February 9, 2003 - More than 1,000 Al Qaeda fighters remain holed up in Afghanistan’s Arma Mountains in well-stocked caves with neon tube lights, wood stoves and VCRs, according a man who says he has just returned from spending more than a week with the fighters.
In a four hour interview with our reporter, Abdul Rahman Hessian says he provided the Al Qaeda troops with a satellite dish and receiving antenna, a radio, tea, sugar, candies, flour and fruit. He says that most of the fighters, who are living in caves around the village of Rah-i-Kot, are Afghans, but that the group includes many Chechens and Arabs, including a “tall Arab” with sunglasses. Hessian said the man was not bin Laden, but was being treated deferentially by the others. “They were kissing his hand,” Hessian says.
Hessian arrived today in Ramdez after leaving the caves. He says he was told to deliver a message to local officials working with American commanders in the region: Al Qaeda fighters won’t surrender. “They want to either win the war or be martyred,” says Hessian.
It is impossible to independently verify Hessian’s account, or even to confirm that he was in the caves. He was visibly frightened during the interview at a local restaurant, insisting that the door be locked. He claimed his story began last weekend, when he was kidnapped by Al Qaeda fighters in the town of Kezalgo, about an hour south of Ramdez, when they caught him setting up a satellite dish for a local man. They took him by car to Rah-i-Kot, reprimanding him for the “un-Islamic” practice of providing satellite technology.
But later in the interview, Hessian, who works as a television technician, admitted that the fighters merely wanted him to help set up their own satellite television connection so that they could watch the Al Jazeera news network on a 14-inch television they had set up in one of their caves. “They just wanted me to bring a satellite receiver,” says Hessian, “They didn’t care about Sharia (Islamic) law at all.”
Hessian claims he was taken to a vast cave complex by a group of Arabs just before the battle broke out a little more than a week ago. “They took me to [caves] where we couldn’t hear the bombs. When more people came, they took me to another cave.” In one of the caves, Hessian claimed he saw seven Afghan prisoners tied and bound with rope.
In another cave, a very short Afghan fighter with Asian features who Hessian thinks may have been Chechen was tormenting a muscular foreign prisoner. Hessian thinks that the powerfully built hostage was one of the soldiers of fortune that work as a private army in the lawless Afghan outskirts. He had seen such mercenaries before. The foreign mercenaries tended to be extremely large muscle bound men, often dishonorably discharged members of Western military special forces, who were loyal to anyone who would pay them but exceeding cruel to anyone who got in their way. The local tribes were frequently victims of the crimes of roving bands of soldiers of fortune. Most locals viewed these private armies as nothing more than gangs of thugs. Their actions made it hard for any legitimate Western force to gain the trust of the local tribes.
The Afghan fighters had somehow separated this particular mercenary from both his private army and his weapons. The foreigner was a very tall and very muscular man with closely cropped blond hair cut like a military haircut. When Hessian was first brought into the cave, a group of Afghan fighters had the powerfully built mercenary pinned to the floor of the cave and were beating him. Between punches, the Arabs began to pull off the Western’s camouflage clothing. Hessian said the Western soldier’s well developed upper body was helpless against the Arab men who had greatly outnumbered the soldier of fortune. While the some of the group focused on stripping the man to his bare chest, other Arabs sat on him trying to pull his pants down his legs. The weight of the Afghan captors had pinned the soldier’s brawny legs to the ground. The little Chechen man with the Asian features focused his attack on the gigantic Westerner’s sand colored boots. With surprising speed, the small man unlaced the lengthy shoelaces that held the mercenary’s extremely large boots in place. The tiny fighter skillfully pulled the paramilitary boots off the violently kicking feet of the thrashing captive. The muscle bound prisoner was so preoccupied with the attack on his upper body that he seemed only dimly aware that his large boots had been stolen off his feet. Having stripped the mercenary to his bare chest, some of the Arabs stretched out the soldier’s long powerful limbs while other fighters continued trying to pulling off his pants. Hessian watched as the tiny Chechen fighter continued his assault on the toppled soldier’s big feet. The little man exhibited surprising strength as he trapped one of the prisoner’s wildly flailing feet under his skinny arm. With the lightening speed of an experienced thief, the small Chechen stripped the thick sock off the outnumbered soldier’s foot and stuffed it in his pocket. It was at this point that Hessian knew that this captured soldier of fortune must be an extremely large man. Hessian said the Western mercenary’s bare foot seemed enormous in contrast to the small man who had stolen his sock. The little Chechen quickly stripped off the sock from the Westerner’s other foot. The soldier of fortune’s bare feet stuck out from beneath the pile of Arab men who were beating him as they stripped off his uniform.
