GPI unsure about fate of Indonesian fighters in Afghanistan

Abu Hanifah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Chairman of the Islamic Youth Movement (GPI) Suaib Didu said he had not yet received any new information about the fate of perhaps dozens of volunteer Indonesian fighters being held as prisoners of war by Northern Alliance troops in Afghanistan's capital city of Kabul.

"I have yet to talk to my contact people in Iran about the fate of the Indonesian fighters arrested by the Northern Alliance in Kabul," Suaib told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

He said the last time he talked to his contacts in Iran was Wednesday last week, but "they were only explaining the position of our people who were still there".

Local media reported on Friday that Indonesian volunteers were among approximately 50 pro-Taliban fighters captured by the Northern Alliance in Kabul last Thursday. The others included Saudi Arabians, Kyrgyztanis and Pakistanis.

Almost immediately after the United States and its allies attacked Afghanistan on Oct. 7, the GPI sent at least 300 Indonesian volunteers to Afghanistan to fight for the Taliban.

Suaib said approximately 150 Indonesians were still working with the Taliban in Kunduz, around 50 people were already in Pakistan and another 100 or so were still waiting at the border attempting to enter Pakistan.

Kunduz fell to anti-Taliban forces on Sunday. Hundreds of foreign fighters loyal to Saudi-born Osama bin Laden, who is being hunted by the United States for the deadly attacks on Washington and New York in September, were reportedly being held in Northern Alliance-controlled Mazar-i-Sharif.

"Perhaps the Indonesians arrested and detained by Northern Alliance troops were part of the 150 fighters who were still in Afghanistan. Some of them were tasked to conduct spying operations in Kabul," Suaib said.

He said someone "from the Cabinet" of President Megawati Soekarnoputri contacted him on Saturday evening to ask about the Indonesians being detained in Kabul, but he refused to give any information about their whereabouts in Afghanistan.

"GPI opted not to cooperate with a government that cannot be trusted because it is very obedient to the United States," he said.

"We only believe people whom we consider trust-worthy," said Suaib, adding that someone from the Indonesian Embassy in Pakistan also tried to contact GPI leaders but failed.

Coordinator Minister for Political, Social and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said in Surabaya, East Java, on Saturday that Indonesian volunteers were illegal because their departure did not have the approval of the government, but stressed that the Indonesian government, through the Indonesian Embassy in Pakistan, would do its utmost to determine the whereabouts of the fighters jailed in Afghanistan.

He also said that the government was still trying to contact and meet with the GPI volunteers in Afghanistan as well as their liaison officers in the region.