Reuters
Two people were killed and at least four others injured in three separate air raids on the Taliban's southern Afghan stronghold of Kandahar on Sunday night. "The attacks were on the airport. We don't know the extent of the damage, but otherwise the situation is normal," an official at the office of the Taliban's spokesman in the southern stronghold of Kandahar told Reuters on Monday.
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Khaleej Times
Thousands of Kabul residents, fearing more U.S. attacks after three waves of bombing raids during the night, began to flee the Afghan capital as dawn broke and the nightly curfew was lifted. Children, toddlers, elderly men and women huddled in buses and trucks as they tried to leave Kabul for the safety of neighbouring Pakistan or for rural parts of the rugged country that do not present prime targets to U.S. bombs and missiles. Some carried meagre household items and most looked around them in fear. Many blamed Washington for forcing them into barren lands outside the city as winter nears. "We are leaving because it is no longer safe here. Thanks to America," an elderly disabled man told Reuters at a bus station just after dawn.
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10/08/2001 ||
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(Reuters) - U.S.-led bombing raids on Afghanistan caused deaths in the capital of Kabul, residents reported on Monday, as President Bush vowed attacks would go on until those suspected of suicide aircraft attacks on America were driven out of their caves and into the open. Aided by Britain in raids that included missile strikes, President Bush said the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan and its military were paying the price for supporting terrorism and sheltering Osama bin Laden, accused of Sept. 11's attacks on New York and Washington which killed about 5.600 people.
The Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) agency said at least 20 people died in Kabul. 10 people were killed near Kabul airport on the northeastern edge of the capital and another 10 died when a bomb fell near the Voice of Shariat radio office in central Kabul.
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10/08/2001 ||
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A lone jet screamed through Kabul's early dawn sky Tuesday and dropped a single bomb near the airport on the north side of the city. Shortly afterward a missile streaked into the eastern edge of the capital. Taliban anti-aircraft gunners replied with a quick burst of fire.
The fresh assault at 6:50 a.m. rattled windows in the capital and awakened sleeping residents who had passed a quiet night after a second wave of U.S. strikes Monday evening. Heavy bursts of anti-aircraft fire had ripped the night sky over a darkened Kabul Monday night, and the Taliban militia responded to the second U.S. barrage by cutting power and ordering residents to shutter themselves indoors. At least three bomb explosions had reverberated through the capital - one each in the eastern, western and northern sections of the city. A high-flying plane could be seen dropping flares before the detonations. Taliban gunners responded with a crackle of fire into the skies over the city.
Targets in Monday's raids included areas around the capital, the Taliban's home base of Kandahar, and Afghanistan's north, where an opposition northern alliance is battling the Taliban, the Islamic movement that controls nearly all of Afghanistan.
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10/08/2001 ||
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Express India
Afghanistan, October 8: Jubilant anti-Taliban opposition forces unleashed an onslaught on Monday on Taliban positions north of Kabul, seizing the advantage after US-led strikes and predicting the Afghan capital could fall to them in a matter of days. From this hilltop village overlooking the plains stretching to Kabul, the sound of rockets being fired by opposition Northern AllianceĀor United FrontĀforces at about 10-minute intervals could be heard, while flashes of artillery fire lit up the sky above the front lines just to the south.
An opposition spokesman, Mohammad Ashraf Nadeem, said the Northern Alliance's Commander, General Abdul Qassim Fahim, had put his troops on standby for an infantry assault on Taliban-held cities. "We are waiting for orders for general Fahim. The United Front is trying to cut off the Taliban from all sides," he said via satellite phone from the frontlines near Samangan in northern Afghanistan, where the opposition is attempting to close in on the key Taliban-held town of Mazar-i-Sharif.
