October 28, 2010, 11:37 AM EDT
By Gregory Viscusi
Oct. 28 (Bloomberg) — France played down new threats of attacks from al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, while saying it will remain vigilant.
In the recording aired by Al Jazeera television yesterday, and declared authentic by the French Foreign Ministry, Saudi- born Bin Laden warned France that its security is at risk if it continues to support U.S. policies toward Muslim-majority countries and prevent Muslim women from wearing veils.
“This message, whose authenticity can be accepted after the first verifications, does nothing more than confirm the reality of the terrorist menace against which the French authorities continue to take appropriate measures,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said in an e-mailed response to questions.
Bin Laden linked the Sept. 15 kidnapping of five French nationals and two African colleagues in northern Niger to the presence of French troops in Afghanistan and to a law passed in September that bans full facial veils. The hostages are being held by an al-Qaeda offshoot that operates in the Sahara desert. The Foreign Ministry has refused to make any comments on any possible negotiations to free the hostages.
“Bin Laden lacks the logistical ability to launch attacks in the West, so he’s exploiting the Niger hostage situation to menace France and get media exposure,” said Karim Pakzad, a researcher at IRIS, the French Institute for International Strategic Affairs. “But that doesn’t mean the government isn’t right to be concerned, because any individual could take it upon himself to try an attack.”
Eiffel Tower Evacuations
In late September, officials of President Nicolas Sarkozy’s government signaled an elevated risk of attacks, and the Eiffel Tower was evacuated twice last month on false bomb alerts.
Following the evacuations, French Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux said, “several events remind us that we find ourselves in a period that demands greater vigilance, particularly against the risk of terrorist attacks.”
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the group which claimed the Niger kidnapping, declared allegiance to Bin Laden in 2007, though terrorist experts are divided about whether there are any operational links between them and Bin Laden’s al-Qaeda remnants, believed to be hiding on the Afghan-Pakistan border.
Defense Minister Herve Morin indicated today that France may start withdrawing some of its 3,750 troops in Afghanistan next year, although he said this decision was part of a timetable agreed to with its allies and had nothing to do with Bin Laden’s message.
Afghanistan Timetable
“That’s the calendar set by Barack Obama, that in 2011 the first American troops could quit Afghanistan,” Morin said on RTL radio. “And that’s what a certain number of European countries have started to say.”
Morin said that under a calendar set by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, France next year could turn over responsibility for the Sarobi area east of Kabul to Afghan security forces.
Bin Laden issued two recordings early this month dealing with the flooding in Pakistan. While most videos and recordings by Bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri have threatened the U.S., they’ve also mentioned European countries with troops in Afghanistan such as Britain, Germany, Italy and Denmark.
The last terrorist attacks in France were in 1995.
–Editors: Vidya Root, Alan Crawford
To contact the reporters on this story: Gregory Viscusi in Paris at gviscusi@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Hertling at jhertling@bloomberg.net.