had nurtured that organization for nearly ten years. He could attract, train, and
use recruits for ever more ambitious attacks, rallying new adherents with each
demonstration that his was the movement of the future.
ists a rallying point and training field.A Communist government in Afghanistan
gained power in 1978 but was unable to establish enduring control.At the end
of 1979, the Soviet government sent in military units to ensure that the coun-
try would remain securely under Moscow's influence. The response was an
Afghan national resistance movement that defeated Soviet forces.
numbers came from the Middle East. Some were Saudis, and among them was
Usama Bin Ladin.
thin, Bin Ladin appeared to be ungainly but was in fact quite athletic, skilled
as a horseman, runner, climber, and soccer player. He had attended Abdul Aziz
University in Saudi Arabia. By some accounts, he had been interested there in
religious studies, inspired by tape recordings of fiery sermons by Abdullah
Azzam, a Palestinian and a disciple of Qutb. Bin Ladin was conspicuous among
the volunteers not because he showed evidence of religious learning but
because he had access to some of his family's huge fortune. Though he took
part in at least one actual battle, he became known chiefly as a person who gen-
erously helped fund the anti-Soviet jihad.
depended on an increasingly complex, almost worldwide organization. This
organization included a financial support network that came to be known as
the "Golden Chain," put together mainly by financiers in Saudi Arabia and the
Persian Gulf states. Donations flowed through charities or other nongovern-
mental organizations (NGOs). Bin Ladin and the "Afghan Arabs" drew largely
on funds raised by this network, whose agents roamed world markets to buy
arms and supplies for the mujahideen, or "holy warriors."
extremists or their financial backers. Bin Ladin had an important part in this