al-Zawahiri -- Labeled A Psychiatrist

[ Home ] [ English Section ] [ Feedback ] [ Subscribe ] [ Books on Sale ] [ Directory ] [ Latest News ] [ News Archive ] [ Current Issue ] [ Back Issues ] [ In the Press ]   22-23 September 2000 Source Pakistan’s Preparation for Direct Invasion 1500 Pakistani Soldiers Arrived Shah Saleem Pass Payam-e-Mujahid September 22, 2000 One thousand five hundred Pakistani soldiers along with five hundred Taliban troops arrived Shah Saleem Pass, intended to attack Badakhshan Province in Afghanistan. Ahmad Shah Masood, the Chief Commander of Mujahideen, told the weekly Payam-e-Mujahid, that the Pakistani troops took position at the top of Shah Saleem Pass, along the Afghan- Pakistan border. To defend the invading forces, the Mujahideen established their defense in Toop Khana area which is located in front of Shah Saleem Pass, he said. The new Pakistani soldiers were seen by local residence and travelers too. They said the newly-arrived Pakistani soldiers having military faces. They are shaved-beard with semi-shaved heads. First the joint forces of Pakistan and the Taliban launched their attack from Shah Saleem Pass on 20th September, but were defeated by the Mujahideen in Toop Khana area. After their defeat, the Pakistan army started gathering more troops with the intention to launch stronger offensives on Badakhshan Parovicne. In the past, the Pakistani military personnel were sent into Afghan territory in Afghan national dress, with long beards. The Pakistani leaders said they are activists of religious groups and managing their entry to Afghanistan through tribal area which are not fully controlled by the government. The new Pakistani troops are entered into Afghanistan with military shape, through a non-tribal area. This is not clear how the Pakistani leader will justify the arrival of their new troops to Afghanistan. Top ------------------------------------------------------ U.S. Opposes U.N. Seat for Taliban 22 Sep 00 By BARRY SCHWEID AP Diplomatic Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - The United States will oppose awarding the Islamic Taliban movement the Afghan seat at the United Nations (news - web sites), Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said Thursday, While some governments automatically recognize whoever controls a country, ``we pick and choose,'' Albright said. Based on Taliban's human rights record, the sanctuary it has provided Osama bin Laden, the suspected head of a terrorism network, and ``the way they operate,'' the United States will oppose giving Taliban the seat, Albright said. Four years after taking control of most of Afghanistan, Taliban has sent a delegation headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Abdur Rahman Zahid to New York to lobby for U.N. recognition. Afghanistan is now represented by a mujahedeen alliance that controls only a fraction of the country. Albright said she found in an eight-nation meeting Friday at the United Nations that Iran takes a similar view of Taliban, including disapproval of the country's involvement in narcotics traffic and terrorism. Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, on the other hand, recognize the Taliban government. In an interview with The Associated Press and three other news agencies, Albright pledged to ``hold the line'' on sanctions against Iraq and in insisting that President Saddam Hussein permit a new U.N. inspection group search for illicit weapons of mass destruction. Albright acknowledged the United States has limited support from other countries on both objectives, while Iraqi diplomats at the United Nations push for an easing of the restrictions imposed after the Persian Gulf war nearly a decade ago. ``We believe Saddam Hussein needs to stay in his box,'' Albright said. ``He shouldn't be able to threaten his neighbors.'' Nearing the end of her four-year term, Albright declined to predict whether Saddam could be forced out, a long-time U.S. goal. ``I don't know what will happen,'' she said. ``He's got pretty tight control.'' On another U.S. target, President Slobodan Milosevic (news - web sites) of Yugoslavia, Albright said evidence was mounting that he is ``going to do everything he can to steal the election'' for the presidency and parliament in November. ``We will not accept an election victory'' based on unfair tactics, she said. Top ------------------------------------------------------ Taliban says bin Laden guest, no proof against him September 22, 2000 UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -- Afghanistan's Taliban rulers, accused of sheltering militant Osama bin Laden, said Thursday there was no proof that the Saudi-born national was engaged in terrorist activities. "We asked the world community to come forward with evidence. We do have courts in our country, but so far we have not seen any tangible evidence," said Abdur Rahman Zahid, deputy foreign minister of the Muslim fundamentalist Taliban. Zahid, who told a news conference he would also press the Taliban's demand that it be accorded international recognition, said the movement continued to view bin Laden, suspected of masterminding two U.S embassy bombings, as its guest. "He was considered a good Mujahideen," said Zahid, referring to the Western-backed, U.S.