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Afghan Rebels Plotting Coordinated Strikes
Several Afghan opposition leaders, including senior members of the ousted Taliban, have met near the Pakistan border to plot coordinated attacks on government and foreign troops and aid workers, a provincial governor said on Friday. The governor said Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of a radical Islamic party, and two commanders of the ousted Taliban — Jalaluddin Haqqani and Saifur Rahman — drew up the strategy at a meeting in Pakistanâs lawless tribal area near the Afghan border.Pity we couldnât have paid them a visit. "We have reports they met recently and talked over launching coordinated attacks," the governor of Ghazni province, Haji Assadullah, told Reuters by telephone. All three opposition leaders are on a U.S. military wanted list. Assadullah said he did not know exactly when or where the meeting took place. The rebels planned assaults in Wardak and Ghazni provinces southwest of Kabul and in southeastern Paktika, Paktia and Khost provinces, Assadullah said. A U.S. military convoy was attacked with small arms and rocket-propelled grenades in Khost on Thursday while a U.S. airfield in Kunduz, in the north, came under small-arms fire, a U.S. spokesman said. There were no serious injuries or damage. Officials have blamed remnants of the Taliban, their al Qaeda allies and followers of Hekmatyar, leading to some fears the hardline Islamic militia was regrouping. Theyâve been regrouping and plotting and threatening from their safe haven in Pakistan for almost two years and getting nowhere. Theyâll keep doing it till someone cleans them out. But U.S. commanders hunting the Taliban and members of al Qaeda say they are not unduly worried by such talk. Assadullah also said government forces could confront and foil any conventional attack, but the rebels could launch hit-and-run strikes. "They do not have the ability to carry out large-scale attacks. They are not a serious threat," Assadullah said. "But I think we may see an increase in the sort of terrorist attacks weâve been seeing." Yup. Posted by: Steve 2003-07-11 |
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