November 21, 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 Kunduz Chief Says His Men Will Surrender
Wednesday November 21 8:07 PM ET
MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan (Reuters) - All Taliban forces in the besieged northern Afghan enclave of Kunduz have agreed to surrender, a top Taliban commander said early on Thursday.

U.S. hunts bin Laden as Taliban surrenders in Kunduz
By Roger Atwood and Rosalind Russell
Thursday November 22, 10:20 AM
WASHINGTON/KABUL (Reuters) - The U.S. war in Afghanistan looked more and more like a manhunt for Osama bin Laden on Wednesday as the Pentagon's chief said he would rather take

U.N.-backed talks on Afghan future switched to Bonn
By Irwin Arieff
Thursday November 22, 4:36 AM
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The site for U.N.-sponsored talks due to begin on Monday on the future of Afghanistan has been switched to a castle just outside Bonn from Berlin, the United Nations

Foreign mercenaries should be tried: adviser to Afghan ex-king
Thursday November 22, 8:24 AM  AFP
Thousands of foreign mercenaries fighting for the Afghan Taliban should be tried by national or international courts, a senior aide to the Afghan former king Mohammed Zahir Shah said.

Security tight as Berlin prepares for Afghan talks
By Philip Blenkinsop
Thursday November 22, 1:14 AM
BERLIN (Reuters) - Leaders of Afghan ethnic and political groups will converge amid tight security in Berlin on Monday for talks to forge an interim government in the war-ravaged country.

Rabbani sees little progress likely at Bonn conference
Thursday November 22, 2:55 AM   AFP
Anti-Taliban Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani said that he though only limited progress could be achieved at multi-party Afghan talks scheduled to be held in Germany next week.

Tough talking in Afghan conflict
Wednesday, 21 November, 2001, 22:28 GMT BBC News
Bush shared Thanksgiving dinner before his speech
Both the United States and the Taleban have pledged to stand firm in the war in Afghanistan.
In a speech to thousands of soldiers on Thanksgiving Day, US President George Bush vowed that all members of the al-Qaeda network would be brought to justice and promised

Blair denies rift with U.S. over war strategy
By Mike Peacock
Thursday November 22, 4:45 AM
LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Tony Blair denied on Wednesday that Britain and the United States were at odds over operations on the ground in support of humanitarian relief in Afghanistan.

Taliban aid hostage reported to suffer mock execution
Thursday November 22, 2:00 AM
BERLIN (Reuters) - One of the German aid workers who escaped from the Taliban in Afghanistan last week suffered the ordeal of a mock execution during her imprisonment, according to a German

Swiss Campaign to Rebuild Afghan Buddha
By Karen Iley
Wednesday November 21 2:13 PM ET
GENEVA (Reuters) - Swiss campaigners hoping to reconstruct one of two ancient Buddha statues destroyed by the Taliban said on Wednesday the plan could offer a much-needed symbol of hope to Afghanistan.

Unexploded cluster bombs still claim Afghan victims
By Jon Hemming
Thursday November 22, 7:36 AM
HERAT, Afghanistan (Reuters) - With the Taliban gone, U.S. bombs no longer fall on the northwestern Afghan city of Herat, but they are still claiming victims.

Afghan aid agencies looted
Wednesday, 21 November, 2001, 18:04 GMT BBC News
185 tonnes of food was stolen
United Nations officials say that many of their offices in Afghanistan have been looted.
We have learned that all UN and NGO (non-governmental organisation) offices have been fully or partially looted in Jalalabad

Rabies fears in Kabul
Wednesday, 21 November, 2001, 15:49 GMT
Kabul's hospitals are said to be in a 'dire state'
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says the increased number of stray dogs in the city is leading to fears of an outbreak of rabies, although there have been no cases as yet.

Pakistan jails Islamic leader
Wednesday, 21 November, 2001, 19:14 GMT BBC News
The tribesmen had machine guns and swords
An Islamic leader who led thousands of Pakistanis across the border to support the Taleban in Afghanistan has been jailed in Pakistan for three years.

