Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan
Encyclopedia
The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) is a militant Islamist group formed in 1991 by the Islamic ideologue Tahir Yuldashev, and former Soviet paratrooper Juma Namangani—both ethnic Uzbeks
from the Fergana Valley
. Its objective was to overthrow President Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan
, and to create an Islamic state under Sharia
.
Operating out of bases in Tajikistan
and Taliban-controlled areas of northern Afghanistan
, the IMU launched a series of raids into southern Kyrgyzstan
in 1999 and 2000. However, in 2001 the IMU was largely destroyed while fighting alongside the Taliban against coalition forces in Afghanistan. Namangani was killed, and the IMU's remaining fighters were dispersed. Yuldeshev and an unknown number of fighters escaped with remnants of the Taliban to Waziristan
in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas
of Pakistan
. Since then the IMU has reportedly opened training camps in Waziristan and is now involved with other groups attempting to overthrow the government of Pakistan.
Despite occasional proclamations from Yuldeshev, and rumours of a re-emergence under the name the Islamic Movement of Turkestan (IMT), there is no reliable evidence indicating that the IMU/IMT remains an operational force in Central Asia
outside of the Afghanistan/Pakistan border region.
was severed. This isolation ended with the Soviet war in Afghanistan
(1979–1989), when thousands of conscripts from Soviet Central Asia
were sent to fight the Afghan mujahedin. Many of these conscripts returned home impressed by the Islamic zeal of their opponents, and newly aware of the religious, cultural and linguistic characteristics they shared with their neighbours in the South - and which distinguished them from their rulers in Moscow
.
(b. 1969). Following the war, Khojayev returned to his hometown of Namangan
in Uzbekistan's Fergana Valley radicalized by his experiences, and became associated with a local Islamic ideologue, Tohir Yuldashev (b.1967). In the period of initial instability that followed Uzbekistan's sudden independence in 1991, Yuldeshev and Khojayev (now adopting the nom de guerre Juma Namangani) established a radical Salafi
Islamist group in Namangan which they called Adolat
(Justice).
Adolat assumed civil authority in Namangan and quickly established a degree of order and security through the imposition of Sharia Law, which was ruthlessly enforced by Adolat's vigilante cadres. Initially tolerated by the newly installed President Karimov, Adolat became increasingly assertive, culminating in a demand that Karimov impose Sharia throughout Uzbekistan. However, by 1992 Karimov had successfully cemented his authority in Tashkent
, and was strong enough to outlaw Adolat and re-establish central control over the Fergana Valley region - traditionally one of the most Islamic regions in Central Asia.
earlier in 1992. The civil war pitted Rahmonov's neo-communist forces against a loose coalition of democrats and Islamists known as the United Tajik Opposition (UTO). The UTO was led by the widely popular and highly respected Islamist Said Abdullah Nuri, whose Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan
(IRPT) advocated a moderate and democratic brand of Islamism.
Namangani's combat experience in Afghanistan saw him entrusted by the IRPT with the command of active units in the field, based out of the remote, mountainous Tavildara Valley region - a role he carried out with considerable success. Meanwhile, Yuldashev left Tajikistan on a tour of Afghanistan, Turkey
and the Middle East
, during which time he developed contacts with numerous Islamist groups. From 1995-8 Yuldashev was based in Peshawar
in Pakistan, where he established relations with Osama Bin Laden
and the Afghan Arabs based there at the time.
(ISI) agency, the IMU began moving towards the Afghan Taliban and away from their former and more moderate IRPT allies - who were in turn backing the ethnic-Tajik Ahmad Shah Massoud and his Northern Alliance
against the Taliban.
Nevertheless, Namangani maintained his base in Tajikistan's Tavildara Valley, and was able to recruit large numbers of disaffected youth from the Fergana Valley, where economic hardship and religious persecution were continuing under Karimov's authoritarian rule.
in the capital Tashkent
were orchestrated in an unsuccessful attempt on Karimov's life. Karimov placed the blame on radical Wahhabi Islamists, and the IMU in particular - however this attribution remains disputed, and it's possible the assassination attempt was the work of rival political and regional elites. Irrespective of who was responsible, the result was an escalation in Karimov's suppression of Islam, particularly in the traditionally observant Fergana Valley - a move which only increased the number of those fleeing Uzbekistan to join up with Namangani and the IMU in the Tavildara Valley.
