November 16, 2001

Eyewitness: The Taliban Undone TIME MAGAZINE

Oil Diplomacy Muddled U.S. Pursuit of bin Laden, New Book Contends By ETHAN BRONNER

'My door was forced open and I was grabbed' Sunday Telegraph

Taliban Withdrawal Was Strategy, Not Rout Strategic Forecasting LLC

 


U.S. Thinks Air Raid Killed Top Al Qaeda Plotter
By Sayed Salahuddin and Anton Ferreira
Friday November 16 8:29 PM ET
KABUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Friday it believed its air raids on Afghan targets had killed the al Qaeda military expert suspected of plotting the Sept. 11 suicide-hijackings

Northern Alliance Delaying All-Afghan UN Meeting
By Evelyn Leopold
Friday November 16 4:09 PM ET
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. envoy in charge of Afghanistan said on Friday the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance was obstructing urgent efforts to arrange a crucial meeting

UN warns former Afghan leader
Friday, 16 November, 2001, 22:53 GMT BBC News
The United Nations deputy special representative for Afghanistan, Francesc Vendrell, has warned that deposed Afghan leader Burhanuddin Rabbani will not automatically assume control

Afghan city welcomes Ramadan
The city of Taloqan ushered Ramadan in on Friday
By BBC News Online's Marcus George in Taloqan
The first day of Ramadan has fallen across Afghanistan and the people in Taloqan in northern Afghanistan have gathered for the first Friday prayers since its capture by the Northern Alliance.

Power struggle in Jalalabad
Local leaders have so far failed to reach a deal
By the BBC's Owen Bennett Jones
There is increasing anxiety in the Afghan city of Jalalabad because the militia commanders who are now controlling the city have so far failed to reach an agreement on how to share power.

Foreign fighters set for last stand
Friday, 16 November, 2001, 12:27 GMT BBC News
The Northern Alliance is likely to show little mercy to foreigners
The Northern Alliance says it is preventing a substantial force of Taleban fighters from breaking out of the northern city of Kunduz, where they are surrounded.

UN 'winning battle' against famine
Friday, 16 November, 2001, 18:22 GMT
UN says enough food is getting in to stave off famine
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) says it is winning the battle to get enough food aid into Afghanistan to feed the six million Afghans who most need it.

UN Names British Official to Lead Afghan Recovery
Friday November 16 8:14 PM ET
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Mark Malloch Brown, the British head of the U.N. Development Program, was appointed by Secretary-General Kofi Annan late on Friday to lead the world body's

U.S. Bomb Damages Mosque as Ramadan Starts
Friday, November 16, 2001 7:07 PM EST
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Air Force warplanes damaged a mosque in eastern Afghanistan as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan began on Friday when a malfunctioning bomb missed its target

Confusion reigns as Europe orders troops to Afghanistan
By Rebecca Harrison
Saturday November 17, 10:32 AM
PARIS (Reuters) - Britain, France and Germany led European moves on Friday to send troops into Afghanistan, but there was confusion over whether they would actually be welcome when they arrived.

Afghan women return to U.N. jobs in Kabul
Saturday November 17, 10:38 AM
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - In a fresh sign of the social changes in Afghanistan as the Taliban rulers lose their grip on power, four Afghan women have returned for the first time in five years to their jobs

Alliance promises to maintain order
Weapons will be forbidden in Kabul beginning tomorrow
Chronicle Foreign Service    Friday, November 16, 2001
Kabul, Afghanistan -- After roaring into Kabul and breaking an agreement with Western leaders to keep its army out of the city, the Northern Alliance appears serious about keeping the peace.

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Afghan Taliban Said Set to Quit Kandahar
Friday November 16 2:03 PM ET
By Raja Asghar
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Signaling its most humiliating defeat, Afghanistan's beleaguered Taliban movement decided on Friday to withdraw from its southern stronghold, Kandahar

US 'kills Bin Laden deputy'
Friday, 16 November, 2001, 17:19 GMT BBC News
US special forces: Targeting al-Qaeda leaders
The US Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, has said American special forces are active in Afghanistan, shooting Taleban fighters and members of the al-Qaeda terror network.

