Al Qaeda Documents Found in Taliban Compound

This is a significant find, if it is verified. The UK Guardian, among other news outlets, is reporting that Pakistani troops have discovered passports belonging to al Qaeda figures in a Taliban compound in South Waziristan.

Some quotes from The Guardian's story, Al-Qaida connection: Foreign passports linked to attacks on west recovered:

Pakistani troops sweeping through the mountains of South Waziristan have discovered startling evidence that appears to show a direct link between the lawless tribal belt and al-Qaida attacks in America and Europe.

Last week soldiers raiding Taliban compounds in Shelwasti village, on the edge of the Mehsud tribal territory, recovered a passport in the name of Said Bahaji, a German national accused of being part of the Hamburg cell that coordinated the September 11 2001 attacks.

They also found a Spanish passport in the name of Raquel Burgos García, whose Moroccan husband, Amer Azizi, is accused of playing a role in the Madrid train bombings of 2004.

-- snip --

If authenticated, the documents provide stark proof of what western allies have insisted upon for years, but which Pakistani officials have only recently accepted – that the tribal belt, particularly South and North Waziristan, is the de facto headquarters of al-Qaida, and that Osama bin Laden is most likely hiding there.