Later that year the IMU conducted its first verifiable operations, with an incursion into the Batken
region of southern Kyrgyzstan - a region populated mainly by ethnic Uzbeks, and lying between Tavildara in Tajikistan and the Fergana Valley in Uzbekistan. Insurgents seized the Mayor of Osh
(the regional capital) and successfully extorted a ransom from the ill-prepared Kyrgyz
government in Bishkek
, as well as a helicopter to transport them to Afghanistan. Further incursions into Batken followed, with one raid seeing a number of Japanese geologists kidnapped - although denied by Japan
, their subsequent release almost certainly followed a significant ransom payment.
These raids had a major impact in Central Asia, and resulted in considerable international pressure on Tajikistan, not least from Karimov, to expel the IMU from its base in the Tavildara Valley. The IRPT persuaded their former ally Namangani to abandon Tavildara in late 1999. Controversially, Namangani and his fighters were then flown from Tajikistan to northern Afghanistan in Russian military helicopters - a move which enraged Karimov, who claimed the Russians were aiding the IMU in an attempt to undermine Uzbekistan.
It is estimated that the IMU were now approximately 2000 strong, and in the spring they contributed around 600 fighters to the Taliban's offensive against Massoud, participating in the successful siege of Taloqan
, where they fought alongside Bin Laden's 555 Arab Brigade. The IMU also provided the Taliban with a useful degree of deniability - under pressure from China
to expel Uighur militants the Taliban simply sent them north to the IMU's camps.
By the summer of 2000 Western and CIS
intelligence sources claim the IMU were equipped with more advanced weaponry such as sniper rifles and night-vision goggles, and had been supplied with a pair of heavy transport helicopters by Bin Laden. Namangani led IMU fighters back to the Tavildara Valley in Tajikistan, and from there launched multipronged attacks into Batken in Kyrgyzstan, and also into northern Uzbekistan, close to Tashkent.
In August 2000 the IMU also kidnapped four U.S. mountain-climbers in the Kara-Su Valley of Kyrgyzstan, holding them hostage until they escaped on 12 August. In response, the United States
classified the IMU as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
Once again the raids were followed by a strategic retreat to Tavildara, and once again international pressure on the Tajik government saw Namangani agree to him and his men being flown by the Russians back to Afghanistan, where they arrived in January 2001.
In his book Terror and Consent, Philip Bobbitt
noted that Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood
, a scientist of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission
, had met Osama bin Laden in Kabul
in August 2001. Mahmood is said to have disclosed that bin Laden "insisted that he already had sufficient fissile material to build a [nuclear] bomb, having obtained it from former Soviet stockpiles through the Islamic Movement of Ubekistan."
However, following 9/11 and the US-led coalition intervention in Afghanistan, the IMU was largely destroyed while fighting alongside the Taliban, and Namangani himself was killed. The IMU's fighters were scattered, with Yuldeshev and many others fleeing along with remnants of the Taliban to the tribal areas of Pakistan.
In September 2002 an aide to Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil, the Foreign Minister of the Taliban, claimed he had been sent prior to 9/11 to warn the U.S. government of an impending attack and to persuade them to take military action against Al Qaeda's presence in Afghanistan. The aide claimed advance knowledge of the attack came from Yuldashev, which if true would indicate a high degree of cooperation between Al-Qaeda and the IMU.
In 2003, A. Elizabeth Jones
, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasia, testified on the threat of terrorism in Central Asia before the U.S. House of Representatives' subcommittee on the Middle East and Central Asia, arguing that the greatest threats were the IMU, and Hizb ut-Tahrir
. Jones said that despite the death of Namangani, the "IMU is still active in the region -- particularly in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan -- and it represents a serious threat to the region and therefore to our interests."
In addition, the government of Russia
banned the movement under the name "Islamic Party of Turkestan" in 2006.
On 7 August 2006, Kyrgyz special forces
killed Rafik Kamalov
, an alleged leader of the movement, in the Kyrgyz border town of Kara-Suu
.
