December 9, 2001

The Afghan interim government: who's who The Guardian (UK)

First draft of UN-sponsored Afghan agreement The Financial Times

Who's who of the Afghan power brokers.  Link to BBC News

Kabul's women list kidnap horrors By James Rupert

 


Bin Laden Said Making Stand as Taliban Rule Ends
By Sayed Salahuddin and Zeeshan Haider
Sunday December 9 2:44 PM ET
KABUL/CHAMAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - Osama bin Laden was said to be staging a defiant stand in the Afghan mountains on Sunday as Taliban rule finally came to an ignominious end with

Dostum to Work with New Afghan Govt -U.S. Official
Sunday December 9 12:04 PM ET
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Anti-Taliban warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostum has told U.S. officials he will cooperate with Kabul's new interim government, a senior U.S. state department

Stand-off in Kandahar resolved: Karzai
Monday December 10, 4:53 AM AFP
A stand-off between rival anti-Taliban commanders in Kandahar has been resolved peacefully, Afghanistan's new interim leader Hamid Karzai told AFP.

Ex-Afghan King Aiming to Return Home in March
By Eleanor Biles
Sunday December 9 2:58 PM ET
ROME (Reuters) - The ex-king of Afghanistan will probably return home in March to play his part in the reconstruction of his country, ending almost 30 years of exile in Italy, the monarch's

That's nice, I'm prime minister!
Saturday, 8 December, 2001, 16:14 GMT BBC News
Kabul residents heard news of the agreement on the radio
By Lyse Doucet in Kabul
It began as another Kabul day. A gentle morning sun filtering through the last of the autumn leaves.

War's Hidden Cost
By JOHN H. CUSHMAN Jr.
The New York Times
WASHINGTON
THIS much is all but certain: when bombs fall, some of them will fall on the wrong people. Sometimes innocents are killed, in what is coolly referred to as collateral damage.

U.N. Envoy to Secure Power Transfer in Afghanistan
Sunday, December 09, 2001 11:56 AM EST
TEHRAN, Dec 9, 2001 (Xinhua) -- U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan's special envoy on Afghanistan Lakhdar Brahimi is scheduled to arrive in the Afghan Capital of Kabul on Tuesday

Under Autumn Snow, Footnotes to Village's Sorrowful Decade
By DEXTER FILKINS
The New York Times
MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan, Dec. 8 — The graves are barely visible to the newcomer, a weathered row of bumps and stones that on an autumn day are shrouded in snow.

Zabul Province Handed to Afghan Tribal Elders, Commanders
ISLAMABAD, Dec 9, 2001 (Xinhua) -- Southern Afghan province of Zabul, the last one controlled by the Taliban militia, was handed over to local elders and commanders on Sunday

Desperation, missteps led to fortress carnage
By David Filipov and Elizabeth Neuffer, Boston Globe Staff, 12/9/2001
QALAI JANGHI FORTRESS, Afghanistan - As far as the Taliban captives knew, they were about to die.

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U.S. Scours Afghan Woods for Bin Laden
By Sayed Salahuddin
Sunday December 9 9:15 AM ET
KABUL (Reuters) - U.S. planes joined Afghan fighters in hunting for Osama bin Laden in mountain woods, but the superpower said it would scour the world for him if needed.

Fierce fighting in bin Laden search as Kandahar standoff continues
Sunday December 9, 8:21 PM  AFP
US warplanes hammered Osama bin Laden's supposed hiding place in Afghanistan's eastern mountains as the country's new leader attempted to save the former Taliban bastion of Kandahar from bloody anarchy.

Afghan Tribal Leader Disputes Kandahar Fighting
Sunday December 9 2:29 AM ET
CHAMAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - A Pashtun commander said Afghan tribal forces fought fierce gun battles for control of the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar on Sunday

UK 'will help rebuild Afghanistan'
Sunday, 9 December, 2001, 11:25 GMT BBC News
British troops could help rebuild the country
UK troops look set to play a key role in any United Nations stabilisation force sent to help rebuild post-war Afghanistan.

Britain says it is ready to lead Afghan stabilisation force
Sunday December 9, 8:58 PM AFP
Britain is prepared to lead an international stabilisation force in Afghanistan, Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said.

Breakthrough in Afghan aid effort
There were 1,000 tonnes of grain and flour on board
Sunday, 9 December, 2001, 15:26 GMT  BBC News
A train carrying vital humanitarian aid for Afghanistan crossed the border from Uzbekistan on Sunday.

Afghan commanders killed in crash
Sunday, 9 December, 2001, 09:25 GMT BBC News
A helicopter has crashed in northern Afghanistan killing 18 people, including three anti-Taleban military commanders.

Taliban Resurface in New Afghan Political Party
By Jack Redden
Sunday December 9 8:34 AM ET
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Several officials of the defeated Taliban, including their envoy to the United Nations, surfaced on Sunday to announce the formation of a new political party to help bring peace to Afghanistan.

