"The chairman of the Nobel Peace Prize committee warned the United States and its allies yesterday that extending their war on terrorism to Iraq and other states would be a recipe for disaster. Concluding a three-day symposium of Nobel Peace Prize laureates at which the war in Afghanistan was a frequent theme, Gunnar Berge joined several of them in sharply criticising the military action despite its success in ousting the Taliban regime. 'If that which is hailed as a success by so many is an encouragement to continue by the same means into other countries like Somalia, Sudan, Yemen (and) Iraq, then I think we have only seen the beginning of disaster,'said Berge, chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee which awards the peace prize," reported the AFP news service.
Competing Pashtun militia commanders have carved out fiefdoms in Kandahar after the Taliban fled their final stronghold in Afghanistan, residents said yesterday. People are saying they are very worried said Noor Ahmed Barakzai, a Kandahari in this Pakistani city, who spoke to friends in Kandahar yesterday. In the city, the situation is very bad and we are not sure what will happen next," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The mother of prime terror suspect Osama bin Laden said in remarks published yesterday that she was not angry with her son though she does not approve the ambitions, ideas and actions attributed to him," reported the AFP news service.
"Afghanistan’s new leader promised to arrest Taliban chief Mullah Mohammed Omar and put the reclusive, autocratic cleric on trial. But where? How? By whom? And on what charges? The evolving situation in Afghanistan presents its newly minted interim government with sticky questions. It also poses a dilemma for the Bush administration which, despite repeatedly demonising Omar as its chief target alongside Osama bin Laden for the Sept 11 terrorist attacks, is now saying it may not demand Omar be tried under US authority," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Speculation that the United States will go ahead with plans to hold suspected terrorists and prisoners of war on remote Pacific islands has intensified when US forces began delivering heavy equipment to the Northern Marianas," reported the Guardian newspaper.
The parents of a young American man captured fighting for the Taliban in Afghanistan pleaded on Friday for permission to visit him, saying the government had given them no information on his condition or whereabouts. "Like any parents would be in their situation, John’s parents are desperately worried about their son", attorney James Brosnahan, who represents Frank Lindh and Marilyn Walker, said in a statement. Their son, 20-year-old John Walker, is being held by US forces after he was found among 80 foreign al-Qaeda fighters who survived a bloody uprising at the Qala-e-Jangi fortress in northern Afghanistan last week.
"An American captured fighting with the Taliban in northern Afghanistan is being held as a 'battlefield detainee' at a US Marine base in the south of the country, officers said yesterday. (John) Walker is a battlefield detainee. He is being held here pending disposition instructions from higher headquarters, according to a statement from the Marines," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A group of former Taliban officials backed by Pakistan announced yesterday they were breaking with the movement and reviving their old party, which had merged with the former ruling militia years ago. The group, which appeared to have Pakistan’s backing, included the Taliban’s former envoy to the United Nations, Abdul Hakim Mujahid; former head of the Taliban consular department Abdur Rehman Hotak; former deputy education minister Mullah Arslan Rehmani; and a former deputy chief justice of the Supreme Court, Mullah Abdul Sattar Siddiqi," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"British journalist Robert Fisk was attacked and badly beaten on Saturday by a mob in Pakistan. Fisk, 55, a veteran foreign correspondent for the Independent newspaper, was set upon by a group of around 100 Afghan refugees after his car broke down between the Pakistani border towns of Quetta and Chaman," reported the Reuters news agency.
"UN Secretary General Kofi Annan cautioned the United States yesterday not to expand its war on terrorism to Iraq as that war would be lost unless waged by all countries acting in concert," reported the AFP news service.
"US forces have already flown surveillance flights over Somalia looking for al-Qaeda forces to target in the next stage of the global war on terror, a British Sunday paper said. Navy pilots have flown waves of missions to map two al-Qaeda camps near the Kenyan border in preparation for air strikes, said Pentagon sources quoted by The Observer," reported the AFP news service.
"Osama bin Laden is said to be leading about 1,000 men in person to defend his bomb-blasted mountain hideouts in eastern Afghanistan yesterday as tribesmen feuded over the former Taliban bastion of Kandahar. A Northern Alliance spokesman said the Saudi-born militant was leading his al-Qaeda fighters in the defence of his mountain hideouts in the Tora Bora region. Osama himself has taken the command of the fighting, Mohammad Amin said by satellite phone from Jalalabad," reported the Reuters news service.
"Americans are split on whether captured Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh, a US citizen, should be tried for treason, but approval for the war on terror remains strong," according to a Newsweek poll.
