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| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| Taliban sez they're running 3 border districts now |
| 2004-04-14 |
| Remnants of Afghanistanâs ousted Taleban have killed a top intelligence chief and captured three districts near the border with Pakistan, a spokesman for the Islamic militia said yesterday. Taleban fighters killed Ahmadullah, intelligence chief of Uruzgan province in central Afghanistan, and were planning to step up attacks on Afghan government officials and the US military, said the Taleban spokesman, Abdul Latif Hakimi. Ahmadullah was captured on Thursday with two of his bodyguards near his home village of Tirin Kot, about 350 km southwest of the capital Kabul. âWe killed him and his bodyguards after he refused to cooperate with us,â Hakimi said. âWe will not hand over their bodies until Uruzgan authorities hand over the body of a Taleban who they killed recently.â Uruzgan officials were not immediately available for comment, but have confirmed the Taleban kidnapped Ahmadullah. Hakimi also said Taleban fighters had seized three districts in remote Paktika province near the Pakistan border on Sunday, but a police chief in the area denied the Taleban were in control. âWe managed to take the districts with the help of local officials. There was no fighting,â said Hakimi. Paktikaâs police chief, Muhammad Rahim Ali Khel, called Hakimiâs statement a âlieâ. It was not possible to immediately verify who held power in the districts. Hakimi said Taleban guerrillas would step up attacks on Afghan officials and nearly 15,500 US-led soldiers in the country. âOur prime target would be to get rid of the governors and other provincial officials. We have forces in most of the provinces and will intensify our operations in coming days and also give a lesson to the coalition forces.â US military spokesman Lt. Col. Matt Beevers said Taleban remnants and their militant allies such as Al-Qaeda posed a threat, but foreign forces would curb their activity. Up to one-third of the country, mostly in the south and east, is effectively off-limits to foreign aid workers because of the security threat, which is of increasing concern as the country heads toward elections in September. In a new hunt for Al-Qaeda suspects, hundreds of Afghan and American soldiers searched caves and forests in a mountainous region that borders Pakistan, where government troops also were preparing a crackdown, the Afghan military said yesterday. The operation began Friday in Spera, a border district in Khost province Afghan military commander Zakim Khan said. The 700 troops, including 100 American soldiers and helicopters, were trying to block off a possible escape route for militants, such as Osama Bin Laden, who could be hiding on the Pakistani side of the border, Khan said. âWe have reports that this was a route used by both Taleban and Al-Qaeda,â Khan said. âI donât know how many came and went here, but now they have one option less.â Khan, the commander of the Afghan 822nd border battalion, said that caves in the region âwere used during the holy warâ against Soviet occupation in the 1980s. âIâm very optimistic weâll find something because the main road is covered with Afghan checkpoints,â he said. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #3 That's 'cause the Taliban are at war, you know, and we're not supposed to be. It's a subtle difference, only the bright folks at AI and HRW reliably understand it. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2004-04-14 11:31:02 AM |
| #2 Mike. Fat Chance. I dont think you will hear a peep from Amnisty International on this. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2004-04-14 10:16:11 AM |
| #1 We killed him and his bodyguards after he refused to cooperate with us. Critics of the US prison in Guantanamo ought to take a moment to publicly criticize this mistreatment of captives by the Taliban. . |
| Posted by: Mike Sylwester 2004-04-14 7:46:17 AM |