TUESDAY, NOV.27, 2001
WAR ON TERRORISM
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 5A
Reformed government focus of talks
The Associated Press
KOENIGSWINTER, Germany — Afghan factions can expect no aid for rebuilding their war-ravaged country unless they agree on a broad-based government, a senior U.S. official said yesterday on the eve of U.N.-sponsored talks.
"Until there is a government that is broadly representative and recognized by us, there's not going to be any reconstruction assistance," said the official, who is close to the talks and spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity.
When formal talks start today, the four Afghan delegations gathering at a stately mansion overlooking the Rhine River face intense international pressure to reach a consensus on Afghanistan's political future.
Eighteen nations, including the United States and Britain, are exerting influence from the corridors, and the U.N. representative for
Afghanistan said yesterday that the four groups must decide quickly on a security force and an interim administration. Ahmad Fawzi's comments came amid fears that the eventual fall of the last Taliban stronghold — Kandahar — would ignite infighting among the northern alliance.
Some of the 32 delegates arrived early and started informal discussions Sunday, including those representing ex-King Mohammad Zaher Shah and a group of exiles based in Cyprus. Those conversations continued yesterday.
The delegates will spend the duration of the talks at Petersberg, perched on a hilltop above the former German capital of Bonn and reached by a single road. The secluded location was chosen not only for security reasons, but also to remove the delegations from what Fawzi called "daily pressures." a
move the United Nations hopes will give them perspective to reach a consensus.
The United States hopes the promise of billions in aid will help bring about a power-sharing accord among the four groups: the ex-king's supporters, the Cyprus group, another exile group based in the Pakistani city of Peshawar and the northern alliance warlords who are regaining control of Afghanistan from the Taliban.
Fawzi said the United Nations was imposing no conditions on the Afghans.
At the White House, spokesman Ari Fleischer said that while President Bush believes the formation of the government of Afghanistan should be up to the Afghan people, he also wants "to make certain that there is a multiethnic group that governs Afghanistan and that includes women."
© 2001 KRT ITALY
Source: Reuters, Los Angeles Times
Marines sent in to limit Taliban movement
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The mission of the U.S. Marines in Afghanistan is to cut off escape routes for Taliban and al-Qaida leaders, pinpoint targets for air strikes and conduct quick-strike ground attacks when the chance arises.
At a Pentagon news conference yesterday, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said the Marines had been sent in to "help pressure the Taliban forces in Afghanistan, to prevent Taliban and al-Qaida terrorists from moving freely about the country." He said the Marines would number in the "hundreds, not thousands."
Others said about 1,000 Marines would be involved. The last time that many had been put on the ground in a war zone was in the 1991 Gulf War, although Marines played a role in Somalia in 1993 as well as in Balkans peacekeeping operations.
Rumsfeld was reluctant to discuss the Marines' role in detail, but it appeared they may not be a traditional ground force that seeks contact with enemy troops — like the Marines' Gulf War push into Kuwait to oust an occupying Iraqi army.
Instead they may focus mainly on blocking roadways leading away
from the southern city of Kandahar rather than assault the city itself in search of fighters. In this way they could make it harder for enemy forces to resupply, regroup or escape across the Pakistani border.
Gen. Tommy Franks, commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, wanted the Marines in southern Afghanistan as part of a broader strategy of blocking roadways, Rumsfeld said.
Rumsfeld stressed that the Marine base could be used for a variety of missions.
In an early indication of their role Marines attacked an armored column with Cobra helicopters last night in
the vicinity of their new base. It is the Marines' training in the coordinated use of ground and air power that makes them especially useful in this kind of war.
The Marines also emphasize special operations missions including hostage rescue, demolition, countererrorism and recovery of downed aircraft.
They join several hundred U.S. Army and Air Force special operations troops who have been working alongside anti-Taliban forces throughout Afghanistan — most effectively in the north — for weeks.
Caves, mountains may harbor a hidden Bin Laden
The Associated Press
JALALABAD. Afghanistan — Rumors of Osama bin Laden's whereabouts abound among Afghans.
