Help wanted: Dari speaking super-spy to catch master terrorist
Saturday September 29 2001
Despite Osama bin Laden operating from Afghanistan since 1996, US intelligence organisations are badly hampered by a lack of local language experts.
Subscribers to internet servers in Central Asia and Afghanistan have received email adverts for American citizens who can speak Farsi, Pashto, Dari, Turkmen and Uzbek, all languages of Afghanistan and Central Asia.
"US citizenship required for secret security clearances, positions are also available for non-US citizens," reads an email from Worldwide Language Resources.
"Positions available for language instructors, interpreters, translators, analysts, human intelligence, area experts, liaison elements, transcription technicians and interceptors," the email says. "Current or previous security clearance highly desirable."
Another US-based organisation, All World Language Consultants, wants Uzbek linguists who "must have been granted or be able to obtain a minimum of a Department of Defence security clearance with no felony record".
Some 3,000 Uzbeks fight for the Taliban in Afghanistan.
(Daily Telegraph, London)
- Ahmed Rashid