This article starring:
General Abdul Qassim Fahim
Mohammad Ashraf Nadeem
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10/08/2001 ||
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(AP)
Nobel Peace Prize winner Medecins Sans Frontieres condemned the humanitarian operation accompanying the U.S.-led strikes on Afghanistan as ``military propaganda'' designed to justify the strikes. On Sunday, the United States dropped 37,500 food packages from two planes, destined for starving Afghans. Medicine is also expected to be dropped. In a statement, the French humanitarian group, known in English as Doctors Without Borders, said the operation ``isn't in any way a humanitarian aid operation, but more a military propaganda operation, destined to make international opinion accept the U.S.-led military operation.''
``What sense is there in shooting with one hand, and giving medicine with the other?'' the group asked.
This article starring:
Medecins Sans Frontieres
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10/08/2001 ||
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Reuters
The Taliban escorted British journalist Yvonne Ridley to Pakistan after releasing her from a 10-day detention. Ridley was handed over to Pakistani officials by a Taliban protocol official who escorted her from Kabul. One official said Ridley would reach Peshawar Monday night. The Taliban said Ridley, a reporter for London's Sunday Express who was arrested in Afghanistan on September 28 for entering the country illegally, would be handed over to the British High Commissioner (ambassador) to Pakistan.
This article starring:
Yvonne Ridley
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10/08/2001 ||
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(AP)
Crew members of two American C-17 cargo planes hugged and exchanged high-fives Monday on returning safely to their base after dropping 35,000 food packets over Afghanistan. The overnight operation was meant to underscore that the U.S.-led military attacks carried out simultaneously were not aimed at civilians. The cargo planes were airborne for 24 hours, dropping the packets from high altitudes onto areas in southern and eastern Afghanistan where the civilian need was deemed greatest. ``It did present dangers with the high altitude and the potential ground threat,'' Air Force Col. Bob Allardice told reporters at the United States' Ramstein Air Base in southwestern Germany after the planes landed. He would not comment on whether the planes encountered any hostilities, but the 20-person crew, attached to the 437th Airlift Wing at Charleston Air Force Base in South Carolina, was unharmed and in high spirits.
This article starring:
Air Force Col. Bob Allardice
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10/08/2001 ||
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IRNA
A military expert said on Monday that about 90 percent of the air force equipment of the Taliban was destroyed in the U.S. and British-led attacks against Afghanistan over the 24 past hours. Maliar Nourzehi told IRNA reporter that the huge damages in the installations of the airports of Harat, Qandahar, Kabul, Jalalabad and Mazar-i-Sharif have made it impossible for the Taliban forces to use these airports. The Taliban forces have taken some of their choppers to another places to guarantee their security against the U.S. attacks. All the systems of installations of the Taliban air force have stopped functioning too.
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10/08/2001 ||
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IRNA
Taliban envoy to Pakistan, Mulla Abdus Salam Zaeef has disclosed that Taliban artillery has shot down an enemy plane during the last night attack on Kabul. Addressing crowded press conference on Monday here, he said that news about this has been confirmed while he claimed that there are reports of shooting down three planes. He sounded a note of warning that these attacks would lead to dreaded results for the United States and urged that Afghans could not be frightened with such attacks and power of hi-tech. He said that no Americans should forget that they would not be able to sleep in comfort. He termed these attacks by US and Britain as the worst terrorism because with these attacks unguarded Afghans have been targeted. He said that the United States is out to get materialized its dreams and aspirations by resorting to illegal activities.
The Taliban envoy added that attack on Afghanistan is attack on the entire Ummah and with this step the US has challenged the entire Muslim community.
This article starring:
MULLA ABDUS SALAM ZAIF
Taliban
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10/08/2001 ||
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(Reuters)
Terrified residents of the Afghan capital began emerging from their homes on Monday after punishing waves of air attacks by the United States and its allies on Taliban targets across the country. As dawn broke and a curfew was lifted, it was still too early to tell what damage or casualties had been caused by at least three waves of attacks. But witnesses reported some deaths in Kabul although it was unclear if they were civilians or soldiers. ``People have seen some bodies from the attacks,'' one witness told Reuters. ``There are several deaths.''
