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Afghan government demands end to bombing Mark Oliver and agencies Friday December 28, 2001 Afghanistan's new government today demanded that the US cease its bombing raids once all the few remaining Taliban and al-Qaida bases have been destroyed. Speaking to Reuters, Mohammad Habeel, a spokesman for the Afghan defence ministry, said: "Their remaining forces are few in number and may be annihilated in a maximum of three days. Once this is done there is no need for continuation of the bombing." In its first air strike in three days, Washington said last night that its planes destroyed a compound used by the Taliban south-west of Kabul, but the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) said 25 villagers were killed by bombs in the same vicinity. The chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General Richard Myers, said the compound was near the town of Ghazni and that the US had "very good indications" Taliban leaders were inside. Meanwhile, Afghanistan's newly appointed deputy defence minister, warned of potential problems from the Taliban as "enemies inside". In an interview reported today by the Associated Press, General Rashid Dostum said that Taliban fighters who have "simply changed their turban colour" and melted into the population represent a threat to the stability of Afghanistan and its interim government. Arguably underlining his point, it was reported today by the AIP that unidentified assailants fired four rockets overnight at the eastern city of Jalalabad. Two rockets targeted a military installation, but there were no reported injuries, the news agency said. Gen Dostrum said: "The Taliban cannot wage war against us, but they can still create huge problems like committing acts of terrorism and kidnapping our people." The ethnic Uzbek warlord was a key member of the Northern Alliance that helped overthrow the Taliban and a major power broker in northern Afghanistan and its main city, Mazar-e-Sharif. His appointment on Monday was seen as an attempt by interim prime minister, Hamid Karzai, to bolster support for the transitional government, which took office last weekend. Gen Dostum had been angry because the key ministries all went to an ethnic Tajik group from the Panjshir valley. The new Afghan government claims terror suspect Osama bin Laden has slipped into Pakistan where he is being protected by followers of radical Islamic leader Maulana Fazalur Rehman, a long-time ally. However, Mr Rehman, head of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam party, dismissed the assertion as a "joke" and an attempt to divert the US campaign away from Afghanistan now the Taliban has been defeated. http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,1284,625369,00.html ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9WB2D Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
