Art of Betrayal (53 page)

One of the reasons for wariness in dealing with Massoud was the new agenda being pursued by both the CIA and MI6. By the 1990s fighting drugs had replaced fighting Soviets, and everyone knew that heroin was coming into Europe from Afghanistan, including from Massoud's territory. The ‘drugs and thugs' desk at MI6 which dealt with crime and narcotics knew that Massoud's people were involved and from 1997 the New Labour government made dealing with narcotics a top priority for MI6.
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This could conflict with counter-terrorism, which was also rising up the agenda. MI6 officers tried to peer across the Afghan hills but saw little. It was taking time to build up sources to find out what was going on. The Pakistanis pressed for recognition of the Taliban, offering help to establish contacts. A few wonder if that might have been worth doing in order to gain some leverage over them to expel bin Laden, but in London a new government was in power which promised an ethical dimension to its foreign policy. Talking to the Taliban would not fit with that.

The same arguments were in play in Washington, where the CIA and others worried that some figures in the Northern Alliance (the umbrella group Massoud had created in 1996) were directly involved in drugs or human rights abuses. The CIA decided to remain largely
neutral between Massoud and the Taliban, on the grounds that supporting Massoud might just perpetuate the civil war.
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The CIA, during the Clinton administration, was going through one of its periodic swings away from aggressive activity and the main fear for officers was once again of being hauled before Congress. The gung-ho days of Bill Casey were a distant memory. Even when the CIA had bin Laden in its sights, it hesitated before pulling the trigger. It had been given the authority to capture but not explicitly to kill. To kill would break the ban on assassination which had once again been emphasised in the 1990s. A major plan to collect more intelligence in Afghanistan began in 1998 using eight separate tribal networks. Five times in the next two years, CIA teams deployed to the Panjshir Valley to meet with warlords including Massoud. The CIA would boast that it had accumulated a hundred sources and sub-sources. But most of these were low level. Officials would later protest that the intelligence was never quite good enough to launch a missile or a snatch operation directed at the Al Qaeda leader. It was either single sourced or else bin Laden was hunting with a group of sheikhs from the United Arab Emirates. Or he was near a mosque – what would the newspaper headlines look like the next morning if they blew it up? Those in the CIA unit tracking bin Laden, like its chief Mike Scheuer, fumed at the failure of their leadership and that of the White House for not taking more risks.
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On one occasion in 1998, MI6 believed it might be able to obtain ‘actionable intelligence' which could help the CIA capture Osama bin Laden. But given that this might result in his being transferred or rendered to the United States, MI6 decided it had to ask for ministerial approval before passing the intelligence on in case the Al Qaeda leader faced the death penalty or mistreatment. This was approved by a minister ‘provided the CIA gave assurances regarding humane treatment'. In the end, not enough intelligence came through to make it worth while going ahead.
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It was becoming clearer in 2001 that Massoud and his men were the best option for going after bin Laden. The priority for MI6 was developing intelligence coverage. The first real sources were being established, although no one penetrated the upper tier of the Al Qaeda leadership itself. The problem was not locating bin Laden but getting close to him – that would require an agent of some sort in
place who could help either directly by himself passing through security or by facilitating access for a team coming in. As the year progressed, plans were drawn up and slowly worked their way up to the White House for discussion on 4 September 2001. They involved dramatically increasing support for Massoud. Britain and MI6 were involved. ‘The posse was getting ready,' reckons one British official involved. ‘But it wasn't ready in time.'

On 9 September 2001, two Arab journalists who had been waiting to interview Massoud were told they finally had their chance. The queue of those wanting to speak to the Northern Alliance leader was not quite what it had been, but he still liked to use the power of the media. His enemies had decided to exploit this. Their letter of introduction had come from something called the Islamic Observation Centre in London. The two visitors were shown into a large room and did what most TV journalists do and began rearranging the furniture to get the right shot. A coffee table and some chairs were shifted so that the interviewer sat next to Massoud while the cameraman positioned his heavy-duty camera on the tripod. These two were a bit amateurish, thought some of Massoud's aides. What are the questions, Massoud, ever the experienced interviewee, asked? ‘We want to know why commander Massoud said that Usama bin Laden was a murderer and should be sent from Afghanistan and many more questions,' the interviewer said. Massoud frowned but told them to continue. The last thing the Lion of the Panjshir ever saw was the red light of the camera going on.
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Anatoly Golitsyn with his wife Svetlana at Coconut Grove in Los Angeles soon after he defected from the KGB in 1961.

Stephen de Mowbray joined MI6 in the wake of the Second World War and went on to play a key role in the molehunts within British intelligence.

Sir Dick White rose first to be director general of the Security Service, MI5, and then chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, MI6.

James Jesus Angleton was a deeply controversial head of counter-intelligence at the CIA. Many believed he never recovered from the betrayal of his close friend Kim Philby and would later obsess about the threat of Soviet moles.

Sir Roger Hollis, head of MI5, was investigated for being a possible KGB agent. A report would later conclude he was not working for the Russians, but its contents remain secret. (Getty)

Sir Maurice Oldfield leaving Buckingham Palace following his investiture. As a chief of MI6 he was widely admired, though the concealment of his homosexuality would cause a scandal after his death. (Corbis)

David Cornwell, better known as John le Carré, served with military intelligence in Vienna before joining MI5 and MI6, and later making his name as a writer. (Getty)