Electricity went off almost immediately, although it was not clear if this was the result of strikes or a defensive measure. It was restored about 90 minutes later. The Taliban's Voice of Shariat radio has been off the air since the first attack. Minutes after Kabul came under attack, so too did the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar, location of the headquarters of Mullah Omar, protector of the chief suspect in last month's attacks on the United States, the multi-millionaire militant bin Laden. Residents reported a mass exodus from the city as panic spread. The eastern city of Jalalabad and surrounding guerrilla training camps were next, and there were reports that western Herat as well as the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif came under fire.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the raids included B-2 stealth bombers flying from the United States and 50 air- and ship-fired Tomahawk cruise missiles.
This article starring:
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
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10/08/2001 ||
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Chicago Sun Times
Within hours of the U.S.-British attacks against Afghanistan on Sunday, nearly 1,000 protesters marched the streets and sidewalks of downtown Chicago. Chanting ''No more war,'' ''No war in our name'' and ''Peace now,'' the protesters gathered at Buckingham Fountain before marching to the
A handful wore masks and commando fatigues, uniforms similar to those worn by anti-globalization activists who battled police at World Trade Organization meetings last year in Seattle and, more recently, at this summer's G-8 conference in Genoa, Italy.
Dirksen Federal Building. Many were peace activists; others represented Arab-American groups, pro-Palestinian coalitions, Socialists and the Green Party.
''We mourn the violence of Sept. 11,'' Mazher Ahmed, a practicing Muslim born in India, told the crowd. ''This is the darkest hour in our nation's history. How shall we respond? Not through retaliation that will only cause further hatred and damage.'' Some protesters carried candles, while others wore American flags and tapped drums and tambourines. A handful wore masks and commando fatigues, uniforms similar to those worn by anti-globalization activists who battled police at World Trade Organization meetings last year in Seattle and, more recently, at this summer's G-8 conference in Genoa, Italy.
This article starring:
Mazher Ahmed
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10/08/2001 ||
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AndrewSullivan.com
THE FIRST BIOLOGICAL ATTACK: It seems certain that two Americans have now died in a terrorist biological attack in Florida. The first case of anthrax inhalation never struck me as a fluke. The second renders such a benign possibility extinct. Just as chilling as the attack itself is the fact that it was directed at a tabloid paper which has recently run the usual tabloid fare on Osama bin Laden. Who did this? I hope the current somewhat complacent attitude of the authorities begins to shift as we contemplate the next round of terrorist warfare on Americans. In some ways, a repeat of the massive toll in New York City is unnecessary. Random mini-attacks everywhere in the country could actually be more effective in creating the widespread panic and fear that al Qaeda obviously wants to foster. The FBI needs to throw as much effort into tracking down these suspects as into bombarding military targets in Afghanistan. And the perpetrators should not be treated as regular criminals with the usual rights. They are military forces, conducted by a military enemy. If captured, they need to be put in military detention centers, not regular prisons. We have to resist at all costs the trap of terrorists, which is that they can be treated as mere criminals while conducting a war.
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10/08/2001 ||
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AP
Anthrax bacteria have been detected in the nasal passage of a co-worker of the man who died last week from the disease, health officials said Monday. The building where both worked was closed after the bacteria also were detected there. The latest case, a man whose name was not immediately made public, was in good condition Monday at an unidentified hospital, according to the Florida health department. He has not been diagnosed with the disease. A nasal swab from the patient tested positive for the anthrax bacterium, said Tim O'Conner, regional spokesman for Florida's health department. It was not yet clear if anthrax had only infiltrated his nose or had gotten into his lungs, officials said. Relatively large anthrax spores that lodge in the upper respiratory tract are less dangerous than smaller spores that get into the lungs. Doctors "describe his condition as good right now," O'Conner said. "He hasn't been diagnosed with the disease, there's just a presence of (the disease) in his nostrils."
"He was given a nasal swab because he happened to be in a hospital and he was ill," said Barbara Reynolds, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. O'Conner and Reynolds said they did not know what symptoms of illness the man displayed or whether any of the symptoms were consistent with anthrax. The disease in early stages may resemble the flu.