-armed guerrillas who fought Soviet rule. "Now we really do not know how a hero and a Mujahideen hero could turn into a terrorist." "He is our guest," Zahid told the news conference. The United States has accused the Saudi exile of plotting the bombings that reduced the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania to rubble in August 1998, killing more than 220 people and injuring more than 4,000, most of them in Nairobi. Bin Laden is on the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted" list and the United States has a $5 million bounty out for his capture. Last year, the United Nations slapped aviation and financial sanctions on the Taliban, which now controls more than 90 percent of Afghan territory. The Taliban government is recognized by only three countries -- Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates -- while the representatives of ousted President Burhanuddin Rabbani still hold the Afghan seat at the United Nations. Zahid said he would be having contacts with the U.N. credentials committee to press the Taliban's demand that it be allocated the U.N. seat. "We would like to know with what logic can a seat be justified to a government which does not exist," said Zahid, referring to the Rabbani government. "We have the land, the government, the peace and the security, so we believe the government of Afghanistan has the right to a seat." In a separate address to the General Assembly, Abdullah Abdullah, acting foreign minister in the Rabbani government, accused Pakistan of meddling in its affairs by arming and training the Taliban. "The Afghan nation has become the direct victim of the diabolic dreams by the Pakistani military's hegemonic interests in the region," Abdullah said. He charged that Pakistani and Arab men were working "shoulder to shoulder" with the Taliban and urged the Security Council to direct the U.N. Special Mission to Afghanistan (UNSMA) to dispatch a team to verify it. The Taliban is fighting the opposition northern United Front Alliance, led by commander Ahmad Shah Masood. Last week, ministers of eight nations involved in seeking peace in Afghanistan commissioned a further progress report on the turbulent Central Asian nation, which some diplomats have said could lead to further sanctions. The United States, especially Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and many other countries, have criticized the Taliban for its restrictions on women's employment, health facilities and travel, some of which the group regularly seeks to extend to women working for the United Nations. But Zahid dismissed the concerns. "During the Rabbani regime, rape and looting was the order of the day," he said. "Now peace and security prevails." Top ------------------------------------------------------ Afghan Taliban forces take another northern town Radio Australia 22 Sep 00 Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia has overran another district near the Tajikistan border after ousting rival forces from two key areas in the region. The Taliban captured the town of Dasht-i-Archi in northern Kunduz province after heavy overnight fighting. A Taliban information ministry official says the troops captured a good number of tanks and prisoners. The Afghan Islamic Press says the fighting was intense and initial reports say at least 13 people died on both sides. The Taliban militia, which emerged from religious schools in 1996, controls around 90 percent of Afghanistan. Top ------------------------------------------------------ Taleban poppy plea BBC 22 Sep 00 By Susannah Price in Islamabad  Afghanistan's ruling Taleban has called on the international community for urgent funding to help it eradicate opium poppies. The head of the Afghan Drug Control Programme in Islamabad said they were trying to implement a recently announced ban on narcotics but were in a critical economic situation. The United Nations has been forced to abandon its programme providing opium farmers with alternative livelihoods because of a lack of international support. The Taleban says it is still committed to the countrywide ban on opium poppy cultivation announced two months ago. The head of drugs control for the Taleban embassy in Islamabad, Mullah Hamid Akhunzada, said the Taleban had done what it could and they were now waiting for the world community to fulfil its responsibilities. Fund crunch A recent UN survey says Afghanistan remains the largest opium producer in the world but that, for the first time in six years, the amount of area cultivated with opium poppies has decreased. The UN has been keen to expand development projects offering farmers assistance to grow crops other than opium. However, the UN will now be closing this programme down at the end of the year, six months earlier than planned, because the money has ran out. Both the UN and the Taleban are keen to see such projects expanded. However, the unwillingness of some donors to fund projects inside Afghanistan means there will be little incentive for farmers to stop growing opium poppies. Top ------------------------------------------------------ Taliban capture Sher Khan Bander:PTV Islamabad, Sept 22, IRNA -- According to a Pakistan Television report Taliban on Friday captured Sher Khar Bander town on Afghanistan-Tajikistan border.  Earlier, Radio Pakistan quoted Afghan Islamic Press as saying that the militia captured Dasht-e-Archi district of Kunduz province.  The report said 13 soldiers from both the Taliban and the United Front were killed in the operation for Dasht-e-Archi.  On Thursday, there were reports that Taliban captured Hazar Bagh and Khwaja Ghar towns of Takhar province.  A report in the Pakistani press also said Taliban have launched an attack on the northeastern Badakhshan province from the side of the Pakistani border areas on Wednesday.  The report quoted a Taliban commander, Mulla Eidi Mohammad Ayar as saying that after crossing Topkhana and Sara-e-Hous, their forces had now reached Zangali area.  