Mahmadsaid Juraqulov, head of the anti-organized crime
department in the Interior Ministry of Tajikistan
, told reporters in Dushanbe
on 16 October 2006 that the "Islamic Movement of Turkestan is the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan," and that Uzbek secret services manufactured the change in name. Juraqulov also said that the IMT is not a major security threat to Tajikistan or Kyrgyzstan
. "Everyone knows that it is in Uzbekistan that [the IMU] wants to create problems. For them, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan are just regrouping bases they're trying to reach."
The Tajik government wants 23 suspected IMU members who Tajik authorities say attacked supporters of Tajik President Imomali Rakhmonov on 28 September 2006, wounding two people. Between July 2006 and September 2007, 31 persons accused of IMU membership have been arrested in the Sughd region in the north of Tajikistan. They are usually sentenced to 12 – 18 years of prison.
However, while Yuldeshev has issued a number of pronouncements suggesting a widening of the IMU's focus, evidence does not support the notion that the IMU remains a credible threat in the region. Furthermore, events in early 2007 suggest that the IMU may no longer be able to count on refuge in Pakistan's tribal belt. In March local Pakistani and reportedly Arab
militants turned against the IMU in the Wana conflict.
Some analysts have asserted that rather than the image of a unified IMU under Namangani and Yuldeshev, it has always been an organization consisting of two poles - the radical, spiritual (Yuldeshev) and militant, criminal (Namangani). With the latter's death in 2001, it is probable a less mujahideen-style of warfare will emerge favouring terror-style attacks. The 2004 Tashkent bombings
attributed to a group calling itself the Islamic Jihad Union
may have been perpetrated by IMU operatives as well.
Nevertheless, in a context of continued socieoeconomic deprivation and an absence of political pluralism, a resurgence of militant Islam in the region cannot be ruled out.
On 30 September 2009, a man claiming to be a bodyguard of Tahir Yuldashev reported that Yuldashev was killed in a US missile airstrike that occurred shortly after the death of Pakistan Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud
.
The man also claimed that Uzbek militant Abdur Rehman had succeeded Yuldashev as chief of the IMU. The next day, Pakistan and US officials confirmed this report. On August 16, 2010
Furqun, an Uzbek-language website run by the al Qaeda-linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, or IMU, put up two images of Yuldahsev, who was described as "Shaheed Mohammed Tahir," and said he was "slain." Shaheed is a term used by Islamist groups to describer martyrs who are killed in combat. The IMU did not indicate how or when Yuldashev was killed. On August 17, 2010 the
Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan has announced its new leader, just one day after confirming the death of Tahir Yuldashev, the al Qaeda-linked terror group's co-founder and longtime emir.
Abu Usman Adil announced that he is the new leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, or IMU, in a statement released on the terror group's website, Furqon. In the online statement, Usman said Yuldashev was killed as a result of the Aug. 27, 2009, US Predator airstrike in South Waziristan. Prior to assuming control of the IMU, Abu Usman served for years as Yuldashev's deputy. Usman also called for his followers to wage jihad in the southern portion of Kyrgyzstan.
Uzbeks
The Uzbeks are a Turkic ethnic group in Central Asia. They comprise the majority population of Uzbekistan, and large populations can also be found in Afghanistan, Tajikstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Pakistan, Mongolia and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China...
from the Fergana Valley
Fergana Valley
The Fergana Valley or Farghana Valley is a region in Central Asia spreading across eastern Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Divided across three subdivisions of the former Soviet Union, the valley is ethnically diverse, and in the early 21st century was the scene of ethnic conflict...
. Its objective was to overthrow President Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan , officially the Republic of Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of the six independent Turkic states. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south....
, and to create an Islamic state under Sharia
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
.