A co-worker of the man, Bob Stevens, died Friday, the first person in 25 years in the United States to have died from the rare inhaled form of anthrax. Stevens, 63, was a photo editor at the supermarket tabloid The Sun. Environmental tests performed at the Sun's offices in Boca Raton detected the anthrax bacteria, O'Conner said.
This article starring:
A co-worker of the man, Bob Stevens
Barbara Reynolds, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Tim O'Conner, regional spokesman for Florida's health department
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10/08/2001 ||
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Philadelphia Daily News
She doesn't look at the world through veils. She isn't forced to stay inside her Bergen County, N.J., home. And she can say anything she wants. Maybe Laili Helms looks through rose-colored glasses. For sure, she is talking out of the other side of her mouth these days. Helms, an Afghan native who speaks three languages, coaches her sons' soccer team and is a niece-in-law of former CIA director Richard Helms, has long been a vocal supporter and adviser of the Taliban.
She has seen no problem supporting a regime that won't let women work, that makes women stay inside their homes most of the time, and that flogs women for such crimes as speaking to an unrelated male. But since the Sept. 11 attacks and the Taliban's refusal to aid in the apprehension of those responsible, she has expressed a little different attitude. "I am horrified by what has happened and do not support the Taliban's resistance in handing over the terrorists."
This article starring:
CIA director Richard Helms
Laili Helms
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10/08/2001 ||
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AP
The FBI is investigating the possibility that the anthrax bacteria detected in two Florida men is a result of terrorism or criminal action. The anthrax that killed a man last week has been detected in the nose of a co-worker and on a computer keyboard in the newspaper office where both men worked, health officials said today. Meanwhile, Lt. Gov. Frank Brogan told reporters in Tallahassee that "the FBI is in control of the investigation," which officials in Washington confirmed. All 300 employees who work in the building were asked to come to a health clinic so they could be tested for the bacteria. Officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said nasal swabs would be taken, and antibiotics provided to combat the disease. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer would not rule out terrorism as a possible explanation.
This article starring:
Lt. Gov. Frank Brogan
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer
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10/08/2001 ||
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AP
Air Force fighter planes were sent to escort an American Airlines jetliner today after a passenger tried to enter the cockpit of the plane, federal officials said. Preliminary reports indicated there was not an attempted hijacking aboard the plane, said Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Marcia Adams. No one was injured, and the plane was escorted safely to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.
The passenger, described later by his father as having a history of mental illness, was subdued aboard Flight 1238 from Los Angeles to Chicago after trying to get into the cockpit. "The male individual was physically restrained by other passengers," American Airline spokesman Al Becker said. "This appears to be an isolated incident." The captain of the Boeing 767, which was carrying a crew of nine and 153 passengers, declared an emergency. The F-16s were then dispatched to escort the plane. The passenger was taken into custody but was not immediately charged with a crime.
This article starring:
American Airline spokesman Al Becker
Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Marcia Adams
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10/08/2001 ||
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AP
QUETTA, Pakistan - Mobs stormed this city by the Afghan border today, lobbing firebombs while chanting glory to Osama bin Laden and hatred for America. Police shot one man dead in the tear gas-shrouded confusion. In Peshawar, a pro-Taliban demonstrator was engulfed in fire while protesters burned a U.S. flag during protests against the sirstrikes. The demonstrator was taken to a hospital, and his present condition is unknown.
From daybreak to late afternoon, in a huge rally downtown and in street-corner clusters, Muslims shouted support for Afghanistan's Taliban leadership. Compared with the scattered and sporadic protests elsewhere in the country, this was the worst sustained unrest to hit Pakistan over Sunday's U.S.-British attacks. Thousands surged through the streets in running skirmishes with police, setting ablaze the U.N. Children's Fund compound, the central police station, movie theaters, a bank and other buildings in the city of 800,000.
At least six rioters suffered bullet wounds and 24 others were injured by police batons or tear gas canisters, doctors at Civil Hospital said. Two officers also were hospitalized. Tear gas hung over parts of Quetta, and gunfire echoed across the old city as police fired repeatedly into the air. Columns of smoke were visible in every direction. Two fire trucks were torched in the street.
