Afgha.com
Pakistan's wheat reserves may come under severe pressure in the near future if the inflow of Afghan refugees continues to grow in the coming weeks in the wake of possible US attacks on Afghanistan, Agriculture Ministry officials warned.
The officials said that usually Pakistan provides 0.6 million tons of wheat to Afghanistan in normal conditions every year. Last year due to local bumper crop, the government had tried to sell the wheat to Afghanistan through private parties and two separate deals of 2 million tons were also signed with the private parties.
But the Taliban regime, receiving wheat from illegal channels, had refused to allow them to sell the commodity there at the market rate. As a result, the deal could not materialize and the contracts were cancelled by the contractors themselves fearing financial losses. So in real terms the Taliban have no wheat stock to meet the demand of their population which is now coming to Pakistan in search of both safety and food.
Pakistan also has limited wheat stocks which are only sufficient to meet its own food requirements that have now risen up to 21 million tons including one million tons of strategic reserves for 2001, against 19-20 million tons of last year, an agriculture ministry official confirmed.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/25/2001 ||
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Afgha.com
Like the attacks in America, the planning for Masood's assassination appears to have begun some time ago - perhaps with the theft of two Belgian passports in Strasbourg and the Hague in 1999. These were presented at the Pakistani high commission in London in July by Karim Touzani, 34, and Kacem Bakkali, 26, to obtain journalist visas to visit that country.
The men arrived in Islamabad on July 25 and went to the Taliban embassy, where they presented a letter of introduction from the "Islamic Observation Centre". The group in Maida Vale, west London, described itself as a "worldwide organisation concerned with human rights issues for Muslims all over the world" and said the men were journalists for "Arabic News International". The letter was signed by Yasser al-Suri, an Egyptian dissident living in London, and requested help for its bearers, ending with the flourish: "May Allah reward you!"
Equipped with the necessary papers to work in the Taliban-controlled part of Afghanistan, the assassins travelled to Kabul, where it is believed they collected explosives, then received permission to pass into the stronghold of Masood in the Panjshir valley.
Causse met them when she and other journalists were about to board a helicopter to visit a refugee camp. It seemed odd to bump into Arabs in Afghanistan. "The only Arabs you tend to hear about are the ones training in the terror camps of Bin Laden," she said. "I wondered if they were who they said they were. But there was nothing fanatical about them. They had notebooks. They seemed interested in everything they saw."
The group was taken to Kwajja Baha-Uddin, a dusty town Masood had made his headquarters. Installed in a guesthouse, the journalists awaited his arrival. The Arabs seemed particularly interested in securing the interview. "They said their journey would be in vain if they didn't get to speak to Masood," recalled Causse.
When Eddie Girardet, a Swiss American reporter, joined the group, he too was curious about the Arabs. But, he said, "they were pretty quiet, there was no hint of fundamentalism. They were in jeans and seemed westernised".
Causse, Girardet and a Russian journalist soon tired of waiting for Masood, who never slept more than one night in the same place and whose movements were as unpredictable as his military planning. Heavy dust meant his helicopter would not be able to fly in. Believing this could mean a delay of several days, the westerners went home. The Arabs waited.
A Paris-based photographer who liked to play chess with Masood warned him last year that he should be more cautious. "He was always very welcoming to the press. There were never any security checks. When I raised this with him, he just laughed and said, 'When my time comes to die it will come and nobody can do anything about it.' "
That moment came on the morning of September 9 - two days before the murderous rampage in America. The assassins were ushered into a modest house, where the commander was apparently talking on his satellite phone. Also present were Asim Soheil, Masood's press attach, Fahim Dashty, a local journalist and friend of Masood, and Masood Khalili, the anti-Taliban Afghan ambassador to India.
The younger of the Arabs placed his camera on a table in front of Masood. According to one report, he then lay down by the table, at which point an explosion ripped through the room. One of the Arabs was killed, as was Soheil. Masood lay bleeding, his head pierced by shrapnel, and never emerged from a coma. He died four hours after the attack, survived by his wife and six children.