He said Taliban forces faced some initial resistence but later their opponents 'fled after suffering defeat.' Top ------------------------------------------------------ ‘We Will Free Our Brothers’ By John K. Cooley ABC News Sept. 22 — Accused terrorist Osama bin Laden has reappeared on the world stage vowing to free the blind Egyptian cleric imprisoned in the United States for the 1993 bombing of New York City’s World Trade Center.  “We swear we will work with all-out power to free our brother, Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman and all our prisoners in America, Egypt and Riyadh [Saudi Arabia],” an emaciated-looking bin Laden said in a video recording of a meeting with several senior aides.  Bin Laden, a dagger in his belt, his beard turned totally white since the television interviews he granted in the 1990s, stood between two senior Egyptian aides. Qatar’s private satellite television channel, Al-Jazeera, broadcast the video without giving a date or a place for the meeting in which new anti-U.S. violence was threatened.  Aides Present at Meeting One of those flanking bin Laden was Ayman al-Zawahiri, a former psychiatrist considered to be his chief aide, and Rifai Ahmad Taha, a leader of the armed Egyptian group, Jamaa Islamiya. Both men have been condemned to death in absentia in Egypt.  Also shown at the meeting was Assad Allah, son of Sheikh Abdel Rahman, who was convicted in New York of ordering or approving the February 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center that killed six and wounded 1,000 others.  The FBI has offered a $5 million reward for the Saudi-born bin Laden, who took refuge in Afghanistan in 1996, for the bombing of two U.S. embassies in East Africa in 1998.  It is not clear how significant the video taped statement is for U.S. security and intelligence agencies.  Bill Carter, spokesman for the FBI, said that while he was aware of the tape, he had not watched it, but any information on bin Laden would be taken seriously.  “Obviously, Osama bin Laden is a fugitive and on the FBI’s most wanted list. We certainly want to locate him and take him into custody, but I have not seen the tape, so I can’t comment on it.” Recorded ‘Sometime Since April’  Also in the broadcast, bin Laden said one of his followers, whom he did not name, was captured “during an operation” in Saudi Arabia while “trying to fight injustice, atheism and shame.”  “Enough of words, it is time to take action against this iniquitous and faithless force [the United States] which has sent its troops all over Egypt, Yemen and Saudi Arabia,” said Al-Zawahiri.  Applause could be heard off camera.  Sheikh Omar’s son, Assad Allah, urged Muslims to “move forward and shed blood.”  Al-Jazeera officials said they believed the video had been recorded “sometime since April” and that it was obtained from Al-Jihad (Holy War) Television, close to Afghanistan’s Taliban and to Al-Qaida, or The Base, bin Laden’s international cover organization.  There was no immediate explanation for the broadcast’s timing. Abu Sayyaf Connection  Freedom for Sheikh Omar and Ramzi Ahmed Yusuf, another prisoner extradited by the United States from Pakistan and also convicted for the World Trade Center bombings as well as other attacks, was an early demand of the Abu Sayyaf, a militant organization originally based in Afghanistan and now under attack by the Philippines military.  Senior Filipino officials have in the past said they have evidence of links between the Abu Sayyaf and bin Laden, but they have not revealed any details.  After a number of European and Asian hostages were apparently ransomed and freed by payments of millions of dollars from Libya’s leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi, Abu Sayyaf captured an American hostage, Jeffrey Schilling , 24, of California.  Members of Philippines president Joseph Estrada’s government and security forces have accused Schilling, a converted Muslim, of supporting his captors after he broadcast radio appeals for the military action against Abu Sayyaf to stop.  He was last reported to be fleeing with his captors. Top ------------------------------------------------------ Afghan opposition launches attack to recapture Taloqan 22 Sep 00 ISLAMABAD (NNI): Afghan opposition has launched attack against Taliban near the northeastern Taloqan city, fell to Taliban earlier this month. Fierce fighting is continuing outside Taloqan, reports Radio Tehran. Another source of the United Front has recaptured Imam Sahib district of Kunduz province from Taliban. Mohammad Habeel said the United Front forces captured Imam Sahib in their operations yesterday. He added that the Front forces had staged a tactical withdrawal from the town of Imam Sahib two days back. He said that the opposition forces have arrested a number of Taliban along with their arms. He said United Front forces also attacked Taliban in Sabz Sher town of Taloqan yesterday evening. Forty-five Taliban were killed and their huge amount of arms and ammunition destroyed in this operation. Another report said that the areas of Narang and Noor Gul district of eastern Kunar province are still with the local commanders who had captured them from Taliban. The report said that eight Taliban were killed and six injured while their one tank and one Datsun pick-up destroyed in yesterday’s fighting in Kunar province. Taliban are also reported to have sent fresh forces to Darre-e-Noor and Khewa district of Nangarhar province to launch operations against United Front. According to the reports fierce fighting in continuing in Kunar and Shomali areas. Both the Taliban and United Front forces are trading heavy guns against each other in north of Kabul. Top ------------------------------------------------------ Afghan President calls to oust Taleban BBC 22 Sep 00 The ousted President of Afghanistan, Burhanuddin Rabbani, has appealed to what he called friendly neighbouring countries for help