Two Houston men have been charged with planning to join the Taliban to fight U.S.-led forces in the Middle East. Kobie Williams (a.k.a. Abdul Kabeer or Kabir) has pleaded guilty to a federal charge of conspiring to aid the Taliban; Adnan Babar Mirza faces the same charge, plus three counts of illegal possession of a firearm.
Williams is a Houstonian and UH-Downtown student who might have been working part-time in the engineering department at Rice University, while Mirza, a Pakistani citizen, worked as an accountant and attended Houston Community College, according to KHOU. Federal authorities say Williams had contributed $350 to Taliban members or their families and that both men practiced with firearms at local shooting ranges and campgrounds. That's what could get Mirza, who had overstayed his student visa, in more trouble: Authorities confiscated a shotgun and ammunition from his home last week, but it's illegal for people in the U.S. on student visas (or expired student visas) to own firearms.
In a court hearing yesterday, Williams said he knew he couldn't give money to support the Taliban and said he meant his $350 to go to "widows and children." He confirmed that he had practiced using firearms, but Williams' lawyer, Alamdar S. Hamdani, told the AP that Williams now realizes his actions were a mistake: "He made a grave mistake, and he has come forward to own up to that," Hamdani said. Mirza's cousin, Ali Qazi, told the Chronicle that Mirza has taken an interest in hunting lately, which is why he was using firearms; an acquaintance at Mirza's mosque said that doesn't make him a threat. "Just because you have a beard and you like to go hunting doesn't mean that you are a terrorist," the man told the Chronicle.
According to the indictment against the pair, they viewed U.S. and coalition forces in the Middle East as "invaders" — which Williams confirmed — and agreed last April that they should go overseas to fight with the Taliban. Even though their actions were comparatively small-time, they were suspicious enough to warrant the charges, U.S. Attorney Donald J. DeGabrielle Jr. said: "It's certainly nothing on the scale of some of the cases that we've read or heard about up to this point — nothing nearly approaching the sophistication of 9/11. Nevertheless, it was serious enough conduct that these individuals were talking about, or alleged as it applies to Mr. Mirza, that we have filed the charges and the grand jury agreed with the charges that were filed today."
If convicted, both men face five years in prison and $250,000 fines; in addition, Mirza's firearms charges could each bring 10-year sentences and another $250,000 fine.
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