November 30, 2001

Who's who of the Afghan power brokers.  Link to BBC News

Kabul's women list kidnap horrors By James Rupert

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

Kabul Dispatch By Elizabeth Rubin

Afghan impasse delays talks
Friday, 30 November, 2001, 23:56 GMT BBC News
The groups have at times appeared close to a deal
Crucial talks in Germany between Afghan factions on the composition of an interim government have run into difficulties, amid apparent divisions within the main group, the Northern Alliance.

Northern Alliance demands more time, but crucial talks continue
Saturday December 1, 4:00 AM AFP
Afghanistan's Northern Alliance has demanded a 10-day adjournment of power-sharing talks, but the UN and rival groups have refused, delegates and diplomats said as intensive talks continued in Germany.

Rift Snags Afghan Talks, Taliban Under Siege
By Sayed Salahuddin and Emma Thomasson
Friday November 30 8:23 PM ET
BONN/KABUL (Reuters) - With the last Taliban stronghold encircled and under fire on Friday, talks among rival factions to form a new Afghanistan government hit a snag amid signs of division within the Northern Alliance.

U.N. Rejects Request to Delay Afghan Peace Talks
Friday November 30 3:00 PM ET
BONN, Germany (Reuters) - The U.N. Friday rejected a request by Afghanistan's Northern Alliance for a 10-day adjournment in talks on forming a new interim government in Afghanistan,

Kandahar under siege
Saturday, 1 December, 2001, 02:10 GMT BBC News
The US is warning that troops may face new risks
US aircraft have continued to pound the Taleban's last stronghold, the southern city of Kandahar, in some of the fiercest bombing of the war so far.

Rumsfeld Rejects Any Amnesty for Taliban's Leader
By Charles Aldinger
Friday November 30 8:55 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Friday rejected any negotiated surrender of the besieged Afghan Taliban stronghold of Kandahar in exchange for amnesty

Marines Wait in Afghan Desert, Ready for a Fight
By Claudia Parsons
Friday November 30 1:45 PM ET
MARINE FORWARD BASE, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Corporal Steve Cardella, a marine who has been sitting in a hole in the southern Afghan desert for the past four days manning a machinegun

U.N. Urges Iran Not to Deport Afghans
By Paul Holmes
Friday November 30 1:08 PM ET
KABUL (Reuters) - Iran has rounded up and forcibly deported thousands of Afghan refugees following the collapse of Taliban rule in western Afghanistan, the United Nations said Friday.

Global aid groups plan rebuilding of Afghanistan
By Laurie Goering
Tribune foreign correspondent
The Chicago Tribune November 30, 2001
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- The war in Afghanistan is not yet over, but hopeful international development officials this week began the thorny process of planning the reconstruction of a nation

Hopes for peace rise with new translator
By Toby Helm in Bonn
Daily Telegraph (UK) (Nov 30, 2001)
THE prospect of a peace deal between rival Afghan factions rose sharply yesterday after the Northern Alliance reversed its position on two key issues, blaming an interpreter for "distorting" its earlier statements.

'We'll fight to the end, martyrdom is our victory'
By Robert Fisk on the Afghanistan- Pakistan border
The Independent (UK) (Nov 30, 2001)
He sat on the floor of a large, cold, wooden-ceilinged room, back against the wall, an embroidered grey shawl wound over his black turban, eyes wearily surveying his visitor.

At US Embassy, Afgan staff endures
By Patrick Healy and Robert Schlesinger, Boston Globe (Nov 30, 2001)
KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan opposition forces, including Northern Alliance troops, closed in yesterday around Kandahar in the south, the last city under Taliban control.

Norway Offers Troops to Afghanistan
Friday, November 30, 2001 9:27 PM EST
STOCKHOLM, Nov 30, 2001 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Norway announced on Friday that, if necessary, it would send troops to join the U.S.-led strikes against Afghanistan, the Norwegian news agency

Ex-President Bush Says Son's War More Difficult
Friday, November 30, 2001 7:02 PM EST
GUANAJUATO, Mexico (Reuters) - Former U.S. President George Bush said on Friday that his son was conducting a far more complex war in Afghanistan than the Gulf War against Iraq in 1991.

U.S. Plans to Reopen Embassy in Kabul
Friday, November 30, 2001 5:32 PM EST
WASHINGTON, Nov 30, 2001 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- The United States is considering reopening its embassy in the Afghan capital of Kabul after an interim government is installed

50 Taliban held in Karachi
Frontier Post
KARACHI (Online): During separate raids at different parts of the provincial metropolis, intelligence agencies apprehended more than 50 activists of Taliban and recovered huge

Afghanistan: Reconstruction conference ends in Islamabad
ISLAMABAD, 30 November (IRIN) - NGOs were cautiously optimistic that a road map for recovery would soon emerge as the international conference on the reconstruction of Afghanistan ended

Rabbani for friendly ties with Islamabad
The Nation (Pakistan)
KABUL (AFP) - A meeting will be held “soon” between President Pervez Musharraf and the President of Afghanistan’s Northern Alliance, Burhanuddin Rabbani, an aide to Rabbani told AFP Friday.