Operating out of bases in Tajikistan
Tajikistan
Tajikistan , officially the Republic of Tajikistan , is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. Afghanistan borders it to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and China to the east....
and Taliban-controlled areas of northern Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, the IMU launched a series of raids into southern Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan , officially the Kyrgyz Republic is one of the world's six independent Turkic states . Located in Central Asia, landlocked and mountainous, Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east...
in 1999 and 2000. However, in 2001 the IMU was largely destroyed while fighting alongside the Taliban against coalition forces in Afghanistan. Namangani was killed, and the IMU's remaining fighters were dispersed. Yuldeshev and an unknown number of fighters escaped with remnants of the Taliban to Waziristan
Waziristan
Waziristan is a mountainous region near the Northwest of Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan and covering some 11,585 km² . The area is entirely populated by ethnic Pashtuns . The language spoken in the valley is Pashto/Pakhto...
in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas
Federally Administered Tribal Areas
The Federally Administered Tribal Areas are a semi-autonomous tribal region in the northwest of Pakistan, lying between the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, and the neighboring country of Afghanistan. The FATA comprise seven Agencies and six FRs...
of Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
. Since then the IMU has reportedly opened training camps in Waziristan and is now involved with other groups attempting to overthrow the government of Pakistan.
Despite occasional proclamations from Yuldeshev, and rumours of a re-emergence under the name the Islamic Movement of Turkestan (IMT), there is no reliable evidence indicating that the IMU/IMT remains an operational force in Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
outside of the Afghanistan/Pakistan border region.
Background
During the Soviet era, Islam in Central Asia was officially suppressed - mosques were closed, and all contact with the wider Muslim worldMuslim world
The term Muslim world has several meanings. In a religious sense, it refers to those who adhere to the teachings of Islam, referred to as Muslims. In a cultural sense, it refers to Islamic civilization, inclusive of non-Muslims living in that civilization...
was severed. This isolation ended with the Soviet war in Afghanistan
Soviet war in Afghanistan
The Soviet war in Afghanistan was a nine-year conflict involving the Soviet Union, supporting the Marxist-Leninist government of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan against the Afghan Mujahideen and foreign "Arab–Afghan" volunteers...
(1979–1989), when thousands of conscripts from Soviet Central Asia
Soviet Central Asia
Soviet Central Asia refers to the section of Central Asia formerly controlled by the Soviet Union, as well as the time period of Soviet administration . In terms of area, it is nearly synonymous with Russian Turkestan, the name for the region during the Russian Empire...
were sent to fight the Afghan mujahedin. Many of these conscripts returned home impressed by the Islamic zeal of their opponents, and newly aware of the religious, cultural and linguistic characteristics they shared with their neighbours in the South - and which distinguished them from their rulers in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
.
Adolat (1991-1992)
One such soldier sent to fight in Afghanistan was the Uzbek paratrooper Jumaboi KhojayevJumma Kasimov
A young "charismatic" Uzbek leader with a substantial following, Jumma Kasimov founded the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and received substantial Taliban patronage, allowed to operate freely in Northern Afghanistan.Conscripted into the Soviet Army in 1987, as a member of an elite paratrooper...
(b. 1969). Following the war, Khojayev returned to his hometown of Namangan
Namangan
Namangan is the third-largest city in Uzbekistan . It is the capital of Namangan Province, in the northern edge of Fergana Valley of north-eastern Uzbekistan.-Geography:...
in Uzbekistan's Fergana Valley radicalized by his experiences, and became associated with a local Islamic ideologue, Tohir Yuldashev (b.1967). In the period of initial instability that followed Uzbekistan's sudden independence in 1991, Yuldeshev and Khojayev (now adopting the nom de guerre Juma Namangani) established a radical Salafi
Salafi
A Salafi come from Sunni Islam is a follower of an Islamic movement, Salafiyyah, that is supposed to take the Salaf who lived during the patristic period of early Islam as model examples...
Islamist group in Namangan which they called Adolat
Adolat
Adolat is a website collecting and showing state and human crimes of Kyrgyz government and its military. www.adolat.com...
(Justice).
Adolat assumed civil authority in Namangan and quickly established a degree of order and security through the imposition of Sharia Law, which was ruthlessly enforced by Adolat's vigilante cadres. Initially tolerated by the newly installed President Karimov, Adolat became increasingly assertive, culminating in a demand that Karimov impose Sharia throughout Uzbekistan. However, by 1992 Karimov had successfully cemented his authority in Tashkent
Tashkent
Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan and of the Tashkent Province. The officially registered population of the city in 2008 was about 2.2 million. Unofficial sources estimate the actual population may be as much as 4.45 million.-Early Islamic History:...
