reported to have asked the Pakistani authorities for permission to remain in the country.
"We cannot return home now. We would be arrested," said a Palestinian volunteer to the jihad who had been fighting for the last seven years. "Many of us have married local women and want to settle down here now."
Religious movements in the Arab world have been financing the volunteers since about 1985. Most of the money is thought to have come from the main Afghan jihad fundraiser in Saudi Arabia, a Saudi businessman called Osama bin Ladin. Money was also received from the Muslim Brotherhood and the radical Salafi movement in the Gulf.
Mr Bin Ladin comes from one of Saudi Arabia's wealthiest families. He is now believed to be in exile in Sudan.
Many of the Arab volunteers, particularly the Saudis, were originally encouraged by their own governments to fight communism in Afghanistan. Official Saudi aid has been suspended since the US/Soviet agreement at the beginning of the year to cut military and financial aid to both sides in the conflict.
Because of the recent switch in Pakistan's Afghan policy, the Arabs could find themselves unwelcome in Pakistan also. Earlier this month Pakistan announced it was urging the mojahedin to the support the UN peace plan.
Military officials say they will tackle the "Arab terrorists" once the peace process is under way. The Arabs have acquired a fearsome reputation among Afghans. On a number of occasions they have been blamed for the massacre of surrendering government soldiers.