November 29, 2001

Progress in Afghan Talks, Fighting Continues
Thursday November 29 3:56 PM ET
By Tom Heneghan and Sayed Salahuddin
BONN, Germany/KABUL, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Talks to move Afghanistan ``away from the abyss'' made promising progress on Thursday as U.S. troops and tribal armies focused

Europeans Press Afghan Talks on Women's Rights
Thursday November 29 3:13 PM ET
BONN, Germany (Reuters) - European feminists lectured the mostly male delegates at Afghan peace talks in Bonn on women's rights on Thursday and said women must play

U.N. Mounts $10 Million Appeal for Afghan Farmers
Thursday November 29 1:41 PM ET
ROME (Reuters) - The United Nations on Thursday launched a $10 million appeal for seeds, feed and vaccines to stave off possible agricultural disaster in Afghanistan.

Pentagon Denies Reports of Afghan Prison Massacre
Thursday November 29 12:22 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon denied reports on Thursday that 160 prisoners were massacred by opposition forces in Afghanistan during a prison revolt outside the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.

US investigates 'execution' of 160 Taliban near Kandahar
By Andrew Buncombe in Washington
The Independent (UK) (Nov 29, 2001)
The Pentagon is investigating reports of the massacre of about 160 unarmed Taliban prisoners by American and Pakistani-backed opposition forces who ignored US pleas not to kill them.

Fresh bloodshed at Mazar fort
Thursday, 29 November, 2001, 18:41 GMT BBC News
Red Cross workers are clearing away the bodies
Survivors have been discovered among the hundreds of Taleban prisoners slaughtered during an uprising at a fort near Mazar-e-Sharif.

Taliban Holdouts Shoot Aid Workers
Thursday, November 29, 2001 1:30 PM EST
MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Afghanistan (AP) -- Holdouts from a bloody rebellion by imprisoned Taliban fighters shot two workers collecting bodies at the site Thursday, two days

Alliance to let Amnesty probe Mazar killings
Thursday November 29, 9:17 PM
KABUL (Reuters) - The Northern Alliance said on Thursday it would let human rights group Amnesty International investigate the deaths of several hundred captured pro-Taliban foreign fighters

Alliance enters Kandahar: report
Last Updated: Thu Nov 29 14:49:37 2001
KABUL - A senior Northern Alliance official says anti-Taliban forces are entering the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar.

Anti-Taliban Warlord Aides Deny Troops in Kandahar
Thursday November 29 12:47 PM ET
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Senior aides of anti-Taliban Afghan warlord Ismail Khan denied Thursday media reports that their troops had entered Kandahar, the embattled Taliban's last stronghold.

Over 6,000 killed, Taliban still prepared to fight
Fakhar-ur-Rehman
Frontier Post  11/28/2001
ISLAMABAD: As the United States marines arrive to tighten the noose around Taliban’s last stronghold of Kandahar, the extremist militia was “waiting anxiously to confront the US troops and to embrace

U.S. says CIA officer killed in Afghanistan shot, not beaten
By Tabassum Zakaria
Friday November 30, 5:47 AM
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A CIA officer killed during a violent prison uprising in northern Afghanistan was shot to death, not beaten, U.S. officials said on Thursday.

Pentagon says Taliban military fractured by losses
By Charles Aldinger
Friday November 30, 4:57 AM
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Control by Taliban leaders over their reeling troops in Afghanistan has been broken, but there is no evidence that opposition forces have moved against

France and Britain pledge not to abandon Afghanistan
By Kate Kelland
Friday November 30, 4:42 AM
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain and France pledged on Thursday to support the U.S. war on terror and not to walk away from Afghanistan once military action in the war-torn country is over.

'Miss Afghanistan' 1972 kicks off conference on Afghan women
Friday November 30, 5:43 AM
The reigning Miss Afghanistan -- the first and last woman to hold that title, won in 1972 -- kicked off a conference in New York on the role of Afghan women in their country's future.