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U.S. hunts bin Laden in east as Kandahar airport bombed
By Sayed Salahuddin
Friday November 30, 4:16 PM
KABUL (Reuters) - The United States focused its hunt for Osama bin Laden on eastern Afghanistan on Friday as tribal warriors closed in on the last redoubt of his Taliban protectors in Kandahar in the south.

Leading Pashtun delegate leaves Afghan talks in Bonn
By Tom Heneghan
Friday November 30, 4:10 PM
BONN, Germany (Reuters) - The most prominent Pashtun at talks on Afghanistan's future has gone home, apparently in protest that his ethnic group is underrepresented, delegates said on Friday.

Afghan factions seek interim deal
Friday, 30 November, 2001, 12:20 GMT BBC News
All parties want their voices heard
Afghan factions are continuing talks near the German city of Bonn aimed at thrashing out accord on the country's political future.

Afghan talks to focus on picking interim government
By Emma Thomasson
Friday November 30, 12:08 PM
BONN, Germany (Reuters) - Talks on Afghanistan's political future turn on Friday to the tricky task of putting names to jobs in an interim government in which the dominant Northern Alliance

Arrest of al-Qaeda member in Afghanistan confirmed
Friday November 30, 9:56 PM AFP
Northern Alliance forces in Afghanistan have arrested alleged al-Qaeda terrorist network member Ahmed Omar Abdel-Rahman, the US-led coalition against terrorism confirmed.

U.S. pounds Kandahar airport in fierce raids
By Saeed Ali Achakzai
Friday November 30, 9:07 PM
CHAMAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - U.S. warplanes pounded Taliban troops dug in at the airport of their last stronghold, Kandahar, on Friday, while ethnic Pashtun tribal leaders told the Northern Alliance

Cheney says bin Laden probably in eastern Afghanistan
Friday November 30, 11:40 AM
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney said on Thursday that he believed fugitive Islamic militant Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in the September 11 attacks on the United States

Fleeing Taliban plunder national bank
By Paul Holmes
Friday November 30, 1:00 PM
KABUL (Reuters) - Fleeing Taliban members plundered Afghanistan's national bank and made off with millions of dollars in cash two weeks ago during their hurried retreat from Kabul.

Pakistan and Iran hail new era
Friday, 30 November, 2001, 14:35 GMT BBC News
Northern Alliance successes have changed the balance
Iran and Pakistan have hailed a new era in ties and pledged to increase co-operation after the collapse of Taleban rule in most of Afghanistan.

Iran and Pakistan say "sun shines" after Taliban fall
By Tahir Ikram
Friday November 30, 9:35 PM
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Iran and Pakistan, saying the downfall of Afghanistan's Taliban rulers had removed "clouds" in their ties, pledged on Friday to work together for a broad-based government

Prison revolt inquiry ruled out by Straw
Friday, 30 November, 2001, 11:10 GMT BBC News
The revolt took three days to suppress
An inquiry into the crushing of a revolt by Taleban prisoners at a fortress in northern Afghanistan, which left no survivors, has been ruled out by British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

Fresh gunfire halts Red Cross work at Afghan fort
By Paul Holmes
Friday November 30, 11:07 PM
KABUL (Reuters) - Fresh gunfire broke out on Thursday inside a fortress in north Afghanistan where hundreds of Taliban and foreign al Qaeda prisoners were killed after staging

Rabbani says up to 200 peacekeepers acceptable
Friday November 30, 7:57 PM
KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan ousted President Burhanuddin Rabbani said on Friday that only around 200 foreign peacekeepers were needed to provide security in Afghanistan

U.S. Says Afghanistan Not Ready for Peacekeepers
Friday, November 30, 2001 10:50 AM EST
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Friday it was premature to send international peacekeepers into Afghanistan, citing instability throughout the country.

80 Taliban Said Held Near Kandahar
Friday, November 30, 2001 10:01 AM EST
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Tribal fighters said they captured 80 Taliban soldiers Friday near the airport at Kandahar as anti-Taliban forces closed in on the southern stronghold. U.S. warplanes

Taliban have no right to be represented in Afghan power
Friday, November 30, 2001 9:22 AM EST
MOSCOW, Nov 30, 2001 (Itar-Tass via COMTEX) -- The leaders of the CIS countries declare that the Taliban regime has lost the right to be represented in Afghanistan's

Taliban Have 20,000 Fighters in Kandahar: Northern Alliance
Friday, November 30, 2001 4:53 AM EST
MOSCOW, Nov 30, 2001 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- The embattled Afghan Taliban have deployed some 20,000 people in its last stronghold Kandahar for a tough resistance against anti-Taliban

