November 26, 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

 


Delegates exchange views before Bonn Afghan talks
By Tom Heneghan
Monday November 26, 10:08 PM
BONN (Reuters) - Afghan exiles, U.N. experts and diplomats held informal discussions on Afghanistan's future on Monday as other delegates made their way to Germany for talks

Officials arrive for key Afghan talks
Monday, 26 November, 2001, 12:21 GMT
Concern that delegates may not be high flyers
Delegations have been arriving in Germany for crucial United Nations-sponsored talks on the future of Afghanistan, which begin on Tuesday near Bonn.

U.S. targets Kandahar as Taliban toppled in Kunduz
By Nikolai Pavlov and Saeed Ali Achakzai
Monday November 26, 8:30 PM
MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan/CHAMAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - U.S. troops and local tribesmen seized territory around Kandahar on Monday for a final push on the Taliban's last stronghold

Taliban lose last stronghold in northern Afghanistan
By Duncan Pitcairn
Monday November 26, 5:13 PM
TALOQAN, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The Northern Alliance said on Monday its forces had seized the city of Kunduz, the last bastion of the Taliban and their foreign comrades in northern

Pakistan sees security threat from Taliban collapse
By Andy Soloman
Monday November 26, 8:36 PM
QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Fearing fighters from Afghanistan's embattled hardline Taliban may try to flee into Pakistan, a senior official said on Monday the southwestern border

Bin Laden Loses Afghan Airstrip to U.S. Marines
Monday November 26 9:04 AM ET
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) - Little could have been more humiliating for the world's most wanted man than the loss of his favorite air field Monday.

Report: Belgium, France Arrest 12 in Masood Probe
Monday November 26 8:54 AM ET
PARIS (Reuters) - Belgian and French police on Monday arrested 12 Tunisians and Moroccans suspected of organizing the Sept. 9 bomb attack that killed anti-Taliban Afghan guerrilla leader

Afghan Alliance Says Bin Laden Still with Taliban
Monday November 26 4:40 AM ET
By Michael Steen
KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan's Northern Alliance said Monday it believed Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar and Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden were in or near

300 killed as US helps quell revolt by alliance's prisoners
By Charles M. Sennott, Boston Globe Staff, 11/26/2001
MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Afghanistan - Hundreds were killed yesterday when Taliban and Al Qaeda prisoners staged a bloody revolt, taking control of one end of a sprawling 19th century

Eyewitness: The fall of Kunduz
Monday, 26 November, 2001, 12:16 GMT
Kunduz was the last Taleban stronghold in the north
By the BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Kunduz
The BBC team rolled into the centre of Kunduz early on Monday afternoon and we are now in the bazaar in the centre of the city.

Pakistan concern over Mazar 'massacre'
Monday, 26 November, 2001, 12:58 GMT BBC News
Taleban fighters from Kunduz gave themselves up
Muslim clerics in Pakistan have announced a day of mourning following reports that hundreds of Taleban prisoners have been killed near Mazar-e-Sharif.

Five U.S. Troops Injured by U.S. Bomb in Afghanistan
Monday, November 26, 2001 9:55 AM EST
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Five U.S. troops were injured by an errant American bomb that landed near a prison compound outside the northern Afghanistan city of Mazar-i-Sharif, t

Rabbani Plays Down Hopes for Afghan Talks- UAE TV
Monday November 26 7:33 AM ET
ABU DHABI (Reuters) - The Northern Alliance's nominal head Burhanuddin Rabbani played down hopes Monday that a meeting of Afghan factions in Germany would yield an agreement

Women shedding cloak of Taliban oppression
By Ilana Ozernoy, Globe Correspondent, 11/26/2001
Boston Globe
KABUL, Afghanistan - Nurull Haq used to be a busy merchant, selling 10 to 12 burkas a day. The Taliban forced women to wear the floor-length robes, which hide a woman's face from

Afghan women slowly embrace new freedom
Transition: Taliban are gone, but liberation comes step by careful step.
By Dan Fesperman
The Baltimore Sun
Originally published November 26, 2001
KABUL, Afghanistan - Chuncha Ghul went back to nursing school this month after five years of forced vacation. When she stands from her small wooden desk in a narrow classroom

Former Inhabitants Trickle Back to Area Ravaged by Taliban
By BARRY BEARAK
The New York Times
TAMIR, Afghanistan, Nov. 26 ó Of all the Taliban's misdeeds, few were worse than what the overzealous militia did on the Shamali Plain in the summer of 1999.

