The Al Farouq training camp, also called ''Jihad Wel al-Farouq'', was a

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...

and

Al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...

training camp A training camp is an organized period in which military personnel or athletes participate in a rigorous and focused schedule of training in order to learn or improve skills. Athletes typically utilise training camps to prepare for upcoming events, ...

near

Kandahar Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a List of cities in Afghanistan, city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. Camp attendees received small-arms training, map-reading, orientation, explosives training, and other training. Nasir al-Bahri reported that the camp was only established following the arrival of

Egyptian Islamic Jihad The Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ, ar, الجهاد الإسلامي المصري), formerly called simply Islamic Jihad ( ar, الجهاد الإسلامي, links=no) and the Liberation Army for Holy Sites, originally referred to as al-Jihad, and ...

and Egyptian Islamic Group militants who had suitable expertise as to provide training to others. The United States attacked the area with

cruise missile A cruise missile is a guided missile used against terrestrial or naval targets that remains in the atmosphere and flies the major portion of its flight path at approximately constant speed. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warhe ...

s on August 20, 1998, in retaliation for the 1998 embassy bombings.Testimony of Abdurahman Khadr as a witness in the trial against Charkaoui, July 13, 2004

Michelle Shephard Michelle Shephard (born 1972) is an independent investigative reporter (previously with the ''Toronto Star'' newspaper), author and filmmaker. She has been awarded the Michener Award for public service journalism and won Canada's top newspaper p ...

, ''Guantanamo's Child'', 2008. It continued to operate until August 2001, when it was shut down by its trainers.Temple-Raston, Dina. ''The Jihad Next Door: The Lackawanna Six and Rough Justice in the Age of Terror, 2007 The camp was bombed again on October 10, 2001. According to

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

intelligence analysts Intelligence analysis is the application of individual and collective cognitive methods to weigh data and test hypotheses within a secret socio-cultural context. The descriptions are drawn from what may only be available in the form of deliberate ...

, the director of the Al Farouq camp was a Saudi named Abdul Quduz, who was later one of the commanders at the

battle of Tora Bora The Battle of Tora Bora was a military engagement that took place in the cave complex of Tora Bora, eastern Afghanistan, from December 6–17, 2001, during the opening stages of the United States invasion of Afghanistan. It was launched by the ...

Abu Walid al Masri Mustafa Hamid ( ar, مصطفى حامد; born March 1945 in Alexandria, Kingdom of Egypt), also known as Abu Walid al-Masri ( ar, أبو وليد المصري) and Hashim al-Makki ( ar, هاشم المكّي), is a journalist who in the 1980s fough ...

(b. 1945), one of the

Afghan Arabs Afghan Arabs (also known as Arab-Afghans) are Arab and other Muslim Islamist mujahideen who came to Afghanistan during and following the Soviet–Afghan War to help fellow Muslims fight Soviets and pro-Soviet Afghans. Estimates of the volu ...

who fought as volunteers in the 1980s against the Soviet Union, had stayed in Afghanistan after the Soviet withdrawal. During the mid-1990s, at the age of about 50, he served as a senior trainer at the camp.''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

,'
"Interview with a Taliban Insider: Iran's Game in Afghanistan"
November 14, 2011 In this period, various ethnic factions in Afghanistan were competing for power, with the

soon to emerge in control. Saif al-Adel stated that

Asim al-Yamani Asim or ASIM may refer to: *Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, a fantasy and science fiction magazine *Aseem, a male given name of Indian origin, often spelled ''Asim'' *Asem, a male given name of Arabic origin, sometim ...

was also a trainer at the camp.

World News Connection World News Connection was a compilation of current international news translated into the English language. The United States Department of Commerce National Technical Information Service compiled and distributed it from non-U.S. media sources, usu ...

"Al-Qa'ida member recalls US bombardment, accuses Taliban of betrayal"
, October 29, 2003

Individuals alleged to have attended the Al Farouq training camp

References

{{TrainingCamp Al-Qaeda facilities *