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Friday,
September 28, 2001, Chandigarh, India   |
Liberate Kabul from Taliban yoke: ex-king Northern Alliance doubts US intentions Taliban may lift ban on opium |
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Rallies back Pak support to USA
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US Sikhs promised justice Gunman storms
Swiss House, kills 14 3 Palestinians killed in
Gaza Strip
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Liberate Kabul from Taliban yoke: ex-king Dubai, September 27 He also said that he expected to return to Afghanistan, but not to claim titles or power. “Afghanistan today is in a situation similar to that of France under occupation. Those who will come to help and liberate us are our friends and they will eventually support a government that will represent the people,’’ Mohammed Zahir Shah told the London-based pan-Arab Ashraq al-Awsat newspaper. The 86-year-old former monarch, who has lived in exile in Italy since 1973, said it was no longer a question of whether he would return to Afghanistan, but when, to help liberate his people from the militant Taliban. “Taliban is in essence a foreign occupation power, supported by foreigners,” the ex-king told the paper in an interview. The USA has threatened unspecified military action if the Taliban does not hand over Osama bin Laden, Washington’s prime suspect in suicide-hijack attacks on New York and Washington. Shah said that once he returned to Afghanistan he would call for an emergency meeting of representatives of all Afghani groupings to elect a president to lead the country during a transition period followed by a new democratic constitution. “I will return as a servant for my country...I am not seeking titles or power. All Afghanis know that and that is why they come to me,” he said. “Our people have experienced horrible sufferings for decades and deserves another chance,” he said. “It is the duty of democratic nations to offer them this chance.” ISLAMABAD: The United Nations special envoy for Afghanistan, Francesc Vendrell, said on Thursday he thought the hardline Taliban movement could play a role in any future government in Afghanistan. “I do think there is a role for everyone in Afghanistan, including the Taliban,” he said when asked at a news conference here. Vendrell said he had just come from meeting ex-king Zahir Shah, who is now being mentioned as a possible sponsor for a transition to a new government. “I found him in good health, willing to help the Afghan people, and he is not seeking a specific role,” Vendrell said. Several exiled Afghan leaders and groups have called on Zahir Shah to convene a Loya Jirga, or traditional assembly, to elect a new leader who would replace the five-year-old Taliban government. WASHINGTON: The USA is not now contemplating joint military operations with Russia in the war on terrorism but such cooperation remains an option for the future, Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said. Returning here early today after a meeting of NATO Defence Ministers in Brussels, he said US cooperation with Russia was “more important than ever” since the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon two weeks ago that left nearly 7,000 people dead or missing. A private discussion on the fringes of the NATO meeting with Russian Defence Minister Sergei-Ivanov was almost entirely about counter-terrorism efforts “and clearly they were ready to offer all kinds of help, advice, cooperation,” he said.
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Northern Alliance doubts US intentions Moscow, September 27 “The USA appears to be keen on capturing Osama bin Laden dead or alive but does not evince much interest in overthrowing the Taliban regime in Kabul,” an Afghan diplomat here told IANS, speaking on condition of anonymity. He said the Northern Alliance was worried about the prospects of the USA installing a puppet government in Kabul. “We are really worried about the lack of sufficient US support for us and about reports of Washington pursuing a separate agenda for installing a handpicked government in Kabul,” the diplomat said. The USA, he pointed out, has not publicly committed its support to the Northern Alliance. Meanwhile, the Afghan ambassador in Moscow has said that Osama bin Laden is still living in Afghanistan. “Osama bin Laden is still in Afghanistan and the Northern Alliance leadership knows the location of his hideout,” Abdula Assefi said at a press conference here. Assefi represents the Northern Alliance. “The Northern Alliance has a lot of sensitive information about bin Laden and his terrorist organisation and is ready to share this with the USA and other countries which want to overthrow the Taliban regime,” Assefi said. Assefi also doubted whether Pakistan was a “genuine partner” in the mounting campaign against terrorism. “Though Pakistan has been forced to side with the USA in the present juncture, it can never be trusted,” said Assefi, adding that Pakistan “will always try to aid the Taliban secretly.” A number of Pakistani soldiers have been taken prisoner by the Northern Alliance in the fighting with Taliban forces, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov said Wednesday. “Pakistan army men have been fighting on the side of the Taliban till last week,” Ivanov was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying. Ivanov is in Bruxelles attending NATO defence minister’s conference. Meanwhile, Supreme Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar has appointed Maulvi Muhammad Rasool as commander of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border area in view of the preparations for a US attack on Afghanistan, Online news agency reports. Rasool is regarded as a trusted aide of Omar and is renowned for his combat skills. Rasool, who is also the governor of Afghanistan’s Namroz province, met with on Omar Wednesday and briefed him about the situation on the borders and the deployment of troops.