"Britain is prepared to be part of an international stabilisation force in Afghanistan and would be ready to lead such a force if asked, Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said yesterday. 'I see every advantage in one country providing the main elements of the headquarters of this operation, something that Britain has done very well in the past'," he told the BBC.
"British troops would hand Osama bin Laden over to the United States if they captured him in Afghanistan, Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said yesterday but only on condition he not face the death penalty," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"North Korea yesterday accused the United States of marking out the Stalinist state as the target for a second US war against terrorism and said its people should be ready to lay down their lives. Rodong Sinmun, the North’s ruling communist party newspaper, also demanded Washington stop pressing Pyongyang to accept an outside inspection of its missile and nuclear programmes. The US designation of the DPRK (North Korea) as the target of the post-Afghanistan war operation compels the Korean people to be in full combat preparedness to lay down their lives for the country, it said. The news daily accused the United States of refusing to drop the North from a list of states sponsoring terrorism to provoke a war on the Korean peninsula. The DPRK is not Afghanistan. The DPRK is ready for defence and attack, it warned," reported the AFP news service.
"The biggest gathering of Nobel Peace Prize laureates in history agreed on a declaration on Sunday aimed at ending wars in the 21st century. They said disarmament and the establishment of an international criminal court were crucial parts of the solution," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Top US officials said on Sunday they had viewed a videotape purporting to show that Osama bin Laden had advance knowledge of the Sept 11 suicide hijacking blitz in what could be the strongest evidence yet of his alleged link to the attacks, a link he has denied. Vice-President Dick Cheney described the Arabic-language tape as a kind of smoking gun in which Osama showed significant knowledge of what happened and there’s no doubt about his responsibility. It’s further confirmation, and hopefully maybe we’ll stop hearing any more of these insane conspiracy theories that somehow the US has made this up or somebody else did it," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The former king of Afghanistan, Mohammad Zahir Shah, will probably return home in March to play his part in the reconstruction of his country, ending almost 30 years of exile in Italy, the monarch’s grandson Mostapha Zahir said on Sunday," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A US-based cell of Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda network nearly launched a post-Sept 11 attack on a major target in Washington before going underground or fleeing the country, Newsweek reported on Sunday. Investigators had not been able to identify the plotters," reported the Reuters news agency.
"Britain is set to command and organise a multi-national force to protect the Afghan capital of Kabul, US officials and Western diplomats said. The 15-member UN Security Council plans to authorise the operation in a resolution being drawn up by US, French and British diplomats. They hope for adoption by Friday. Nato members Germany, France, Turkey, Italy and Canada are expected to provide the core of the force and agreed to allow Britain to lead it during informal talks over the past week. The British command is expected to last up to six months," reported the Reuters news service.
"Afghan tribal fighters, backed by devastating US air strikes and nighttime raids by American special forces, overran al-Qaeda’s cave hideouts yesterday and demanded unconditional surrender when fleeing remnants of Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network said they were ready to give up. Mohammed Zaman, defence chief for the tribal eastern alliance, declared a ceasefire and demanded that the al-Qaeda force walk out of the Tora Bora and Milawa valleys in eastern Afghanistan by 11.30am today or face a new attack. He said they must submit to international prosecution," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"The world’s Islamic countries meeting in Qatar found a new realism in the aftermath of the Sept 11 terror attacks and, dropping the usual anti-Zionist rhetoric, opted for diplomatic action directed at Washington to contain the Israeli military offensive. The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in a final statement issued late on Monday called on the US administration to implement the positive elements of its new support for a Palestinian state," reported the AFP news service.
"Dozens of Taliban who surrendered to the Northern Alliance died while being transported to a prison in sealed shipping containers, the New York Times reported yesterday. The prisoners, many of them foreign fighters, died during the two- to three-day journey from Kunduz to Shibarghan, Afghanistan, witnesses in Shibarghan told the newspaper. On Saturday, Northern Alliance commander Colonel-General Jurabek said 43 prisoners had died from injuries or asphyxiation in six containers, while three others died from wounds after their arrival in Shibarghan. Several Pakistani prisoners, however, told the daily that many more people had died in the containers. One prisoner said all but seven people died from lack of air in his container, estimating the number dead at more than 100," reported the AFP news service.
"America paused to remember the three-month anniversary yesterday of the Sept 11 attacks, with New York firefighters bowing their heads at ground zero and President George W. Bush vowing the nation wouldnever forget those who died,' reported the Reuters news agency.
"Afghanistan’s interim leader Hamid Karzai, set to assume power on Dec 22, warned the United States to never again walk away from Afghanistan and pledged his country will be a trusted ally and friend, the Washington Post reported yesterday. Karzai issued the warning during an interview in Kandahar, also telling reporters he fully supports US efforts to capture or kill members of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network. We must finish them all, completely burn them out," reported the Reuters news agency.
"A French Moroccan who has been detained in the terrorism investigation since raising suspicions by seeking flight lessons a month before the Sept 11 attacks has been indicted, officials said yesterday. The officials, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, said Zacarias Moussaoui was charged with multiple conspiracy counts," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"The Northern Alliance favours an international security force of 1,000 soldiers here that will limit itself to guarding the premises of the new interim government, a defence ministry spokesman said yesterday. Incoming Defence Minister Mohammad Qasim Fahim, a senior alliance figure, delivered this message to the top UN envoy for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, in talks here on Tuesday, said spokesman Barna Salihi," reported the AFP news service.
"A 26-year-old Australian trained in terrorism by Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network has been captured fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan, Australian officials said yesterday. The 26-year-old, named by news reports yesterday night as David Hicks from Adelaide, was captured by Northern Alliance troops in Afghanistan on or around Dec 9, the federal government said yesterday," reported the AFP news service.
"It will be a grave disaster if the United States were to send ground troops to South-East Asia after terrorists with supposed links with the al-Qaeda, an American professor said yesterday. Instead, American policy-makers should talk to the Malaysian, Indonesian and Philippine governments to solve these problems on their own, said Dr Karl Jackson of the Johns Hopkins University. It is in America’s interest to have a stronger Asean but it will not be able to do this if it enters the area with troops," reported The Star newspaper of Malaysia.
"An American Taliban fighter being held by Marines in Afghanistan has told US intelligence officials the al-Qaeda extremist network plans to launch a biological attack against the United States within days, the Washington Times reported yesterday. John Walker Lindh, 20, captured with other Taliban fighters near Mazar-e-Sharif earlier this month, told intelligence debriefers at a Marine Corps base near Kandahar where he is being held that Phase II of al Qaeda’s war on the United States would occur at the end of Ramadan," reported The Star newspaper of Malaysia.
"Expecting the capture of valuable prisoners, the Pentagon is building a detention centre in Afghanistan and planning for how prisoners will be handled. Marines at Camp Rhino, a makeshift desert base in southern Afghanistan, began building a detention centre over the weekend. As of Tuesday, they said they were holding only one person American John Walker, who was found among Taliban fighters at a northern prison. The Camp Rhino facility will be used to interrogate prisoners captured by American or Afghan forces as well as temporarily hold prisoners who will be transferred elsewhere to be judged," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"An undetermined number of Kuwaitis who managed to escape the fighting in Afghanistan and return back home are being held by Kuwait security authorities, al-Siyassa newspaper reported on Tuesday. State security arrested the Kuwaitis two days ago after they fled from Afghanistan through Iran, and then onward to the Gulf state. Meanwhile an Islamist member of Kuwait’s National Assembly, Waleed al-Tabtabai, condemned the silence of Arab and Muslim nations with regard to the fate young Arab men who went to Afghanistan to fight for the Taliban rulers there," reported the dpa news agency.
"Some 70 wounded Arab supporters of the Taliban were slaughtered in their hospital beds in Kandahar after the city fell to the anti-Taliban tribal forces, a published report said on Tuesday," the Pakistani newspaper Jang said.
"Israel severed all contact with Yasser Arafat early Thursday, launching retaliatory air strikes on his West Bank headquarters and sending troops to surround Palestinian towns after militants killed 10 more Israelis in a bus ambush. Palestinian violence and Israeli retaliation could wreck U.S. efforts to arrange a truce. The Israeli Security Cabinet ruled out talks with Arafat hours after Arafat bowed to long-standing Israeli demands and ordered the offices of the militant Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups closed, but did not outlaw them. The Cabinet statement said Arafat was 'directly responsible for the attacks and therefore is no longer relevant to Israel, and Israel will no longer have any connection with him'," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"The Palestinian's chief negotiator, Saeb Erakat, accused Sharon of trying to kill Arafat and destroy the Mideast peace process. 'Israel is dismantling this Palestinian Authority,' Erakat said. 'Arafat's being associated with terror. And now, what's next? Is the objective to kill Yasser Arafat? I believe that's what Sharon is doing. I believe he is dismantling the Palestinian Authority. I believe he's destroying the peace process and he is undermining everything'," reported CNN.
"Kuala Lumpur will host a conference on terrorism for the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) next year to provide members a platform to discuss the issue at length. Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad had earlier proposed the matter to OIC members and it was accepted. Last week Malaysia’s call for a UN-organised conference failed to gain support despite heightened terrorist attacks and the international war against terrorism," reported The Star newspaper of Malaysia.
The United States yesterday released an alleged videotape of Osama bin Laden in which the Saudi-born militant said he was the most optimistic of his colleagues about the damage that would be done to the World Trade Centre in the Sept 11 attacks. US officials say the tape, released by the Pentagon and accompanied by an official US government translation, proves Osama was responsible for the attacks that killed nearly 3,300 people. "(Inaudible) we calculated in advance the number of casualties from the enemy, who would be killed based on the position of the tower," Osama says in the US translation. "We calculated that the floors that would be hit would be three or four floors. I was the most optimistic of them all." Osama said. "(Inaudible) due to my experience in this field, I was thinking that the fire from the gas in the plane would melt the iron structure of the building and collapse the area where the plane hit and all the floors above it only. "This is all that we had hoped for," he said. US officials say they are convinced the tape is not a fake or staged. However, its amateur quality made some segments difficult to understand, reported the Reuters news agency.
"US planes bombed trapped fighters loyal to Osama bin Laden in eastern Afghanistan yesterday as the whereabouts of the man himself remained a mystery. With his al-Qaeda forces apparently refusing to surrender, newspapers reported variously that the Saudi-born militant blamed for the Sept 11 attacks on the United States had fled to neighbouring Pakistan or was still with his men. US planes pounded the mainly Arab al-Qaeda fighters holed up in caves and bunkers in the jagged Spin Ghar mountains near here," reported the Reuters news agency.
"The Christian Science Monitor, quoting a Saudi financier and senior operative in Osama’s al-Qaeda network, reported the militant left his besieged base here and entered Pakistan 10 days ago with the help of Ghilzi tribesmen."
"US authorities on Wednesday charged two leaders of a Jewish militant group with plotting to bomb a series of high-profile Islamic or Arab-American targets here. The plot was thwarted when the chairman of the Jewish Defence League (JDL) Irv Rubin, 56, and another JDL leader Earl Krugel were arrested late Tuesday in a raid by anti-terrorism officers after an informant alerted investigators. The two were allegedly planning to blow up The King Fahd mosque in the Culver City area, the offices of the Muslim Public Affairs Council here and the offices of Arab-American Congressman Darrell Issa, he said. 'The bombing plot developed to the point that explosive powder was delivered to Krugel’s house last night,' US attorney John Gordon told a press conference," according to the AFP news agency.
President George W. Bush announced yesterday the United States is pulling out of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty, over Moscow’s objections, in order to deploy a missile defence system. "I have concluded the ABM treaty hinders our government’s ability to develop ways to protect our people from future terrorists or rogue state missile attacks," Bush declared under grey skies in the White House Rose Garden.
"France demanded on Wednesday that the United States not execute a Frenchman charged with plotting the Sept 11 attacks even if a US federal court finds Zacarias Moussaoui guilty on terrorism charges. Highlighting possible tensions between Washington and its European partners in the campaign against terrorism, Justice Minister Marylise Lebranchu said Paris would not accept the death penalty for Moussaoui, a Frenchman of Moroccan descent. 'Of course, no person benefiting from French consular protection should be executed', she said," according to the Reuters news agency
"Tests revealed traces of anthrax on a U.S. State Department mail pouch in Vienna, Austria, department spokesman Richard Boucher said Thursday. Mail pouches bound for the U.S. embassy's in Lima, Peru, and Vilnius, Lithuania also tested positive for traces of anthrax last month," reported CNN.
"Malaysia has called on the world’s superpowers and the United Nations to take firm action to curb aggression against Palestinians. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad said without such action, the aggression and retaliation that had occurred in the West Bank would never end. The rash retaliatory actions by the Israelis, to the extent of attempting to kill Arafat and the world remaining silent as if the world allowed such attempts planned by a certain regime does not help the situation, he added. Dr Mahathir said that when Israeli soldiers killed Palestinians using sophisticated weapons, the world allowed it but when the Palestinians took revenge individually, without the permission of Arafat, it was regarded as terrorism and the leader was blamed for it," reported The Star newspaper of Malaysia
"The Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, told Muslim diplomats here yesterday that Muslims countries were weak because they dwelled on inconsequential and irrelevant issues on Islam instead of acquiring new technologies and knowledge. Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad said that even in the past, Muslim empires were weakened because they were too embroiled over squabbles on what was Islamic and what was not. He said that throughout the Muslim world there was no concentration on acquiring knowledge and skills to compete with developed countries. This is why Muslim countries are backward, not because Islam tells its followers not to be knowledgeable, he said, adding that their failure to acquire skills and knowledge rendered them weak and led to their oppression by stronger countries. Dr Mahathir said Muslims countries talked a lot about the brotherhood of Islam but after that they fought with each other. He said the disunity was not only between Muslim countries but also within them," reported The Star of Malaysia.
"Washington says a videotape it released on Thursday, showing a gloating Osama in conversation with his followers, proves beyond doubt that he masterminded the Sept 11 attacks. Its allies were quick to judge the videotape to be final proof of Osama’s guilt, but in the Arab world many dismissed the footage as a propaganda fake. In Washington, President George W. Bush called it preposterous to question the authenticity of the tape and said bluntly he wanted Osama: 'Dead or alive, either way'. Those who contend it’s a farce or a fake are hoping for the best about an evil man. This is Osama unedited. This is Osama, the Osama who murdered the people. This is a man who sent innocent people to their death. Here’s a man who is so devious and so cold-hearted that he laughs about the so-called suicide bombers that lost their lives, he said. It is preposterous for anybody to think that this tape is doctored. That’s just a feeble excuse to provide weak support for an incredibly evil man. I had mixed emotions about this tape because there’s a lot of people who suffered as a result of his evil. And I was hesitant to allow there to be a vivid reminder of their loss and tragedy displayed on our TVs. On the other hand I knew that the tape would be a devastating declaration of guilt for this evil person, he said," reported the Associated Press news agency.
"Belgium said yesterday that the European Union has agreed to form a multinational peacekeeping force for Afghanistan but other EU countries immediately cast doubt on his surprise announcement. Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel, calling the move a turning point in the history of the European Union, told a news conference the force, in which all 15 EU member states would be involved, would number between 3,000 and 4,000. US foreign policy chief Javier Solana was more cautious, saying the force would probably be led by Britain, with other EU states participating and would require legitimacy from a United Nations resolution. German, Austrian and British officials denied any knowledge of an agreement to send a joint EU force and suggested Michel’s statement might be an attempt to put a pan-European veneer on efforts by several member states," reportd the Reuters news agency.
"Britain’s parliament approved early yesterday a package of emergency anti-terror legislation which includes the right to intern foreign suspects without trial. Home Secretary David Blunkett hopes to have the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Bill, drawn up in the wake of the Sept 11 attacks, in force by Christmas," reported the AFP news service.
"With the Taliban out of the way, Afghans are anticipating their most joyous end to the Muslim fasting month in five years, stocking up with cookies, chocolate, dried fruit and, something unthinkable a year ago, Western-style suits. People are going crazy, said Kabul baker Fawad Asghari as he savoured the extra business for Aidilfitri, the traditional end to the Ramadan fasting month," reported the AFP news service.
"A federal judge here ordered on Thursday that Zacarias Moussaoui, the first man indicted in connection with the deadly Sept 11 terror attacks, be transferred to Virginia to face trial there. Moussaoui has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia, on six charges, including conspiracy to commit terrorist acts, destroy aircraft and murder US employees, to conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction. He faces the death penalty on four of those counts," reported the AFP news service.
"Reaction to the Osama bin Laden tape highlighted the polarisation between the United States and the Arab world. New Yorkers unquestioningly saw it as an admittance of guilt while in Cairo, Beirut and the sizeable Arab population here, the view was that the tape had been doctored.In contrast with the sense in New York that the final piece of evidence had been gathered, many Arabs expressed concern that the tape might have been tampered with by the US administration, pointing to the many pauses, coughs and indistinguishable parts of the discussion. Some Arabs claimed that the man in the video was an actor. Jordanian political analyst Labib Kamhawi said the video at most showed Osama praising the attacks, but did not prove that Osama was responsible forthe Sept 11 attacks. An Arab ambassador based here watched the tape with his embassy staff, straining to hear the Arabic and trying to read Osama’s lips. He said there could be nuances that were not apparent in the English translation. He could not be sure from what he had seen whether Osama had admitted to the attacks or was commenting on them. The ambassador said he believed the tape would play badly with most Arabs," reported the Guardian newspaper in Britain.