Two Afghan children killed as food aid lands in minefield: UN
ISLAMABAD, Nov 29 (AFP) - Two Afghan children are believed to have been killed as they ran across a minefield to find food dropped from a US aircraft in western Afghanistan

UN says its food convoys travelling safely from Pakistan to Kabul
by Henry Meyer
KABUL, Nov 29 (AFP) - The United Nations said Thursday that its food convoys from Pakistan to Kabul, which cross a lawless stretch of road, were travelling safely as 69 trucks with 2,000

More Russian humanitarian aid arrives in Afghanistan
MOSCOW, Nov 29 (AFP) - A Russian plane carrying equipment to build two field hospitals landed Thursday at Bagram airport north of the Afghan capital Kabul, the Russian emergencies ministry said.

Afghan tuberculosis fears grow
Thursday, 29 November, 2001, 14:47 GMT
Aid in Kabul - but getting it to remote areas is hard
By the BBC's Jill McGivering
Officials from the World Health Organization say they are concerned about a possible rise in tuberculosis cases in Afghanistan.

Chinese building firms keen eye Afghan reconstruction jobs
Friday November 30, 11:51 AM AFP
Chinese construction companies are keen to make money on rebuilding Afghanistan once peace settles over the war-ravaged country, state media said.

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Bonn Afghan talks move closer to consensus
By Tom Heneghan
Thursday November 29, 9:02 PM
BONN, Germany (Reuters) - Negotiations on a future Afghan government edged towards a general consensus as rival factions debated how to share power and assure security in a post-Taliban

Northern Alliance, ex-King agree on power-sharing deal
Thursday November 29, 9:30 PM AFP
The powerful Northern Alliance and supporters of exiled former king Mohammed Zahir Shah have agreed on the broad outlines of a power-sharing deal for post-Taliban Afghanistan, an Alliance source said.

Afghan Talks Gather Pace, Forces Close In
By Tom Heneghan and Claudia Parsons
Thursday November 29 9:00 AM ET
BONN, Germany/DESERT STRIP, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Talks on a future Afghan government edged forward Thursday and U.S. troops and tribal armies began to close in on suspected hideouts

Blind Sheik's Son Caught in Afghanistan, Paper Says
Thursday, November 29, 2001 3:28 AM EST
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Anti-Taliban forces in Afghanistan have captured a son of Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, the blind cleric jailed for the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center

Women at Afghan Talks Say Presence Small but Vital
Thursday November 29 7:17 AM ET
By Emma Thomasson
BONN, Germany (Reuters) - With her red lipstick and silky head scarf standing out at Afghan peace talks in Germany, Sima Wali seems worlds away from her shrouded sisters in Kabul.

King Group Sees Accord Soon at Bonn Afghan Talks
Thursday November 29 6:23 AM ET
BONN, Germany (Reuters) - Talks on a future Afghan government are going well and could reach an agreement soon, a spokesman for former king Zahir Shah said Thursday

Afghan factions edge closer to deal
Thursday, 29 November, 2001, 15:30 GMT BBC News
All parties want their voices heard at the conference
The two main factions at talks in Bonn on the future of Afghanistan have agreed on the basic shape of an interim council to run the country.

Afghan Northern Alliance Flexible on Peacekeepers
Wednesday November 28 10:12 PM ET
LONDON (Reuters) - The foreign minister of Afghanistan's militarily dominant Northern Alliance said on Thursday it would be flexible about allowing foreign peacekeepers

Taliban reported to hang spy as foes close in
By Sayed Salahuddin and Claudia Parsons
Thursday November 29, 10:58 PM
KABUL/DESERT STRIP, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The body of a suspected spy hanged by the Taliban dangled in a square in Kandahar on Thursday, AIP news agency reported, as U.S. forces

Son of former Afghan king warns of civil war if Bonn talks fail

Thursday November 29, 9:32 PM AFP
The son of Afghanistan's former king Mohammed Zahir Shah warned of a fresh civil war if landmark talks on the political future of the country ended in failure.

