October 30, 2001

14th-century Muslim sage has much to teach us By Daniel Johnson

Battlefield of guns and prayers By Anthony Loyd

Osama Bin Laden and Salafi Islam Michael Fredholm

Anatomy of a 'terrorist' NGO By Pepe Escobar

Allies pound Taleban stronghold
Tuesday, 30 October, 2001, 22:07 GMT  BBC News
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and senior US officials have been rallying public opinion behind the war on terror as US jets pound Taleban strongholds across Afghanistan.

Curfew and power cut keep Taliban capital in dark
By Altaf Hussain
Wednesday October 31, 4:28 AM
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Darkness blanketed Kandahar, southern stronghold of Afghan Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.

Musharraf Says Taliban Split, Won't Seek Halt to War
Tuesday October 30 3:11 PM ET
By Jack Redden
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said on Tuesday he detected splits among Afghan supporters of the Taliban and would not press Washington

500 Americans and allies in Afghanistan: report
Tuesday October 30, 5:48 PM
ISLAMABAD, Oct 30 (AFP) - Some 500 American and allied military personnel are in Afghanistan working with the opposition Northern Alliance, a Taliban official told the

Afghan refugees find sanctuary as trouble erupts at border hot spot
Tuesday October 30, 4:11 PM
QUETTA, Pakistan, Oct 30 (AFP) - Pakistan is delivering on its promise to allow the most desperate of Afghan refugees into the country with some 500 women and children crossing

250,000 Afghan refugees settled in camps in United Front regions
Mashhad, Khorasan prov. Oct 30, IRNA -- The military adviser of Afghanistan's Islamic Government said here Monday that over 250,000  Afghan refugees have already been settled

Victory Could Hinge On Islamabad's Spy Agency
By JOHN DANISZEWSKI and TYLER MARSHALL, LA Times
QUETTA, Pakistan -- Behind a dusty gray wall in the military district here works an organization with secret knowledge that could spell success or doom for U.S. military operations

Post-Taliban Government Focus of Meetings at U.N.
By ROBIN WRIGHT, LATimes
WASHINGTON -- In a flurry of efforts to plan for a post-Taliban Afghanistan, President Bush will meet Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf at the opening of the U.N. General Assembly

Taliban Continue Trade Through Closed but Porous Border
By JANE PERLEZ - NY Times
QUETTA, Pakistan, Oct. 29 ó The barren, khaki-colored borderlands of Pakistan, stretching 1,500 miles along the frontier with Afghanistan, have become a crucial rear base

Material Seized in U.S. Ground Raid Yields Few Gains
By STEVEN LEE MYERS and ERIC SCHMITT - The NY Times
WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 ó The collection of documents, computer disks and other material seized during a nighttime raid by special operations forces in southern Afghanistan

US looks to Northern Alliance
By the BBC's Jonathan Charles in Afghanistan
America's help for the hard-pressed opposition Northern Alliance forces in Afghanistan has taken a new turn.

Afghan group says repulses Taliban in northwest
By Parisa Hafezi
TEHRAN, Iran (Reuters) - Forces loyal to Afghan warlord Ismail Khan said Monday they had repulsed a Taliban counterattack from around the northwest town of Qala Nau and had cut a key

Afgan opposition plan offensive, U.S. bomb
By Zeeshan Haider and Sayed Salahuddin
ISLAMABAD/KABUL, Oct 29 (Reuters) - The opposition Northern Alliance said on Monday it planned to launch a multi-pronged offensive after weeks of watching U.S.

Man charged over dead rebel leader
Ahmed Shah Masood was known as The Lion of Panjshir
Tuesday, 30 October, 2001, 12:59 GMT BBC News
An Egyptian man living in London has been charged with conspiracy to murder the late Northern Alliance leader Ahmed Shah Masood.

US. hits Taliban near Tajikistan border
October 30, 2001 Posted: CNN New Delhi Bureau
NORTHERN AFGHANISTAN (CNN) -- U.S. planes targeted Taliban forces near the Tajikistan-Afghan border Monday for the first time in support of troops

Afghanistan: the pipeline war?
By BBC Eurasia Analyst Malcolm Haslett
Some attractively original theories have been going the rounds about the real reasons for the Afghan war.