In an apparent attempt to prevent panic among the ranks, his followers covered up news of the death, announcing it six days later, along with the appointment of General Muhammad Fahim as Masood's successor. American intelligence officials are already believed to have made contact with him: yet the loss of Masood does not bode well.
The divided heirs to Masood, whose charisma and military triumphs commanded total devotion from his men, may be reluctant to become the tool for a campaign against Bin Laden. "They are a fiercely independent bunch," said one expert. "Masood alone seemed to know how to control them."
This article starring:
Asim Soheil
Eddie Girardet
Fahim Dashty
General Muhammad Fahim
KACEM BAKKALI
al-Qaeda
KARIM TUZANI
al-Qaeda
Masood Khalili
YASER AL SURI
Islamic Observation Centre
Islamic Observation Centre
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/25/2001 ||
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The Frontier Post/Afgha.com
KABUL (Online): Eastern Shoora (governing body of eastern provinces), a faction of Northern Alliance has organized a large militia with about 15 thousands soldiers in connection with its preparations to attack Kabul. According to Afghanistan based news agency, Eastern Shoora is likely to strike Kabul during the possible US attack and they have finalised their preparations in this regard.
The recently organised militia to occupy Kabul included the eight thousand regular soldiers while the others are from reserves, it said. Ariana reported, the militia containing 8000 regular while remaining reserved soldiers, accompanied by Scud Missiles and tanks would advance towards the Kabul from three sides, as the US would launch attack on Afghanistan.
A close companion commander of Haji Qadeer, head of Shoora, has disclosed that the preparations were started after assurances of support from US, which has planned to invade Taliban's heart Kabul via eastern provinces of Gunned and Laghman.
This article starring:
Eastern Shoora
Haji Qadeer
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/25/2001 ||
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Afgha.com
For the past several days, according to scores of refugees who came up the Old Kabul Road yesterday seeking a safe haven on territory held by the opposition Northern Alliance, mayhem has been visited on the Tajik quarter of the Afghan capital.
Taliban militias have been staging nighttime raids on the district's homes, dragging the menfolk away to fight for them on the frontline, to get ready to defend the city against US attacks, to be thrown into jail, or to be held as hostages and perhaps human shields.
"Four days ago they began to hold people hostage," explained Mohamad Hossain, 30, who arrived in the village of Denau yesterday with his wife, five children, and niece. "They jail people, then keep them as hostages, because they have many soldiers captive and want to exchange them."
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09/25/2001 ||
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News.Telegraph.UK
THE US air force intends to attack the Taliban's front line north of Kabul before sending airborne troops to secure the large former Soviet base at Bagram. The Taliban have been bombarding opposition positions around Bagram's T-shaped airfield with "Stalin's Organ" multi-barrel rocket launchers inherited from the pro-Soviet regime of President Najibullah.
US defence sources have indicated that one of the main targets of early air strikes will be to destroy the Taliban artillery and force it back to positions from where it will be unable to threaten Bagram airfield. Once the artillery has been repulsed or destroyed, US airborne troops, possibly Green Berets, will be sent in to provide airfield defence before any aircraft can be deployed.
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09/25/2001 ||
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Times of India
Osama Bin Laden, prime suspect in the apocalyptic terror strikes in the US, is shuttling between his numerous secret hideouts in Jalalabad in Afghanistan, close to border with Pakistan, and may take over the command of Taliban forces in case of US attacks on Kabul, Russian media reported on Monday. Russian news agency Itar-Tass quoting intelligence sources said Bin Laden has set up several secret command centres in Jalalabad for controlling Taliban militia forces. He is likely to take over the command of Taliban in case of the US attack on Afghanistan, the agency said.
Meanwhile, Taliban said on Monday it had still not found Bin Laden to deliver a request that he leave the country.
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09/25/2001 ||
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Washington Times
The Rev. Jesse Jackson has been on the phone "quite frequently" to Secretary of State Colin L. Powell since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, an aide said yesterday, adding that Mr. Jackson offered to begin talks with Taliban leaders in Afghanistan.