U.S. says Taliban leaders isolated from troops
By Deborah Zabarenko
Thursday November 29, 12:33 PM
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top Taliban and al Qaeda leaders are increasingly cut off from their troops, the Pentagon said on Wednesday, a day after U.S. precision-guided bombs

Herat holds historic election
Wednesday, 28 November, 2001, 17:42 GMT BBC News
Local elders voted in Herat's first election for decades
The western Afghan city of Herat has held what is believed to be its first election for nearly 30 years.

Bin Laden Hunted in Shrinking Pockets of Afghanistan
Thursday November 29 5:12 AM ET
By Sayed Salahuddin and Claudia Parsons
KABUL/DESERT STRIP, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The forces hunting Osama bin Laden and Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar said Thursday the two were alive in Afghanistan

U.S. Might Establish More Afghan Bases to Intensify Pressure on the Taliban
The New York TImes
By ERIC SCHMITT with THOM SHANKER
acDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla., Nov. 28 ó The commander of American forces fighting in Afghanistan said today that the United States might establish more makeshift bases inside

At Site of Quelled Prisoner Revolt, Afghan Fort's Walls Tell a Tale of Death
By CARLOTTA GALL The New York Times
Northern Alliance soldiers on Wednesday picked over the bodies of more than 150 Taliban prisoners who were killed in an uprising against their captors.

Fort revolt: What really happened?
Thursday, 29 November, 2001, 15:22 GMT BBC News
Hundreds are thought to have died
On Sunday 25 November several hundred Taleban prisoners held by the Northern Alliance in Qala-e-Jhangi fort near Mazar-e-Sharif launched a revolt.

CIA identifies war casualty in prison riot
By Larry Copeland
USA TODAY
The first American casualty in Afghanistan since U.S. bombing began nearly 8 weeks ago is a CIA officer, the agency confirmed Wednesday.

Rabbani may visit Pakistan today: local daily
Islamabad, Nov 29, IRNA -- "Former president of Afghanistan Prof.  Burhanuddin Rabbani is expected to visit Pakistan on Thursday (today) for opening a new chapter of bilateral rleations

US and Pak: Sleeping with the enemy

NEWS ANALYSIS/CHIDANAND RAJGHATTA
THE TIMES OF INDIA
NOVEMBER 29. 2001
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
WASHINGTON: In all but name, the United States is at war with Pakistan.
Despite all the protestations about military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharrafís "bold and courageous stand" and Islamabadís status as a frontline ally, there is a growing sense in Washington

49 Pakistani fighters freed in Jalalabad
Dawn (Pakistan)
November 29, 2001
ISLAMABAD, Nov 28: The post-Taliban administration in Jalalabad on Wednesday released 49 Pakistanis who had gone to Afghanistan to fight alongside the Taliban, the Afghan Islamic Press

Taliban claim recapturing Takhta Pul
By Salim Shahid
DAWN (PAKISTAN)
NOVEMBER 29, 2001
QUETTA, Nov 28: The Taliban have recaptured the Takhta Pul area on the main highway between Kandahar and Spin Boldak on Wednesday afternoon, sources in the militia claimed.

Bin Laden 'is in White Mountains cave stronghold'
By Richard Lloyd Parry in Jalalabad
The Independent (UK)
29 November 2001
American officials have secretly met mujahedin leaders in Jalalabad to co-ordinate an attack against Osama bin Laden's suspected hideout in the White Mountains of eastern Afghanistan

U.S. Talks To Moscow About Force In Kabul
Russia Is Urged Not to Undertake Any Abrupt Moves
By Steven Mufson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 29, 2001; Page A25
Taken off guard by the arrival of scores of Russian troops in Kabul, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell spoke to Russia's foreign minister by phone this week and urged Moscow

UN technicians attempt to reopen key routes
By Patrick Healy, The Boston Globe Staff, 11/29/2001
ABUL, Afghanistan - A city block of glass windows shattered Tuesday amid a plume of gray smoke as United Nations officials detonated one of at least six 500-pound stray