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10/08/2001 ||
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Express India Tariq Bhat
Srinagar, October 8: Violent protests broke out in Srinagar on Monday against air strikes by United States on Afghanistan. The Hurriyat Conference also held an emergency press conferece in the morning in view of the situation arising out of the US strikes. The late night news of the strikes almost had the people on the edge who took to streets in many localities of downtown Srinagar in morning. The biggest protest however took place at Nowhatta near Jamia Masjid, an area densely populated by the loyalists of the Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.
The protesters shouted slogans against US and expressed sympathy and solidarity to the people of Afghanistan. By 0900 hrs IST, most of the shops in the Civil Lines areas, Lal Chowk and Residency Road had closed down. At Nowhatta youths clashed with police and pelted stones. Tension gripped the area forcing suspension of the transport. Police resorted to heavy lathicharge and lobbed scores of tear gas shells. Groups of youth in several localities of the downtown forced suspension of the traffic. Several cars, scooters and buses were damaged by the protesters. Police and paramilitary forces were rushed to the areas to quell the protestors, but has met with little success so far.
This article starring:
MIRWAIZ OMAR FARUQ
Hurriyat
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10/08/2001 ||
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(Reuters)
A radical Indonesian Muslim group has threatened to hunt foreigners and destroy foreign targets as embassies warned their citizens to stay inside to escape retaliation over U.S.-led strikes against Afghanistan. The small but vocal Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) demanded on Monday President Megawati Sukarnoputri cut ties with Washington and its allies and urged millions of Muslims in the world's largest Islamic nation to lay siege to the U.S. embassy in Jakarta on Monday afternoon. "They are terrorists that must be driven from the face of the earth," the official Antara news agency quoted FPI head Muhammad Rizieq as saying. "The United States is a terrorist nation."
International schools closed and the U.S., Australian and British embassies, warning of anti-Western action, urged their nationals to stay inside.
This article starring:
Megawati Sukarnoputri
MUHAMAD RIZIEQ
Islamic Defenders Front
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10/08/2001 ||
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BAGHDAD (Reuters)
Iraqis have denounced the Western military campaign against Afghanistan with many fearing their country could be the next target of U.S. retaliation. "U.S. aggression on Afghanistan is one form of organised terrorism," said Babel, the newspaper of President Saddam Hussein's son Uday. The United States and its allies will fail in Afghanistan as they did in Vietnam, Somalia and in their aggression and sanctions on Iraq."
A senior Iraqi MP said Washington might next attack Iraq. "We expect America to attack (more) Arab and Muslim countries and Iraq could be one them," Abdul-Saheb Nasir told Reuters. "But they should know that Iraq is now much stronger than it was in the 1991 Gulf War."
This article starring:
Abdul-Saheb Nasir
Uday Hussein
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10/08/2001 ||
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Khaleej Times (UAE)
Jordan's key Islamic opposition party on Monday condemned the United States's "dirty war" on Afghanistan which it said was aimed at exterminating a people without resources. "This is a dirty war of extermination against a primitive Muslim people who have no resources and who cannot face up to the destructive American war machine," the secretary general of the Islamic Action Front (IAF) told AFP. "We always denounce terrorism, under all its forms, terrorism by individuals, organisations or state terrorism," Abdel Latif Arabiyat said, adding that US attacks launched Sunday on Afghanistan belonged to the latter. "What the United States is now launching represents the highest level of state terrorism and targets innocents, like Israel against the Palestinians," Arabiyat said. "With this war the United States is seeking to intimidate and bring to submission all the Arab and Muslim people," he said, recalling that two weeks ago US President George W. Bush spoke of a "crusade" against terrorism.
This article starring:
Abdel Latif Arabiyat
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10/08/2001 ||
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Malaysia sounded a rare Asian note of criticism over the US-led strikes in Afghanistan but put police on patrol to protect Americans as Islamic hardliners backed calls for a "jihad" or holy war. Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said his government did not support the attacks because innocent people would be killed and terrorism would not be wiped out. "Our stand is that the problems that caused these terrorists to do what they did have to be looked into," he told reporters outside parliament. "We will not take any action or give any form of support."