Local militia leaders in eastern Afghanistan suspect bin Laden may be holed up in a mountain base called Tora Bora, which veteran Afghan guerrillas describe as an impregnable fortress.
Built with U.S. aid during the Soviet occupation, Tora Bora sits about 35 miles south of Jalalabad, atop a 13,000-foot mountain, three hours by foot from the nearest road. Carved 1,150 feet into the mountain
are a series of rooms and tunnels that reportedly can house 1,000 people.
The caves have a ventilation system, and the Taliban have installed electrical wiring, using a hydroelectric generator powered by mountain runoff, said an Afghan who visited the complex six months ago with Arab fighters
Osama Bin Laden
However, Tora Bora is about 300 miles northeast of the Kandahar area, where hundreds of U.S. Marines began landing Sunday, which suggests that Washington has its eyes on other possible hiding places more accessible to the Taliban stronghold.
Mullah Mohammed Khaqzar, a former Taliban intelligence chief, said bin Laden and his Taliban allies might head for the towering mountains that rise up to the northwest of Kandahar beginning at Argandab.
beginning our American jets have also struck around Islam Dara, some 30 miles northwest of Kancanar.
Another possible destination could be Kajakai in neighboring Helmand province, where mountains tower nearly 10,000 feet.
tower nearly 10,000 feet Still, officials in Jalalabad stick by their theory that bin Laden is in Tora Bora. Hazrat Ali, a militia leader in charge of security around the eastern city of Jalalabad, said he had heard reports that bin Laden had been seen in Tora Bora as recently Wednesday.
However, Abdul Qadir, the new governor in Jalalabad, said he could not confirm reports that bin Laden, who visited Tora Bora in the 1980s, was hiding there.
Afghan children need more aid UNICEF says
The Associated Press
TEHRAN, Iran — As many as 100,000 Afghan children could die of cold, disease and hunger within weeks if vital aid doesn't reach them, the U.N. Children's Fund said yesterday.
Africa. Diseases spreading through refugee camps in western Afghanistan, near Iran, have claimed the lives of hundreds of children in the past few weeks, the organization said.
"Winter is approaching fast, and we need to move in emergency supplies even quicker in order to help the most vulnerable, the Afghan children and women, to survive these very cold conditions," said Thomas McDermott, UNICEF regional director for the Middle East and North Africa.
weeks the organization McDermott, who is overseeing UNICEF's Iran-based emergency operations in Afghanistan, said the organization's priorities are to conduct an "immunization program to prevent the spread of epidemic diseases, reactivate social services and getting Afghan children back to school."
McDermott said a plane carrying 33 tons of relief supplies for Afghan children landed Sunday in Mashhad, near the border in Iran. He said the supplies, including therapeutic milk, sweaters, boots and mattresses, would be trucked to Herat in western Afghanistan today.
Since the United States began bombing Afghanistan Oct. 7 in an effort to root out Ossama bin Laden's al-Qaida network and oust the Taliban from power, UNICEF has sent three convoys with 88 tons of relief supplies to Herat, McDermott said.
But he said delivering aid has been a major problem for staff of UNICEF and other groups because many drivers have been reluctant to travel on mountainous, icy Afghanistan roads and fear they will encounter retreating Taliban forces.
The Taliban held about 95 percent of Afghanistan before the U.S. attacks begin, but they have lost almost all of it this month to the Northern Alliance and other opponents.
In New York yesterday, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said U.N. missions scheduled to leave for Mazar-e-Sharif from Termez in Uzbekistan over the weekend were postponed because of "the prevailing insecurity in the north."
the prevailing Eckhard also said the U.N. High Commission for Refugees expressed its "extreme concern" about the plight of thousands of civilians in southern Afghanistan following renewed fighting there.
Before the U.S. attacks, Afghanistan was already suffering from decades of devastating war and years of drought that drove million from their homes, and the Taliban had made it increasingly difficult for international aid groups to operate there.
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