in expelling the ruling Taleban movement from Afghanistan. Mr Rabbani said they would pay a higher price if the Taleban secured full control over the country. He added that the Taleban and those who support them, threaten the security not only of the Central Asia region, but many other countries as well. The ousted President said recent advances by Taleban forces were creating a new refugee problem, with some two hundred thousand people being forced to flee their homes. Top ------------------------------------------------------ Annan Warns Afghan Conflict Risks Spreading into Neighboring Countries UNITED NATIONS (Sept. 22) XINHUA - Recent incursions by Islamic militants in Afghanistan into other parts of Central Asia highlight the danger that the Afghan conflict could spread, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned on Friday. In a report to the Security Council, Annan underscored the need for a comprehensive rather than piecemeal solution to that country 's crisis. Since early August, militant Uzbek dissidents have infiltrated into Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, apparently through Tajikistan, clashing with the security forces of these countries, Annan said in the report. "The governments of these Central Asian republics and the Russian Federation have charged that the insurgents emanate from Taliban-controlled areas in Afghanistan, where they have allegedly received shelter, training and logistical support for their operations," the U.N. chief said. Annan expressed his disappointment that there has been no significant shift as yet in the well-known positions of those countries that have interests in and influence on Afghanistan. He stressed that these countries must find a common approach to the Afghan conflict, which cries for a comprehensive political solution. Meanwhile, Annan said, Afghanistan's humanitarian situation is deteriorating, and the country is currently experiencing its worst drought in 30 years, causing devastating repercussions on the population, especially in rural areas where people are particularly vulnerable. "The question is how much longer the Afghan people will be able to withstand the accumulated effects of drought and warfare, let alone cope with any possible further economic blows," the U.N. chief added. Top ------------------------------------------------------ Many People Die of Cholera-like Disease in Afghanistan ISLAMABAD (Sept. 22) XINHUA - Many people, most of them children aging from six months to two years, have died of a cholera-like disease in central Afghanistan, the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reported. Relief agencies were quoted as saying Friday that the disease, which has symptoms like those of cholera, has killed many people, most of them children, in Samangan and Bamyan provinces. Experts said the disease might be the result of eating poisonous plants due to lack of food material in the area. An official of an aid agency in central Afghanistan said that during the last one and a half month, over 27 children had died in Darra-e-Suf. He said the local people described the disease as " cholera" which caused water in the bodies of the victims to vanish rapidly. Top ------------------------------------------------------ Afghan Taliban oust opposition from province on Tajik border  KABUL, Sept 22 (AFP) - Afghanistan's ruling Taliban Friday seized three key towns on the Tajikistan border, ousting opposition forces completely from the northern Kunduz province, Taliban officials and reports said. The Taliban first overran Dasht-i-Archi and then went on to capture Imam Saheb and nearby port of Sher Bandar Khan on the Oxus river. It is the first time Kunduz has come totally come under the control of the ruling Islamic militia, the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) said. A Taliban minister, speaking to AIP from Kandahar in southern Afghanistan, asked the opposition to surrender. "Our opponents should give up their futile resistance and surrender in order to stop further bloodshed," Taliban Information Minister Malvi Qudratullah Jamal said. Jamal said those who throw down their arms would be pardoned under the amnesty already announced in the past by the Taliban supreme leader Mulla Mohammad Omar. AIP said many soldiers of opposition military chief Ahmad Shah Masood had crossed the border into Tajikistan. There was no independent confirmation of the report and the opposition were not immediately available for comment. The Taliban captured Dasht-i-Archi after heavy overnight fighting, a Taliban information ministry official earlier said. "According to our radio reports, the Dasht-i-Archi area was completely taken last night after heavy fighting," the official requesting not to be identified said. "We also captured a good number of tanks and prisoners," he said without giving details. AIP said the fighting was intense and initial reports said at least 13 people died on both sides. It said the Islamic militia later captured Imam Saheb without any resistance as the opposition fighters pulled out from the area. Imam Saheb was retaken by the opposition only two days ago from the Islamic militia. The next target, Sher Bandar Khan, was also easily taken by the Taliban, AIP said. The ruling militia seized Khwajaghar in Takhar province and the nearby town of Hazarbagh this week to consolidate their hold on the provincial capital of Taloqan, a key opposition bastion which fell on September 6. Khwajaghar, which also has an airfield, controls the opposition's supply route from the Tajik border to their troops positioned to the east of Taloqan while most of the Kunduz province is already held by the Islamic militia. Masood, entrenched in his northeastern Panjsher