Abdullah Anas

Who is Abdullah Anas?

An Algerian scholar, Abdullah Anas was the nom de guerre of a man who helped Afghanistan mujahideen fight the Soviet invasion in the northern provinces from 1983-1992.

Anas met Ahmed Khadr in 1984 and described him as "not a man of fighting, not a man of jihad, just a man of charity work aid".

On January 14, 2001 he was interviewed by the New York Times reporter Stephen Engleberg, who asked him to describe Osama bin Laden, to which he replied that "He's not very sophisticated politically and organizationally. But he's an activist with a great imagination. He ate very little. He slept very little. Very generous, he'd give you his clothes."

In 1988, Anas spoke to Abdullah Azzam about the need to ensure Muslim help reached northern Afghanistan, and not just that of Western NGOs. He later married the daughter of Azzam, of whom bin Laden is suspected of assassinating.

Following the United States invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, Anas gave reports critical of bin Laden, reflecting the pair's falling-out after Anas insisted that the dream of a global jihad was unattainable.

He has been granted political asylum to live in London, England.