An attack on Afghanistan would probably be a fairly popular way to get America _back_on_track_ after the extended humor of the election follies. Nobody likes Afghanistan. So it doesn't seem all that outlandish to me.
------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.MiddleEast.Org
FROM MER NEWSLETTER
REPORTS U.S. AND RUSSIAN TROOPS PREPARING TO ATTACK AFGHANISTAN
REPORTS TRAINING UNDERWAY WITH CHEMICAL WEAPONS
"Taliban Intelligence Sources in neighbouring countries have been reporting that the troops are preparing to use chemical weapons... Both Russian and American troops are rehearsing chemical warfare manoevres wearing NBC (Nuclear - Biological - Chemical) suits."
MID-EAST REALITIES - www.MiddleEast.Org - Washington - 11/11: A few weeks ago we reported that there were credible reports U.S. special forces had already secretly entered Afghanistan preparing for a major U.S. strike against Osama bin-Laden and maybe against the Taliban government that shelters him. We also reported Washington rumors that the Russians were also involved and a possible joint U.S./Russian military assault might take place. Now come even more ominous reports about much larger forces and the possible use of chemical weapons aimed at destroying various camps thought to be used to train Muslim fighters and even the possibility of trying to topple the Taliban government. The first report was published in The Times of London a few days ago, the second by a Muslim group which is calling on Muslim arounds the world to prepare to attack U.S. targets if Afghanistan is attacked.
TALEBAN FEAR REVENGE RAID OVER BIN LADEN
>From Zahid Hussain in Framada, East Afghanistan
The Times (U.K.) - 8 November: OSAMA BIN LADEN'S main training base outside Jalalabad is still bristling with armed fighters, despite America's threat of retaliation against the Saudi fugitive.
Although we were stopped by gunmen just short of the fortified farmhouse in Farmada, local people said that about 600 fighters from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Yemen and the Gulf states were still based there. Several hundred more are serving with Taleban forces fighting in the north of the country.
Bin Laden is believed to have fled, fearful of attack by America. The camp would be an obvious target for an American attack if Washington, as is expected, launches reprisal raids for the suicide bombing last month of the USS Cole in Aden, which killed 17 sailors.
Bin Laden was last sighted here three weeks ago, at his nearby base at Darounta, but then apparently he retreated to Kunar province, in the Hindu Kush mountains of northeastern Afghanistan. According to Afghan sources, the Saudi millionaire travelled in a small convoy with his most loyal fighters to an unknown destination.
On the surface, the Taleban authorities in Kabul have remained steadfast in their support of bin Laden, refusing to expel him or hand him over for trial in America. Wakil Ahmed Mutawakil, the Taleban Foreign Minister, said that there was no justification for any American military action, and he issued a warning that his Government could not be browbeaten by such threats. Privately, however, Taleban leaders are concerned that a US airstrike could hit any time this week.
There are real concerns that, in addition to hitting remote guerrilla bases, the Americans may also strike Afghanistan's main cities such as Kabul, the capital, Kandahar and Jalalabad, where theArab fighters are easily recognisable. Many Afghans, particularly in the capital, are hostile to bin Laden and his followers and unhappy at the prospect of being attacked for harbouring them.
"We are least concerned about what happens to bin Laden," Siddiq Ullah, a shopkeeper in Kabul, said, echoing the views of many. Most maintain that he should be asked to leave to save the people. In addition to the threat of attack, they are worried about possible harsher United Nations sanctions as winter approaches.
There are fears that the UN Security Council may impose a ban on the supply of fuel to Taleban-controlled areas if Islamic leaders refuse to hand over the guerrilla leader. Bin Laden, the head of his al-Quida organisation, is also the mainsuspect in the bombing of the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in 1998, which killed 246 people. Soon after the incidents the US fired several dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles at his training camps in the eastern Afghanistan town of Khost.
The Taleban administration insists that there is no evidence of bin Laden's involvement in terrorism. They say that they have cut his lines of communication with the outside world. However, in his most recent interview, in January last year, bin Laden praised the bombers of the embassies and called on his followers to target US installations. Bin Laden, who is in his 40s, has been living in Afghanistan since 1994 with his three wives and dozens of children. He has close links with Mullah Omar, the spritual leader of the Taleban, and is believed to have funded Taleban military efforts.
Hundreds of his followers are said to be participating in the latest offensive launched by the Taleban forces in an effort to take control of the whole of Afghanistan.