, and was strong enough to outlaw Adolat and re-establish central control over the Fergana Valley region - traditionally one of the most Islamic regions in Central Asia.
Tajik Civil War (1992-1997)
Evading arrest, Yuldashev and Namagani fled to Tajikistan, where civil war was raging following a bloody but successful coup led by Emomali RahmonovEmomali Rahmonov
Emomalii Rahmon has served as the head of state of the Republic of Tajikistan since 1992, under the position of President since 1994.-Biography:...
earlier in 1992. The civil war pitted Rahmonov's neo-communist forces against a loose coalition of democrats and Islamists known as the United Tajik Opposition (UTO). The UTO was led by the widely popular and highly respected Islamist Said Abdullah Nuri, whose Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan
Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan
The Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan is an Islamist political party in Tajikistan. It is the only legal Islamist party in Central Asia...
(IRPT) advocated a moderate and democratic brand of Islamism.
Namangani's combat experience in Afghanistan saw him entrusted by the IRPT with the command of active units in the field, based out of the remote, mountainous Tavildara Valley region - a role he carried out with considerable success. Meanwhile, Yuldashev left Tajikistan on a tour of Afghanistan, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
and the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, during which time he developed contacts with numerous Islamist groups. From 1995-8 Yuldashev was based in Peshawar
Peshawar
Peshawar is the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the administrative center and central economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan....
in Pakistan, where he established relations with Osama Bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
and the Afghan Arabs based there at the time.
IMU Formation (1998)
In 1997 Rahmonov and Nuri signed a peace agreement which saw Rahmonov agree to sharing power with the IRPT. Disillusioned with the political concessions made by the Tajik Islamists, Yuldeshev and Namangani formed the IMU in 1998 with the aim of creating a militant Islamic opposition to Karimov in Uzbekistan. Receiving initial funding and assistance from Pakistan's Inter-Services IntelligenceInter-Services Intelligence
The Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence , is Pakistan's premier intelligence agency, responsible for providing critical national security intelligence assessment to the Government of Pakistan...
(ISI) agency, the IMU began moving towards the Afghan Taliban and away from their former and more moderate IRPT allies - who were in turn backing the ethnic-Tajik Ahmad Shah Massoud and his Northern Alliance
United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan
The United Islamic Front , known in the West and Pakistan as the Northern Alliance, was a military-political umbrella organization created by the Islamic State of Afghanistan in 1996 under the leadership of Defense Minister Ahmad Shah Massoud...
against the Taliban.
Nevertheless, Namangani maintained his base in Tajikistan's Tavildara Valley, and was able to recruit large numbers of disaffected youth from the Fergana Valley, where economic hardship and religious persecution were continuing under Karimov's authoritarian rule.
1999
In 1999 a series of explosions1999 Tashkent bombings
The 1999 Tashkent bombings occurred on 16 February when six explosives exploded in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan. The bombs exploded over the course of an hour and a half, and targeted multiple government buildings. Though six explosives were detonated, it is believed that five were a...
in the capital Tashkent
Tashkent
Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan and of the Tashkent Province. The officially registered population of the city in 2008 was about 2.2 million. Unofficial sources estimate the actual population may be as much as 4.45 million.-Early Islamic History:...
were orchestrated in an unsuccessful attempt on Karimov's life. Karimov placed the blame on radical Wahhabi Islamists, and the IMU in particular - however this attribution remains disputed, and it's possible the assassination attempt was the work of rival political and regional elites. Irrespective of who was responsible, the result was an escalation in Karimov's suppression of Islam, particularly in the traditionally observant Fergana Valley - a move which only increased the number of those fleeing Uzbekistan to join up with Namangani and the IMU in the Tavildara Valley.
