October 4, 2001

Bush Announces $320 Million in Afghan Aid
By Steve Holland
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush said on Thursday the United States would give $320 million in urgent humanitarian aid to ease a growing refugee problem in Afghanistan

World Bank says rebuilding must follow anti-terror war
Friday October 5, 12:01 AM
WASHINGTON, Oct 4 (AFP) - Afghanistan will need international assistance to rebuild in the wake of any military offensive, World Bank president James Wolfensohn said, to prevent the birth

Beseiged Taliban face growing internal threats
ISLAMABAD, Oct 4 (AFP) - The Taliban's hold on power in Afghanistan appeared to be slipping Thursday, amid growing signs of internal rebellion and stepped-up external military and diplomatic pressure.

Islamabad plays its wild card
By Syed Saleem Shahzad - Asia Times 10/4/01
KARACHI - Behind the scenes horse trading continues apace over the composition of a post-Taliban administration in Afghanistan, with Pakistan expressing its strong objections to the United States

Pakistan Says U.S. Proof Enough to Try Bin Laden
By Raja Asghar
Thursday October 4 10:56 AM ET
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan, dealing a severe blow to the embattled Afghan Taliban rulers, said on Thursday it had seen sufficient U.S.-supplied proof to indict fugitive Osama bin Laden whom

Plan spares civilian structures
By Rowan Scarborough - THE WASHINGTON TIMES 10/4/01
The Bush administration is putting final touches on a bombing plan against Afghanistan's Taliban militia that will spare civilian infrastructure such as electrical grids, bridges and water supplies, U.S. officials say.

US military draws up plans for aid drops to Afghan refugees
CAIRO, Oct 4 (AFP) - The United States miltary is drawing up plans for air drops of supplies to refugees on the move in Afghanistan in search of food, water and refuge, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Thursday.

Meeting with former Afghan king
By Ian MacKinnon, in Islamabad - The Australian
PAKISTAN has invited an envoy of Afghanistan's former king, Zahir Shah, to travel to Islamabad as soon as possible to map out a role for the ruler in any alternative administration to the Taliban regime.

Taliban to put arrested British journalist on trial
Thursday October 4, 4:01 PM
ISLAMABAD, Oct 4 (AFP) - A female British journalist arrested by the Taliban for illegally entering Afghanistan is to face trial "for violating the laws of our country", the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) reported Thursday.

Japan ready to help new legitimate Afghan government
Thursday October 4, 4:37 PM
TOKYO, Oct 4 (AFP) - Japan is ready to give financial and economic assistance to help rebuild Afghanistan if a legitimate government comes to power there, a foreign ministry official said Thursday.

Taliban hold special cabinet meeting
By Sayed Salahuddin
Thursday October 4, 5:01 PM
KABUL (Reuters) - Ministers of Afghanistan's ruling Taliban were holding a special meeting in the capital Kabul on Thursday as the United States put more pieces in place for a possible military strike.

Afghani soars on rumours former king to return
By Sayed Salahuddin
KABUL, Oct 4 (Reuters) - It is business unusual in the money markets of Kabul. The dollar may be the currency of choice for investors around the world as the U.S. military prepares strikes

Iran sends troops to seal Afghan border
  TEHRAN, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Iran said on Thursday it has sent thousands of extra troops to its eastern border with Afghanistan to stop refugees flooding across the frontier in case of U.S. strikes.

INTERVIEW-Afghan opposition vows offensive on Taliban
JABAL-US-SARAJ, Afghanistan, Oct 4 (Reuters) - The military chief of the Northern Alliance, the opposition to the ruling Taliban, vowed an all-out offensive to coincide with any U.S. attacks

Beseiged Taliban face growing internal threats
ISLAMABAD, Oct 4 (AFP) - The Taliban's hold on power in Afghanistan appeared to be slipping Thursday, amid growing signs of internal rebellion and stepped-up external military and diplomatic pressure.

Russia to give Afghan opposition tanks, guns-paper
MOSCOW, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Russia is planning to supply Afghan anti-Taliban forces with tanks, armoured vehicles and other arms worth up to $45 million in the coming weeks, a leading Russian

Pro-Taliban Afghans hold demonstration against U.S., ex-king
ISLAMABAD, Oct. 4 (Kyodo) - Nearly 2,000 supporters of Afghanistan's ruling Taliban on Thursday demonstrated in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad against the United States and former Afghan King

Senior U.S. official to meet ex-Afghan king
WASHINGTON, Oct. 3 (Kyodo) - A senior U.S. official will meet former Afghan King Zahir Shah in Rome on Thursday, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Wednesday.

Pakistan distances itself from Taleban
BBC News
Pakistan's President, General Pervez Musharraf, has said he believes only a broad-based, multi-ethnic government could succeed in Afghanistan if the ruling Taleban authorities are ousted from power.

US provides more evidence to Pak; No invitation to Zahir Shah
Frontier Post
ISLAMABAD (Online): Pakistan Wednesday said that the United States has given them 'more evidence' about Osama Bin Laden's involvement in September 11's terror attacks on World Trade centre."

Taliban to be part of proposed transitional set-up
Frontier Post 10/4/01
ROME (Online): Taliban would be part of the proposed transitional set up to be put in place in Afghanistan, according to General Abdul Wali, brother-in-law of Afghanistan's exiled former ruler Zahir Shah.

Rabbani denies backing Zahir Shah option
Frontier Post (Pak.)
PESHAWAR: A spoksman of the ousted Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani, has termed the newsreports basless and conococted in which they have claimed his support for the establishment

Afghan leader warns Pakistan against backing U.S.
By Zeeshan Haider
ISLAMABAD, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a former Afghan guerrilla leader whom Pakistan backed before switching to the Taliban, warned Islamabad on Thursday it would

Taliban have sufficient weapons, war capability: ex-Pak ISI chief
 Islamabad, Oct 3, IRNA -- Former Chief of Pakistan Inter-Service Intelligence, Hameed Gul says lack of information about Afghanistan on the part of the United States will prove an important

Bush to unveil aid plan for Afghan refugees-sources
By Adam Entous
WASHINGTON, Oct 3 (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush is expected on Thursday to unveil a humanitarian aid package for Afghans fleeing the country ahead of threatened U.S. retaliatory strikes

Japanese paper says Pakistan to sever Taliban ties
TOKYO, Oct 4 (Reuters) - A Japanese newspaper said on Thursday that Pakistan's president, General Pervez Musharraf, has said Islamabad plans to sever ties with Afghanistan's ruling Taliban.

US Official: Taliban in Opium Trade
By KEN GUGGENHEIM
WASHINGTON (AP) - Despite virtually wiping out the country's opium crop, Afghanistan's Taliban government remains deeply involved in the drug trade, U.S. officials told a House panel Wednesday.

Afghanistan's Masood sorely missed four weeks after death
By Mike Collett-White
Thursday October 4, 6:07 PM
KHOROQ, Afghanistan (Reuters) - For all the brave faces among Afghans in strongholds of the opposition Northern Alliance, the loss nearly one month ago of legendary leader Ahmad Shah Masood