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suspectclass) wrote2001-10-07 03:14 pm
suspectclass) wrote2001-10-07 03:14 pm
Chicago Tribune
By AMIR SHAH
The Associated Press
Published October 7, 2001, 3:01 PM CDT
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Thunderous explosions rocked the Afghan capital on Sunday night as the United States and Britain launched a military attack in Afghanistan. The country's ruling Taliban militia declared the assault a "terrorist attack" and said Osama bin Laden and the Taliban's leader had survived.
The strike began after nightfall Sunday in Kabul with five thunderous blasts followed by the sounds of anti-aircraft fire. Electricity was shut off throughout the city for more than two hours afterward.
The southern Afghan city of Kandahar, headquarters of the Taliban and home of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, was also hit and the airport control tower was damaged, a Taliban source said by telephone. The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said several explosions occurred in the eastern city of Jalalabad but he did not have further details.
Without citing sources, Qatar's Al-Jazeera television said the strikes destroyed the Taliban headquarters in Kandahar. Al-Jazeera is often one of the first sources of information on bin Laden.
In Pakistan, Taliban ambassador Abdul Salam Zaeef told reporters that bin Laden, the main suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks, and Mullah Omar survived.
"By the grace of God, Mullah Omar and bin Laden are alive," Zaeef said. He did not elaborate and did not say whether either leader was near the scene of the Sunday attacks.
In Washington, Pentagon officials said the United States and Great Britain launched 50 cruise missiles against terrorist targets inside Afghanistan in an attack that also involved the most sophisticated U.S. warplanes. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said an initial goal of the strikes was to render air defenses ineffective and to wipe out the Taliban's military aircraft.
Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said 15 bombers and 25 strike aircraft, both sea and land-based, launched the missiles at 12:30 p.m. EDT, or 9 p.m. Kabul time. Myers, sworn into office less than a week ago, said the attacks included B-1, B-2 and B-52 bombers as well as ships and submarines in the region.
President Bush gave a live televised address after the strikes began, saying U.S. and British forces are taking "targeted actions" against Taliban military capabilities and bin Laden's al-Qaida network.
In the days following the strikes at the World Trade Center and Pentagon, the president had issued a series of demands for the Taliban to hand over bin Laden, a Saudi exile. The Taliban offered to negotiate but refused a handover.
"Now the Taliban will pay a price," Bush vowed.
A senior Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said targets included air defenses, military communications sites and terrorist training camps inside Afghanistan.
Power went off throughout Kabul almost immediately after the first of the thunderous blasts, which appeared to have been in the southwest of the city. The southwestern part of Kabul includes the Darulaman Palace, an ancient royal residence, and the Balahisar Fort, an old Mogul style installation.
The firing tapered off for a few minutes but resumed after a jet aircraft could be heard passing over the city.
The private, Islamabad-based Afghan Islamic Press agency quoted the Taliban as saying American planes had bombed areas near the Kabul airport in the northern part of the city. The agency said there were no details of casualties and no reports of damage to the city itself. It added, however, that "huge smoke is rising near Kabul airport."
In a statement carried by Afghan Islamic Press, an unnamed Taliban spokesman in Kandahar said all provincial airports in the country appeared to have been targeted "but we have not suffered any major damage." He said U.S. forces attacked Osama bin Laden's former residence in Kandahar, located near the airport.
Electricity was restored in Kabul more than two hours after the attack and the city was quiet, with no sign of panic. Kabul's one million people are inured to war after more than two decades of relentless fighting that has destroyed most of the city.
In their first official reaction, the Taliban called the assault a terrorist attack and vowed that America "will never achieve its goal." The statement was issued by Zaeef, the ambassador to Pakistan.
Also Sunday, Al-Jazeera carried a tape which showed bin Laden praising God for the Sept. 11 attacks and saying the United States "was hit by God in one of its softest spots."
The tape, released after the U.S. and British strikes began, showed bin Laden dressed in fatigues and an Afghan headdress. It appeared to be daylight, which would mean that the tape was made before the nighttime attack today.
"America is full of fear from its north to its south, from its west to its east. Thank God for that," bin Laden said on the tape.
"Millions of innocent children are being killed in Iraq and in Palestine and we don't hear a word from the infidels. We don't hear a raised voice," he continued. "When the sword falls on the United States, they cry for their children and they cry for there people. The least you can say about these people is that they are sinners. They have helped evil triumph over good.
"I swear to God that America will never dream of security or see it before we live it and see it in Palestine, and not before the infidel's armies leave the land of Muhammad, peace be upon him."
