November 23, 2001

Taliban's retreat undercuts hardliners By Muddassir Rizvi

House of Saud looks close to collapse: The Guardian (UK)

Quitting the Taliban And Blending Back In By Keith B. Richburg

Kabul Dispatch By Elizabeth Rubin

No TV, No Chess, No Kites: Taliban Penal Code, From A to Z By Amy Waldman

 


Rabbani to step aside for new Afghan leader
Saturday November 24, 9:28 AM
LONDON (Reuters) - Burhanuddin Rabbani, still officially the president of Afghanistan, says he would relinquish any claims to power if next week's talks in Germany succeed in naming a transitional leader.

Afghan opposition 'advance on Kunduz'
Saturday, 24 November, 2001, 02:33 GMT BBC News
There are fears of atrocities by Northern Alliance troops
Forces of the opposition Northern Alliance besieging Kunduz, the last Taleban stronghold in northern Afghanistan, say they have made further gains around the city.

U.S. warplanes target Afghan caves and drop huge bomb
By Christopher Wilson and Olga Petrova
Saturday November 24, 8:22 AM
WASHINGTON/BANGI, Afghanistan (Reuters) - U.S. warplanes pounded tunnels and caves in Afghanistan's mountains on Friday and the Pentagon said it had dropped a devastating

Taliban cling to Kunduz as Alliance rifts appear
By Olga Petrova and Christopher Wilson
Saturday November 24, 6:11 AM
BANGI, Afghanistan/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Afghanistan's embattled Taliban on Friday weathered fierce U.S. bombing raids on their besieged northern city of Kunduz, and the Northern Alliance

Britain Scales Down Afghan Troop Expectations
By Paul Majendie
Friday November 23, 2001 - 9:40 AM ET
LONDON (Reuters) - With the situation now stabilizing in Kabul, Britain is unlikely to send thousands of troops into Afghanistan, defense officials said on Friday.

London Rep: Rabbani Can't Resume Post
LONDON (AP) - Afghanistan's former president Burhanuddin Rabbani cannot simply reoccupy his old position as the country's ruler

Gun Control Policy, Jalalabad Style:
He Who Grabs All the Rifles Writes the Rules
By TIM WEINER
The New York Times
JALALABAD, Afghanistan, Nov. 22 — A sound truck rumbles down the street, blaring a message from Hazarat Ali, the new sheriff: "Don't carry weapons, night or day. If you are found with a weapon

Where is mujahideen leader Rasul Sayyaf?
Peshawar | By A Correspondent | 23/11/2001
Gulf News Online
A former Afghan mujahideen leader whose absence has been acutely felt at a time when his Northern Alliance allies are savouring their U.S.-aided triumph in Kabul is Professor Abdur Rab Rasul Sayyaf.

Refugees allowed to flee embattled Kunduz People say soldiers just watched them as they left city
By Kirk Spitzer
USA TODAY
TALOQAN, Afghanistan -- In an indication of the Taliban's declining morale and weakening military strength, refugees streaming out of the surrounded city of Kunduz on Thursday said

Anti-Taleban fighters executed
Friday, 23 November, 2001, 16:45 GMT 
Forces at the airbase fear more gruesome discoveries
By the BBC's Jim Muir
A mass grave containing the bodies of 12 mujahideen guerrillas has been discovered at an air-base south of Herat in western Afghanistan, which was evacuated by the Taleban just over a week ago.

Afghan women enjoy their freedom
Friday, 23 November, 2001, 13:48 GMT BBC News
Women have been wearing the burqa for centuries
By BBC News Online's Marcus George in Afghanistan
Women are enjoying a new lease of life following the withdrawal of the Taleban forces in northern Afghanistan.

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Kunduz under fire as surrender, Omar doubts grow
By Sayed Salahuddin and Rosalind Russell
KABUL, Nov 23 (Reuters) - The Northern Alliance launched a three-pronged offensive on Friday on Taliban fighters trapped in the northern enclave of Kunduz, the hardline militia's last redoubt outside

UN-Backed Talks on Afghan Future Delayed a Day
Friday November 23 12:56 PM ET
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N.-sponsored talks on the future of Afghanistan, due to begin on Monday in Bonn, will now open on Tuesday, after a day of closed meetings among the various

U.N., U.S. eye new Afghan gov't 2-3 months after council
WASHINGTON, Nov. 23 (Kyodo) - The United Nations and the United States will seek an accord on a process under which a post-Taliban government will be formed in Afghanistan two or three

Afghans enter political minefield at Bonn UN talks
By Tom Heneghan
PARIS, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Rival Afghan leaders meet far from the battlefields of their homeland on Monday to seek a formula for national unity, but even the talks' U.N. sponsors have little

Eyewitness: Taleban repulse attack
BBC News
Taleban fighters dug into hills south of the Afghan capital Kabul on Thursday resisted the Northern Alliance's first attempt to flush them out. Northern Alliance fighters launched their offensive

Taliban may have 500 tanks in Kandahar - ex-commander
By Michael Christie
QUETTA, Pakistan, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Taliban troops defending their embattled stronghold of Kandahar may have 500 tanks and would defend the ancient southern Afghan city to their last breath

Taliban Send Conflicting Signals on Omar’s Location
By Saeed Ali Achakzai
Friday November 23, 2001 - 4:57 AM ET
CHAMAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - The embattled Taliban sent out conflicting signals on Friday on the whereabouts of their supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, with one official saying he was

