November 17, 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

 


Taliban vow to defend Kandahar as Rabbani back in Kabul
By Sayed Salahuddin and Anton Ferreira
Saturday November 17, 10:26 PM
KABUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Afghanistan's embattled Taliban vowed on Saturday to fight on and retain their southern powerbase as fresh divisions appeared in the factions and foreign

Taliban vow to hold Kandahar, opposition fractured
By Sayed Salahuddin and Saeed Ali Achakzai
KABUL/SPIN BOLDAK, Afghanistan, Nov 17 (Reuters) - The Taliban vowed on Saturday not to give up their southern Afghan stronghold of Kandahar without a fight as new cracks opened

Pentagon: No Sign Bin Laden Has Left Afghanistan
Saturday November 17 11:18 AM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military has no evidence that Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden has left Afghanistan and is still hunting him in that rugged country, a Pentagon spokesman said on Saturday.

Opposition say Kunduz Taliban refuse to surrender
By Michael Steen
DUSHANBE, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Thousands of Taliban troops holed up in a key northern Afghan province exchanged artillery and rocket fire with Northern Alliance units on Saturday

Northern Alliance ready for Kunduz battle
Alliance fighters wait for the order to advance
By BBC News Online's Marcus George in Afghanistan
A steep path wound its potentially fatal route to where Northern Alliance fighters were enjoying the sun

Western warlord halts advance towards Kandahar
HERAT, Afghanistan, Nov 17 (Reuters) - The forces of anti-Taliban warlord Ismail Khan have advanced toward Kandahar and halted at the junction of three provinces after taking a town

Russia defence chief warns on Afghan peacekeeping
MOSCOW, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov warned the international community on Saturday not to rush into sending a peacekeeping force into Afghanistan

Pakistan calls for urgent action by U.N. in Afghanistan
ISLAMABAD, Nov. 17 (Kyodo) - Pakistan called again on the United Nations on Saturday to urgently convene a meeting of all Afghan groups to work out a post-Taliban transitional government

Iran rushes to be first embassy to reopen in Kabul
By Sayed Salahuddin
KABUL, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Iran will become the first country to reopen its embassy in the war-battered Afghan capital, Kabul, effectively recognising the opposition Northern Alliance

Britain seeks to reassure N. Alliance over troops
By Jonathan Kent
LONDON, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Britain said on Saturday it would seek to calm fears among opposition Northern Alliance leaders suspicious about the presence of British troops at an airbase

Mrs. Bush denounces treatment of Afghan women
By Steve Holland
CRAWFORD, Texas, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Laura Bush delivered the weekly presidential radio address on Saturday in an unprecedented move for a first lady, condemning the "brutal degradation"

U.S. Urges Future Afghan Rulers to Include Women
By Elaine Monaghan
Saturday November 17, 2001 - 10:17 AM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Saturday urged Afghanistan's future government to include both genders, saying the Taliban's repression of women had crippled the country like

Afghanistan Transition Is in Trouble
Afghanistan: Airstrike earlier this week reportedly kills Al Qaeda's war chief. Rumsfeld says hundreds of Special Forces are operating in the south.
By ROBIN WRIGHT
Los Angeles Times
November 17 2001
WASHINGTON -- Once again, Afghanistan is threatening to unravel under the weight of its deep internal divisions.
Rival Afghan factions can't even agree on a venue to hold talks about a broad-based new government to replace the Taliban, prompting U.N. special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi to lash out in frustration Friday.

No political asylum to Osama, Mulla Omar: Pakistan
Islamabad, Nov 17, IRNA -- Pakistan Saturday categorically stated that it would not grant political asylum to Taliban supreme leader Mullah Omar or Saudi national Osama bin Laden.

In 2 Abandoned Kabul Houses, Some Hints of Al Qaeda Presence
By DAVID ROHDE The New York Times
Apparent Qaeda presence in a Taliban defense ministry building suggest that Osama bin Laden's organization was closely linked to the radical Islamic government. .

Taliban Leave Behind Corpses and Tales of Torture
By Jon Hemming
Saturday November 17 10:46 AM ET
SHINDAND AIRBASE, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Abdolsalam and Nurahmad -- father and son -- returned from Iran together six months ago to join the mujahideen and fight harsh Taliban rule in their homeland Afghanistan.

Bin Laden Uses 10 Lookalikes to Foil Hunt-Paper
Saturday November 17 8:09 AM ET
DUBAI (Reuters) - An Arab newspaper on Saturday reported an alleged follower of Osama bin Laden as saying the Saudi-born dissident had deployed 10 lookalikes in Afghanistan to foil U.S.

Taliban Denies Al Qaeda's Atef Killed by U.S. Bombs
Saturday November 17 10:52 AM ET
CHAMAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - Afghanistan's Taliban movement denied on Saturday that U.S. bombing had killed top al Qaeda official Mohammed Atef, suspected military planner of the devastating

Taliban Confirm Death of Al Qaeda Military Leader
Fox News Channel
Saturday, November 17, 2001
WASHINGTON — The Taliban confirmed on Saturday that U.S.-led airstrikes in Afghanistan scored their biggest success to date, killing one of the top men in Usama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network.

Foreign Prisoners Languish in Notorious Taliban Jail
By Rosalind Russell
Saturday November 17 10:08 AM ET
KABUL (Reuters) - Department Three of Kabul's Security Ministry was one of the Taliban's most feared institutions.

French Turn to Cinema to Discover Afghanistan
By Rebecca Harrison
Saturday November 17 9:59 AM ET
PARIS (Reuters) - The French are flocking to films about Afghanistan as they struggle to understand a remote country propelled onto the world stage by U.S. air strikes.

Guerrilla War May Be Too Late for Taliban
By Andrew Marshall
Saturday November 17 9:07 AM ET
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Reports that the Taliban have decided to withdraw from their southern bastion of Kandahar, the last major city held by the fundamentalist militia, signal the conflict in Afghanistan

Egypt Says Afghans Must Choose Own Government
Saturday, November 17, 2001 12:03 PM EST
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher, due to travel to Pakistan on Sunday, said the Afghan people must choose their own post-Taliban government.

French deputy foreign minister to visit Afghanistan
Saturday, November 17, 2001 11:26 AM EST
PARIS, Nov 17, 2001 (Itar-Tass via COMTEX) -- French Deputy Foreign Minister Charles Josselin will visit Uzbekistan on November 22- 23, a ministry official said on Saturday.

Southern Afghans Shrug at Signs of Disunity
Saturday, November 17, 2001 9:44 AM EST
QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - The Taliban may soon fall, but Afghanistan's southern Pashtun tribes seem almost as divided now as in 1994 when the fundamentalist militia first exploited their differences

Released Japanese journalist arrives in Pakistan
JALALABAD, Nov. 17, Kyodo - A Japanese journalist detained by Afghanistan's Taliban militia last month arrived in Pakistan on Saturday after his safe release was confirmed earlier in the day.

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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.

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