The Emir Of Afghanistan: Abdullah Yusuf Azzam

He is known as the "godfather of modern day jihad" in Islamist circles. Abdullah Yusuf Azzam was born from a farming family located in Al Harithya, West Bank, Jordan. Under Israeli occupation the family lived under duress from their invading settlers which caused Azzam to keep his fiery passion of one day expelling the Zionist invaders from Palestine. Azzam would become quite the orator and under some religious guidance which saw him connect with the Jordanian branch of the muslim Brotherhood, he soon would visit Saudi Arabia where he would become learned of Wahhabism. It was here Azzam's theological beliefs become more "radical".By 1979, when the Soviets invaded Kabul, Afghanistan's capitol, it would be Azzam who would call the Muslim world to arms, and begin the 'jihad" against the secular invaders. Azzam would help to influence many young foreign Arabs, who weren't initially welcome by the insular Afghans initially. One notable Arab took notice of Azzam, Osama Bin Laden. Both men along with Abdullah Anas, a dear friend to Azzam, would construct the Afghan Services Bureau, Maktab al-Khidamat (Arabic).

Soon Non-government Organizations along with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Saudi General Intelligence Directorate (GID) and the Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) began funneling hundreds of millions thru the Bureau, which would start accepting foreign Arabs thru ought the world and train them in warfare and religious instruction by Azzam. By 1989, the Soviets agreed to retreat, and the next chapter in Azzam's life turned toward Israel. But his dreams of a freed Palestine would end dramatically with his assassination by unknown assailants as he was driving with his two sons to the Sab al-Layl mosque in Peshawar, Pakistan on November 24th 1989.

Audio heard in the first three minutes are from a talk between AHaseem Ghazzli (Lawrence Islamic Service) Shaykh Tameem al-'Adnaani in 1989. al-'Adnaani served as the executive director of the Afghan Services Bureau from 1988 to 1989.