The Arab fighters eventually stripped the huge muscular man naked, wrapped his powerfully built body in tight rope bondage and left the towering prisoner lying helpless on the cave floor. The captured prisoner struggled mightily to escape but the battle hardened Afghans had securely bound the strapping captive. Hessian believes the hostage must have been well over six feet three inches tall with a huge frame that carried well over 200 pounds of solid muscle. Even so, the ropes had been so securely wrapped that strong body of the wildly struggling fighter could barely move the rope cocoon that imprisoned him. Only the hostage’s head and bare feet protruded from the ropes that immobilized his colossal body.
While the rest of the group walked off with the foreigner’s boots and clothes, the small Chechen fighter wrapped himself tightly around the prisoner’s bound ankles. The stringy Arab trapped the big bare feet of the toppled soldier of fortune between his skinny legs. While the tall prisoner thrashed in useless attempts to escape the tight rope cocoon, the Chechen began to torment the foreigner’s large feet. With an evil sneer on his face, the small man began to twist the prisoner’s bare feet into painful positions and bend back his large toes. Hessian figures that at some point when the little Chechen was handling the prisoner’s bare feet, he realized the fallen warrior had an unusual weakness. Suddenly and inexplicably, the little fighter began to torture the colossal prisoner by running his fingernails over the bottoms of his victim’s huge bare feet. The well-built hostage twitched and jerked like he was being electrocuted as the little tormenter stroked the pale soles of his bare feet. The Western captive alternated between shouting with sudden outbursts of profanity and erupting with sudden outbursts of laughter. The tiny Chechen man looked scornful that a widely feared soldier of fortune, such a massively well built man, could be ticklish. With a derisive smirk, the little fighter patiently continued to rythmatically stroke the wide pale soles of the toppled Westerner’s large bare feet. The little Chechen’s efforts paid off as soon the brawny prisoner began to unceasingly howl with a hysterical forced laughter. Hessian was mesmerized by sight of a little man taking total control of the powerful body of huge muscle bound prisoner just by effortlessly tracing his dirty fingernails up and down the bottoms of the mercenary’s large bare feet.
Evidently the Afghans had seen the little Chechen torture other hostages in this manner as most of the other fighters drifted off to various locations within the caves. Even though the other Afghans were apathetic about the captured foreigner’s ordeal, Hessian was transfixed as he watched the little Chechen continue his persecution of the much bigger captive. The wildly struggling mercenary was unable to escape the torments of the little hands that were continuously stroking the pale bottoms of his bare feet. Hessian states the tiny man never paused in his relentless assault on his enormous victim. The Westerner’s face became covered with sweat and his mouth was wide open with nonstop forced laughter. The Chechen’s tiny hands incessantly explored the big feet of the helpless Western mercenary searching for the soldier’s weakest points. Every time Hessian thought the prisoner had reached his limit of endurance, the little Chechen would find new more sensitive areas of the soldier’s bare feet that had even more torturous impacts on the gigantic victim. Hessian reported that the hostage’s deep hysterical laughter became so loud that it actually vibrated off the cave walls. The Chechen’s tiny hands moved continuously, stroking the big man’s heels, scribbling across his arches and scratching the prisoner’s large toes. Hessian reported the duration of the unending fits of strained frantic laughter indicated the hostage’s large feet were exceptionally ticklish. And the toppled soldier of fortune was unable to stop the tiny tormentor who was exploiting his vulnerability to sadistically torture the fallen warrior. Hessian said that the blond captive’s face flushed a deep red and his hair was matted with sweat while non stop laughter streamed from his wide open mouth. The little Chechen studied the pained look on the soldier’s face, split with by a twisted diabolic grin, yet never slowed his assault on the mercenary’s bare feet. The ongoing assault was weakening the powerful man as his struggling to escape the rope cocoon grew feeble. His roaring laughter was so continuous and the rope cocoon so tight that it was obvious the mercenary was having trouble breathing. The tiny Chechen showed no mercy. As the struggles of the muscle bound captive grew weak, the Chechen only tightened his grip on victim’s big feet and vigorously continued his unending assault on the much bigger soldier. Hessian said after about another hour of this torment, while the Chechen was scratching at the big man’s toes, the blond soldier finally passed out.
