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Rabbani arrives in Kabul
US shows no pause during Ramazan

ISLAMABAD, Nov 17: Amidst conflicting reports of Taliban withdrawal from their stronghold of Kandahar, former Afghanistan President Burhanuddin Rabbani arrived today in Kabul, four days after it was captured by opposition forces, even as US warplanes, showing no pause despite the beginning of Ramazan, pounded militia positions in Kunduz and Kandahar.

The home of a key Taliban commander Jalaluddin Haqqani and a seminary were bombed near the eastern town of Khost, leaving two people dead and many others wounded, Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) news agency said.

Taliban also confirmed that Osama bin Laden’s deputy Mohammad Atef was killed among seven Al Qaeda members in a US attack three days ago.

Atef is suspected of helping to plan the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon that killed thousands. He directly planned the embassy bombings in Africa in 1998 that killed 224 people, according to a US indictment that charged him with murder.

Another Taliban Pashtun leader Hamid Karzai told BBC that convoys of Taliban were leaving their main power base Kandihar and moving towards the north. Aid agencies with close links to the region also reported that Taliban forces were moving out of Kandahar.

However, a spokesman of Taliban foreign ministry said Kandahar was in the "complete control" of the militia and reports of the withdrawal of Taliban were "baseless."

Taliban denied that their leader Mullah Mohammad Omar has agreed to surrender the control of Kandahar.

AIP last night reported that Mullah Omar had ordered a pullout from Kandahar to turn it over to two local Pushtun leaders.

Taliban’s request for an intervention to negotiate the surrender of over 20,000 fighters, mostly Arabs and Pakistanis, surrounded by Northern Alliance forces in the militia’s only remaining northern Kunduz province, has been rejected by the world body.

Some Taliban diplomats approached UN officials who expressed their inability to do so saying they were not equipped to negotiate the surrender as they had no presence in Afghanistan, media reported here.

Despite Ramazan US warplanes bombed Taliban positions in Kandahas and Kunduz, where upto 3,000 fighters, thought to be mainly Arabs and Pakistanis, remained encircled by Northern Alliance forces. Taliban also retreated from southwest Farah province and moved to neighbouring Helmund.

With various factions vying for power, Rabbani, who was driven out of power in 1993 by Taliban, arrived in Kabul in a jeep with black windows in a convoy of 15 vehicles accompanied by heavily armed guards.

Representatives of other factions which make up the Northern Alliance were with him in the convoy.

Amidst hectic international diplomatic efforts to establish a transitional administration in Afghanistan, UN envoy Francesc Vendrell arrived in Kabul to persuade all Afghan factions to participate in UN-backed conference next week to discuss the future of the war-ravaged country.

The UN has held out against granting Rabbani any special status and has been trying to set up talks outside Afghanistan.

Vendrell, in an interview to BBC, said that while Rabbani remained head of the Islamic state of Afghanistan, that did no necessarily mean he would be the new President.

Although UN and majority of countries still recognise Rabbani as the country’s President, many Afghan groups reject his authority.

Fears are growing that power vacuum left by Taliban’s removal will plunge Afghanistan into a chaotic power struggle among war lords and rival ethnic groupings.

Vendrell’s warning that Rabbani is not assured of the leadership came after Russia announced that it was also sending a delegation to Afghanistan to make contact with the Northern Alliance. Russia’s Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov has described Northern Alliance as Afghanistan’s legitimate Government.

Northern Alliance said they are ready to hold a gathering of traditional Afghan leaders outside the capital Kabul to set up a provisional administration.

The Alliance also said they do not want foreign troops on the Afghan soil following the arrival of British forces at the Bagram airport, north of Kabul, to secure the area for aid deliveries.

British commandos are operating at the Bagram airbase north of here without the agreement of the Northern Alliance, opposition defence minister Mohammad Quassim Fahim said.

"The British forces perhaps have an agreement with the UN but not with us," he said. In Washington, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld cautioned that despite their recent losses, "the Taliban are still there."-

He said American special forces are active in Afghanistan shooting Taliban fighters and members of Al Qaeda network.

"They are killing Taliban that won’t surrender and Al Qaeda that are trying to move from one place to another, he told reporters.

The Defence Secretary also said there was every reason to believe that Osama bin Laden was still in Afghanistan. (PTI)

6 BSF men injured in Tral encounter
BSF cook, militant, ex-militant killed

Excelsior Correspondent

SRINAGAR, Nov 17: While as six BSF personnel sustained injuries in a militant attack in Tral, one BSF personnel, one militant and one former militant died in different militancy-related incidents in Kashmir valley today.

Informed sources told EXCELSIOR that this afternoon militants lobbed a hand grenade on a BSF cavalcade at Magam, on Srinagar-Tangmarg road, when men of Nishat-based BSF 40 Bn were on way to their training camp in Tangmarg. The grenade fell inside the targeted vehicle and exploded. BSF’s cook, Aneek Raj died on spot and five soldiers sustained critical injuries. They were all rushed to hospital. Fearing retaliatory firing, people at the crowded bus-stand ran helter skelter. However, troops observed restraint and there was no reaction.

In wee hours today, a group of four militants attacked a camp of BSF 120 Bn near SOG headquarters at Tral. Militants fired grenades and made unsuccessful attempts to storm the formation. However, the vigilant sentries retaliated gunfire and forced the militants retreat. Blood-stains outside indicated that one militant escaped with gunshot wounds. Two BSF men sustained splinter injuries and four more were injured due to falling and crawling.

Reports from Tral added that BSF disarmed and took in custody for questioning three Auxilliary Police guards posted at the nearby Munsiff Court. Police officials have expressed their resentment but the guards had not been let off till late in the afternoon.

Later in the day, militants ambushed a patrol party of BSF 138 Bn at Pastoona, Wagad, in Tral area. BSF and the militants exchanged fire for half-an-hour. Militants were chased away but they managed to escape unharmed.

Reports from Budgam said troops of Rashtriya Rifles 35 claimed to have killed one Abdur Rasheed Ganai of Chak Sheer in an encounter at Mujpathri Raiyar. He was described as a militant.

Official sources said that in wee hours today, troops of RR 22 Bn in ambush opened fire on a suspicious movement at Hadipora, in Sopore area. One person died on spot. Later, he was identified as Khizar Mohammad Khan S/o Noor Khan of Narihal, Rafeeabad. Inquiries revealed that he was a petty timber-smuggler who was returning on horseback to his village.

Sources said that last evening unidentified gunmen shot dead a former militant of Hizbul Mujahideen, Abdur Rasheed Parray S/o Habibullah Parray of Tulmulla near Baba Hyder Sahib shrine when he was returning to his home in Ganderbal area. While as an official bulletin held the militants responsible for the killing, a Hurriyat statement alleged that Parray had been ambushed and gunned down by men of CIB. The statement claimed that a large number of people participated in Parray’s funeral and staged protest against CIB for killing an innocent person.