The first generation of militant Islamic terrorists, who had close ties to Al Qaeda, had some strong common experiences. A large portion had fought in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union and joined Osama Bin Laden as a result of an ideological split between the terrorists that took place in 1994.
Osama Bin Laden
Bin Laden believed that after the fight against the Soviet Union, it was necessary to fight the United States (and even the entire West) because he believed that they were guilty of injustice against Islam. Other terrorist groups continued their efforts to topple hostile regimes in the secular Islamic states of the Middle East. In preparation for the fight against the enemy far away, Osama Bin Laden went to Afghanistan in 1998 and established several training camps, research institutions and a bureaucracy to support it all.
Mustafa Setmariam Nasar
One of the terrorists who emigrated to Afghanistan at that time was Mustafa Setmariam Nasar. Nasar is better known as Abu Musab al-Suri or The Syrian. He has ties to first-generation jihad fighters , and he has experience fighting the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. He also supported local jihad fighters in Algeria and other countries. Before September 11, 2001, Nasar was suspected of running training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan for Osama Bin Laden. Like several people in his group, Nasar has a good education.
This is evident in his written works. He wrote, among other things, the 1600-page training manual called Global Islamic Resistance Vocation. He also made a number of video recordings of his presentations on the same subject. United States actions succeeded in eliminating or capturing Nasar himself and several other first-generation leaders, thus complicating the training of terrorists in the next generation. Both Nasar’s book and his videos can still be found on the internet, despite his capture in Pakistan in 2006.
Irhabi 007
Another generation of Muslim terrorists is represented by Younis Tsouli. His identity was unknown to authorities until shortly before his arrest. However, his virtual personality, Irhabi 007 (means: terrorist 007) was very well known. Irhabi 007 became infamous on jihad discussion forums for his technical skills in hacking websites, subverting online spying techniques and posting Jihad training programs and propaganda videos on the web. Judicial officers suspected that Irhabi 007 was in the United States as he set up Jihad websites and hid other material on servers located in the US. Collaboration between British and American security services led to the discovery and arrest of Irhabi 007 at his West London home in 2005. He gained his enormous reputation in online jihad circles in just a year.