valley, has vowed to take back Taloqan, but has so far failed in several attempts to oust the Taliban. The Taliban militia, which emerged from religious schools in 1996, controls around 90 percent of Afghanistan. Their rival Northern Alliance, headed by ex-president Burhanuddin Rabbani, controls the northeastern province of Badakshan and parts of Takhar, Parwan and Kapisa provinces north of Kabul. Top ------------------------------------------------------ Long and hard journey home for Afghan refugees  ISLAM QALA, Afghanistan, Sept 22 (AFP) - "Point Zero" on the Iran-Afghanistan border is the starting point of an often long and testing journey made weekly by 4,500 Afghans voluntarily repatriated from Iran. After a journey within Iran organised by the UN High Commissioner For Refugees (UNHCR), those who have signed up for the repatriation programme find themselves at "Point Zero", a place battered by a fierce and brutal wind from the north which blows continuously for five months a year. This place in the middle of nowhere is the departure point for the last stage of the trip home for the refugees forced from their country by more than two decades of war. Coming from Mashhad, Tehran, Isphahan or other towns, some have travelled more than 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) to reach the Afghan border at Islam Qala, the "fort of Islam". But once past here, it is pointless to mark distances in kilometres -- the roads in this ravaged country have in general disappeared, replaced by rugged chaotic tracks which make the least journey a trial. Having loaded their meagre possessions and bundles of clothing onto UN trucks, the men climb on top while the women and children get into minibuses to make journey in more comfort. The first stage is Herat and the UNHCR transit centre, beyond the Hamdamab desert, less than 150 kilometres (95 miles) but six hours on a dusty track under a blazing sun. After a night at the transit centre, each family receives 300 kilogrammes (660 pounds) of wheat and 100 dollars from the UNHCR before setting out again for their final destination. For a number of the refugees the journey ends there, the majority of them choosing to settle in Herat, the main town in west Afghanistan, whose splendid Majid-i-Jami (Friday Mosque), the immense minarets of the older Musallah mosque soaring towards the sky, as well as the old Ikhtiyaruddin fortress, pay testament to the town's former glories. But for others, another journey starts, towards Kabul, the capital, Kandahar, the main town in the south or Ghazni in the centre. Under the terms of the agreement signed between the ruling Taliban militia and the UNHCR, the returnees mainly settle in their home region, on the condition this area is under Taliban control. Since the start of the programme in April, 92,700 people have been repatriated by the UNHCR under the agreement which ends on October 9, according to UN figures. More than 68 percent of those returning are Tajiks, followed by Pashtuns (15.8 percent) and Hazaras (10.5 percent). There are currently 1.4 million Afghan refugees in Iran and 1.2 million in Pakistan. Mullah Khaikhullah, governor of Herat province has said the Islamic Taliban militia was "not only ready to accept these refugees" but wished all of them to return in order to "rebuild the country." He added the feared vice and virtue religious police had been ordered to be tolerant of the new arrivals, who will have to become accustomed to their new life under the Taliban's strict Islamic regime. The Taliban, which controls more than 90 percent of the country, have imposed their extreme version of Islamic religious law on the Afgahn people. This involves imposing Islamic punishments such as stoning adulterers to death, and cutting off the hands of thieves. The Taliban also bans women from working and the education of girls, and obliges men to grow beards which they are forbidden to cut. Top ------------------------------------------------------ Taliban consolidate hold on newly-won territory KABUL, Sep 23 (AFP) - Skirmishes continued Saturday in northeastern Afghanistan as the ruling Taliban militia consolidated recent gains against opposition forces in two provinces on Tajikistan border, officials said.  Taliban mouthpiece Radio Shariat said the religious fighters Friday captured the Ai Khanum supply base and crossing point on the main Oxus river north of Takhar province, severing a key route for soldiers of opposition military commander Ahmad Shah Masood.  Masood receives most of his military and food shipments from Tajikistan through the Ai Khanum makeshift bridge, the station said.  But a spokesman for Masood, Mohammad Habeel, denied the fall of Ai Khanum, saying Taliban troops had yet to cross the Kokcha river, a tributary of the Oxus which runs through Takhar province.  "I firmly dismiss this. They have not come forward beyond the river," he said, adding that Taliban heavy artillery were pounding opposition bunkers across the river.  Masood supporters Saturday rebuffed a Taliban pre-dawn attack against an airstrip to the east of Khwajaghar district which the militia fighters captured along with the adjacent area of Hazar Bagha in Takhar two days before, the spokesman added.  The Taliban on Friday pushed Masood loyalists completely out from the northern province of Kunduz by overrunning the districts of Dasht-i-Archi and Imam Saheb.  The official station said ruling militia soldiers were consolidating their positions and taking care of government and private properties in the newly-won territories.  According to the Masood spokesman, opposition forces had to vacate the key areas after they lost Khwajaghar, which controls the opposition supply-line to Kunduz.  "We have lost Imam Saheb as well," he said, adding the opposition hoped to recover the losses eventually.  "This is fighting. There are always gains and setbacks," Habeel said.  Radio Shariat said the recent losses had thrown Masood's forces into disarray with both fighters and commanders searching for an escape passage, leaving behind military equipment and arms.  Habeel said Taliban jets had raided opposition hilltops to the east of Taloqan, Takhar's provincial headquarters, and the nearby Farkhar area. But the strikes caused no damage or casualties, he added.  Taliban information minister, Malvi Qudratullah Jamal, on Friday asked the opposition to "give up their futile resistance" and surrender.  The Taliban, meaning religious students, sprang from Koranic seminaries in southern Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan in 1994.  They ousted Masood and ex-president Burhanuddin Rabbani from Kabul two years later. Renowned for a unique ultra-puritanical Islamic doctrine, they now hold most of the country, trying to wrest control of the now shrinking northeastern areas from Masood. Top ------------------------------------------------------ Shells hit Tajikistan during clashes over border in Afghanistan DUSHANBE, Sept 23 (AFP) - Russian guards patrolling the Tajik border with Afghanistan have been reinforced after four shells landed in their territory during fighting between rival forces across the border in Afghanistan, their commander reported Saturday.  The forces were put on alert, reinforced and issued artillery weapons after the incident on Friday, said the officer commanding the border guards, General Sergei Jilin.  The borders guards were able to watch the fighting between the Islamic Taliban militia and opposition forces of Ahmad Shah Masood, five to 10 kilometres (three to six miles) away over the border, he added.  Artillery and armoured vehicles were used during the battle.  The Taliban, which controls about 90 percent of Afghanistan, pushed Masood loyalists completely out from the northern province of Kunduz by overrunning the districts of Dasht-i-Archi and Imam Saheb on Friday.  They later claimed further victories in the province which a spokesman for Masood.  The 1,500-kilometre border between the former Soviet republic of Tajikistan and Afghanistan is patrolled by mainly Russian guards under an agreement between Moscow and Dushanbe. Top ------------------------------------------------------ Deposed Afghan president warns of refugee crisis amid fighting DUSHANBE, Sept 23 (AFP) - Deposed Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani warned Saturday of a catastrophe facing 200,000 refugeees in the northeast of Afghanistan, as fighting between rival factions in the region continued.  Rabbani spoke at a meeting with the Tajik government during a stopover in Dushanbe, said Ibraguim Khikmat, the Afghan ambassador to Tajikistan.  The warning came as Russian guards patrolling the Tajik border with Afghanistan were reinforced because of a surge in fighting over the border.  Rabbani warned that refugees fleeing the latest push by the Taliban forces in northeast Afghanistan were experiencing "very difficult" conditions with the approach of winter, said Khikmat.  "If urgent humanitarian aid is not organised, we fear a catastrophe," said Khikmat. Rabbani had stressed that no military solution was possible for the Afghan crisis, and that a political settlement had to be reached, Khikmat added.  Earlier this month, he called for the creation of a new, "broad-based" government in his country, backed by the United Nations, in a speech to the UN Millennium Summit in New York.  Rabbani's administration now controls only a small area of northeast Afghanistan, but it is still recognized by many countries and the UN.  Four shells landed in Tajik territory during fighting Friday between the rival Afghan forces over the border, the officer commanding Russian border guards patrolling the frontier reported Saturday.  He had put his forces on alert, reinforced them and issued them with artillery weapons after the incident, said General Sergei Jilin.  The borders guards were able to watch the fighting between the Islamic Taliban militia and opposition forces of Ahmad Shah Masood, five to 10 kilometres (three to six miles) away over the border, he added.  The forces fighting under Masood, who was defence minister under Rabbani, are loyal to the deposed president.  Artillery and tanks were used during the battle. The Taliban, which controls about 90 percent of Afghanistan, pushed Masood loyalists completely out from the northern province of Kunduz by overrunning the districts of Dasht-i-Archi and Imam Saheb.  But a Masood spokesman denied Taliban claims they had also captured the Ai Khanum supply base and crossing point on the main Oxus river north of Takhar province, severing a opposition supply route from Tajikistan.  They also claimed to have captured two key positions in the northern Afghan province of Kunduz on Friday, severing a key supply route for Masood's forces, a claim denied by a spokesman for Masood.  The 1,500-kilometre border between the former Soviet republic of Tajikistan and Afghanistan is patrolled by mainly Russian guards under an agreement between Moscow and Dushanbe. Top ------------------------------------------------------ Afghan's Taliban hang pair over Kabul blasts KABUL, Sept 23 (AFP) - Afghanistan's ruling Taliban regime Saturday publicly hanged two men convicted of being involved in a series of recent bomb blasts in the capital city, officials and witnesses said.  Taliban officials said the pair from Kabul province confessed to their involvement in the attacks and were convicted by a military court.  