Journalist, tourist, or…jihadist?
He says he was just visiting a friend. Of course. Maybe that’s how John Walker Lindh, pictured above, aka Johnny Taliban, the Marin County Mujahid who was captured in Afghanistan fighting alongside Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, got to the area as well. “American Man Arrested Near Afghan Border in Pakistan,” from AP, October 13 (thanks to PRCS):
PESHAWAR, Pakistan “” Pakistani police arrested a 20-year-old American man late Monday in a militant-infested area close to the Afghan border, an officer said.
Officers were investigating why the man was in the area, said officer Pir Shahab. The region has seen months of fighting between Taliban and al-Qaida extremists and is believed to be a possible hiding place for Osama bin Laden and other foreign extremists,
He said the man “” identified on his passport as Juddi Kenan “” was arrested at a checkpoint while trying to enter Mohmand tribal province without the special permission to be in the region required by Pakistani law….
Asked whether he was believed to be a journalist, a tourist, a soldier or a militant, Sahab said: “These are the questions we are trying to investigate.”
Another police official, Marjan Khan, said the man was wearing a traditional Pakistani dress and appeared to be a civilian.
“He has told us that he was a student at a community college in Florida and wanted to enter the tribal region to see a friend,” Khan said….
Yeah, sure, that’s it. Nothing to see here. Move along.