M A I N   N E W S

9/11 funding traced to Pakistan
Vasantha Arora

Washington, August 1
The Bush administration has “traced the origin of the funding of 9/11 to financial accounts in Pakistan, where high-ranking and well-known Al-Qaida operatives played a major role in moving the money forward, eventually into the hands of the hijackers located in the United States.”

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Deputy Assistant Director for Counter-terrorism Division John S. Pistole, who made the revelation, however, did not specify how the accounts in Pakistan were funded.

The revelation came during testimony to the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee.

The FBI has estimated that the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon here, cost between $175,000 and $250,000. That money, which paid for flight training, travel and other expenses, reportedly flowed to the hijackers through associates in Germany and the Gulf.

These associates reported to Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who managed much of the planning for the attacks from Pakistan, Mr Pistole said.

As part of the 9/11 financial investigation, he pointed out, thousands of individuals and organisations were investigated in the USA and abroad to determine whether they played any part in supporting the hijackers or the operation.

Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were said to be from Saudi Arabia and this has created tensions in the US-Saudi Arabian relations.

Mr Pistole, however, said the US-Saudi Arabian cooperation against terrorism had improved since the May 2003 bombing of three Western compounds in Riyadh.

He spoke of the joint investigations with other countries that had successfully targeted the financing of several overseas Al-Qaida cells, including those located in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Spain and Italy.

Furthermore, with the assistance of relationships established with the central banks of several strategic countries, successful disruptions of Al-Qaida financing had been accomplished in countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Indonesia, Mr Pistole said.

He said the FBI investigation initially identified the Al-Qaida funding sources of the 19 hijackers in the Gulf and Germany.

Since 9/11, the USA has frozen $36.3 million in terrorist assets while other countries have frozen an estimated $97 million, for a total of over $133 million.

Besides, the US authorities issued blocking orders on the assets of 281 terrorists, terrorist organisations and terrorist supporters, effectively denying them access to the US financial system. — IANS

Nothing new in FBI disclosures, says India
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 1
India today said there was “nothing new” in FBI disclosures that funding for the September 11 terror attacks in the USA was linked to accounts in Pakistan and called upon the international community to put pressure on Islamabad to eliminate networks linked with terrorism.

In response to a question about the FBI disclosures, Mr Navtej Sarna, spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs, said, “It being stated in a Senate hearing underlines the importance of ensuring that networks linked with terrorism are credibly eradicated.”

Meanwhile, nearly a dozen prominent US Congressmen have written to President George W. Bush, highlighting the need to hold Pakistan accountable on the issues of non-proliferation, terrorism and democratisation.

The Congressmen said they would be looking for continued cooperation by Pakistan in dealing with the Al-Qaida and Taliban. They said they would be looking for a quicker pace for democratic reforms in Pakistan. The signatories include Mr Jim McDermott, Mr Joseph Crowley, Mr Gary Ackerman, Mr Frank Pallone and Mr Howard Berman.