Massoud's men move into key Kabul jobs
Problems loom as dead commander's loyalists fill vacuum
James Meek in Kabul
Wednesday November 21, 2001
The Guardian
What is it about Enayatollah Baligh, the new chancellor of Kabul University, that makes him so eminently qualified for the post? Fourteen deans of faculty were passed over last week to give the post

Britain may be forced to withdraw troops
Richard Norton-Taylor, Patrick Wintour, and Julian Borger in Washington
Wednesday November 21, 2001
The Guardian
Britain's main and only overt military force in Afghanistan may be pulled out, defence sources in London said yesterday amid continuing uncertainty about what role, if any, UK troops could play there.

Despair as lights go out in Kabul
By Marcus Warren in Kabul
Daily Telegraph (UK) (Nov 21, 2001)
GLOOM engulfed the Afghan capital yesterday after 24 hours without electricity and amid new concern at the anarchy outside the city.

Afghan city opens its schools to girls
By Michael A. Lev
Tribune foreign correspondent
From the Chicago Tribune
November 21, 2001
JALALABAD, Afghanistan -- The governor and the men in charge of education since last week in this region of Afghanistan have a radical, back-to-basics philosophy about schools.

Short criticises US military for aid failures
Fewer deaths than feared, claims minister
Patrick Wintour, chief political correspondent
Wednesday November 21, 2001
The Guardian
The international development secretary, Clare Short, yesterday criticised the United States for failing to realise its wider international responsibilities, and for not taking the humanitarian aid

Powell wants role for women
Duncan Campbell in Los Angeles
Wednesday November 21, 2001
The Guardian
The US secretary of state called for the greater involvement of women in a new Afghanistan yesterday during a conference on the reconstruction of the country.
Colin Powell issued his call

Afghan general: country stable for establishment of government
Kabul, Nov 22, IRNA -- Deputy head of the Akbari Branch of Afghanistan's Islamic Unity Front General Mostafa Kazemi told IRNA Wednesday night that the country is stable enough

Pakistan: Journalist replies to comments on his interview with Bin-Ladin
BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Nov 21, 2001
Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir has defended his recent interview with Usamah Bin-Ladin against comments that the interview was fake and that it inflicted harm both on Pakistan and the Taleban.

Pakistani tribal areas suitable place for Bin-Ladin to hide
BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Nov 20, 2001
Text of report by Iranian radio from Mashhad on 20 November
Some reliable sources say that Bin-Ladin has left Afghanistan for the tribal areas in (?Tera), situated in Pakistan's Frontier Province. However this report has not been confirmed by other sources.

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Defiant Taleban to fight on
Wednesday, 21 November, 2001, 17:59 GMT BBC News
Agha: Time to forget about 11 September attacks
The Taleban say they will fight to the death to hold on to areas still under their control in Afghanistan.
Syed Tayyab Agha, a spokesman for Taleban leader Mullah Omar, said the movement was still in control of three Afghan provinces, and part of another.

Taliban to defend Kandahar 'to the death': spokesman
SPIN BULDAK, Afghanistan, Nov. 21 (Kyodo) - The Taliban will not retreat from their southern Afghan stronghold of Kandahar but instead defend it ''to the death,'' the spokesman for the movement's

Afghan Pashtuns say ethnic splits exaggerated
By Michael Christie
QUETTA, Pakistan, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Pashtuns, Uzbeks, Tajiks, Hazaras -- it's time Afghanistan's divisive ethnic kaleidoscope was laid to rest, say leaders from the southern Pashtun tribes.

