US response started to Sept 11 attacks:
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October 7, 2001
Thuderous Attack Heard in Kabul
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ABUL, Afghanistan -- Thunderous explosions and the rattle of anti-aircraft fire were heard Sunday night in the Afghan capital, Kabul, as the United States and Britain launched a military attack in Afghanistan. The country's ruling Taliban militia quickly declared the assault a "terrorist attack."
Electricity was shut off throughout Kabul for more than two hours after the attack, which began just after nightfall.
The southern Afghan city of Kandahar, headquarters of the Taliban, was also hit and the airport control tower was damaged, a Taliban source said by telephone. The same official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said several explosions occurred in the eastern city of Jalalabad but he did not have further details.
Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar lives in Kandahar.
In Washington, President Bush said U.S. and British military action had begun in Afghanistan. He said forces are taking "targeted actions" against Taliban military capabilities and the al-Qaida network of alleged terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden.
In the days following the strikes at the World Trade Center and Pentagon, the president had issued a series of demands for the Taliban to hand over bin Laden, a Saudi exile and the main suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington. The Taliban offered to negotiate but refused a handover.
"Now the Taliban will pay a price," Bush vowed.
A senior Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Tomahawk cruise missiles were launched from American and British vessels, including American submarines, in the Arabian Sea. This official said targets included air defenses, military communications sites and terrorist training camps inside Afghanistan.
The first explosions could be heard about 8:57 p.m. local time, or 12:27 p.m. EDT. Five large explosions shook the city, followed by the sounds of anti-aircraft fire.
Power went off throughout Kabul almost immediately after the first of the thunderous blasts, which appeared to have been in the southwest of the city. The southwestern part of Kabul includes the Darulaman Palace, an ancient royal residence, and the Balahisar Fort, an old Mogul style installation.
The firing tapered off for a few minutes but resumed after a jet aircraft could be heard passing over the city.
A Taliban official in Kabul contacted by telephone from Pakistan said "we are under attack. They bombed in the south of Kabul. Our guns are firing." The official, who gave his name only as Mudir, gave no further details.
The private, Islamabad-based Afghan Islamic Press agency quoted the Taliban as saying American planes had bombed areas near the Kabul airport in the northern part of the city. The agency said there were no details of casualties and no reports of damage to the city itself. It added, however, that "huge smoke is rising near Kabul airport."
In their first official reaction, the Taliban called the assault a terrorist attack and vowed that America "will never achieve its goal." The statement was issued by the Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef.
"The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has always chosen the path of talks and reason to solve problems," Zaeef said. "But America has always chosen a militaristic approach. However, such a brutal attitude by America will unify the whole Afghan nation against aggression. The Afghan nation will rise against this new colonialism."
The Afghan Islamic Press, a private news agency with connections to the Taliban, also said the militant Islamic leadership would never surrender bin Laden.
In Karachi, Pakistan, the Taliban's consul-general said the Islamic militia is ready for holy war.
"We condemn this attack," Rehmatullah Kakazada told The Associated Press. "We are ready for jihad."
Electricity was restored in Kabul more than two hours after the attack and the city was quiet, with no sign of panic. Kabul's one million people are inured to war after more than two decades of relentless fighting that has destroyed most of the city.
Earlier Sunday, the Taliban had made an 11th-hour appeal to prevent U.S. attacks: They offered to detain bin Laden and try him under Islamic law if the United States made a formal request. The Bush administration quickly rejected the Taliban proposal, with White House spokesman Scott McClellan saying Bush's demands "are clear and nonnegotiable."
Washington has also rejected Afghanistan's attempt to use eight jailed foreign aid workers as bargaining chips to pressure the United States to halt its planned anti-terrorist offensive. The eight aid workers in Kabul -- four Germans, two Americans and two Australians -- were arrested in August on charges of trying to convert Muslims to Christianity.
In a statement before the U.S. attacks began, the Taliban said they had sent thousands of troops to the border with Uzbekistan, whose president has allowed U.S. troops use of an air base for the anti-terrorism campaign.
"We have deployed our forces there at all important places. This is the question of our honor, and we will never bow before the Americans and will fight to the last," said a Taliban defense ministry source, quoted Sunday by the Afghan Islamic Press.
Taliban claims about sending troops to the Uzbekistan border could not be independently verified.
However, Russia's Interfax news agency reported Saturday that Taliban troops were moving long-range artillery and multiple rocket launchers toward the border. More than 10 guns and rocket launchers had moved within range of the Uzbek border town of Termez, Interfax said, quoting Afghan opposition sources.
The Taliban are estimated to have some 40,000 fighters -- around a quarter of them from bin Laden's organization -- and many of those are involved in fighting a coalition of opposition forces in northern Afghanistan. The Taliban's enemies had made little progress against the larger, better-armed Taliban, but their fortunes have been bolstered since the Sept. 11 attacks with a decision by Russia to step up weapons shipments |
