055 Brigade

The 055 Brigade (or 55th Arab Brigade) was an elite guerrilla organization sponsored and trained by Al Qaeda that was integrated into the Taliban army between 1995 and 2001.

The unit consisted mostly of foreign guerrilla fighters (Mujahideen) from the Middle East, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia who had some form of combat experience, either fighting the Soviet invasion during the 1980s or elsewhere.

They were equipped with weapons left behind by the Soviets, as well as those provided by the Sudanese and Taliban governments. The Brigade was also the beneficiary of Al Qaeda's worldwide network of procurement officers who obtained sophisticated equipment including satellite phones, night vision goggles, and even airplanes.

Reports from Time magazine indicate that members of the 055 Brigade were often deployed in smaller groups to help reinforce regular Afghan members of the Taliban. This was often achieved via threats or intimidation designed to enforce discipline and a commitment to the mujahedin philosophy.

The elite international group was made up of Arab mercenaries, it was a small unit of highly trained, highly motivated and well-paid guerrilla fighters set up by Osama Bin Laden shortly after he arrived in Afghanistan in 1996. When Bin Laden sought sanctuary in Afghanistan, other Arab-Afghans joined him, the 055 brigade was set up as a foreign legion to drive ahead with the vision, shared by Bin Laden and the Taliban hardline regime, of a global Islamist revolution. About 100 members served as Bin Laden's personal security detail.

Before the Coalition invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, it has been based and trained at Rishikor, a former Afghan army base outside Kabul, they had no heavy artillery or heavy weapons, it was believed to be equipped with sophisticated western communications equipment and night vision goggles, military sources said they had a collection of small mobile units which has been used to back up Taliban fighters on the frontlines of the civil war. The group was not organised along traditional army structures and borrowed brigade names from the former Afghan army.

...
Wikipedia