Alliance interior minister to head team to Berlin
KABUL, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Interior Minister Yunus Qanuni said on Wednesday he would lead the delegation from the opposition Northern Alliance that seized Kabul last week to talks on Afghanistan's

Afghan ex-king hopes Berlin talks will heal splits
ROME, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Former king Zahir Shah will send a strong delegation to U.N.-sponsored talks on Afghanistan's future next week and might include a woman in its ranks

Taliban tell world: We don't have bin Laden
By Sayed Salahuddin and Saeed Ali Achakzai
Thursday November 22, 12:18 AM
KABUL/SPIN BOLDAK, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The Taliban said on Wednesday they no longer had any contact with fugitive militant Osama bin Laden, vowed to defend their southern stronghold

U.N. hands out aid to Afghan bombing victims
By Michael Steen
Wednesday November 21, 8:58 PM
KABUL (Reuters) - The United Nations handed out blankets, tents and food on Wednesday to Kabul residents made homeless by the U.S. bombing campaign in Afghanistan.

Northern Alliance must accept Taliban surrender offer: NGO
ISLAMABAD, Nov. 21 (Kyodo) - International nongovernmental organization (NGO) Human Rights Watch has called on Afghanistan's anti-Taliban Northern Alliance to accept any offer of surrender

U.S.-led coalition says Taliban still dangerous
By Zeeshan Haider
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The Taliban, under fierce air attacks for harboring Osama bin Laden, were near collapse but still capable of striking back, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition said Wednesday.

Quiet day on Kunduz front lines, refugees flee
By Olga Petrova
ON THE FRONT LINE NEAR KUNDUZ, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The besieged Taliban-held enclave of Kunduz escaped heavy U.S. bombing Wednesday for the second day in a row as surrender negotiations

U.S. and 21 Other Nations Pledge Billions to Rebuild Afghanistan
By JOSEPH KAHN with STEPHANIE FLANDERS
The New York Times
WASHINGTON, Nov. 20 ó The United States and 21 other nations agreed today to spend billions of dollars to reconstruct Afghanistan after the war, as officials said they were prepared

As the Taliban Fades, Fear and Uncertainty Remain
Afghanistan: Fighters still defiantly patrol a town, whose residents sense lawlessness creeping into the void.
By TYLER MARSHALL and ALISSA J. RUBIN
Los Angels Times Staff Writers
November 21 2001
SPIN BULDAK, Afghanistan -- In this old smuggling center at the outer edge of the Taliban's shrinking empire, the signs are there: Authority is gradually slipping away.

Recovery of Slain Comrades a Grisly Task for Opposition
Conflict: In western Afghanistan, anti- Taliban forces secure an air base while searching for remains of fighters executed by the regime.
By SORAYA SARHADDI NELSON,
LOS ANGELES TIMES STAFF WRITER
SHINDAND, Afghanistan -- On this wind-swept air base that stretches as far as the eye can see, Mohammad Sayeedi and his fellow anti-Taliban fighters searched for their brethren

U.S. Ready to Send Additional Troops to Hunt bin Laden
By THOM SHANKER and JAMES DAO
The New York Tiimes
WASHINGTON, Nov. 20 ó The United States is prepared to send additional ground forces to capture or kill Osama bin Laden if intelligence pinpoints his location, now believed to be somewhere

First, Order Comes to Herat, Then Maybe an Election
By AMY WALDMAN
The New York Times
HERAT, Afghanistan, Nov. 20 ó If all goes according to plan, by this weekend Herat will begin to look more like a normal city and less like the setting for a Mad Max movie.

Cost of rebuilding country is £18bn, says World Bank
War on Terrorism: International aid
By Rupert Cornwell in Washington
The Independent (UK)  21 November 2001
Representatives of Western countries, the Islamic world and international development agencies met in Washington on Tuesday for the first discussion of the long-term rebuilding

With the Taliban gone, TV business is booming
Merchants overjoyed as a banned industry comes out of the dark
By Dan Fesperman
The Baltimor Sun Foreign Staff
Originally published November 21, 2001
KABUL, Afghanistan - For five years, Mohammad Yaseem worked like a spy, traveling by night on secret missions, the tools of his trade buried deep in his pockets. Once

