December 14, 2001

U.S. Bombs Tora Bora; Marines Take Kandahar Airport
By Sayed Salahuddin and Sebastian Alison
Friday December 14 4:03 AM ET
TORA BORA, Afghanistan (Reuters) - U.S. aircraft bombed eastern Afghan mountains Friday, targeting Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda fighters as heavily armed Marines took over the airport

The Man Who Will Be Chief Is Greeted Warmly in Kabul
By DAVID ROHDE
The New York Times
KABUL, Afghanistan, Thursday, Dec. 13 — The ethnic Pashtun who has been appointed to head the nation's interim government arrived in the capital late Wednesday night

Musharraf accuses India over Afghanistan
Friday December 14, 4:50 PM AFP
Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf accused India of seeking to use Afghanistan to damage Pakistani interests.

Air Services Between India And Afghanistan to Resume Shortly
Friday December 14, 3:42 PM AFP
KISHANGANJ, Dec 14 Asia Pulse - Flights between India and Afghanistan will resume soon as part of New Delhi's efforts to rebuild and strengthen its ties with the battle-scarred country

Afghan women take fight for rights to U.S. Congress
By Sue Pleming
Friday December 14, 3:07 PM
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A group of leading Afghan women and U.S. feminist icons took their campaign to Congress on Thursday, urging the U.S. government to link aid to Afghanistan

Britain asks for Indonesia's support of Afghan administration
Friday December 14, 2:40 PM
JAKARTA, Dec 14 (AFP) - Britain's Deputy Foreign Minister Michael Jay asked Indonesia Friday to support the new administration in Afghanistan and to consider sending troops

Taliban's trail leads to Pakistan
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
Asia Times; December 13, 2001
KARACHI - The former director-general of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Lieutenant-General Hamid Gul, nicknamed the "godfather of the Taliban", is believed to be behind moves

The First Line Against Terrorism
By Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin
The Washington Post
Wednesday, December 12, 2001; Page A35
In the spring of 1946, J. Robert Oppenheimer was asked in a closed congressional hearing room "whether three or four men couldn't smuggle units of an [atomic] bomb into New York

Transcript of Osama bin Laden video
Daily Telegraph (UK)  13/12/2001
THE transcript and annotations were independently prepared by translator George Michael and Dr Kassem M Wahba, Arabic language programme coordinator at the School of Advanced International

Govt alerts public, private sector cos: Afghanistan rebuilding
By Our Staff Reporter
Dawn (Pakistan)
ISLAMABAD, Dec 12: The federal government has asked both the public as well as private sector companies to remain alert to the emerging investment opportunities in the reconstruction

Kandahar counts the cost of liberation
By Barbie Dutter in Kandahar
The Daily Telegraph (UK) 13/12/2001
THE garden where Mullah Omar was reputed to take tea with Osama bin Laden has lost its perimeter walls. A perfectly round missile hole interrupts a gaudy mural depicting heavenly scenes.

War turns key Afghan tunnel into death trap
Link destroyed to bar Taliban from valley
Anna Badkhen, Chronicle Staff Writer
San Francisco Chronicle Thursday, December 13, 2001
In the Salang Tunnel, Afghanistan -- The highest tunnel in the world greets travelers with pitch-black darkness, grabs onto their clothes with jagged steel rods that stick out of every surface

Ex-Taliban leaders talk of regime's end, their future
By Farah Stockman, Boston Globe Staff, 12/13/2001
ISLAMABAD - With the Taliban's defeat all but assured, some of its political leaders are wasting no time reinventing themselves to take part in the future government.

Islamabad to Mazar flight begins
By Our Staff Reporter
Dawn (Pakistan)
ISLAMABAD, Dec 12: The flight operations from Islamabad to Mazar-i-Sharif started on Wednesday as the first UN flight left Islamabad International airport.

A Killing Field Reverts to Life as a Stadium
By CAROL J. WILLIAMS
Los Angeles Times (Dec 13, 2001)
KABUL, Afghanistan -- The last time Mohammed Gheyas went to watch soccer at the national stadium, the players were unable to do their pregame warmups. Instead, a Datsun pickup

U.S. Bombing Spares Much of Kandahar
By KIM MURPHY
Los Angeles Times (Dec 13, 2001)
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- At first, it seems like the same kind of rubble that lies all over this town of dilapidated earthen brick and crumbling straw. Then there are the signs of ruined lives.

Troika of European ministers visit war-ravaged Kabul
KABUL, Dec 13 (AFP) - Three European ministers flew into the war-ravaged Afghan capital on Thursday for talks with the new government, the first such high-level delegation to Afghanistan

Anti-Taliban Factions Clash in North
By CARLOTTA GALL
The New York Times  12/13/2001
PUL-I-KHUMRI, Afghanistan, Dec. 12 — This northern Afghan town erupted in violence today as two anti- Taliban factions clashed, amid reports — later denied by the Pentagon

Disarmament called overstated
Tribal leaders say Taliban kept much
By Patrick Healy, Boston Globe Staff, 12/13/2001
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - The recent Taliban disarmament in Kandahar was far less sweeping and crippling than initially believed, tribal leaders here revealed yesterday, with only about 40 percent

Jordan sends army engineers to Afghanistan
AMMAN, Dec 13 (AFP) - Jordan dispatched a unit of army engineers to the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif Wednesday to prepare for the arrival of more troops on a humanitarian