In a statement to parliament earlier, Mahathir said: "War will only victimise the innocent. Terrorists themselves might escape. "That is why Malaysia does not agree with war against countries that are said to be protecting terrorists. It will only ruin the said country without succeeding in eradicating terrorism or terrorists."
This article starring:
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad
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10/08/2001 ||
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AFP
Communist Vietnam sharply toned down its criticism of US-led strikes on Afghanistan Monday, issuing a moderately worded statement through the foreign ministry in early evening which called only for the "maximum restraint." A commentary published in one of the main official dailies here earlier in the day had demanded an "immediate halt" to the strikes, making Vietnam one of just four countries around the world to openly oppose the military action. "Vietnam expresses its deep concern about the war under way in Afghanistan which seriously threatens the lives of innocent civilians," the foreign ministry statement said.
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10/08/2001 ||
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PakNews.com
Panic hits Pakistani cities as people rush to stores to stock up on groceries and consumer items on hearing reports of American-British attack on Afghanistan. Most people reported fear of Taliban retaliation due to Pakistan's strong stance on support and providing resources including airspace to America. Other reasons for stocking up on items included fear of possible price hikes and curfews in Pakistan as a result of war next door.
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10/08/2001 ||
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Don Feder Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's comment that Western civilization is superior to Islamic culture, while obvious to all whose minds aren't locked in a prison of political correctness, took guts to say. That Europeans reacted to Berlusconi -- a bright light on a continent of dim bulbs -- with outrage and horror is symptomatic of the malaise afflicting the West. "We should be conscious of the superiority of our civilization, which consists of a value system that has given people widespread prosperity ... and guarantees respect for human rights and religion," Berlusconi told a group of journalists. "This respect certainly does not exist in Islamic countries."
"I can hardly believe Mr. Berlusconi made such remarks," wailed Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, who assured us the European Union "is based on values such as multiculturalism and the meeting of different civilizations."
For Europe's elite, it is a matter of faith that all cultures are created equal. Thus, a civilization that gave the world democracy, civil liberties and the industrial revolution and computer age is judged no better than a culture where democracy is unknown, rights non-existent, tribal bloodshed the norm and a few live in palaces while most inhabit hovels.
This article starring:
Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi
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10/08/2001 ||
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(AP)- In a first reaction to the U.S. military response in Afghanistan, Egypt's foreign minister said Monday that the United States must have had ``solid grounds'' for strikes. But Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher refused to say directly whether Egypt shared America's belief that Osama bin Laden was behind the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. ``We are not the investigators, and we believe in the judicial system of the United States,'' the foreign minister said. ``I believe the United States and the other countries are convinced,'' he said, adding: ``I'm sure they would not have acted without solid grounds.''
Maher's hedged support for U.S. evidence on bin Laden reflected the deep unease of his moderate Arab government which shares a common enemy in religious extremists but whose citizens are not supportive of attacks on a fellow Muslim country.
This article starring:
Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher
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10/08/2001 ||
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FoxNews
The United States has formally notified the U.N. Security Council that counterterrorism attacks may be extended beyond Afghanistan. A legal document sent Sunday to the council reaffirmed the attack on the Taliban was an act of self-defense under the U.N. charter and said the United States reserves the right to strike at terrorist cells beyond the South Asian country, a senior administration official told The Associated Press on Monday.
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10/08/2001 ||
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South Wales Echo Joe Churcher, Political Staff, PA News
A senior British Muslim today condemned the military strikes on Afghanistan and said yesterday had been "a very, very sad day". Muslim Parliament leader Dr Ghayasuddin Siddiqui said the United States should have given diplomatic efforts longer to take effect. Ministers from Islamic states were due to meet on Wednesday amid optimism they could persuade the Taliban to hand over Osama bin Laden for trial at an international court, he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
He said: "The first casualty of this attack has been the rule of law. The Americans have lost their credibility. They had this opportunity to somehow recover the moral high ground. The only people who will be happy will be the American arms industry and oil companies. It's a very, very sad day. They should have explored all other options." Asked if the military action would have the support of ordinary British Muslims, he said: "The Americans should have carried the world opinion with them but I don't think this has been the case. There are a lot of question marks and I think they have missed a lot of opportunities."