Later that year the IMU conducted its first verifiable operations, with an incursion into the Batken
Batken
Batken is a small town of about 12,000 population, in southwestern Kyrgyzstan, on the southern fringe of the Fergana Valley. Its geographical location is...
region of southern Kyrgyzstan - a region populated mainly by ethnic Uzbeks, and lying between Tavildara in Tajikistan and the Fergana Valley in Uzbekistan. Insurgents seized the Mayor of Osh
Osh
Osh is the second largest city in Kyrgyzstan, located in the Fergana Valley in the south of the country and often referred to as the "capital of the south". The city is at least 3,000 years old, and has served as the administrative center of Osh Province since 1939...
(the regional capital) and successfully extorted a ransom from the ill-prepared Kyrgyz
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan , officially the Kyrgyz Republic is one of the world's six independent Turkic states . Located in Central Asia, landlocked and mountainous, Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east...
government in Bishkek
Bishkek
Bishkek , formerly Pishpek and Frunze, is the capital and the largest city of Kyrgyzstan.Bishkek is also the administrative centre of Chuy Province which surrounds the city, even though the city itself is not part of the province but rather a province-level unit of Kyrgyzstan.The name is thought to...
, as well as a helicopter to transport them to Afghanistan. Further incursions into Batken followed, with one raid seeing a number of Japanese geologists kidnapped - although denied by Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, their subsequent release almost certainly followed a significant ransom payment.
These raids had a major impact in Central Asia, and resulted in considerable international pressure on Tajikistan, not least from Karimov, to expel the IMU from its base in the Tavildara Valley. The IRPT persuaded their former ally Namangani to abandon Tavildara in late 1999. Controversially, Namangani and his fighters were then flown from Tajikistan to northern Afghanistan in Russian military helicopters - a move which enraged Karimov, who claimed the Russians were aiding the IMU in an attempt to undermine Uzbekistan.
2000
In Afghanistan Yuldeshev was able to exploit the contacts he had made on his earlier travels to negotiate freedom of operation from the Taliban, in return for providing them with assistance in their battle with Massoud's Northern Alliance. The IMU established offices and training camps, and began expanding their recruitment of disaffected Uzbeks.It is estimated that the IMU were now approximately 2000 strong, and in the spring they contributed around 600 fighters to the Taliban's offensive against Massoud, participating in the successful siege of Taloqan
Taloqan
Tāloqān is the capital of Takhar Province, in northern Afghanistan. It is located in the Taluqan District. The population was estimated as 196,400 in 2006.-History:The old city to the west on the riverside was described by Marco Polo in 1275 CE as:...
, where they fought alongside Bin Laden's 555 Arab Brigade. The IMU also provided the Taliban with a useful degree of deniability - under pressure from China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
to expel Uighur militants the Taliban simply sent them north to the IMU's camps.
By the summer of 2000 Western and CIS
CIS
CIS usually refers to the Commonwealth of Independent States, a modern political entity consisting of eleven former Soviet Union republics.The acronym CIS may also refer to:-Organizations:...
intelligence sources claim the IMU were equipped with more advanced weaponry such as sniper rifles and night-vision goggles, and had been supplied with a pair of heavy transport helicopters by Bin Laden. Namangani led IMU fighters back to the Tavildara Valley in Tajikistan, and from there launched multipronged attacks into Batken in Kyrgyzstan, and also into northern Uzbekistan, close to Tashkent.
In August 2000 the IMU also kidnapped four U.S. mountain-climbers in the Kara-Su Valley of Kyrgyzstan, holding them hostage until they escaped on 12 August. In response, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
classified the IMU as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
Once again the raids were followed by a strategic retreat to Tavildara, and once again international pressure on the Tajik government saw Namangani agree to him and his men being flown by the Russians back to Afghanistan, where they arrived in January 2001.
In his book Terror and Consent, Philip Bobbitt
Philip Bobbitt
Philip Chase Bobbitt is an American author, academic, and public servant who has lectured in the United Kingdom. He is best known for work on military strategy and constitutional law and theory, and as the author of Constitutional Fate: Theory of the Constitution , The Shield of Achilles: War,...
noted that Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood
Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood
Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood, otherwise written as, Sultan Bashir-ud-Din Mehmood), and Manchester, United Kingdom. A controversial figure, Bashiruddin Mahmood is widely popular in Pakistan's scientific and religious circles for his scientific interpretation and its relation to Quran...
