-Caveat Lector- http://www.ahram.org.eg/weekly/2002/569/in4.htm
Al-Ahram Weekly Online 17 - 23 January 2002 Issue No.569 Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 Current issue | Previous issue | Site map Return to lawlessness The security situation in Afghanistan is deteriorating as banditry, car- jacking and cases of kidnapping soar. Absar Alam writes from Islamabad Afghan refugees peer from destroyed windows in a makeshift refugee camp near Kabul (photo: AFP) The second batch of 30 Al- Qa'eda fighters, mostly Arabs, left the US detention camp at Kandahar Airport in Afghanistan for a high security facility at Guantanamo Bay in eastern Cuba, this week. Meanwhile, US war planes c ontinued to bomb suspected hideouts of Taliban and Al-Qa'eda fighters. The first batch, consisting of 20 Al-Qa'eda members, departed for Cuba earlier this week from Kandahar Airport, where US authorities have rounded up, so far, about 400 Taliban and Al- Qa'eda fighters from throughout Afgha nistan. Unprecedented security measures have been taken to ferry these prisoners from Afghanistan to Cuba because, the US authorities claim, these captives have been trained to create safety problems or even potentially t rigger suicide attacks on board. Shackled, wearing white masks which covered their faces, in green clothes and orange slippers, the prisoners were escorted by US troops to the C-17 transport plane. Each prisoner was flanked by two US soldiers on board th e flight to Cuba. "They have no rights as prisoners of war," US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told a press briefing this week, as the prisoners landed in Cuba following their 20-hour flight. The US forces are continuing their relentless chase of Al-Qa'eda and Taliban fighters who are still holding on to pockets of resistance in some parts of Afghanistan. The US has resumed, since 3 January, the bombing of the Zhawar base in the Khost province, close to the Pakistani border town of Miran Shah. The Zhawar base was originally a training camp run by Al-Qa'eda before 11 September, and was vacated by the time the US bombing started on 7 October. The bombing has been resumed after the US forces received intelligence reports that Al- Qa'eda and Taliban fighters were returning to this base camp. On the eastern side of the Afghan border the deployment of Pakistani troops continued, even as India amassed its military might along Pakistan's western border. Pakistan is continuing to deploy troops in order to prevent fleeing Al- Qa'eda and Taliban fighters from infiltrating Pakistan. Pakistan has already handed over to the US authorities dozens of arrested Al- Qa'eda fighters, and they are currently being interrogated in a bid to unearth the complete network of Al-Qa'eda cells, said to be situated in up to 60 countries worldwide. Crime rate in Afghanistan's cities and towns has climbed rapidly with the Taliban administration's fall. The new government, despite its efforts, has so far failed to reverse the rising tide in all kinds of crime -- from murder, banditry and car- jacking to kidnapping for ransom, robberies, drug smuggling and rape. The law and order situation has so deteriorated that in Jalalabad all foreign journalists have left due to the increasing thr eat to their life and property. Only last week, the CNN staff in Jalalabad were not "allowed" to leave by the heavily armed "fixers" who wanted extra "tips" from the American journalists. The CNN staff had to pay a considerable sum in dollars to secure their exit from Jalalabad to the Pakistani city of Peshawar. The US marines, earlier posted in the same area, had already left as the law and order situation deteriorated further. In the absence of US troops, and in view of the CNN staff's misadventures, which went unreported in the press, all foreign journalists who had gathered in Jalalabad to report on the bombing of the Tora Bora complex, fled the city. In other Afghan cities, such as Kabul, Kandahar and Mazar-i-Sharif, the situation is just as bad. Although the new interim administration declared Kabul a weapon- free city last week, peace and security are unlikely to re turn to the citizens soon. The chaotic aftermath of Taliban rule, coupled with more than two-decades of war, have brought insecurity to the people of this unfortunate country. At present, gun-toting soldiers of irregular militias, personal security guards employed by various individuals and groups, Northern Alliance troops and common citizens move around with their weapons. Although the governm ent of Hamid Karzai has launched a campaign to recover weapons from the people, most of them are unwilling to abandon them in the absence of a reliable police force to protect them against crime. Ironically the increasing proliferation of arms across all sections of society is the main reason for the spike in crime, with fewer people using these weapons for protection but, rather, have less fear of committing crim e. No wonder then that cases of banditry, car- jacking and shooting are on the rise in Kabul and elsewhere. All things considered, disarming Afghanistan's 25 million populace appears an impossible job for an administratio n that took charge of the country only last month. Over the course of their five-year rule, the Taliban administration launched a disarmament campaign which proved relatively successful. Law and order was restored and greater security provided to the people. With the fall of the Taliban government, however, criminals fear the law- enforcing forces, who are assisting the US troops in tracking down the Al-Qa'eda and Taliban fighters. The security issue has also disrupted UN efforts to ship food to various parts of the country. With snowfall increasingly blocking off main transport arteries, the situation is likely to deteriorate further. Recommend this page © Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved Send a letter to the Editor ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe simply because it has been handed down for many generations. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is written in Holy Scriptures. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of Teachers, elders or wise men. Believe only after careful observation and analysis, when you find that it agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all. Then accept it and live up to it." The Buddha on Belief, from the Kalama Sutta + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller, German Writer (1759-1805) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." Universal Declaration of Human Rights + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut." --- Ernest Hemingway <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om