-Caveat Lector- http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/11/22/wtal22.xml&sS
heet=/news/2001/11/22/ixhome.html WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! Don't write us off yet, Taliban tell West By Alex Spillius in Spin Boldak (Filed: 22/11/2001) THE Taliban warned the world yesterday not to write it off after its territorial losses last week and vowed to defend its southern heartland to the last drop of blood. Tayab Agha: said communication with Osama bin Laden had been lost At the first press conference inside Taliban-controlled Afghanistan since the fall of Kabul last week, a spokesman for the radical Islamic movement's leader Mullah Mohammed Omar also said communication with Osama bin Laden had been lost since the American air strikes began six weeks ago. Tayab Agha said as far as he knew the suspected Saudi terrorist mastermind was outside the southern regions still under Taliban control. He derided as "baseless propaganda" reports that Omar was negotiating to hand over power to southern Pathan tribal leaders. Foreign journalists had been invited into Taliban-held territory to see that the militia was not on the verge of collapse. We were, however, herded into a foreign ministry bureau compound and denied permission to leave, despite officials' claims that they wanted us to "meet the people". In the morning the Taliban brought in tents for those who had had to sleep under the stars the previous night. They provided some food, water and electricity, but no access to Kandahar, despite their assertions that they were in control. Omar's messenger said the United States bombing, designed to overthrow the Taliban and kill or capture bin Laden, was already bringing back the insecurity that allowed the Taliban to seize power and impose rigid Islamic law, as old warlords and commanders grabbed their former lands. He said the Taliban started in 1993 in reaction to the "robbers, killers and rapists" who were terrorising innocent people. "There was anarchy in the country and there will be anarchy again. These people can't control the nation," said Agha. His remarks touched on international concerns that the Northern Alliance and warlord factions will once again tear the country apart as they did in the 1992-96 civil war. The alliance and others have so far paid only lip service to the international community's encouragement of a new "broad-based" government. Rather than offering a fantastical assessment of the militia's potential to retake Kabul, as lowlier officials have, Agha admitted that the movement was reduced to four provinces - Kandahar, Helmand, Zabul and Oruzgan - and maintained partial control of another, Ghazni. He said the militia's forces had dwindled but said they had sufficient numbers to defend the south from attack by the alliance or the forces of the western warlord Ismail Khan. "For the time being we will defend areas under our control. When the time comes it will be our responsibility to take other areas. "Our original purpose was not to grab power but to bring Islamic law. That remains a duty given by almighty Allah," said Agha, 25, who spoke in English learnt at school across the border in Quetta. Spin Boldak, a trucking town of mud hut garages and grimy markets, was the scene of the Taliban's first victory, when they seized the garrison of a warlord's forces. They soon took the whole of Kandahar province and cleared the roads of dozens of self-styled commanders' armed checkpoints where money was extorted from drivers. His remarks were intended to suggest that the Taliban had consolidated to a degree following their reverses. An Afghan United Nations staff member who left Kandahar four days ago said the Taliban still ruled the city, although they maintain only a minimal presence because of the American bombing. He estimated that 80 per cent of the population had fled. "There has been so much bombing that people hate America," he said. According to Agha, defending the south would be made easier by the popular support that the Taliban enjoy in their tribal homeland. For all the brutal justice and privations of life under the militia, some southerners may find their rule preferable to the chaos, crime and corruption that preceded them, especially in Kandahar itself. Taliban to U.S.: Forget About Sept. 11 http://foxnews.com/story/0,2933,39222,00.html SPINBOLDAK, Afghanistan — "Forget about it." That's what the Taliban had to say to the U.S. on Tuesday about the attacks on America that killed thousands on Sept. 11. A Taliban spokesman said the U.S. has evened the score — that the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan and Muslim suffering elsewhere have counterbalanced the terror attacks which killed over 4,000 people. "You should forget the 11 September attacks, because now there is new fighting against Muslims and Islam," said the spokesman, Syed Tayyad Agha. More Information • Video: Taliban Negotiates Surrender With Northern Alliance "The international and global terrorists like America and Britain ... are killing daily our innocent people." Agha, a spokesman for Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, said Sept. 11 was "America's problem" because it was carried out by people in the United States and that the Taliban were not responsible. "This is the problem of Bush and Tony Blair," Agha said. "This is not our problem." At a news conference in the Afghan border town of Spinboldak, Agha also claimed — as the Taliban have claimed before — to know nothing about Usama bin Laden's whereabouts. "We have no idea where he is,'' he said. "There is no relation right now. There is no communication." He said he knew of no members of bin Laden's Al Qaeda network in areas under Taliban control and that contact with them had been lost "due to their communication problems." He said the Taliban had vowed to stand their ground and fight to the end despite Gen. Tommy Franks' declaration that the U.S. "will prevail" in Afghanistan and "complete the destruction of the Al Qaeda terrorist network." Agha said the Taliban would defend territory they still control — including their home base, Kandahar — after a week of sweeping retreats across Afghanistan. "They have decided to defend the presently controlled areas," he said. "We will try our best and we will defend our nation ... and we will not give any chance to anybody to disturb our Islamic rule in Kandahar and other provinces." Franks, commander of the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan, said the siege of the northern city of Kunduz — the last Taliban redoubt in the north — would end in defeat for the Taliban. 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