Intense speculation surrounded the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden even as news came on Sunday of a secret memorandum proposing that the United States should offer aid to groups willing to overthrow the Taliban regime. It was reported that the Taliban had said they knew where bin Laden was and that he was under their protection. They were also said to have proposed further negotiations. But the Kabul regime had earlier said it had no knowledge of bin Laden's location. Other reports said the US had received conflicting intelligence information according to which bin Laden might have slipped out of Afghanistan and gone to the Frontier province, Somalia or Chechnya.
The White House, reacting to the Taliban statement that Kabul had knowledge of bin Laden's whereabouts, said this did not alter the fact that the Taliban knew what they had to do, and that was to hand over bin Laden to justice. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said in view of the contradictory statements by the Taliban, no one knew what to believe, and in any case, the US-led campaign was not aimed at particularizing a person or organization, but was directed against all terrorists and terror groups. In the secret memorandum, National Security Council and State Department officials were reported to have said: "The Taliban do not represent the Afghan people, who never elected or chose the Taliban faction... We do not want to choose who rules Afghanistan, but we will assist those who seek a peaceful, economically developing Afghanistan, free of terrorism."
Confirming the memorandum, whose disclosure coincides with renewed efforts to bolster former king Zahir Shah and the Northern Alliance as alternatives, CNN recalled that earlier President George Bush had said the US was not interested in "nation-building," an indirect suggestion that administration policy was not aimed at creating a new Afghan government. On Saturday, Mr Bush in a radio address had said: "The United States respects the people of Afghanistan and we are their largest provider of humanitarian aid. But we condemn the Taliban, and welcome the support of other nations in isolating that regime." But the memo, while stressing that the immediate, short-term goal of the US campaign was to "eradicate the terrorism that led to the strikes that killed the citizens of 78 countries on Sept 11", suggests a clear preference for a new government - a development that could create problems for Pakistan.
Attempts to set up some kind of alternate government-in-exile may already have begun. In a statement from Rome, Zahir Shah, who met a US Congressional delegation on Sunday, said Taliban opponents had created a "Supreme Council for the Salvation of Afghanistan." They have also set up a "military structure with the participation of various resistance commanders and tribal elders and some professional army officers."
This article starring:
Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
king Zahir Shah
Posted by: Fred ||
10/01/2001 8:19:08 PM ||
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The Afghan ambassador to Pakistan, Mulla Abdul Salam Zaeef, said on Sunday that Osama bin Laden was still inside Afghanistan and under the protection of the Taliban administration. He added that only security people knew where he was. The envoy said a message from the ulema council, asking him to leave the country volantarily, had been delivered to Osama but was not aware of his reply. Speaking at a news conference here, Mulla Zaeef strongly reacted to the US president's statement that there would be no more negotiations with the Taliban regime for resolving the Osama issue. The envoy said his government still wanted a settlement of the issue through bilateral negotiations but, instead, he added,the United States was persistently threatening to attack Afghanistan. The envoy rejected as baseless the report that five Americans had been captured by the Taliban.
This article starring:
MULLA ABDUL SALAM ZAIF
Taliban
Posted by: Fred ||
10/01/2001 8:20:21 PM ||
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The United States has warned Pakistan of possible biological warfare and attacks by terrorists and asked it to prepare contingency plans to check it, highly-placed sources told Dawn here on Sunday. Following the US alert, the authorities were preparing contingency plans for the unusual mode of attack and had reportedly sought $1 million assistance from the US for upgrading their facilities, the sources said. The sources said there were reports that the terrorists might unleash attacks by biological weapons in Pakistan in response to the US attack on alleged terrorist bases run by Al-Qaida of Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.
Pakistan's two defence laboratories - one in Karachi and the other in Islamabad - were working to prepare the vaccine to combat biological agents, the sources said, adding that the existing facilities would need to be upgraded for properly coping with such an attack. The country had the required expertise to prepare vaccine for biological agents and if funds were provided the vaccine could be made available in days, the sources said. Under the plan two mobile self-contained micro-biology laboratories would be established, they added.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/01/2001 8:21:18 PM ||
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Four shells of Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG-7) landed and exploded near Pakistan border in Chaman area on Saturday. The shells were allegedly fired by the Taliban militia, sources said. The Pakistani border security officials while confirming firing of shells said that these were of RPG-7 calibre and these landed inside Afghanistan. However, no loss of life or other damage was reported from the other side of the border. "These were test fires and part of military exercise we have started in Afghanistan," Taliban officials told Pakistani border security officials when they talked to Taliban officials after the explosions. Taliban authorities further informed the Pakistani border security officials that Taliban militia has started exercises which would continue for some more days as they were bracing for possible US attack on Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/01/2001 8:22:12 PM ||
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AndrewSullivan.com
THE PACIFIST LEFT ORGANIZES: If the following excerpt from the September 27 newsletter of the left-liberal group ActForChange is any guide, the Taliban need to be very, very scared by the way some activists are gearing up to respond to the September 11 Massacre.
One suggestion? Write the Taliban ambassador!
"We have even located a way to contact the only accessible public representative of the Taliban!" the excited activists write. "It remains important to let decision-makers know that we are engaged in civic life and attentive to the responses being made on behalf of the American people ... Please consider the following actions ... Tell the Taliban What You Think. The Taliban has been roundly condemned in the international community for providing a safe haven for Osama bin Laden and other known terrorists in the wake of the attacks on the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon. If you wish to send a message to Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, the Taliban Ambassador to Pakistan, calling on the group to turn over bin Laden and ease the oppression of women and relief workers in Afghanistan, ActForChange will print out your e-mail and mail or fax it to him."
I'm sure you can arrange a flowery American greetings card as well.
This article starring:
ActForChange
MULLAH ABDUL SALAM ZAIF
Taliban
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
10/01/2001 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