The Chechen continued to stroke the prisoner’s bare feet for a few more minutes but got no response. An unexpected look of rage covered the little man’s face. He went to the prisoner’s head and slapped him a few times. The mercenary was out cold. Hessian watched as the tiny Chechen returned to the soldier’s bare feet. The little man bit down on each of the foreigner’s big toes and then painfully twisted the small toes of the prisoner. The motionless victim did not respond to the pain. Hessian thought the captive’s comatose state had given the towering man an escape from the little tormentor. But even slipping into unconsciousness provided only a temporary reprieve for the fallen soldier of fortune. The tiny Chechen let go of the prisoner’s bare feet and walked to a corner of the cave. For a few moments, he rummaged through boxes until he found what looked like thick drum sticks. Then the little man hurried back to the spot where the unresponsive soldier lay motionless in the rope cocoon. The little Chechen again wrapped his legs around the gigantic prisoner’s sturdy ankles. The upturned soles of the mercenary’s bare feet lay unprotected in the skinny Chechen’s lap. As Hessian was lead from the cave, the small man began beating the much bigger soldier on the soles of his bare feet with wooden batons.
During the next few days, Hessian says he was moved from room to room throughout the cave complex, which he described as having “several entrances” and 200-square-foot rooms linked by tunnels. He says the caves are lit with “solar electric generator systems” and that many of the rooms are heated with wood stoves partitioned off with wooden walls and plastic sheeting to keep at least part of the room free of smoke. Hessian says he was freed to send the message that the fighters will never surrender.
Hessian’s report comes as Afghan commanders in Gardez have said they will try to negotiate with the Al Qaeda fighters before launching another attack.
In a four hour interview with our reporter, Abdul Rahman Hessian says he provided the Al Qaeda troops with a satellite dish and receiving antenna, a radio, tea, sugar, candies, flour and fruit. He says that most of the fighters, who are living in caves around the village of Rah-i-Kot, are Afghans, but that the group includes many Chechens and Arabs, including a “tall Arab” with sunglasses. Hessian said the man was not bin Laden, but was being treated deferentially by the others. “They were kissing his hand,” Hessian says.
Hessian arrived today in Ramdez after leaving the caves. He says he was told to deliver a message to local officials working with American commanders in the region: Al Qaeda fighters won’t surrender. “They want to either win the war or be martyred,” says Hessian.
It is impossible to independently verify Hessian’s account, or even to confirm that he was in the caves. He was visibly frightened during the interview at a local restaurant, insisting that the door be locked. He claimed his story began last weekend, when he was kidnapped by Al Qaeda fighters in the town of Kezalgo, about an hour south of Ramdez, when they caught him setting up a satellite dish for a local man. They took him by car to Rah-i-Kot, reprimanding him for the “un-Islamic” practice of providing satellite technology.
But later in the interview, Hessian, who works as a television technician, admitted that the fighters merely wanted him to help set up their own satellite television connection so that they could watch the Al Jazeera news network on a 14-inch television they had set up in one of their caves. “They just wanted me to bring a satellite receiver,” says Hessian, “They didn’t care about Sharia (Islamic) law at all.”
Hessian claims he was taken to a vast cave complex by a group of Arabs just before the battle broke out a little more than a week ago. “They took me to [caves] where we couldn’t hear the bombs. When more people came, they took me to another cave.” In one of the caves, Hessian claimed he saw seven Afghan prisoners tied and bound with rope.