North London-based Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed, leader of the fundamentalist Al Muhajiroun (The Exiles) group, said the strikes were themselves a terrorist act. There was "overwhelming condemnation" of the response in the Arab world. "You cannot behave like terrorists to deal with terrorists. We can deal with terrorists ... in very civilised ways. We would like to see Osama bin Laden on trial but there's no proof been established until now," he told the programme.
This article starring:
Muslim Parliament leader Dr Ghayasuddin Siddiqui
SHEIKH OMAR BAKRI MOHAMED
Al Muhajiroun
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10/08/2001 ||
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AP
Expressing firm approval of the U.S.-British airstrikes against Afghanistan, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday the Sept. 11 terrorist strikes resulted in a "unity of humanity" that had severely cut terrorists' ability to maneuver. Following the attacks, humanity "grew up," Putin said. "They counted on modern civilization becoming flabby, sluggish, and losing its capacity for resistance," Putin said. The terrorists "did not expect such a unity of humanity before the common enemy."
Putin praised the U.S.-led strikes, saying they were a just response to the Sept. 11 tragedy with its thousands of victims. He also said he was certain the United States was doing everything possible to avoid civilian losses. The U.S. ambassador in Moscow, Alexander Vershbow, in turn praised Russia on Monday as being "vital for the success of the coalition against international terrorism" and thanked Moscow for its "multifaceted support."
This article starring:
Russian President Vladimir Putin
U.S. ambassador in Moscow, Alexander Vershbow
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10/08/2001 ||
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Daily Jang/News International M B Naqvi
What can be conceded is that the US did reward Pakistan with the authority to make and break governments in Kabul. Pakistan after experimenting with two Islamic governments finally installed Taliban. Their politics has made Taliban the betes noirs of the whole civilised world. Within Pakistan except for the Rightwing, including a part of secular Right, nobody loves Taliban. Let no one forget that Pakistani people never gave all the religious (Islamic orthodox) parties more than 8 percent of their vote in six general elections. Taliban and the Mullahs were however the darlings of the Generals - for use as instrument of pressure on India to force it to negotiate which had been refusing to do so for 10 years and may yet go on being blind to Kashmiris' human rights. Pakistan's prowess is irrelevant to any worthwhile purpose.
The simple and obvious point is that the Taliban experiment has proved to be even more of a grievous mistake. They have put Pakistan itself in jeopardy. If Musharraf had refused cooperation with the US - specifically aimed at Taliban - Pakistan would have been the first objective of the US-led war against terrorism. Even otherwise, it was mighty unwise to have done what Pakistan has been doing since 1973 in Afghanistan. Pakistan is an unstable third world country with a rickety economy. It had no business becoming one of the big boys in the renewed Great Game. An imperial role sites ill on an aid-addicted second rank third world country. If only, Musharraf would get off this hook - telling the truth as it is.
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10/08/2001 ||
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AP
After Sunday's attacks, the influential Afghan Defense Council, based in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore, issued a call for holy war. ``It is the duty of every Muslim to support their brothers in this critical hour,'' council leader Riaz Durana said. ``We will support the Taliban physically and morally against the aggression of America.''
Munawar Hassan, deputy chief of Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan's most powerful religious political party, called the strikes ``an attack against Islam.''
Condemnation also came from the militant group Harakat ul-Mujahedeen, one of several organizations whose assets were frozen by the United States, Pakistan and other countries as part of a campaign against movements linked to Osama bin Laden. ``Americans have used their might to kill innocent people in Afghanistan instead of targeting training camps,'' said Amar Mehdi, spokesman for the group, which advocates the independence of Indian-ruled Kashmir.