In Afghan Jail, Taliban Fighters Plead for Mercy
Friday November 16 11:22 AM ET
By Jon Hemming
HERAT, Afghanistan (Reuters) - In a dark and dusty dungeon in Herat's ancient citadel squat the sad remnants of the city's Taliban, with fear in their eyes they try to convince

N. Alliance Worries Ex-Afghan King
Friday November 16 10:57 AM ET
By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press Writer
ROME (AP) - Aides to Afghanistan's former king expressed concern Friday that the northern alliance appeared unwilling to participate in a U.N.-backed meeting

White House pushes for Afghan women's rights
Bush faces pressure to ensure they have say in new government
By Susan Baer
Baltimore Sun
Originally published November 16, 2001
WASHINGTON - With women's rights advocates calling on President Bush to ensure that any new government in Afghanistan restores and guarantees the rights of women

Alliance trying to quell fears of seizing power
By Paul Salopek and Michael Kilian, Tribune staff reporters. Paul Salopek reported from Kabul and Michael Kilian from Washington. Tribune staff reporter Alex Rodriguez in Chicago and Tribune news serv
From the Chicago Tribune
November 16, 2001
KABUL, Afghanistan -- With much of Afghanistan wrested from the ruling Taliban regime, rebel leaders sought Thursday to allay growing fears that they were bent

Taliban Leader Plays Risky Endgame
Resistance: Alliance seems in no mood to dicker with a holdout who reneged on earlier deals. Nation's troubles appear far from over.
By PAUL WATSON
Los Angeles Times
November 16 2001
MAIDAN SHAHR, Afghanistan -- In the bare brown mountains of the Pushtun heartland, a top Taliban leader was holding out with hundreds of his fighters Thursday

U.S. Fears Bin Laden May Flee
Manhunt: Officials hope to plug potential escape routes amid the rapid collapse of the Taliban.
By BOB DROGIN and GREG MILLER
Los Angeles Times
November 16 2001
WASHINGTON -- Senior U.S. intelligence and defense officials, caught off guard by the rapid collapse of Taliban control over much of Afghanistan, fear that Osama bin Laden

Allies Building Force to Keep Order in a Vacuum
By MICHAEL R. GORDON and STEVEN LEE MYERS The New York Times
About 160 British Royal Marines and American Special Operations troops flew to Bagram airfield north of Kabul on Thursday.

Rumsfeld: U.S. Forces in Ground Combat
Friday November 16, 2001 - Ý9:53 AM ET
By PAULINE JELINEK, Associated Press Writer
GREAT LAKES, Ill. (AP) - U.S. special forces have been involved in ground combat in Afghanistan, killing Taliban and al-Qaida fighters, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld

Kabul Preachers Tell Worshippers: Turn in Al Qaeda
Friday November 16, 2001 - Ý7:55 AM ET
By Sayed Salahuddin
KABUL (Reuters) - Preachers in Kabul, newly seized from the fundamentalist Taliban by opposition Northern Alliance troops, used Friday prayers to urge worshippers

Iran's Anti-Taliban Stance Brings Little Reward
Friday November 16, 2001 - Ý9:36 AM ET
By Alistair Lyon, Middle East Diplomatic Correspondent
LONDON (Reuters) - Iranian leaders peering into the fog of war in nearby Afghanistan may rejoice at the punishment dished out to the Shi'ite-Muslim-hating Taliban, 

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Bin Laden may have fled to Pakistan -- Iran radio
LONDON, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Osama bin Laden has probably fled from Afghanistan to Pakistan, Iran radio reported on Friday.

Anti-Taliban warlord says to march on Kandahar
HERAT, Afghanistan, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Anti-Taliban warlord Ismail Khan said on Friday he was determined to march on Kandahar despite opposition from ethnic Pashtun

Afghan opposition forces eye Kandahar
By Saeed Ali Achakzai
CHAMAN, Pakistan, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Armed followers of tribal leader Hamid Karzai and former Kandahar governor Gul Agha have
established positions in southern Pakistan

Ex-Afghan king's return tied to political deal-aide
RIYADH, Nov 16 (Reuters) - An adviser to the former Afghan king was quoted on Friday as saying Mohammad Zahir Shah would return to Afghanistan when a proper political

Taliban leaders captured, bin Laden still free
By Alan Elsner and Sayed Salahuddin
WASHINGTON/KABUL, Afghanistan, Nov 15 (Reuters) - In a potential intelligence coup, Northern Alliance opposition forces on Thursday apparently captured some senior

Afghan Alliance says not informed of UK troops
KABUL, Nov 16 (Reuters) - The Northern Alliance now in control in the Afghan capital, Kabul, was not informed of the arrival of British troops at an air base near the capital