Anti-Taliban forces split over Kunduz -- AIP
By Nikolai Pavlov
MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan (Reuters) - U.S. planes bombed Taliban fighters holed up in Kunduz Friday as splits emerged among Northern Alliance forces besieging the militia's last northern bastion

Taliban beaten by Afghans, not U.S. - Iran cleric
TEHRAN, Nov 23 (Reuters) - A senior adviser to Iran's supreme leader said on Friday credit for toppling the Afghan Taliban should be given to the Afghan opposition and not the U.S.-led air strikes

Pak choppers land in Kunduz
Rescue two Brigadiers; Alliance tightens noose
The Tribune India
New Delhi, November 22
Two Pakistan Air Force helicopters pulled out two of their top military commanders trapped in the besieged Kunduz town, the last Taliban stronghold in northern Afghanistan, according to highly

Afghan Sikhs and Hindus hope for tolerance
By Michael Steen
KABUL, Nov 23 (Reuters)- Chanting "Waheguru," or God, 60 Afghan Sikh and Hindu men, women and children worship in their bright tinsel-clad temple in the capital Kabul, hoping Afghanistan's

Wounded Taliban trickle into Pakistan safe houses
By Andy Soloman
QUETTA, Pakistan, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Wounded Taliban fighters are being smuggled across the border into Pakistan from southern Afghanistan to be treated and protected in safe houses

Taliban chief appoints deputy, goes into hiding
CHAMAN, Pakistan, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Mullah Mohammad Omar, spiritual leader of Afghanistan's hardline Taliban, has moved into hiding, and appointed his deputy to run the affairs of embattled militia

U.N. Afghan envoy plays down hopes for Bonn talks
By Dominic Evans
ISLAMABAD, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Hopes for an immediate breakthrough in talks next week between leaders of rival Afghan ethnic and political factions were played down by the U.N. deputy

Britain sees Afghan role for "non-fanatic" Taliban
By Dominic Evans
ISLAMABAD, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Pakistan won qualified support from Britain on Friday for its call for a louder voice for Afghanistan's ethnic Pashtuns, who form the core of the Taliban movement

Pakistan aims to widen Afghan talks
BBC News
Pakistan has said "new forces" emerging in Afghanistan should be represented at talks in Germany on the country's future. Pakistan's Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar did not rule out the participation

Nth Alliance call for aid convoys for Herat refugees
ABC
In western Afghanistan, Northern Alliance officials say they hope the  airstrip in the town of Herat will be able to receive aid flights within  days.  The air base was bombed by American jets before

Afghans Urged to 'Act Responsibly'
Friday, November 23, 2001 11:32 AM EST
NANTES, France (AP) -- The leaders of France and Germany called on all Afghan factions Friday to ``act responsibly'' to create a transitional administration and set the stage for a post-Taliban

U.N. airlifts food to northern Afghanistan
GENEVA, Nov 23 (Reuters) - The World Food Programme said on Friday it had begun airlifting supplies to the mountainous northeast of Afghanistan to feed some 274,000 people living in isolated villages.

Dervishes whirl to new freedom in Afghanistan
By Rosalind Russell
KABUL, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Swaying gently at first, chanting in monotones, the roomful of dervishes slowly builds up to a frenzy of prayer forbidden to them for the past five years.

Taliban fighter to taxi driver--one Afghan's story
By Michael Christie
QUETTA, Pakistan, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Two weeks ago, Mullah Bismillah was a Taliban war commander. Now he wants to drive a taxi in Pakistan.

Britain sees Bonn talks as Afghan roadmap
By Dominic Evans
ISLAMABAD, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Pakistan won qualified support from Britain on Friday for its call for a louder voice for Afghanistan's ethnic Pashtuns, who form the core of the Taliban movement

Ex-Afghan king sends women to Afghan unity talks
By Eleanor Biles
ROME (Reuters) - The former king of Afghanistan is sending two women to national unity talks in Germany and is confident that the meeting will prove successful, a senior adviser within the royal

Hundreds of bodies found in Mazar
BBC News
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says it has recovered up to 600 bodies in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif. The organisation could not specify whether the victims

UN airlift brings food to Afghanistan
BBC News
The World Food Programme (WFP) says it has carried out its first airlift of food aid to Afghanistan since 11 September. The airlift is the first operation launched from Tajikistan to bring food into Afghanistan.

Taliban Holds Militiamen's Families Hostage
Strategy Designed to Prevent Troops in Kandahar From Surrendering or Defecting
By Kamran Khan - Special to The Washington Post, November 23, 2001
KARACHI, Pakistan, Nov. 22 -- Three Pakistani militants just returned from Afghanistan said today that Taliban zealots and their foreign comrades, determined to fight to the finish, have detained the wives

Uzbek ally of bin Laden reportedly killed
Calum McLeod - THE WASHINGTON TIMES  Published 11/23/01
TASHKENT, Uzbekistan — The hunt continues for Osama bin Laden, America's Public Enemy No. 1, but the scourge of Central Asia is no more.

Afghan Roots Keep Adviser Firmly in the Inner Circle
Consultant's Policy Influence Goes Back to the Reagan Era
By Joe Stephens and David B. Ottaway - Washington Post Staff Writers, November 23, 2001
Four years ago at a luxury Houston hotel, oil company adviser Zalmay Khalilzad was chatting pleasantly over dinner with leaders of Afghanistan's Taliban regime about their shared enthusiasm