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Posted on 11/11/2001 4:19:10 PM PST by MeekOneGOP
Sunday November 11 7:29 PM ET
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By Sayed Salahuddin and Anton Ferreira
KABUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The war over Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) and his al Qaeda network appeared to have swung sharply in favor of the U.S.-led coalition on Sunday after Afghan rebels claimed to have captured a vast swathe of territory and to have crippled the ruling Taliban's fighting force.
The opposition Northern Alliance said the cream of the Taliban army had been wiped out in a string of surprise defeats and it refused to rule out an advance on Kabul, injecting new urgency into the search for a post-Taliban government.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the Northern Alliance had ``effective control'' of the key crossroads city of Mazar-i-Sharif, but was still meeting pockets of resistance, while British officials confirmed British troops were in Afghanistan (news - web sites) assisting the alliance's advances.
In Mazar-i-Sharif on Sunday, Afghans lined up at barber shops to shave their once-mandatory beards; forbidden music blared from shops and some women threw off the head-to-toe burqa veil as the city emerged from the draconian lifestyle under the Taliban, the Afghan Islamic Press said.
Heading the offensive in Mazar-i-Sharif was Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, an ethnic Uzbek, whose forces have a reputation for heavy-handed treatment of civilians. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said on Sunday that Dostum had been told in advance ``their practices have to change this time around.''
The opposition previously said an offensive would stop outside Kabul, where it is hated for its power struggles in the 1990s that subjected the city to almost daily rocket attacks and killed 50,000 residents.
Pakistan has warned of a repeat of violence in Kabul if the Northern Alliance takes the city. Other countries have also said it could complicate a post-Taliban political settlement.
Northern Alliance Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah said he had been surprised by the speed of the gains made by his forces in the past 48 hours that had secured them half of the country, compared to less than 10 percent just three days ago.
``The importance of this big defeat for the Taliban, dramatic defeat for the Taliban, is not only that they have lost large areas, but they have lost their main fighting force,'' said the minister, who would not rule out an advance by alliance fighters on Kabul.
DOMINO EFFECT
``I knew the cracks could produce a sort of domino effect and this could get out of their (Taliban) control,'' he said.
Abdullah described a sudden collapse of Taliban forces that he said put Northern Alliance forces on the outskirts of Herat, the main city in western Afghanistan, and approaching Kabul after overrunning the city of Bamiyan.
Forces loyal to veteran Afghan opposition commander Ismail Khan, the ``Lion of Herat,'' were preparing to launch a final assault on Herat on Monday, a spokesman said. ``God willing, we are determined to move toward Herat tomorrow (Monday),'' alliance spokesman Nassir Ahmad Alavi said.
Following the announcement of the alliance victories, a spokesman for British Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites) said in London that the U.S.-led coalition -- not the Northern Alliance -- was setting the terms of the conflict.
``The Northern Alliance have a part to play in our military strategy, but it is a strategy which we are dictating the pace of, which we are controlling,'' he told reporters. ``There is an absolute recognition that the Northern Alliance would be unable to form a government in Afghanistan on its own.''
Afghanistan's neighbors, speaking for the first time with one voice, expressed support at the United Nations (news - web sites) on Sunday for forming a broad-based and freely chosen government.
A declaration approved by officials of the six countries bordering on Afghanistan, plus Russia and the United States, backed efforts by the Afghans ``to rid themselves of the Taliban regime'' and find a political solution ``on an urgent basis.''
Also in New York, President Bush (news - web sites) marked Veterans Day on Sunday vowing the U.S. armed forces in action in Afghanistan would exact ``a serious price'' for Sept. 11.
Two months after hijacked planes slammed into the World Trade Center and Pentagon (news - web sites) killing more than 4,500 people, Bush paid homage at Ground Zero to the those who ``still lie in a tomb of rubble.''
Bush ordered the military campaign against Afghanistan's Taliban for harboring Washington's chief suspect in the attacks, Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden.
U.S. REJECTS BIN LADEN NUCLEAR BOMB
Key American officials dismissed claims by bin Laden in a weekend interview with a Pakistani newspaper that he had nuclear and chemical weapons that he would use as a deterrent to any U.S. attacks using such materials.
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Rumsfeld said the United States was trying to pinpoint the whereabouts of bin Laden and other al Qaeda or Taliban leaders so they could be killed.
``Certainly if we had coordinates, precise targeting information ... that we would do something about it. And we have been trying, energetically,'' he said. ``But we have not been able to thus far stop them. That is to say, kill them.''
In the interview with the Pakistani newspaper, bin Laden scoffed at the idea that he was behind the dissemination of anthrax through the U.S. mail, an act that has killed four people and made 13 others ill.
The cases of anthrax in the United States have pushed Americans to change their habits, with more than a third tossing away junk mail and nearly as many washing their hands after touching mail, the Time magazine/CNN poll found.
The poll also showed 92 percent of Americans believed agents of bin Laden were currently in the United States.