The Pakistani government, which has thrown its support to the U.S.-led coalition against terrorism, said it regretted that diplomatic efforts did not succeed and called for the U.S. action to remain "clearly targeted."
Pakistan had been the Taliban's closest ally until the Sept. 11 attacks. But Pakistani defense ministry officials confirmed that Pakistan's airspace was used by U.S. and British forces to launch attacks Sunday night, and in Chaman vehicles carrying Pakistani soldiers could be seen heading for the Afghan border.
Not all in Pakistan were behind the strikes, however. The influential and Taliban-sympathetic Afghan Defense Council, based in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore, issued a call for "jihad," or holy war. The council comprises more than 30 religious and militant groups.
"It is the duty of every Muslim to support their brothers in this critical hour," central leader Riaz Durana said. "We will support the Taliban physically and morally against the aggression of America."
Earlier today, the Taliban had made an 11th-hour appeal to prevent U.S. attacks: They offered to detain bin Laden and try him under Islamic law if the United States made a formal request. The Bush administration quickly rejected the Taliban proposal, with White House spokesman Scott McClellan saying Bush's demands "are clear and nonnegotiable."
Washington has also rejected Afghanistan's attempt to use eight jailed foreign aid workers as bargaining chips to pressure the United States to halt its planned anti-terrorist offensive. The eight aid workers in Kabul -- four Germans, two Americans and two Australians -- were arrested in August on charges of trying to convert Muslims to Christianity.
In a statement before the U.S. attacks began, the Taliban said they had sent thousands of troops to the border with Uzbekistan, whose president has allowed U.S. troops use of an air base for the anti-terrorism campaign.
Those claims about sending troops to the Uzbekistan border could not be independently verified.
However, Russia's Interfax news agency reported Saturday that Taliban troops were moving long-range artillery and multiple rocket launchers toward the border. More than 10 guns and rocket launchers had moved within range of the Uzbek border town of Termez, Interfax said, quoting Afghan opposition sources.
The Taliban are estimated to have some 40,000 fighters -- around a quarter of them from bin Laden's organization -- and many of those are involved in fighting a coalition of opposition forces in northern Afghanistan. The Taliban's enemies had made little progress against the larger, better-armed Taliban, but their fortunes have been bolstered since the Sept. 11 attacks with a decision by Russia to step up weapons shipments.
Copyright © 2001, The Associated Press
The Associated Press
Published October 7, 2001, 3:01 PM CDT
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Thunderous explosions rocked the Afghan capital on Sunday night as the United States and Britain launched a military attack in Afghanistan. The country's ruling Taliban militia declared the assault a "terrorist attack" and said Osama bin Laden and the Taliban's leader had survived.
The strike began after nightfall Sunday in Kabul with five thunderous blasts followed by the sounds of anti-aircraft fire. Electricity was shut off throughout the city for more than two hours afterward.
The southern Afghan city of Kandahar, headquarters of the Taliban and home of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, was also hit and the airport control tower was damaged, a Taliban source said by telephone. The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said several explosions occurred in the eastern city of Jalalabad but he did not have further details.
Without citing sources, Qatar's Al-Jazeera television said the strikes destroyed the Taliban headquarters in Kandahar. Al-Jazeera is often one of the first sources of information on bin Laden.
In Pakistan, Taliban ambassador Abdul Salam Zaeef told reporters that bin Laden, the main suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks, and Mullah Omar survived.
"By the grace of God, Mullah Omar and bin Laden are alive," Zaeef said. He did not elaborate and did not say whether either leader was near the scene of the Sunday attacks.
In Washington, Pentagon officials said the United States and Great Britain launched 50 cruise missiles against terrorist targets inside Afghanistan in an attack that also involved the most sophisticated U.S. warplanes. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said an initial goal of the strikes was to render air defenses ineffective and to wipe out the Taliban's military aircraft.
Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said 15 bombers and 25 strike aircraft, both sea and land-based, launched the missiles at 12:30 p.m. EDT, or 9 p.m. Kabul time. Myers, sworn into office less than a week ago, said the attacks included B-1, B-2 and B-52 bombers as well as ships and submarines in the region.
President Bush gave a live televised address after the strikes began, saying U.S. and British forces are taking "targeted actions" against Taliban military capabilities and bin Laden's al-Qaida network.
In the days following the strikes at the World Trade Center and Pentagon, the president had issued a series of demands for the Taliban to hand over bin Laden, a Saudi exile. The Taliban offered to negotiate but refused a handover.
"Now the Taliban will pay a price," Bush vowed.