Militias in South Nearing Siege of Taliban's Last Major Bastion
By JAMES DAO with DOUGLAS FRANTZ
The New York Times
WASHINGTON, Nov. 29 ó Aided by American air power and ground troops, opposition forces in southern Afghanistan have encircled and are on the verge of laying siege

Kunduz Radio Drops Hard Talk for Easy Listening
By C. J. CHIVERS
The New York Times
KUNDUZ, Afghanistan, Nov. 29 ó Last month he was the voice of militant Islam, Enayatelah Khaliq, news correspondent for Voice of Shariat, the Taliban radio station found here at 1520 kilohertz

2 Sons of Imprisoned Sheik Took Up the Taliban Cause
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR with TIM GOLDEN
The New York Times
AIRO, Nov. 29 Shortly before he traveled to the United States in 1990, Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, the blind Muslim cleric who was later convicted of plotting a wave of terror across New York City

Afghan Women's summit in Brussels
Brussels, Nov 30, IRNA --  A 2-day summit of Afghan women will be held on 4 and 5 December in Brussels to enable women to make their voice heard during the current talks on the future of Afghanistan.

Wanted Pak terrorists killed or trapped in Kunduz
By Kamran Khan
The News: Jang (Pakistan)
November 30, 2001
KARACHI: As the United States-led military campaign against Afghanistan based terrorism enters into a decisive phase, Pakistani law enforcement officials have happily received

Afghan Women Trade Shadows for Washington's Limelight
By ELISABETH BUMILLER
The New York Times
WASHINGTON, Nov. 29 It has been a momentous week for a group of Afghan women who were living quiet lives in exile until America went to war in their homeland, starkly profiling

Taliban leave a city on the verge of civil disorder
Irish Times (Nov 30, 2001)
Life in an Afghan city recently 'liberated' by the Northern Alliance is fraught with lawlessness, Miriam Donohoe reports from Jalalabad

At Bonn Talks, 3 Women Push Women's Cause
By STEVEN ERLANGER
The New York Times
BONN, Nov. 29 Sima Wali left Afghanistan 23 years ago when the Soviet Army swept into her country. Afghanistan was thrown into a downward spiral of violence, rivalry, civil

Americans meet their favourite warlord to plan Tora Bora attack
By Philip Smucker in Jalalabad
The Telegraph (UK)
November 30, 2001
AMERICA is planning how best to attack the Tora Bora mountain cave complex where Osama bin Laden and al-Qa'eda leaders are believed to be hiding, it emerged yesterday.

Bush bends his neck to an Afghan blade
FROM MARTIN FLETCHER IN WASHINGTON
THE TIMES (UK)
NOVEMBER 30, 2001
ONCE a fortnight since America launched its war in Afghanistan, President Bushís secret service agents have left him alone with an Afghan wielding any number of sharp implements.

ICAO wants to restore Afghan air transport
Naveed Ahmad
The News:ÝJang (Pakistan)
November 30, 2001
ISLAMABAD: International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) plans to develop air transport infrastructure in Afghan through a two phased intervention programme.

U.S. Concerned About Alliance Push on Kandahar
Afghanistan: As Taliban forces remain defiant, Washington fears ethnic and tribal conflict in the Pushtun heartland.
By ALISSA J. RUBIN and RICHARD T. COOPER
Los Angels Times November 30 2001
CHAMAN, Pakistan -- Signs that Northern Alliance troops have begun to press toward the Taliban's remaining stronghold in Afghanistan, the southern city of Kandahar, focused

Defector Says Bin Laden Had Cash, Taliban In His Pocket
By Peter Baker
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, November 30, 2001; Page A01
KABUL, Afghanistan, Nov. 29 -- Within the secretive Taliban hierarchy that ran this country for five years, it was not hard to figure out how Osama bin Laden derived much of his influence.

The Taliban's Little White Book Offered Harsh Rules to Live By
By SORAYA SARHADDI NELSON
Los Angels Times November 30 2001
HERAT, Afghanistan -- Rule 17 bans women from public baths. Rule 9 puts a razor to the hair of any man with a Beatles do. Rule 7 orders up to 10 days' imprisonment for shopkeepers

UNICEF to focus on aiding reconstruction
By Deaglán de Bréadún, Foreign Affairs Correspondent
Irish Times (Nov 30, 2001)
UN: It is a standard political cliché that our greatest resource is our young people, but UNICEF, the UN children's agency, has to put its money where its mouth is. Visiting Dublin yesterday

The Castle of Death
What really happened in Qalai Janghi on Sunday,
and in the bloody days that followed? Justin Huggler tells the full, harrowing story
The Independent (UK)
30 November 2001
They were still carrying the bodies out yesterday. So many of them were strewn around the old fortress. We saw one go past whose foot had been half-torn off and was hanging

US 'hero' may have triggered Mazar revolt
RASHMEE Z AHMED
THE TIMES OF INDIA
NOVEMBER 30, 2001
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
LONDON: The United Nations has joined human rights groups in demanding an urgent inquiry into the carnage at the Qala-i-Jhangi fort near the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif