October 31, 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

Bomb Taliban Frontlines, Afghan Envoy Pleads
By Alistair Lyon, Middle East Diplomatic Correspondent
Wednesday October 31 12:14 PM ET
LONDON (Reuters) - A brother of assassinated Afghan guerrilla chief Ahmed Shah Masood disparaged the U.S. bombing of his country as a ``waste of time'' on Wednesday

U.S. calls for Turkish troops
October 31, 2001
ANKARA, Turkey (CNN) -- The United States has asked Turkey to send soldiers to Afghanistan to join the U.S.-led war against terror, Turkish military sources told CNN Wednesday.

U.S. to Buy Foreign Wheat to Feed Afghans
Wednesday October 31 12:54 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Wednesday it would use every means possible to avert a humanitarian catastrophe in Afghanistan, as U.S. military strikes intensify

EU Changes Afghan Embargo to Allow Arming Rebels
By Paul Taylor
Wednesday October 31 11:26 AM ET
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union agreed on Wednesday to lift a ban on weapons supplies to anti-Taliban rebels in Afghanistan.

Taliban rejects talks with UN
ISLAMABAD, Oct 31 (AFP) - The Taliban's leadership on Wednesday rejected contacts with the UN special envoy on Afghanistan, accusing the world body of being "a tool" of the United States.

U.N. Afghan Envoy Rejects Meeting, Taliban Angry
By Jack Redden
Wednesday October 31 9:25 AM ET
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The Taliban ambassador in Pakistan Wednesday accused U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi of working for Washington after the Algerian diplomat refused to meet

U.S. Afghan Commander Meets Tajik President
Wednesday October 31 5:10 AM ET
DUSHANBE, Tajikistan (Reuters) - Tajikistan's President Imomali Rakhmonov met the U.S. general commanding the military operation in Afghanistan Tuesday evening and

Afghan Opposition Hears of Bin Laden Hideout
Wednesday October 31 4:37 AM ET
JANGALAK, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A senior representative of the Afghan opposition movement said on Wednesday he believed that Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden was hiding

Afghan Warlord Dostum Says He Needs Arms to Advance
By Roasalind Russell
Wednesday October 31 3:21 AM ET
KHOJA BAHAWUDDIN, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Afghan opposition warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostum said on Wednesday his forces lacked the weapons and supplies needed

US denies soldiers captured by Taleban
Wednesday, 31 October, 2001, 21:37 GMT BBC News
The number of civilian casualties is in dispute
The United States has dismissed a Taleban claim that it has captured up to 40 US servicemen in Afghanistan.

Pakistan sends back most needy Afghans
Wednesday, 31 October, 2001, 20:09 GMT BBC News
Thousands of Afghans have crossed into Pakistan
A Pakistani refugee camp sheltering some of the most vulnerable Afghans has closed its doors to newcomers.

Taleban radio reports 'panic' in west
Wednesday, 31 October, 2001, 14:52 GMT BBC News
The Taleban's Voice of Shariah radio has told listeners that people in America and Europe are panicking because the attacks on Afghanistan have produced no results.

Teen mourns father killed by Taliban
REBEL LEADER'S SON FINDS SUPPORT AMONG AFGHAN COMMUNITY IN UNION CITY
BY T.T. NHU AND LISA FERNANDEZ
San Jose Mercury News
Posted at 10:54 p.m. PST Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2001
When he was 14 years old, Abdul Majeed Arsala saw his mother and brother shot to death in Pakistan. Friday, the Afghan refugee checked an Internet news site at a Union City school

Afganistan gem expert has become valuable source for U.S
Wednesday, October 31, 2001 5:47 PM EST
Washington, Oct 31, 2001 (EFE via COMTEX) -- What would a person risk to seize a ruby the size of a golf ball? Or two glistening kunzites - 405 carats total - sold to a friend of England's queen?

Afghan settlement 'will take time'
The United Nations envoy to Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, has warned the West that the current crisis

Afghan danger for migrating birds
Scientists fear for the migrating birds
Wednesday, 31 October, 2001, 13:45 GMT BBC News
Thousands of migratory birds from Siberia and Central Asia may not make it to their winter homes further south as a result of the war in Afghanistan

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U.S. Carpet-Bombs Taliban Positions Near Kabul
By Yannis Behrakis - Reuters
RABAT, Afghanistan (Oct. 31) - U.S. warplanes intensified attacks on Taliban frontline positions north of the capital Kabul on Wednesday, carpet-bombing two locations near the opposition-held

Afghan opposition sees Kabul offensive in days
JANGALAK, Afghanistan, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Afghanistan's opposition is preparing to launch an assault on Taliban front lines north of Kabul in the next few days, a senior official said on Wednesday.

U.S. bombs Kandahar, Taliban say 1,500 dead
By Tahir Khan
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Oct 31 (Reuters) - U.S. planes roared over the Taliban powerbase of Kandahar in southeast Afghanistan on Wednesday in a pre-dawn strike that killed 11 people

Afghan opposition nears agreement delegates to supreme council - AFP
The opposition Northern Alliance was set to announce its line-up for a national gathering which will seek to decide a new government for Afghanistan, a senior member said.

U.N. envoy rejects Taliban's request for a meeting
By Jack Redden
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The United Nations said on Wednesday its envoy to Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, had turned down a request by the Taliban ambassador in Pakistan for a meeting.