This article starring:
Colin L. Powell
Jesse Jackson
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/25/2001 ||
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Washington Times
Gen. Gul now heads a NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) called Service for All (SFA). A former military intelligence officer, now in the private security field, told UPI it should be called CFA, or Cover for All. The officer said SFA organizes Afghan refugee volunteers for "a wide variety of conflicts in which guerrillas fight for Muslim causes."
Gen. Gul wants for Pakistan what Bin Laden wants for his native Saudi Arabia: Destruction of established governments and their replacement by an Islamic state. His friends say he has political ambitions. Hmmm. Yasss. You might say that.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/25/2001 ||
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Washington Times
A campaign to smash the global terror network has already clashed head-on with Pakistan's two states within a state the Islamist clergy and the Inter-Services Intelligence Agency (ISI). By any measure, Pakistan has long been a state sponsor of terrorism. But what the U.S. regards as an integral part of the transnational network is seen in Pakistan as Kashmiri "freedom fighters" called "terrorists" in India willing to commit suicide to "liberate occupied Kashmir." Most of them have been trained in Osama Bin Laden's camps in Afghanistan. They consider themselves blood brothers of thousands of fellow guerrillas known as terrorists in the U.S. from many parts of the Muslim world, from Indonesia's Laskar Jihad organization to Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers and Filipino ransom kidnappers. Bin Laden was their common mentor and hero. Pakistan has long been their safest of safe havens. Harkat-ul-Mujahideen is a militant group that acts as a link between the Kashmir underground and the Taliban.
Gen. Musharraf's declaration of support for the U.S. last week has galvanized extremist religious factions. He received an intelligence report yesterday, according to UPI's sources, that a group known as "The Pious Ones" had issued a contract on his life. The president's security detail is now insisting he wear a bullet-proof vest while driving between the President's House in Islamabad and Army House in Rawalpindi, where he also works into the early hours of the morning and lives with his family. Gen. Musharraf turned down the security request.
Former high-ranking officers such as Gen. Hameed Gul, a retired ISI chief are also sympathetic to the mujahideen groups that were trained by Pakistan in the 1980s to drive the Soviets out of Afghanistan. Taliban plural for talib, or student of the Koran was originally Pakistan's creation under the tutelage of Gen. Gul. It was Gul's idea to call them Taliban, or "students." He turned bitterly against the U.S. after Washington lost interest in Afghanistan following the Soviet withdrawal in 1989. Today, Gen. Gul acts as "strategic adviser" to Pakistan's principal extremist religious parties. When Gen. Musharraf heard that the Foreign Ministry had authorized visas for some Chechen guerrillas earlier this year, military intelligence, not ISI, followed them after their arrival in Pakistan straight to Gen. Gul's house in Rawalpindi. A steady stream of other visitors from Sudan, North Africa and the Middle East goes through his house. Gen. Gul's wife told UPI today that the general was traveling "where he could not be reached."
This article starring:
Hameed Gul
Inter-Services Intelligence
Harkat-ul-Mujahideen
Laskar Jihad
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/25/2001 ||
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Washington Times Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the other co-president of Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islami, yesterday was in Chaman, the border town on the road that links Quetta and Kandahar, headquarters for Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar. He had gone there to address Afghan refugees.
"Before dipping its toes in Afghanistan's treacherous waters, Washington should always remember that these fierce warriors defeated two of history's mightiest empires Great Britain and the Soviet Union."
When asked what he thought might defuse the immediate crisis, Mr. Khattak said, "the United States must talk to Taliban leaders with a high-level delegation." Told that it was too late for what would probably be seized upon by Omar as a pretext for more dilatory tactics, Mr. Khattak said, in a barely audible voice, "It won't take much at this stage for our extremists to light the fuse of civil war."
Mr. Khattak also said that U.S. support for the Northern Alliance battling Taliban forces in the hope of taking Kabul and bringing back old king Zahir Shah, 88, "would be a tragic mistake." The alliance, he explained, "is made up of minority Tajik and Uzbek tribes who can never control the dominant Pashtuns. Before dipping its toes in Afghanistan's treacherous waters, Washington should always remember that these fierce warriors defeated two of history's mightiest empires Great Britain and the Soviet Union."
