Fearing death, Bin Laden’s band marry off their women
PTI
(London, November 4)
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In the first signs that they do not expect to survive the war, Osama bin laden's elite bodyguards have begun marrying off their daughters and sisters to Afghan men around Kandahar.
The secret weddings took place last week in suburbs and villages around Kandahar and involved Arab women getting married to locals who agreed to look after them in return for large sums of money, The Sunday Telegraph reported today.
"The Arabs came at night bringing large numbers of women and suitcases of money," the newspaper quoted Abdul Razza, a teacher from Kandahar who witnessed some of the negotiations.
"They asked that the people look after their womenfolk and protect them in the war."
"The fact that the Arabs feel they can no longer protect the women is the first sign that they believe the war is not going their way," the report quoted a western diplomat as saying.
The women were completely covered but Razza believes some were as young as 12 and that they brought their mothers with them. Local mullahs carried out the quick marriage ceremonies.
An estimated 2,000 Arabs from Sudan, Egypt, Algeria and the United Arab Emirates, among other countries, lived in Kandahar before the war but fled last month before the start of the American campaign.
Some managed to escape, but many are thought to be in Uruzgan, a mountainous province with a network of caves that is the home province of Mullah Omar, Taliban's spiritual leader.
According to Razza, however, there was no shortage of men agreeing to take the Arab women as wives. "Normally we have to pay for women so they were happy to get brides who came with their own money particularly at the moment with so many shortages and high prices for food and fuel. They also believe it is their Islamic duty to protect these guests."
Many of the Arabs marrying off their women are believed to be from bin Laden's elite 055 Brigade, a crack squad of 500 Arabs set up five years ago.
Over the past two weeks, Americans have stepped up the bombing of caves where bin Laden and his guards are thought to be hiding.
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