U.S. commander seeks patience in terror war
October 31, 2001
TASHKENT, Uzbekistan (CNN) -- The commander of the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan has refuted claims that the operation had become bogged down in its fourth week.

U.S. on high alert for new terror attacks as unease grows
By Jonathan Lyons and Mike Collett-White
Wednesday October 31, 12:32 AM
WASHINGTON/JABAL-US-SARAJ (Reuters) - The United States was on high alert for new terror attacks on Tuesday, as public unease grew over the bombing campaign

Anti-Taliban Leader Says U.S. Bombing Falls Short
Tuesday October 30 9:56 AM ET
By Rosalind Russell
DESHITIQALA, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A senior Afghan opposition commander said Tuesday his ill-equipped forces had little chance of breaking through Taliban

Taliban allegedly manning front lines with foreign fighters
JABAL-US-SARAJ, Afghanistan, Oct. 30 (Kyodo) - Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia is sending foreign soldiers trained in Pakistan's Kashmir region to the battlefront to fight against the Northern Alliance

Afghan opposition vows to launch offensive
By Sayed Salahuddin
KABUL (Reuters) - U.S. air raids on the Afghan capital, Kabul, paused through the night but persisted apace on the southern Taliban stronghold of
Kandahar on Tuesday

Afghan opposition, US discuss closer cooperation
JABAL-US-SARAJ, Afghanistan, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Afghanistan's opposition forces said on Tuesday they were in high-level talks with U.S. officials about boosting military

U.S. on ground in north Afghanistan, opposition says
By Mike Collett-White
JABAL-US-SARAJ, Afghanistan, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Uniformed U.S. soldiers have set up a base in northern Afghanistan to help coordinate U.S. air strikes and attacks by opposition

U.N. envoy, Pakistani leader agree on Afghanistan
By Jack Redden
ISLAMABAD, Oct 30 (Reuters) - The United Nations agreed with Pakistan on Tuesday that any future Afghan government must not allow its territory to become a base for hostile groups.

Taliban foe says short of arms on western front
By Zeeshan Haider
ISLAMABAD, Oct 30 (Reuters) - An anti-Taliban group on Tuesday complained it was running short of munitions to take on the hardline Islamic militia in western Afghanistan

Bush ends sanctions on Pakistan
BBC News
President Bush has signed legislation clearing the way for a full resumption of economic and military aid to Pakistan over the next two years. It is the final stage in easing

Thousands of Afghans return from Iran -U.N.
TEHRAN, Oct, 30 (Reuters) - A U.N. official said on Tuesday that some 7,000 Afghan refugees had returned home from Iran in the last two weeks to be with their families

Afghans Hide in Air India Toilets, Reach Britain
Tuesday October 30 12:11 AM ET
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - At least two Afghans hid in toilets on an Air India plane and reached London without passports, valid tickets or visas and sought asylum, newspapers reported Tuesday.

International backing needed for opposition fight against Taliban
Tuesday October 30, 9:43 AM
PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Oct 30 (AFP) - Huge international support is needed for any Afghan opposition campaign to overthrow the Taliban regime, according to a senior veteran

Afghan Women Attend Muslim Games
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Salma Hosseini, a tae kwan do expert, says she traveled over Afghanistan (news - web sites)'s back roads to compete

Pakistan wants US action in Afghanistan to end soon
HONG KONG, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Pakistan wants U.S.-led military operations in Afghanistan to end sooner rather than later, Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz said on Tuesday

Afghan freed after five years in Taliba prison
By Mike Collett-White
JABAL-US-SARAJ, Afghanistan, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Muhammad Amin hardly dared believe his captors in the Afghan capital, Kabul, when they told him two days ago that after five

2 Afghan doctors arrive from Japan to help refugees
ISLAMABAD, Oct. 30 (Kyodo) - Two of four Afghan brothers who are all doctors living in Japan arrived in Islamabad on Monday to help treat the growing number of Afghan refugees fleeing

Afghans said deported by Kuwait now in Iraq
BAGHDAD, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Iraq said on Monday it had taken in 18 Afghans found drifting at sea after Kuwait, where they were resident, deported them in a boat without engines or oars.

India sending medical aid to northern Afghanistan
NEW DELHI, India (Reuters) - India said Monday it had dispatched 40 tons of medical supplies for distribution in northern Afghanistan, which is controlled by the main opposition group