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Monday,
October 1, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Osama in Afghanistan,
say Taliban Islamabad, September 30 Taliban Ambassador to
Pakistan Mullah Abdul Zaeef told reporters here that Laden was “under the control of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and only security people know where he is” and vowed the militia would not hand him over. He said the Taliban were willing to negotiate with the USA if it provided evidence about his involvement in the terror strikes. However, White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card immediately rejected the Taliban offer of negotiation, saying “the President has said “we are not negotiating.” “We have told the Taliban government what they should be doing. They’ve got to turn not only Osama bin Laden over but all of the operatives of al-Qaeda organisation. They’ve got to stop being a haven where terrorists can train,” he told Fox News. Meanwhile, the UN special envoy to Afghanistan, Mr Francesc Vendrell, urged Taliban moderates to cooperate with the international community or face political oblivion. “Their behaviour in the coming weeks will say something as to whether they are acceptable for the future,” said Vendrell, who believes moderate elements of the ruling militia could play a part in the future of the country. Mr Vendrell told AFP here that Taliban moderates were “unhappy” with the close links between their leadership and Laden. Taliban sources, quoted by the Afghan Islamic Press news agency, said one of their commanders, Mohammad Suleman, defected with around 70 of his fighters as opposition forces claimed success in heavy fighting overnight. But they said Suleman, commander of eastern Laghman province, had a history of disloyalty to both sides of the Afghan civil war. Meanwhile, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf told US television station CNN that hopes were dim that Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban would hand over Osama bin Laden. However, he said that while two Pakistani missions to Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar had failed to convince the movement to surrender Laden, the door remained open to more discussions.
PTI, AFP, Reuters |
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Alliance wrests district from Taliban Islamabad, September 30 The AIP quoting Opposition spokesman Muhammad Habeel, said the Northern Alliance forces captured Qadis district in Afghanistan’s western Baghlan province in heavy overnight fighting in which 30 Taliban fighters were captured and 130 others deserted to opposition ranks. Mr Habeel said another 200 Taliban fighters, under commander Mohammad Suleman, joined the opposition forces in eastern Laghman province. A Taliban official confirming the desertion in Laghman province told AIP that Suleman had only 70 fighters and that he was wanted by the Islamic movement for certain “issues” and had therefore deserted. Fighting between the Taliban — who rule more than 90 per cent of the war-ravaged country — and the Northern Alliance had intensified on several fronts following the threat of US attacks for the Taliban’s refusal to surrender Osama bin Laden, the Saudi-born dissident wanted by the USA. KABUL: The office of a Danish aid agency was ransacked and robbed by armed men in Kabul, an eyewitness said on Sunday, raising fresh concerns about the law and order situation in the Afghan capital. According to a guard posted outside the office of the Danish Committee for Aid to Afghan Refugees (DACAAR), six armed men broke into the compound last Friday. “They stole some cash and then ransacked the office looking for the keys to the pick-up parked outside. They didn’t find them and eventually they ran off,” the guard said.
Reuters, AFP |
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