IANS |
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Laden ‘acquiring’ arms from Russian mafia Washington, September 27 Bin Laden, the key suspect in the September 11 terror attacks on the USA, is also believed by the US intelligence to have a secret nuclear weapons laboratory inside Afghanistan, Washington Times reported. Quoting officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the newspaper said there is “no hard evidence that Bin Laden or his followers have actually produced chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.” But a US official said contacts between Bin Laden and the Russian mafia, and efforts to obtain materials used to make weapons of mass destruction, could not be ruled out because of Afghanistan’s porous borders. He said reports about the contacts could not be confirmed independently by US intelligence agencies. Bin Laden has worked with Russian mafia groups in obtaining chemical and biological weapons materials and nuclear components, said officials familiar with intelligence reports on the contacts. “There are signs that they (Russian mafia) have been supplying Bin Laden with chemical and biological materials and nuclear components,” Washington Times said quoting another official familiar with the reports. Transporting and then using weapons of mass destruction is difficult, though Al Qaida’s use of suicide attackers makes the use of deadly chemical, biological or nuclear weapons somewhat easier, those familiar with terrorist tactics and capabilities reportedly said. Bin Laden’s laboratory reportedly could be one of the sites that might become a target during possible US military strikes in the next several weeks. A recent foreign intelligence service report stated that Al Qaida had obtained some type of nuclear device, but US intelligence officials said they could not
confirm that report. IANS |
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Taliban may lift ban on opium Islamabad Drug enforcement agencies on Tuesday night confirmed that they expected to see a massive resumption of opium cultivation in Afghanistan, previously the world’s biggest supplier of heroin, in the next few weeks. The Taliban virtually eradicated Afghanistan’s opium crop last season after an edict by Mullah Mohammad Omar, the Taliban leader. In July last year, he had said that growing opium was against Islam and warned that anyone caught sowing seeds of poppy would be severely punished. Taliban soldiers enforced the ruling two summers ago and made thousands of villagers across Afghanistan plough up their fields. Earlier this year, UN observers agreed that Afghanistan’s opium crop had been completely wiped out. Mr Bernard Frahi, head of the UN Drugs Control Programme (UNDCP) in Islamabad, confirmed last night that the price of opium had suddenly plunged. Existing opium stockpiles had fallen in value because of the prospect of new cultivation. Farmers were also ready to exploit the fact that no new post-Taliban administration was likely to be in place in Kabul before next spring. “All ingredients for illicit cultivation are there — war, continuing poverty and a breakdown in law and order,” Mr Frahi said. The farmers are expected to begin sowing poppy seeds in the next few weeks. The traditional planting season is from mid-October to late November or early December. Although opium grows across whole of Afghanistan, the main area of cultivation has been the fertile Helmand valley in the south, and around Jalalabad in the east. Under the Taliban Afghanistan supplied 80 per cent of Europe’s heroin. In the year before Mullah Omar’s edict, some 82,000 hectares of land were under poppy. Mullah Omar’s ruling had caused deep resentment among impoverished Afghans in rural
areas, who were forced to grow wheat. The UNDCP said it had lost touch with its local staff inside Afghanistan following the Taliban’s edict to hang anyone found using a satellite phone. Taliban officials in Islamabad were unable to confirm that Mullah Omar’s edict had been abandoned.
The Guardian, London |
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Rallies back Pak support to USA Peshawar, September 27 “There was a complete unanimity of views on both sides, but no details of any plans were discussed,” said Gen Rashid Quereshi, spokesman for President Pervez Musharraf, after the talks with the US team ended yesterday. “We just exchanged views and no operational plans were exchanged,” he said. The US team comprising seven members left Islamabad late yesterday after two days of talks with senior Pakistani military officials on what form of cooperation Islamabad might provide after General Musharraf pledged support for hunting down Osama bin Laden. Pakistan is caught in a difficult position on Afghanistan, as it is housing more than two million refugees from its neighbour and facing a threat from the Islamic Taliban that they will declare a holy war on any country that helps the USA. Today’s rallies were organised by the government to show that there was a large segment in Pakistan that supports Musharraf’s stance.
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US Sikhs promised justice Washington, September 27 At a meeting with American Sikhs in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Mr Bush also promised justice for Balbir Singh Sodhi, who was shot dead at his gas station in Mesa, Arizona, shortly after the terrorist strikes on September 11. Mr Bush urged Americans to “avoid prejudice and intolerance and treat all fellow Americans with respect and dignity, particularly during this time.” “These citizens bring their hearts with them and I can assure them that our government will do everything we can to treat human life as dear and respect the values that make our country so different and so unique,” Mr Bush said. “We’re all Americans, bound together by common ideas and common values,” he told the gathering. Sikhs have been targets of racial violence in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks because their turbans and beards resemble those of Saudi exile Osama bin Laden, who is accused of masterminding the strikes. White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer noted the American Sikh community “has been beset with occasional violence and the meeting is another reminder of the need for Americans to honour our constitutional principles in respecting all citizens and visitors to our country.”
IANS |
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Gunman storms
Swiss House, kills 14 Zug (Switzerland), September 25 Mr Peter Hess, the Speaker of the Swiss Parliament in Berne, said three members of the Zug local government were among the 14 dead. At least eight people were hurt in the attack by the man who was apparently upset about a local administrative matter. The police said the gunman was in custody. The SDA news agency said the assembly room was covered with blood after the incident around 8.30 a.m. (GMT). Anouk Holthuizen, another local journalist, said the canton president, Mr Hanspeter Uster, had been badly hurt.
Reuters |
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3 Palestinians killed in
Gaza Strip Gaza, September 27 Three Palestinians were killed and at least 31 persons were wounded, four of them critically, in the overnight fighting near Rafah close to the border with Egypt, Palestinian hospital sources said. Israeli troops shot dead a 16-year-old Palestinian only a few kilometres away from the airport, and three Israeli soldiers were wounded in a bomb blast near Rafah before the meeting.
Reuters |
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(
Eleven people have been injured in a grenade attack in
Karachi just hours before thousands of people demonstrated in
support of the international fight against terrorism. 
The Tuesday's attack on the United States are expected to
cost insurance companies. LLoyd's of London estimated its total
losses would be its largest ever single payout.