A senior Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said targets included air defenses, military communications sites and terrorist training camps inside Afghanistan.
Power went off throughout Kabul almost immediately after the first of the thunderous blasts, which appeared to have been in the southwest of the city. The southwestern part of Kabul includes the Darulaman Palace, an ancient royal residence, and the Balahisar Fort, an old Mogul style installation.
The firing tapered off for a few minutes but resumed after a jet aircraft could be heard passing over the city.
The private, Islamabad-based Afghan Islamic Press agency quoted the Taliban as saying American planes had bombed areas near the Kabul airport in the northern part of the city. The agency said there were no details of casualties and no reports of damage to the city itself. It added, however, that "huge smoke is rising near Kabul airport."
In a statement carried by Afghan Islamic Press, an unnamed Taliban spokesman in Kandahar said all provincial airports in the country appeared to have been targeted "but we have not suffered any major damage." He said U.S. forces attacked Osama bin Laden's former residence in Kandahar, located near the airport.
Electricity was restored in Kabul more than two hours after the attack and the city was quiet, with no sign of panic. Kabul's one million people are inured to war after more than two decades of relentless fighting that has destroyed most of the city.
In their first official reaction, the Taliban called the assault a terrorist attack and vowed that America "will never achieve its goal." The statement was issued by Zaeef, the ambassador to Pakistan.
Also Sunday, Al-Jazeera carried a tape which showed bin Laden praising God for the Sept. 11 attacks and saying the United States "was hit by God in one of its softest spots."
The tape, released after the U.S. and British strikes began, showed bin Laden dressed in fatigues and an Afghan headdress. It appeared to be daylight, which would mean that the tape was made before the nighttime attack today.
"America is full of fear from its north to its south, from its west to its east. Thank God for that," bin Laden said on the tape.
"Millions of innocent children are being killed in Iraq and in Palestine and we don't hear a word from the infidels. We don't hear a raised voice," he continued. "When the sword falls on the United States, they cry for their children and they cry for there people. The least you can say about these people is that they are sinners. They have helped evil triumph over good.
"I swear to God that America will never dream of security or see it before we live it and see it in Palestine, and not before the infidel's armies leave the land of Muhammad, peace be upon him."
The Pakistani government, which has thrown its support to the U.S.-led coalition against terrorism, said it regretted that diplomatic efforts did not succeed and called for the U.S. action to remain "clearly targeted."
Pakistan had been the Taliban's closest ally until the Sept. 11 attacks. But Pakistani defense ministry officials confirmed that Pakistan's airspace was used by U.S. and British forces to launch attacks Sunday night, and in Chaman vehicles carrying Pakistani soldiers could be seen heading for the Afghan border.
Not all in Pakistan were behind the strikes, however. The influential and Taliban-sympathetic Afghan Defense Council, based in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore, issued a call for "jihad," or holy war. The council comprises more than 30 religious and militant groups.
"It is the duty of every Muslim to support their brothers in this critical hour," central leader Riaz Durana said. "We will support the Taliban physically and morally against the aggression of America."
Earlier today, the Taliban had made an 11th-hour appeal to prevent U.S. attacks: They offered to detain bin Laden and try him under Islamic law if the United States made a formal request. The Bush administration quickly rejected the Taliban proposal, with White House spokesman Scott McClellan saying Bush's demands "are clear and nonnegotiable."
Washington has also rejected Afghanistan's attempt to use eight jailed foreign aid workers as bargaining chips to pressure the United States to halt its planned anti-terrorist offensive. The eight aid workers in Kabul -- four Germans, two Americans and two Australians -- were arrested in August on charges of trying to convert Muslims to Christianity.
In a statement before the U.S. attacks began, the Taliban said they had sent thousands of troops to the border with Uzbekistan, whose president has allowed U.S. troops use of an air base for the anti-terrorism campaign.
Those claims about sending troops to the Uzbekistan border could not be independently verified.
However, Russia's Interfax news agency reported Saturday that Taliban troops were moving long-range artillery and multiple rocket launchers toward the border. More than 10 guns and rocket launchers had moved within range of the Uzbek border town of Termez, Interfax said, quoting Afghan opposition sources.
The Taliban are estimated to have some 40,000 fighters -- around a quarter of them from bin Laden's organization -- and many of those are involved in fighting a coalition of opposition forces in northern Afghanistan. The Taliban's enemies had made little progress against the larger, better-armed Taliban, but their fortunes have been bolstered since the Sept. 11 attacks with a decision by Russia to step up weapons shipments.
Copyright © 2001, The Associated Press