Following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan on December 27, 1979, “As many as twenty-five thousand young jihadis like [future World Trade Center bomber Ramzi] Yousef poured in [to Afghanistan] from around the globe to fight and train in guerilla tactics. Though they were all later dubbed ‘Afghan Arabs,’ there were blue-eyed Chechens, black South Africans, and Filipinos training along with Kurds, Yemenis, Uzbekis, and Saudis. They studied bombmaking, hijacking, and other covert ops.”
– Peter Lance, 1000 Years For Revenge, Page 25