JOINT U.S./RUSSIAN CHEMICAL ATTACK ON AFGHANISTAN IMMINENT
Taliban news sources have been reporting that a joint American and Russian attack on Afghanistan involving chemical weapons is expected any time. The Times, a British newspaper, has also acknowledged this fact in yesterday's issue http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,32114,00.html). Elite US Navy Seal Units arrived in the region in the middle of October and entered Afghanistan 'secretly'. This was also reported by the World Tribune (www.worldtribune.com, 29 October 2000). Further contingents of American and Russian troops have been arriving in the region constantly over the last few weeks, in an operation expected to involve several thousand soldiers, predominantly Russian, with American weapons, finance, intelligence and Command and Control. The targets: the Taliban leadership and Foreign Mujahideen forces.
Taliban Intelligence Sources in neighbouring countries have been reporting that the troops are preparing to use chemical weapons, in order to gain the advantage in a battle they do not expect to be win easily. Both Russian and American troops are rehearsing chemical warfare manoevres wearing NBC (Nuclear - Biological - Chemical) suits. The use of chemical weapons against civilians does not come as a surprise from countries that do not even worry about the safety of their own Armed Forces.
Pakistani newspapers have been reporting since mid-October that a strike on Afghanistan is expected http://www.dawn.com/2000/11/01/op.htm#1, http://www.dawn.com/2000/11/01/top12.htm , http://www.dawn.com/2000/10/30/top7.htm). The Pakistan Government has publicly refused permission for US airplanes and missiles to use its airspace http://www.dawn.com/2000/10/29/top1.htm) unlike the Tomahawk Cruise Attack on Afghanistan in 1998, in which the Pakistanis secretly assisted the Americans. US Embassies around the World have been closed. US Forces around the World have been placed on high alert. Western media sources have also acknowledged that an attack is very close
http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,390671,00.html, http://www.time.com/time/daily/0,2960,58483,00.html, despite the 'assurances' given to the Taliban Government by William B Milam, the American Ambassador to Islamabad, Pakistan (http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/nov2000-daily/03-11-2000/main/main1htm). The Taliban Foreign Minister, Abdul Wakil Mutawakil, has said that Afghanistan will retaliate with full force if it is attacked (http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/oct2000-daily/27-10-2000/main/main14.htm).
The purpose of the attack is meant to be an assurance to the American public that America has found those responsible for the USS Cole bombing in Yemen on 12 October, and that it will retaliate. The American people have been demanding answers from their Government as to how it failed to ensure the security of more of their soldiers by sending them to a volatile region of the World. The simple and quickest answer for them to give is to point the finger at Usama bin Ladin and launch an attack on Afghanistan. As in the 1998 African Embassy bombings, there is little evidence and facts but more rumours and propaganda. Usama bin Ladin denied involvement in the African Embassy bombings and has denied involvement in the USS Cole bombing. Therefore, it is obligatory upon every Muslim to take his word for it rather than the word of a disbeliever. It is more likely that the USS Cole was bombed in a joint Israeli Secret Service MOSSAD and CIA operation in order to justify an attack on the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and divert attention from the Zionist genocide in Palestine. As always, the Zionist-controlled US Government does not care about the lives of its soldiers and is willing to sacrifice them in order to preserve its unjust policies and the racist State of Israel. American soldiers die thinking they are preserving liberty, freedom and democracy. The reality is that they are expendable items in the dirty world of Zionist American politics in the Middle East.
For several years now, the World has been waging a relentless economic, political and media war against the Taliban regime because the Taliban Government is the only Muslim Government in the World whose leaders are sincere to establish Shariah. They have been been waging an indirect military war against the Taliban by supplying arms, money and advisors to the Communist forces of Ahmad Shah Masood, whose government does not have a local address. They falsely accuse te Taliban of closing all girls' schools and banishing women to their homes. The only 'crime' the Taliban are guilty of is that they have refused to extradite Muslims to non-Muslim countries because Islam does not permit the extradition of a Muslim to a disbeliever, no matter what the situation or circumstances. This situation is even stranger in that America has labelled accusations against Usama bin Ladin without providing any proof or evidence and intelligent people are expected to believe that a single man sitting in some remote region of the World, totally isolated from communications and contact with the outside World, is the biggest threat to World peace and global stability today. The real threat to the World's tyrants are the Taliban, because they are the ones who stand for proper justice and whose leaders eat and sleep on the floor.
MiD-EasT RealitieS - www.MiddleEast.Org Phone: 202 362-5266 Fax: 815 366-0800 Email: MER at MiddleEast.Org