Security Tight but Pakistan's Afghan Border Porous
Wednesday November 21 11:14 AM ET
By Andy Soloman
QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Machinegun nests and troops watch over Pakistan's Chaman border crossing with Afghanistan, but no matter how tight the security, a stream of Afghans

Hunted Taliban pray God will "break America"
By Rosalind Russell
Thursday November 22, 12:59 AM
KABUL (Reuters) - The embattled Taliban remained defiant on Wednesday, saying they hoped "mighty Allah will break America" as their rule over Afghanistan crumbles under nearly

India dispatches diplomatic mission to Kabul
NEW DELHI, Nov 21 (Reuters) - India sent a mission to Kabul on Wednesday to look at the possibility of reopening its embassy in Afghanistan, an official said.

US offers bombing pause
BBC News
The United States has offered to halt its bombardment of the northern Afghan city of Kunduz, if it would help negotiations for the surrender of Taleban troops holed up in the city.Talks between the Northern Alliance

Northern Alliance may consider multilateral force in Kabul
KABUL, Nov. 21 (Kyodo) - A key official of Afghanistan's Northern Alliance said Tuesday the deployment of a U.N.-backed international force in Kabul can be considered, indicating the alliance may

Pro-Zahir Shah Demonstration
HERAT, Afghanistan, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Some 200 people demonstrated in the western Afghanistan city of Herat in support of exiled King Zahir Shah on Wednesday, only to be moved on by

Afghan hospital heals wounds of men divided by war
By Nikolai Pavlov
PUL-I-KHUMRI, Afghanistan, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Divided in war, united in pain, Northern Alliance and Taliban fighters in northern Afghanistan are being patched up and nursed back to a semblance

Japan to host ministerial Afghan aid talks in Jan.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 20 (Kyodo) - By: Yoichi Kosukegawa Senior officials from 21 countries and some international organizations agreed Tuesday to hold a ministerial meeting in Tokyo in late January

U.N. says needs billions for Afghan reconstruction
WASHINGTON, Nov 20 (Reuters) - The head of U.N. reconstruction efforts for Afghanistan said on Tuesday billions of dollars would be needed to put the country together after decades of war

U.N. women to wear headscarves in Afghanistan
KABUL, Nov 21 (Reuters) - The United Nations has reached an agreement with Northern Alliance authorities in Afghanistan to allow its female staff to wear headscarves, not the head-to-toe burqa veils

Quitting the Taliban And Blending Back In
Gun May Be Gone, but Beliefs Remain
By Keith B. Richburg
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, November 20, 2001; Page A10
JALALABAD, Afghanistan, Nov. 19 -- Abdul Hai is a religious man, an Islamic scholar, or maulana, who teaches the Koran to his eight children. For the last five years, he has also been a foot soldier

Exiled Afghan King Contests Other Factions For Power In U.N. Talks
From InsideDefense.com, 11/20/01:
Nov. 20, 2001 -- A United Nations-led process under way to hammer out a new governing framework for Afghanistan is taking pains to include the disparate voices of all major political

New Leader Gives Afghan Women Hope
Wednesday, November 21, 2001 5:46 AM EST
HERAT, Afghanistan (AP) -- Mahmoneer threw back her burqa and settled down to listen as Herat's new leader promised to reopen schools for older girls and put her and other female teachers back

U.S. Aid Crate Damages Afghan Shrine
Wednesday, November 21, 2001 6:14 AM EST
AGH NAZANGAH, Afghanistan (AP) -- A crate of U.S. food aid damaged the roof of an intricately carved wooden shrine honoring a Persian poet, villagers in western Afghanistan said Wednesday.

U.S. Gen. Visits Anti-Taliban Heads
Wednesday, November 21, 2001 7:11 AM EST
TASHKENT, Uzbekistan (AP) -- The U.S. commander of the Afghanistan campaign vowed Wednesday that there would be no letup in the fight to destroy the al-Qaida terror network.