The men, handcuffed and blindfolded, were hanged from military cranes at the capital's Ariana roundabout close to the presidential palace after aprroval of the sentences by the religious militia's supreme leader Mulla Mohammad Omar, they said.  The Ariana is the place the Taliban famously hanged the country's last pro-Moscow president, Najbullah, hours after they marched into the capital in September 1996.  A senior Taliban military commander Dadullah (eds: one name) told reporters the executed men were in the service of opposition military commander Ahmad Shah Masood.  "Anybody involved in the bomb blasts would be punished like this," he said, before the two bearded men, apparently in their early 30s, were lifted by the cranes as hundreds of shocked Kabul citizens watched.  According to Dadullah, the men -- Abdul Samad and Mia Gul -- were caught red-handed in Kabul last week and were also responsible for a rocket attack against the city's civilian-military airport.  Masood, who is still holding out against the Taliban in the northeast, paid them the equivalent of more than 1,100 dollars for each explosion, the commander said. "It is not neccessary to talk to them.  Because they have both confessed their crimes," he told journalists.  A senior opposition official Mohammad Yunus Qanooni denied the charge and said the hangings were an offshoot of the Taliban's "inner differences".  Bank notes were later stuffed into the mouths and noses and attached to the toes of the hanged men as a symbol of humiliation, while Taliban soldiers occasionally jolted the bodies.  Kabul city has been shaken by a series of bomb blasts over the past two months, causing damage to buildings but no casualties.  "They were part of a big network. There are some other suspects as well," the Taliban commander said.  Dadullah said another 20 men were under detention in connection with the airport attack. "They will also be hanged if found guilty," he said. Top ------------------------------------------------------ Pakistan evolves strategy to help Taliban secure UN seat  Islamabad, Sept 23, IRNA -- Pakistan has chalked out a comprehensive diplomatic strategy ``to actively participate in the discussion on Afghan situation at the UN General Assembly session and support Taliban's demand for a seat in the world body,'' press reports said on Saturday.  Quoting sources in the Pakistan Foreign Office, a report in Islamabad-based daily, `The Nation' said, ``Although position of the majority of UN member-states on the issue is quite well known yet Pakistan will support Taliban's representation in the UN, keeping in view the ground ralities in Afghanistan.''  The report also said that Taliban's embassy in Islamabad expressed the hope that Pakistan would support their demand `as Taliban control 90 per cent territory of Afghanistan'.  The report became amid the announcement by the US Secretary of State, Madeliene Albright that the United States will block Taliban's efforts to gain a seat in the UN.  Meanwhile a Pakistani daily, `Frontier Post' on Saturday wrote, ``If Islamabad cannot persuade Taliban, let it say so to the United Nations.''  In an article the daily said, ``The world has been made to believe by Pakistan itself that Pakistan government has moral influence on Taliban. If this is not so, let the government of Pakistan say so and maintain a convincing distance from Taliban who refuse to listen to its words of advice with any measure of courtesy, let alone respect.  ``What Taliban have to be told by Pakistan is that if the rulers in Kabul on the one side and the rest of the world on the other are to come to an understanding, it is Kabul that has to go to the door of the world and knock, not the whole world going to Kabul, with folding hands,'' the article said.  It said Pakistan should tell Taliban that they cannot persist in insulting the UN Charter. Top ------------------------------------------------------ Crop control Afghans angered by UN ditching drug project The Guardian Rory McCarthy in Islamabad  Saturday September 23, 2000 The Taliban regime in Afghanistan rounded on the United Nations yesterday for pulling out of a key part of its anti-drug programme just weeks after the Islamic hardliners finally agreed to ban all opium cultivation. Western Europe and the United States have cut funding for a surprisingly successful UN Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) project to provide substitute crops for farmers, who are due to begin planting again next month. "We are wondering how the UNDCP can step out of its programme on the pretence of not having the funding," said Mullah Abdel Hamid Akhundzada, the head of the Taliban's high commission on drug control. "We have fulfilled our obligations. We demand that the agreement we made should be fulfilled up to the end." The latest UN survey, released last week, found that Afghanistan is still the world's largest producer of opium, even though the area under cultivation was down 10% on 1999. Most of the opium floods into Europe as heroin. Afghan farmers, who have long found the poppy a lucrative crop, produced 3,276 tonnes of fresh opium this year. Although that was down 28% on last year's record levels, the fall was mostly due to the effect of widespread drought. Yet many in the UN sympathise with the Taliban's frustration. In the four districts where the UN programme provided an alternative crop, together with help in irrigation and marketing, the opium yield fell significantly. Western nations have been slow to react to the July decree issued by the Taliban's supreme leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, banning opium cultivation. The decree followed Mullah Omar's order last September that drug cultivation be cut by a third, a target which has