With Taliban Gone, Opium Farmers Return to Their Only Cash Crop
By TIM WEINER
The New York Times
KHERABAD, Afghanistan, Nov. 25 ó Come spring, the poppies will be blooming in Afghanistan again.
"This is the time for planting," said Abdul Wakil, a 54-year-old farmer. "This year, 400 families here in the village will cultivate it. We take the opium and put it in a bag.

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U.S. troops reported landing near Kandahar
By Alan Elsner and Olga Petrova
Monday November 26, 7:28 AM
WASHINGTON/TALOQAN, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The United States and its Afghan allies prepared on Sunday to attack the final Taliban stronghold of Kandahar, with witnesses reporting

'Hundreds dead' in Taleban prison revolt
Monday, 26 November, 2001, 01:55 GMT BBC News
Tanks were used to quell the revolt
A revolt by foreign pro-Taleban fighters who were being held prisoner in a fort near the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif appears to have been brought under control.

CIA agent possibly dead in Mazar-i-Sharif revolt
By Jim Wolf
Monday November 26, 9:04 AM
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States used heavily armed AC-130 gunships and MH-60 Black Hawk helicopters on Sunday to help Northern Alliance commanders crush a revolt

Delegates arrive for talks seen as crucial to Afghan future
Monday November 26, 4:56 AM AFP
As the first delegates arrived in Bonn for talks to shape a post-Taliban government for Afghanistan, the Northern Alliance said negotiations would be crucial for lasting peace.

Japan sends defense ships to back US-led campaign in Afghanistan
Monday November 26, 10:53 AM
Three Japanese military ships left for the Indian Ocean to provide non-combat support for the US-led campaign against terrorism in Afghanistan.

United Front takes control of Kunduz
Mashhad, Nov 26, IRNA -- The Islamic United Front forces took control of the Afghan city of Kunduz at 5 p.m. (local time) on Sunday, announced the head of Mashhad-based Afghanistan Mujahideen Office.

United Front completes seizure of Meidan Shahr
Kabul, Nov 25, IRNA -- Anti-Taliban United Front forces have completed their seizure of Meidan Shahr, east of capital Kabul, in the Vardak province, informed military sources said here Sunday.

Kabul's 'room of pain' unlocks torture secrets
by Philip Sherwell and Julian West in Kabul
Daily Telegraph 11/25/2001
THE evidence lies scattered on the filthy concrete floor. Lipstick, bracelets, compact cases, perfume, nail polish, hair-clips, even shiny black handbags: each one enough to condemn a woman

Musharraf orders Afghan refugee camps deweaponization
Islamabad, Nov 25, IRNA -- President General Pervez Musharraf has directed the civil armed forces and law enforcement agencies to cordon off all Afghan refugee camps if presence

Key groups to attend Afghan talks
Exiled king Zahir Shah is seen as a rallying point
By the BBC's regional analyst Pam O'Toole
Last minute efforts are under way to finalise the guest list for a crucial conference on Afghanistan to be held in Bonn on Tuesday.

Iranian analyst, MP comment on Bonn conference on Afghanistan
BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Nov 25, 2001
Tehran: With the upcoming Bonn conference, in which various Afghan groups will be represented in determining their country's future, the Tehran Times has conducted interviews

Beyond the Bin Laden Hunt: The Real Story in the War Against Terrorism
Anthony H. Cordesman
Center for Strategic and International Studies
November 20, 2001
It is tempting to assume that most of the story is over in Afghanistan, that Konduz and Kandahar will fall, and that the Bin Laden hunt is the proper focus of events. The real situation seems considerably

Pashtuns key to Afghan future
Quarreling tribes home to Taliban
By Anne Barnard and Yvonne Abraham, Globe Staff
Boston Globe; 11/25/2001
MIANKALI, Pakistan - In this village surrounded by sugar cane and turnip fields, the eight women of the Malik family spend their days together inside their compound, four well-appointed