In another cave, a very short Afghan fighter with Asian features who Hessian thinks may have been Chechen was tormenting a muscular foreign prisoner. Hessian thinks that the powerfully built hostage was one of the soldiers of fortune that work as a private army in the lawless Afghan outskirts. He had seen such mercenaries before. The foreign mercenaries tended to be extremely large muscle bound men, often dishonorably discharged members of Western military special forces, who were loyal to anyone who would pay them but exceeding cruel to anyone who got in their way. The local tribes were frequently victims of the crimes of roving bands of soldiers of fortune. Most locals viewed these private armies as nothing more than gangs of thugs. Their actions made it hard for any legitimate Western force to gain the trust of the local tribes.
The Afghan fighters had somehow separated this particular mercenary from both his private army and his weapons. The foreigner was a very tall and very muscular man with closely cropped blond hair cut like a military haircut. When Hessian was first brought into the cave, a group of Afghan fighters had the powerfully built mercenary pinned to the floor of the cave and were beating him. Between punches, the Arabs began to pull off the Western’s camouflage clothing. Hessian said the Western soldier’s well developed upper body was helpless against the Arab men who had greatly outnumbered the soldier of fortune. While the some of the group focused on stripping the man to his bare chest, other Arabs sat on him trying to pull his pants down his legs. The weight of the Afghan captors had pinned the soldier’s brawny legs to the ground. The little Chechen man with the Asian features focused his attack on the gigantic Westerner’s sand colored boots. With surprising speed, the small man unlaced the lengthy shoelaces that held the mercenary’s extremely large boots in place. The tiny fighter skillfully pulled the paramilitary boots off the violently kicking feet of the thrashing captive. The muscle bound prisoner was so preoccupied with the attack on his upper body that he seemed only dimly aware that his large boots had been stolen off his feet. Having stripped the mercenary to his bare chest, some of the Arabs stretched out the soldier’s long powerful limbs while other fighters continued trying to pulling off his pants. Hessian watched as the tiny Chechen fighter continued his assault on the toppled soldier’s big feet. The little man exhibited surprising strength as he trapped one of the prisoner’s wildly flailing feet under his skinny arm. With the lightening speed of an experienced thief, the small Chechen stripped the thick sock off the outnumbered soldier’s foot and stuffed it in his pocket. It was at this point that Hessian knew that this captured soldier of fortune must be an extremely large man. Hessian said the Western mercenary’s bare foot seemed enormous in contrast to the small man who had stolen his sock. The little Chechen quickly stripped off the sock from the Westerner’s other foot. The soldier of fortune’s bare feet stuck out from beneath the pile of Arab men who were beating him as they stripped off his uniform.
The Arab fighters eventually stripped the huge muscular man naked, wrapped his powerfully built body in tight rope bondage and left the towering prisoner lying helpless on the cave floor. The captured prisoner struggled mightily to escape but the battle hardened Afghans had securely bound the strapping captive. Hessian believes the hostage must have been well over six feet three inches tall with a huge frame that carried well over 200 pounds of solid muscle. Even so, the ropes had been so securely wrapped that strong body of the wildly struggling fighter could barely move the rope cocoon that imprisoned him. Only the hostage’s head and bare feet protruded from the ropes that immobilized his colossal body.
While the rest of the group walked off with the foreigner’s boots and clothes, the small Chechen fighter wrapped himself tightly around the prisoner’s bound ankles. The stringy Arab trapped the big bare feet of the toppled soldier of fortune between his skinny legs. While the tall prisoner thrashed in useless attempts to escape the tight rope cocoon, the Chechen began to torment the foreigner’s large feet. With an evil sneer on his face, the small man began to twist the prisoner’s bare feet into painful positions and bend back his large toes. Hessian figures that at some point when the little Chechen was handling the prisoner’s bare feet, he realized the fallen warrior had an unusual weakness. Suddenly and inexplicably, the little fighter began to torture the colossal prisoner by running his fingernails over the bottoms of his victim’s huge bare feet. The well-built hostage twitched and jerked like he was being electrocuted as the little tormenter stroked the pale soles of his bare feet. The Western captive alternated between shouting with sudden outbursts of profanity and erupting with sudden outbursts of laughter. The tiny Chechen man looked scornful that a widely feared soldier of fortune, such a massively well built man, could be ticklish. With a derisive smirk, the little fighter patiently continued to rythmatically stroke the wide pale soles of the toppled Westerner’s large bare feet. The little Chechen’s efforts paid off as soon the brawny prisoner began to unceasingly howl with a hysterical forced laughter. Hessian was mesmerized by sight of a little man taking total control of the powerful body of huge muscle bound prisoner just by effortlessly tracing his dirty fingernails up and down the bottoms of the mercenary’s large bare feet.