As concern grew about nuclear weapons, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf dismissed fears his own nuclear arms could be at risk or that he might find it hard to stay in power because of opposition to the campaign in Afghanistan.
The Washington Post reported that Musharraf ordered an emergency redeployment of the country's nuclear arsenal to secret new locations and reorganized military oversight of the arsenal to protect the weapons from theft or attack.
CONQUEST OF KABUL?
The sudden breakthroughs on the battlefield came after weeks of U.S. bombing and growing questions about the Northern Alliance's ability to mount an attack.
Abdullah announced a string of advances, saying fighters of the Northern Alliance were moving into the outskirts of Herat and toward Kunduz, whose fall would open the way for supplies of Russian weapons stockpiled in Tajikistan.
He said the Taliban were now encircled and trapped in Kunduz province and added that his fighters were in contact with Taliban forces inside the city -- a hint he was hoping for defections to hasten the city's capture.
There seemed to be a difference of opinions and competition between the leadership of the Taliban and bin Laden's al Qaeda network over who should command, where reinforcements were needed and where supplies should go, Rumsfeld said.
As the Northern Alliance's military campaign accelerated, the Taliban set up security checkpoints across Kabul. Taliban fighters searched vehicles and passengers.
Bush, mindful of the carnage unleashed the last time minority Afghan tribes in the alliance entered Kabul in the early 1990s, urged the alliance to stay out of the city.
``We will encourage our friends to head south ... but not into the city of Kabul itself. And we believe we can accomplish our military missions by that strategy,'' Bush said earlier.
In Rome, advisers to the former king of Afghanistan urged the Northern Alliance to keep a promise not to seize Kabul.
Asked if his forces would move forward against Kabul, Abdullah said: ``We do not rule it out.''
Abdullah said the alliance's strategy would be dictated by events on the ground. ``A political vacuum is a different situation and we have to consult with our Afghan partners and our international partners, mainly the U.N.,'' he said.
U.S. planes struck near Kabul on Sunday, with more than 10 bombs striking east of the capital before dawn. A Taliban official said on Sunday that U.S. bombs destroyed a village near Kandahar, killing 300 people last week.
U.S. Navy (news - web sites) pilots said a forward air controller from elite special forces guided them in to targets around Mazar-i-Sharif on Sunday.
``These guys are special forces and they're on a different program,'' said one pilot, Captain T.C. Bennett. ``These people are not from this planet. I've got to believe they've brought them in from Mars or something -- I wouldn't do it.''
Earlier Stories
Alliance Says Taliban on Run, Kabul Beckons (November 11)
Alliance Says Taliban on the Run, Kabul Beckons (November 11)
Alliance Says Taliban on the Run; Kabul Beckons (November 11)
Taliban Foes Eye Kabul After Victories (November 11)
Taliban Lost Main Fighting Force, Opposition Says (November 11)
TOPWRAP 4-Taliban Lost Main Fighting Force, Opposition Says (November 11)
A Northern Alliance fighter hangs from his tank's barrel as he jumps down from the tank at Bagram air base, about 20 miles north of Kabul, Nov. 11, 2001. The Northern Alliance has made startling gains in recent days in its attacks on the ruling Taliban militia but President Bush is urging the alliance not to take Kabul. (Yannis Behrakis/Reuters)
U.S. President George W. Bush visits Ground Zero at the World Trade Center for a memorial service in New York, November 11, 2001. The president spoke to the General Assembly of the United Nations yesterday and stressed the importance to the entire world of the success of the military mission of the United States in Afghanistan. REUTERS/Larry Downing
U.S. President George W. Bush looks at a model of the World Trade Center as he meets with rescuers at Ground Zero at the World Trade Center after a memorial service in New York, November 11, 2001. The president spoke to the General Assembly of the United Nations yesterday and stressed the importance to the entire world of the success of the military mission of the United States in Afghanistan. REUTERS/Larry Downing
< /SARCASM! >
ROFLMAO!
Why doesn't this read:
"Two months after terrorists hijacked planes and slammed them into the World Trade Center and Pentagon (news - web sites) killing more than 4,500 people, Bush paid homage at Ground Zero to the those who ``still lie in a tomb of rubble."
Oh yeah, I just noticed: this is a Reuters article. That means there is to be no mention of terrorists....
If true, then once again Allah has failed to deliver victory against the infidels.
And again, those fierce Islamic boogie-men (as we've all been told by the media) have folded up like a cheap suit, just like the Iraqis.
Folks, these cultist are only affective via terrorist acts against women, and children. They are chick$hit cowards on the battlefield....
There doesn't seem to be much equivocating by this guy.
No, no, no... CNN, CBS, Reuters, and the NY Times all said that the war on terrorism has stalemated in Afghanistan and we're in a Vietnam-like situation, so these reports of progress just CAN'T be true...
Not to mention that Gore really won the election. These people make me sick. Damn shame that their headquarters were not in the WTC. Maybe that would have changed their view of things.
Are you in my neighborhood ?
Hey Meek..
Are you in my neighborhood ?
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