In downtown Peshawar, near the Afghan border, knots of men gathered shouting ``Osama! Osama!'' and ``America is a terrorist.''
In Lahore, an organization of Muslim clerics issued a condemnation and said Americans now face a ``highly critical situation'' in the Muslim world. ``We appeal to all Muslims living anywhere in the world to extend full support to their Afghan brothers in this critical time,'' said Sazid Mir, president of Markazi Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith. Hundreds of emotional Islamic clerics and students studying in pro-Taliban religious institutions staged demonstrations in Lahore condemning America. Youths belonging to the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami also protested.
This article starring:
AMAR MEHDI
Harakat ul-Mujahedeen
MUNAWAR HASAN
Jamaat-e-Islami
RIAZ DURANA
Afghan Defense Council
SAZID MIR
Markazi Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
10/08/2001 ||
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Times of India
A delegation of top Deobandi clerics from Pakistan that went to Afghanistan with Director General of ISI Lt-Gen Mahmud to meet with the Mullah Omar Akhund and convince him to hand over Osama Bin Laden, did exactly the opposite. Sources within the delegation said that instead of convincing Omar of the necessity of saving Afghanistan and the Taliban regime by getting rid of Bin Laden, the delegation invoked Islamic scriptures to appreciate the stand taken by the Taliban leadership and assured Omar of their support.
The clerics, led by the "unofficial advisor" to Mullah Omar and Pakistan's top Deobandi religious figure, Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai of the Binori town seminary in Karachi, also informed Omar that several hundred young men were ready for jihad against the US if Washington did attack Afghanistan.
Shamzai's stand on the issue is also clear from the fatwa he issued only last week, exhorting the Muslims to join jihad against the United States if it attacked Afghanistan and declared that the Muslim countries supporting the US or any infidel forces would be committing a "sin".
Shamzai heads the country's biggest Deobandi madrasa. Shamzai and Mufti Jamil, another member of the delegation, are also said to be very close to Osama Bin Laden and both were invited to his son's wedding. Shamzai is personally looking after the process of recruitment of hundreds of young men prepared to fight alongside the Taliban in case of a war. Their efforts have the support of Deobandi parties and groups whose cadres have been given the task of mobilising the youth for performing their "sacred duty".
One of the muftis in the delegation sent to Kandahar told the newspaper that the clerics actually discussed the strategy of resistance with Omar and his lieutenants. The weekly said that it had learnt that some intelligence agencies have already warned the government about the possibility of suicide strikes against airports and foreign embassies.
Shamzai's stand on the issue is also clear from the fatwa (religious edict) he issued only last week. In the fatwa he exhorted the Muslims to join jihad against the United States if it attacked Afghanistan and declared that the Muslim countries supporting the US or any infidel forces would be committing a "sin". He has also indicated that people will storm airports and ports in the country if the US forces landed in Pakistan. Instigating his followers he is reported to have told them to "not allow any US men go back alive" if they dare land in Pakistan.
This article starring:
Director General of ISI Lt-Gen Mahmud
Mufti Jamil
Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai
MULLAH OMAR AKHUND
Taliban
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
10/08/2001 ||
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(Reuters)
An antiterrorist magistrate will quiz four alleged Islamic militants who police suspect plotted to attack an historic France-Algeria football match, a French judicial source has said. Police intercepted telephone conversations between the four that hinted they would target the game, which was abandoned after Algerian fans stormed the pitch and hurled objects, the source said. Saturday's friendly was the first soccer match between France and Algeria since the North African country claimed independence from France in 1962. They arrested the men the night before the match after seizing a manual for making explosives, ammunition, bullet-proof vests and a revolver disguised as a pen, from the suspects' houses in the Paris suburbs, the source added. The men are being probed for criminal conspiracy in relation to a terrorist initiative, and a magistrate will decide on Tuesday if they should be put under official investigation -- one step short of pressing charges under French law.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
10/08/2001 ||
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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.
Condemnation also came from the militant group 