, a scientist of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission
Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission
The Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, , is an administrative governmental and autonomous science and technology governmental department of Pakistan, responsible for development of nuclear energy and development of nuclear power sector in Pakistan...
, had met Osama bin Laden in Kabul
Kabul
Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan...
in August 2001. Mahmood is said to have disclosed that bin Laden "insisted that he already had sufficient fissile material to build a [nuclear] bomb, having obtained it from former Soviet stockpiles through the Islamic Movement of Ubekistan."
2001
By now the connections between the IMU and the Taliban had become more overt - the media reported that Namangani had been appointed Deputy Defence Minister in the Taliban government, which the Taliban did not deny. In the spring the IMU again supplied the Taliban with 600 fighters for a renewed campaign against Massoud, while in Batken in Kyrgyzstan a number of sleepers armed the previous year executed a series of attacks.However, following 9/11 and the US-led coalition intervention in Afghanistan, the IMU was largely destroyed while fighting alongside the Taliban, and Namangani himself was killed. The IMU's fighters were scattered, with Yuldeshev and many others fleeing along with remnants of the Taliban to the tribal areas of Pakistan.
In September 2002 an aide to Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil, the Foreign Minister of the Taliban, claimed he had been sent prior to 9/11 to warn the U.S. government of an impending attack and to persuade them to take military action against Al Qaeda's presence in Afghanistan. The aide claimed advance knowledge of the attack came from Yuldashev, which if true would indicate a high degree of cooperation between Al-Qaeda and the IMU.
Current status
While the IMU has been operationally inactive in Uzbekistan since 2001, it has been active in Afghanistan and is regularly cited as a terrorist threat by governments within and outside of the region. From 2007 through 2009, IMU fighters were active in parts of Afghanistan supporting insurgent groups and fighting ISAF troops.In 2003, A. Elizabeth Jones
A. Elizabeth Jones
A. Elizabeth Jones served as the U.S. Ambassador to Kazakhstan, from 1995 to 1997. She served as the U.S. assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasia in 2003. She was promoted to the rank of Career Ambassador in 2004....
, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasia, testified on the threat of terrorism in Central Asia before the U.S. House of Representatives' subcommittee on the Middle East and Central Asia, arguing that the greatest threats were the IMU, and Hizb ut-Tahrir
Hizb ut-Tahrir
Hizb ut-Tahrir is an international Sunni. pan-Islamic political organisation but keeps it open for all including shias,some of its beliefs are against sunni school of thought, whose goal is for all Muslim countries to unify as an Islamic state or caliphate ruled by Islamic law and with a caliph...
. Jones said that despite the death of Namangani, the "IMU is still active in the region -- particularly in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan -- and it represents a serious threat to the region and therefore to our interests."
In addition, the government of Russia
Government of Russia
The Government of the Russian Federation exercises executive power in the Russian Federation. The members of the government are the prime minister , the deputy prime ministers, and the federal ministers...
banned the movement under the name "Islamic Party of Turkestan" in 2006.
On 7 August 2006, Kyrgyz special forces
Military of Kyrgyzstan
The armed forces of Kyrgyzstan, originally formed from former Soviet forces of the Turkestan Military District stationed in the newly independent state, includes the Army/Land Forces, the Air and Air Defence Forces, the Northern and Southern Groups of Forces, Interior Troops, Agency of National...
killed Rafik Kamalov
Rafik Kamalov
Mohammed Rafik Kamalov was a popular imam in Kyrgyzstan who was shot and killed 7 August 2006, in Osh, by Kyrgyz special forces. He was the head of the largest mosque in the divided city of Kara-Suu on the Kyrgyzstan side of the border with Uzbekistan...
, an alleged leader of the movement, in the Kyrgyz border town of Kara-Suu
Kara-Suu
Kara-Suu is a town, river and valley in Osh Province, Kyrgyzstan, in the Fergana Valley. The town is 23km northeast of Osh and is the capital of Kara-Suu District....
.
Mahmadsaid Juraqulov, head of the anti-organized crime
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
department in the Interior Ministry of Tajikistan
Tajikistan
Tajikistan , officially the Republic of Tajikistan , is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. Afghanistan borders it to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and China to the east....