still not been achieved. A total ban would hit income for the Taliban, who impose a 10% tax on all crops. This year's opium crop brought in around £6m for the regime. Other UN organisations have also found their Afghan funding cut, with western nations apparently reluctant to fund development projects while the Taliban are in power. Top ------------------------------------------------------ Moves to tap C Asian oil reserves  By Mahendra Ved The Times of India News Service 23 Sep 00 NEW DELHI: The continuing global oil crisis has prompted the major oil consumers to look towards the vast, largely untapped, oil and gas reserves of Central Asia and find ways to access them. According to International Petroleum Encyclopaedia 1998 (Oklahoma, USA), Turkmenistan has between 1.7 and three trillion cubic meters of untapped gas, estimated to be world's second largest reserve. Other Central Asian Republics together have oil and gas equivalent to that of Qatar, Oman and UAE put together. They can produce seven million barrels of oil daily, but for this huge investments are required. A firm indication is the talks being held at various levels with the Taliban in the neighbouring Afghanistan. A Taliban delegation headed by an aide of foreign minister Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil is currently holding talks in Paris with representatives of the French Government. Three European Union members have also taken the initiative in talking to the Taliban. Ashqabad, capital of Turkmenistan, which professes "neutrality" with regard to any conflict in the region, is the hub of these contacts, well placed diplomatic sources say. The most preferred venue, however, is Pakistan, where diplomats have been interacting with the Taliban. Last month, a senior official accompanying Chinese Foreign Minister Tang met Ambassador Haqqani who represents the Kabul regime. US ambassador to Pakistan, William B. Milaim, had a much-publicised meeting in with Mohammed Naim Khan, head of the Afghan commissionerate in Peshawar. The Frontier Post prominently carried a photograph, but gave no details. The diplomatic drive, including a media conference at the UN headquarters by Abdur Rahman Zahid, Taliban's deputy foreign minister, comes amidst reports of their victories against Northern Alliance. Taliban are seeking world recognition, conscious that they hold the key to peace in the region that could guarantee smooth movement of oil and gas out of Central Asia. The French initiative is being credited to the interest shown by the country's il multinational corporations in Central Asian oil and gas reserves. Unocal, a US MNC that planned to pay a $2.5 billion gas pipeline from Daulatabad in Turkmenistan to Pakistan through Afghanistan, closed its operations last year. But this and many other MNCs are awaiting conducive times to resume work on this and other projects. Top ------------------------------------------------------ Taliban: Bin Laden's Threat Tape Several Years Old 23 Sep 00 DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (Reuters) - Afghanistan's ruling Taliban movement said Saturday that taped threats by Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden to free a Muslim militant jailed in the United States were several years old. Arab media reported earlier that bin Laden had vowed in the tape broadcast Friday to free Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, a militant Islamic cleric sentenced to life in 1995 for his role in an alleged plot to blow up New York City landmarks. ``I say that the tape may have been recorded five or four years ago,'' Taliban's Information Minister Qudratullah Jamal, told Qatar's Jazeera satellite television which had broadcast the videotape. ``He (bin Laden) has no right to have contacts with the outside world,'' the minister said in the live interview from Kabul. London-based Arabic newspapers Asharq al-Awsat and Al-Hayat said bin Laden made the comments during a conference by prominent Islamic militants. Asharq al-Awsat said the conference took place in Afghanistan where bin Laden -- sought by the United States for allegedly masterminding the 1998 bombing of two U.S. embassies in Africa that killed more than 200 people -- reportedly lives. It gave no date for the gathering. The papers quoted another conference participant, Egypt's Islamic Jihad leader Ayman Zawahri, as calling for ``confronting the brutal force'' -- an apparent reference to the United States. One of Abdel-Rahman's sons was quoted as calling for Jihad, or holy war, to free his father, the blind clergyman convicted of plotting to blow up the United Nations, the World Trade Center, tunnels leading into New York City and other U.S. landmarks. Jazeerah Friday broadcast footage it said came from the meeting showing bin Laden speaking in Arabic, followed by a turbaned Zawahri and Refa'i Taha, the exiled leader of Egypt's Islamic militant Gama'a group. Top ------------------------------------------------------ Pak-Talib offensive on Khwajaghar defeated Panjsher, Sep 23 (Omaid) - A Pakistani-Taliban offensive on Khwajaghar airbase was defeated by Afghanistan's United Front national resistance force, reports Payam-e-Mujahid. A source in Afghanistan's Defense Ministry said the enemy suffered many casualties and made no advances during three morning attacks. The government source added that Pakistani-Taliban warplanes bombarded Farkhar and strategic areas around Taloqan. No injuries or damages were reported. UF forces are now firmly entrenched in key areas around Taloqan city. The report says UF government forces  launched a successful attack in Nahrin and Borka in Baghlan province. Details are not yet available. 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