339 Carlos Setas Vílchez What are we talking about when we talk about al- Qaeda? arrested. Mohammed was aware of the whereabouts of most of the al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan. Two weeks later, on 15 March, the Algerian, Abu Yasir al-Jazairi, was arrested in Lahore. Jazairi played a particularly important role in the organisation as supervisor in Pakistan, and he may have acted as a link between al Qaeda and the Pakistani intelligence service from the late 1990s. His detention marked a turning point in any relations that may have existed between al Qaeda and the ISI. What is more, Jazairi was aware of the whereabouts of many of the organisation’s members at this time, including Osama bin Laden. He was detained by the Pakistani authorities for three years and then transferred to Algeria, despite the U.S.’s interest in taking him into custody.52 At the time, there were even talks of his possible and immediate release,53 which suggests that the ISI may have been keen to keep its relations with al Qaeda under wraps. The capture by the security forces of two figures that were so important to the organisation drove many senior members of al Qaeda into hiding. In addition, according to Harun, they were forced to stop communication for almost three years.54 From that point on, al Qaeda ceased to occupy a pre-eminent role in the global jihad. Furthermore, Harun also claims that virtually none of the terrorist attacks attributed to al Qaeda following 9/11 were approved by bin Laden or the organisation’s leaders. Harun specifically disclaims al Qaeda’s involvement in the attacks in Bali in 2002 and in Madrid in 2004.55 With regard to the Madrid Train Bombings, of particular importance for our country, the debate over al Qaeda’s involvement remains open. Although the president of the court that tried the case, Judge Javier Gómez Bermúdez, claimed there was no evidence to suggest the direct involvement of al Qaeda,56 international terrorism expert Fernando Reinares sees clear links with the organisation57 and claims that the attack was planned in Karachi.58 52 LAHOUD, 2012, pp.106-107. 53 BBC, “Pakistan suspects ordered freed”, 18 February 2003, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_ asia/2772337.stm. 54 LAHOUD, 2012, pp.106-107. 55 LAHOUD, 2012, p.75. 56 GARCÍA-ABADILLO, Casimiro, “Diez años después, no sabemos quién dio la idea de atentar el 11-M”, interview with Javier Gómez Bermúdez, El Mundo, 7 March 2014, http://www.elmundo.es/ espana/2014/03/07/5318f100e2704e2e028b457d.html 57 REINARES, Fernando, “The evidence of al-Qa’ida’s role in the 2004 Madrid attack”, CTC Sentinel 5(3), 2012. 58 REINARES, Fernando, ¡Matadlos! Quién estuvo detrás del 11-M y por qué se atentó en España, Barcelona, Galaxia Gutenberg, 2014, p.145.
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