US. suspends Afghan refugee resettlement
By Michael Christie
QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Once, if you were an Afghan refugee leaving the camps along the Pakistani border for resettlement, you were probably headed for the United States.

Aga Khan says UN should mould future Afghanistan
PARIS, Oct 31 (Reuters) - The Aga Khan, spiritual leader of the Shia Ismaili Muslim community, said in a French newspaper interview on Wednesday that the United Nations should

India seeks say in Afghan future
BBC News
The Indian Defence Minister, George Fernandes, says that Delhi should have a say in any future government in Kabul because it has played a major role in helping the Afghan opposition.

US planning full invasion if special forces fail
By Michael Smith, Defence Correspondent, and Toby Harnden in Washington
The Telegraph (UK) October 31, 2001
THE Pentagon is considering mounting a ground invasion of Afghanistan if the current bombing and special forces campaign fails to achieve its aims, American defence sources said yesterday.

Federal grants paid for visits by Afghans in '90s
By Steve Miller - THE WASHINGTON TIMES 10/31/2001
The federal government has sponsored two visits to the United States in the past four years by delegations that included Taliban representatives in an effort to expose Afghanistan's ruling militia to Western ways.

To some Taliban foes, ethnicity is no divider
By Andrew Maykuth - Philadelphia Inquirer 10/30/01
SAYOD, Afghanistan - Asil Khan, the commander of the anti-Taliban forces in this town on the front line north of Kabul, is surrounded by many of the same lieutenants who

Mourning a Mentor, Rallying for Resistance
Scarred Survivor Recounts Attack on Massoud, Assails Bin Laden and Pakistan
By Pamela Constable - Washington Post Wednesday, October 31, 2001
NEW DELHI, Oct. 30 -- Next to the crystal candy dish in Masood Khalili's parlor is a framed 1984 photograph of two men in combat fatigues, boots and woolen caps, leaning against a rock

U.S. Troops Coordinating Airstrikes
Ground Support Aids Northern Alliance
By Thomas E. Ricks and Doug Struck - Washington Post - Wednesday, October 31, 2001
The Pentagon moved yesterday to step up its support of the anti-Taliban rebels in northern Afghanistan, acknowledging for the first time that U.S. troops are on the ground to coordinate intensified

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 next week

Winning the War of Words: Information Warfare in Afghanistan
Analysis Paper #5
P.W. Singer, John M. Olin Post-doctoral Fellow, Foreign Policy Studies
Brookings Project on Terrorism and U.S. Foreign Policy
October 23, 2001
As the US military responds to the terrorist attacks of September 11th, understandably enough much of our attention has been paid to the missiles and warplanes currently hitting targets in Afghanistan.

In Defense of the Northern Alliance
By Anne Applebaum Updated Monday, October 29, 2001
Here is what we know about the Northern Alliance, the main military opposition to the Taliban in Afghanistan: They are mostly Tajiks and Uzbeks, though other ethnic groups have joined

National Public Radio (NPR) SHOW:
The Taliban are often portrayed in the West as a group of Islamic extremists who are one step removed from the terrorists they shelter. To some Afghan Americans, the Taliban remained the lesser of evils.

Afghans cheer as US jets hit Taliban
By Julius Strauss in Julum Khor, northern Afghanistan
The Telegraph (UK) October 31, 2001
THE Kukcha estuary was a picture of bucolic charm late yesterday afternoon. The water swirled and eddied over stony shoals, catching the soft autumn light. On the bank tiny, unshod boys rode bareback on spirited ponies.

New Afghan Schools Key to Overthrowing Taliban
University of Kansas Expert Says
LAWRENCE, Kan., Oct 30, 2001 (ASCRIBE NEWS) -- The key to bringing down the Taliban may lie in building new Afghan schools, said a University of Kansas professor who specializes

Afghanistan, not always a battlefield
Paula J Dobriansky
The News: Jang (Pakistan) October 31, 2001 - OPINION
The author is US Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs
The current generation of young Afghans cannot remember a time when their country really worked. There was a time - a little over 20 years ago - when Afghanistan was a functioning state

Taliban leader cites help by China
By Bill Gertz - THE WASHINGTON TIMES 10/31/12001
A Taliban military commander said in a published interview that China is secretly assisting the ruling militia in Afghanistan.

Jihad Brews Beyond Afghan Border
Asia: Massing of thousands of Pakistanis shows the complexity of a conflict in which tribe is everything.
By IRFAN KHAN and RONE TEMPEST - Los Angeles Times - October 31 2001
LAGHARAY, Pakistan -- A walled religious school served as central headquarters. The men communicated via FM transmitters in three local mosques.

Little Appears Uniform for Taliban Foes
War: Northern Alliance hands out new duds as it presents an image of a crisp fighting force. The reality seems different. By PAUL WATSON LA Times Staff Writer - October 31 2001
TAPPAH SURQH, Afghanistan -- The crisp new fatigues were a bit big for Zikr Ullah's gangly body, so he had to pull the web belt in all the way to the last notch. A friend tried to smooth out

Afghanistan as Vietnam
By R. W. APPLE Jr. - NY Times 10/31/01
ASHINGTON, Oct. 30 - Like an unwelcome specter from an unhappy past, the ominous word "quagmire" has begun to haunt conversations among government officials and students of foreign policy, both here and abroad.