France starts troop deployment to Afghanistan
By Bruno Aubry
ISTRES, France, Nov 16 (Reuters) - France began deploying the first of an expected 300 troops to Afghanistan on Friday as part of an international operation to secure humanitarian

Afghan politics show ethnic rift, rival governors
By Jack Redden
PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Nov 16 (Reuters) - In an ominous sign for prospects of a smooth transition to a post-Taliban administration, Afghan politicians on Friday were already

India says open on future Afghan government
NEW DELHI, Nov 16 (Reuters) - India said on Friday it wanted a broadbased, multi-ethnic government to replace Afghanistan's besieged Taliban movement but that it was viewing

Afghan tribal peace mission may find eager ears
By Michael Christie
QUETTA, Pakistan, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Ethnic Pashtuns in Pakistan are hopeful their clansmen fighting alongside Afghanistan's Taliban militia will welcome peace missives

Pakistan stops return of pro-Taliban cleric
ISLAMABAD, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Pakistan has blocked the return of a radical Islamic leader, who led thousands of volunteers to Afghanistan to join the Taliban

Pakistani cleric hopes birds, God will help Taliban
By Tahir Ikram
ISLAMABAD, Nov 16 (Reuters) - With the Taliban on the run in Afghanistan, a leading Pakistani cleric on Friday prayed for divine intervention of birds able to crush

US jets pound Kandahar
Friday, 16 November, 2001, 13:05 GMT BBC News
US special forces are engaged in various security tasks
US jets have pounded the Taleban stronghold of Kandahar, hitting the movement's foreign ministry building and a mosque.

Pakistan beefs up border security
Friday, 16 November, 2001, 12:02 GMT BBC News
Pakistan is concerned about instability in border areas
Pakistan has begun deploying extra troops along part of its border with Afghanistan to prevent armed Taleban fighters from crossing into the country.

Former Afghan king prepares broadcast
Friday, 16 November, 2001, 05:07 GMT  BBC News
The former king told his country to remain calm
By David Willey in Rome
The former king of Afghanistan Zahir Shah, who has lived in exile in Rome for almost 30 years, has recorded a message for broadcasting to the people of his country on the eve of Ramadan.

US allies deny 'Mazar massacre'
Friday, 16 November, 2001, 11:47 GMT BBC News
The Alliance says they gave the Taleban a chance
The Northern Alliance has denied reports of the mass execution of captured Taleban soldiers in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif.

Rival Warlords Used Handshakes, Not Bullets, in Transfer of Power
By Keith B. Richburg - Washington Post Foreign Service, November 16, 2001
MAIDAN SHAHR, Afghanistan, Nov. 15 -- It was just before 11 a.m., and Commander Abdullah was trying to negotiate a surrender.
Two brothers, warlords here in Wardak province

Turkey, Britain, France to Head Peacekeeping Forces
By Alan Sipress and Colum Lynch - Washington Post Staff Writers, November 16, 2001
International diplomats and military planners are mapping out a peacekeeping strategy for Afghanistan that entails deploying a Turkish-led multinational force to police Kabul

Warlords Are Vying to Fill Vacuum Left by the Taliban
By DAVID ROHDE - NY Times
POL-E CHARKHI, Afghanistan Nov. 15 - In a 10-minute span this afternoon, three different cars arrived here from towns ruled by three different Afghan warlords.

Two Rebel Groups Vie for Control of Key City
Rival Guerrillas Move Into Power Vacuum Left by Taliban Flight From Jalalabad
By Pamela Constable - Washington Post Foreign Service, November 16, 2001
TORKHAM, Pakistan, Nov. 15 -- With a mixture of trepidation and bravado, a convoy of several hundred Afghan guerrilla veterans crossed the border from Pakistan into eastern

Afghans Returning Home, Vindicated and Vengeful
By AMY WALDMAN - NY Times
TAYBAD, Iran, Nov. 15 - In the year he spent in Iran, Aziz Habibi was a construction worker with no family and no history. In Afghanistan, his homeland, he had been

Most Indonesian jihad fighters still in Afghanistan: recruiter
Friday November 16, 1:05 PM
JAKARTA, Nov 16 (AFP) - Some 150 "jihad" fighters from Indonesia are still with the Taliban in Afghanistan while others have fled to neighboring Pakistan or are stranded