How my friend outwitted the mullahs
Daily Telegraph (UK) Dec. 8, 2001
Ahmed Rashid tells the inside story of how the new Afghan leader Hamid Karzai joined the 'heavyweights' and engineered the downfall of the Taliban

Pashtun elders leave for Kandahar
Islamabad, Dec 9, IRNA -- A team of Pashtun notables and tribal elders left Pakistan on Saturday for Kandahar to try to bring about rapprochement among the three anti-Taliban leaders.

UNHCR sends relief aid to Herat, finances refugees' return
Mashhad, Khorasan prov., Dec 9, IRNA --  The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Mashhad, the capital city of Iran's northeastern Province of Khorasan

Drought Adds to Afghanistan's Food Woes
Sunday, December 09, 2001 8:54 AM EST
DEPOMBA, Afghanistan (Reuters) - An old boat lies at the bottom of Lake Karga to the west of the Afghan capital Kabul. Like the surrounding fields, it is covered in dust, sun-bleached and dry as a bone.

Herat mayor, Kunduz officials appointed
Mashhad, Dec 9, IRNA -- The mayor of Herat and officials of Kunduz were appointed after lengthy discussions and sessions, an Afghan source announced Saturday.

Decision of Bonn conference on Afghanistan is the best-Putin
Sunday, December 09, 2001 8:30 AM EST
HANOVER, Dec 09, 2001 (Itar-Tass via COMTEX) -- The decision taken at the Bonn conference on Afghanistan is the optimum, the best, President Vladimir Putin said at a joint

Bin Laden's Mother Disappointed by Her Son-Paper
Sunday, December 09, 2001 5:27 AM EST
RIYADH (Reuters) - The mother of Osama bin Laden was quoted on Sunday as saying that she was not angry with her son, but just disappointed by his ideas and actions.

Taliban’s fall triggers refugees’ return
Ali Rai
Frontier Post 12/9/2001 11:41:33 AM
ISLAMABAD: Ten Thousand Afghan refugees from the 17 countries are returning to their homeland on daily basis since November 23, after the fall of Taliban in Afghanistan.

Hunt for Omar and Osama
Frontier Post 12/9/2001 11:41:33 AM
The fall of Kandahar to anti-Taliban forces has been accompanied by confusion, looting, ransacking, and clashes between rival commanders.

Taliban Leader Omar Should Be Hanged -Kabul Cleric
Sunday, December 09, 2001 2:10 AM EST
KABUL (Reuters) - The Taliban's fugitive supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar should be hanged for supporting terrorism and for bringing shame upon Islam, one of Kabul's

U.S. forces bury fallen Afghan comrade
By SCOTT CANON - The Kansas City Star 12/08/01
CAMP RHINO, Afghanistan -- In his native soil but far from home and surrounded by strangers, a fallen anti-Taliban fighter was buried near here Saturday.

For Afghan Fighters, Bin Laden Is Small Part of Bigger Mission
By MEGAN K. STACK
The Los Angeles Times December 9 2001
TORA BORA, Afghanistan -- In the jagged mountains of northeastern Afghanistan, where the U.S.-led war is peeled down to its original purpose of hunting down Osama bin Laden

Does Al Qaeda Need Osama Bin Laden?
His leadership style differs markedly from other terrorist leaders.
By JERROLD M. POST
The Los Angeles Times December 9 2001
WASHINGTON -- During the Iran hostage crisis, a wishful group of foreign-policy analysts believed that when the shah of Iran died, the reason for Ayatollah Khomeini's hostility

A Maker of Burkas Will Have to Find a New Line of Work
Commerce: Mohammed Isaq's business thrived during Taliban rule, but he's not bemoaning a life without the regime.
By MAURA REYNOLDS
The Los Angeles Times December 9 2001
MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan -- If there was one person poised to make a fortune off the Taliban, it was Mohammed Isaq.

India to help Kabul in policing: Advani
The Times of India
KARIMNAGAR: India would soon send a team of senior police officials to Kabul to help in setting up an efficient policing system there, Home Minister L K Advani said here on Sunday.

Pashtun chiefs fight for control of Helmand
The Times of India
ISLAMABAD: Fierce fighting broke out between rival Afghan clans seeking to lay claim to Afghanistan's southern Helmand province following the withdrawal of the Taliban, a report said Sunday.

U.S.: New Tape Points to Bin Laden
Words Suggest Sept. 11 Planning Role
By Walter Pincus and Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, December 9, 2001; Page A01
The United States has obtained a videotape of Osama bin Laden describing the damage around the World Trade Center -- where the twin towers and other buildings were destroyed

Marines Hold Young American in Afghan Desert
Sunday December 9 7:54 AM ET
CAMP RHINO, Afghanistan (Reuters) - An American captured fighting with the Taliban in northern Afghanistan is being held as a ``battlefield detainee'' at a U.S. Marine base in the south of the country