This article starring:
MAULANA FAZLUR REHMAN
Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islami
Zahir Shah
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/25/2001 ||
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Washington Times
Pakistan's most powerful tribal leader, Ajmal Khattak, yesterday pleaded with the country's leading fundamentalist agitator, Sami ul-Haq, "to keep Pakistan calm during the present crisis." But Mr. Khattak's entreaties were unsuccessful. Mr. ul-Haq, who serves as the co-president of Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islami, president of the University for the Education of Truth and chairman of the Afghan Defense Council, was not listening. His cell phone rang each time Mr. Khattak tried to make a point.
At the end of a narrow, dusty, dirt alley choked with donkey carts weaving between fruit and vegetable stalls, the two leaders sat on stained white plastic chairs outside Mr. Khattak's rundown, mud-brick abode. Mr. ul-Haq kept telling his callers "not to worry because our Islamic forces are ready." Mr. Khattak would then start his pitch again, urging Mr. ul-Haq to give President Pervez Musharraf "the benefit of the doubt." But Mr. ul-Haq did not seem to be interested in what Mr. Khattak had to say. "The Israeli Mossad intelligence service organized the acts of terrorism against America to give America a pretext to launch a general offensive against the Muslim world," he said. "So we must reply."
"If you believe that," replied Mr. Khattak, president of the National Alliance Party, "all the more reason not to fall into the trap and to keep your powder dry." Mr. ul-Haq once again brought his cell phone to his ear, most obscured between his top-hat-sized turban and his flowing black-dyed beard. "No, don't worry," he told the caller. "Everything is under control. You will be pleased."
This article starring:
Ajmal Khattak
SAMI UL HAQ
Jamaat-e-Ulema-Islami
Afghan Defense Council
University for the Education of Truth
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/25/2001 ||
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Afgha.com
Pakistan on Tuesday warned the United States against pumping cash and weapons into the opposition forces fighting Afghanistan's ruling Taliban, saying it would be a recipe for disaster.
Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar said Pakistan was greatly concerned at requests by the Northern Alliance -- a disparate grouping of anti-Taliban forces -- for "foreign military assistance" in its fight against the Islamic militia. "We fear that any such decision on the part of any foreign power to give assistance to one side or another in Afghanistan is a recipe for great suffering for the people of Afghanistan," he told a joint press conference held with members of a visiting European Union delegation.
This article starring:
Abdul Sattar
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/25/2001 ||
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Afgha.com
Pakistan on Tuesday found itself left as the only country in the world to recognise the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, but President Pervez Musharraf said there was no question of snapping ties with Kabul. Pakistan was out in the cold after Saudi Arabia severed relations with the Taliban on Tuesday, following the lead three days before of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) -- the only other nation which had recognised the hardline Islamic militia.
But General Musharraf made it clear that Islamabad had no intention of following suit, even though it has withdrawn its entire embassy staff from Kabul. "I think we should maintain contact. At least there should be one country who ought to be able to have an access into them (the Taliban) and engage them," Musharraf told state-run television.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/25/2001 ||
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(AP)
Italian police arrested five men described as Afghans near the U.S. Embassy to the Vatican as part of beefed up security measures in the capital, the interior minister said Monday. State television said the men carried a map tracing a route from a neighborhood where many embassies are located to the boulevard where the main U.S. diplomatic mission is located to the Tiber River, near Rome's main synagogue and Jewish school.
``The five of them had papers on them with some itineraries mapped out,'' said Claudio Scaloja, the minister, who declined to provide other details. U.S. officials at the embassy to the Vatican said the reports were under study but offered no other comment. Interior Ministry spokeswoman Daniela Pugliese said the men ranged in age from 18 to 22 and carried no identification, but did have some papers in Arabic. She said she had no information on how the ministry determined the five men were from Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/25/2001 ||
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Washington Post Staff Writers
More than 350 people have been swept up in the massive dragnet for witnesses and suspects cast since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, and nearly 400 others are still being sought for questioning, Attorney General John D. Ashcroft said yesterday.
None of the detainees has been charged with a crime directly related to the attacks, which left nearly 7,000 people missing or dead, Justice Department officials said. Instead, most are being held on immigration charges and traffic violations, and virtually none has been publicly identified.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/25/2001 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