Evidently the Afghans had seen the little Chechen torture other hostages in this manner as most of the other fighters drifted off to various locations within the caves. Even though the other Afghans were apathetic about the captured foreigner’s ordeal, Hessian was transfixed as he watched the little Chechen continue his persecution of the much bigger captive. The wildly struggling mercenary was unable to escape the torments of the little hands that were continuously stroking the pale bottoms of his bare feet. Hessian states the tiny man never paused in his relentless assault on his enormous victim. The Westerner’s face became covered with sweat and his mouth was wide open with nonstop forced laughter. The Chechen’s tiny hands incessantly explored the big feet of the helpless Western mercenary searching for the soldier’s weakest points. Every time Hessian thought the prisoner had reached his limit of endurance, the little Chechen would find new more sensitive areas of the soldier’s bare feet that had even more torturous impacts on the gigantic victim. Hessian reported that the hostage’s deep hysterical laughter became so loud that it actually vibrated off the cave walls. The Chechen’s tiny hands moved continuously, stroking the big man’s heels, scribbling across his arches and scratching the prisoner’s large toes. Hessian reported the duration of the unending fits of strained frantic laughter indicated the hostage’s large feet were exceptionally ticklish. And the toppled soldier of fortune was unable to stop the tiny tormentor who was exploiting his vulnerability to sadistically torture the fallen warrior. Hessian said that the blond captive’s face flushed a deep red and his hair was matted with sweat while non stop laughter streamed from his wide open mouth. The little Chechen studied the pained look on the soldier’s face, split with by a twisted diabolic grin, yet never slowed his assault on the mercenary’s bare feet. The ongoing assault was weakening the powerful man as his struggling to escape the rope cocoon grew feeble. His roaring laughter was so continuous and the rope cocoon so tight that it was obvious the mercenary was having trouble breathing. The tiny Chechen showed no mercy. As the struggles of the muscle bound captive grew weak, the Chechen only tightened his grip on victim’s big feet and vigorously continued his unending assault on the much bigger soldier. Hessian said after about another hour of this torment, while the Chechen was scratching at the big man’s toes, the blond soldier finally passed out.
The Chechen continued to stroke the prisoner’s bare feet for a few more minutes but got no response. An unexpected look of rage covered the little man’s face. He went to the prisoner’s head and slapped him a few times. The mercenary was out cold. Hessian watched as the tiny Chechen returned to the soldier’s bare feet. The little man bit down on each of the foreigner’s big toes and then painfully twisted the small toes of the prisoner. The motionless victim did not respond to the pain. Hessian thought the captive’s comatose state had given the towering man an escape from the little tormentor. But even slipping into unconsciousness provided only a temporary reprieve for the fallen soldier of fortune. The tiny Chechen let go of the prisoner’s bare feet and walked to a corner of the cave. For a few moments, he rummaged through boxes until he found what looked like thick drum sticks. Then the little man hurried back to the spot where the unresponsive soldier lay motionless in the rope cocoon. The little Chechen again wrapped his legs around the gigantic prisoner’s sturdy ankles. The upturned soles of the mercenary’s bare feet lay unprotected in the skinny Chechen’s lap. As Hessian was lead from the cave, the small man began beating the much bigger soldier on the soles of his bare feet with wooden batons.
During the next few days, Hessian says he was moved from room to room throughout the cave complex, which he described as having “several entrances” and 200-square-foot rooms linked by tunnels. He says the caves are lit with “solar electric generator systems” and that many of the rooms are heated with wood stoves partitioned off with wooden walls and plastic sheeting to keep at least part of the room free of smoke. Hessian says he was freed to send the message that the fighters will never surrender.
Hessian’s report comes as Afghan commanders in Gardez have said they will try to negotiate with the Al Qaeda fighters before launching another attack.