, told reporters in Dushanbe
Dushanbe
-Economy:Coal, lead, and arsenic are mined nearby in the cities of Nurek and Kulob allowing for the industrialization of Dushanbe. The Nurek Dam, the world's highest as of 2008, generates 95% of Tajikistan's electricity, and another dam, the Roghun Dam, is planned on the Vakhsh River...
on 16 October 2006 that the "Islamic Movement of Turkestan is the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan," and that Uzbek secret services manufactured the change in name. Juraqulov also said that the IMT is not a major security threat to Tajikistan or Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan , officially the Kyrgyz Republic is one of the world's six independent Turkic states . Located in Central Asia, landlocked and mountainous, Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east...
. "Everyone knows that it is in Uzbekistan that [the IMU] wants to create problems. For them, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan are just regrouping bases they're trying to reach."
The Tajik government wants 23 suspected IMU members who Tajik authorities say attacked supporters of Tajik President Imomali Rakhmonov on 28 September 2006, wounding two people. Between July 2006 and September 2007, 31 persons accused of IMU membership have been arrested in the Sughd region in the north of Tajikistan. They are usually sentenced to 12 – 18 years of prison.
However, while Yuldeshev has issued a number of pronouncements suggesting a widening of the IMU's focus, evidence does not support the notion that the IMU remains a credible threat in the region. Furthermore, events in early 2007 suggest that the IMU may no longer be able to count on refuge in Pakistan's tribal belt. In March local Pakistani and reportedly Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
militants turned against the IMU in the Wana conflict.
Some analysts have asserted that rather than the image of a unified IMU under Namangani and Yuldeshev, it has always been an organization consisting of two poles - the radical, spiritual (Yuldeshev) and militant, criminal (Namangani). With the latter's death in 2001, it is probable a less mujahideen-style of warfare will emerge favouring terror-style attacks. The 2004 Tashkent bombings
Terrorism in Uzbekistan
Terrorism in Uzbekistan is more prevalent than in any other Central Asian state. Prior to the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, posed the greatest threat to the Karimov administration. The organization was classified as terrorist by the United States. Since the...
attributed to a group calling itself the Islamic Jihad Union
Islamic Jihad Union
The Islamic Jihad Union , also known as Islamic Jihad Group , is a terrorist organization which splintered from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan , and has conducted attacks in Uzbekistan and attempted attacks in Germany....
may have been perpetrated by IMU operatives as well.
Nevertheless, in a context of continued socieoeconomic deprivation and an absence of political pluralism, a resurgence of militant Islam in the region cannot be ruled out.
On 30 September 2009, a man claiming to be a bodyguard of Tahir Yuldashev reported that Yuldashev was killed in a US missile airstrike that occurred shortly after the death of Pakistan Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud
Baitullah Mehsud
Baitullah Mehsud was a leading militant in Waziristan, Pakistan, and the leader of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan . He formed the TTP from an alliance of about five militant groups in December 2007. He is thought by U.S...
.
The man also claimed that Uzbek militant Abdur Rehman had succeeded Yuldashev as chief of the IMU. The next day, Pakistan and US officials confirmed this report. On August 16, 2010
Furqun, an Uzbek-language website run by the al Qaeda-linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, or IMU, put up two images of Yuldahsev, who was described as "Shaheed Mohammed Tahir," and said he was "slain." Shaheed is a term used by Islamist groups to describer martyrs who are killed in combat. The IMU did not indicate how or when Yuldashev was killed. On August 17, 2010 the
Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan has announced its new leader, just one day after confirming the death of Tahir Yuldashev, the al Qaeda-linked terror group's co-founder and longtime emir.
Abu Usman Adil announced that he is the new leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, or IMU, in a statement released on the terror group's website, Furqon. In the online statement, Usman said Yuldashev was killed as a result of the Aug. 27, 2009, US Predator airstrike in South Waziristan. Prior to assuming control of the IMU, Abu Usman served for years as Yuldashev's deputy. Usman also called for his followers to wage jihad in the southern portion of Kyrgyzstan.