Troops mass on Afghan border
By Christopher Kremmer, Gay Alcorn and Mark Riley, Herald Correspondents
Afghan and Pakistani troops were reported to be massing on the border between the countries as the United States issued an ultimatum to the ruling Taliban in Afghanistan to give up Osama bin Laden and prepared for a dirty war against terrorists.
The Taliban deployed between 20,000 and 25,000 troops just across the border from the Khyber Pass into Pakistan, a Pakistani army officer reported late yesterday.
At the same time, reinforcements of Pakistani troops had fanned out along the 1,400 kilometre western border with Afghanistan, Captain Ahmed Bahtti said.
"We are also forming our forces, but there has been no firing," he said at a military base in the Khyber Pass, about 200 kilometres west of the capital, Islamabad.
The United States will review its intelligence operations to allow presidents to order assassinations and the recruitment of criminals as spies in the hunt for those behind the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.
As the country prepares for massive military strikes against the Taliban militia, the Vice-President, Mr Dick Cheney, said it had to "work the dark side" of intelligence if it was to win its declared war on terrorism.
"It is a mean, nasty, dangerous, dirty business out there and we have to operate in that arena," he said. "We also have to work the dark side. We have to spend time in the shadow."
In other developments:
Pakistani officials were preparing for crisis talks with the Taliban militia's supreme leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, in a desperate bid to avert war between Afghanistan and the US.
The US demanded that the Taliban hand over bin Laden, the prime suspect in the attacks, within the next few days or face military attack.
Rescuers at the World Trade Centre shifted their focus to recovering bodies as a fourth consecutive day passed with no survivors found. The number of dead or missing there reached 4,957, while the death toll in the Pentagon attack stood at 188.
Australian investors, spooked by fears of a plunge in New York, yesterday wiped more than $30 billion off the value of Australian stocks. The All Ordinaries index closed at its lowest in 18 months.
At one stage the insurance company QBE lost about 40 per cent of its market value after it admitted that its exposure to the New York attacks was higher than first anticipated.
In the US, Mr Cheney made clear that the planned assault on terrorism would be far broader than military strikes and the Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, said the Administration was "examining everything" related to intelligence, including removing the ban on assassinations.
Mr Cheney said the CIA needed to recruit "very unsavoury characters" if it was to infiltrate terrorist groups.
The intelligence community has come under intense scrutiny after its failure to detect that terrorists planned to hijack commercial planes and crash them into major landmarks last week.
Mr Cheney said he had "no doubt" that bin Laden was behind the attacks but warned that other groups, including the Egyptian Jihad, may have been involved.
Opinion polls show that Americans support the assassination of bin Laden, and when Mr Cheney was asked if he would like the suspect's head "on a platter", he replied: "I would take it today."
However, many lawyers say state-backed killings would breach international law and send a signal that the US is abandoning its stance as a beacon for democracy and legal process.
The country was on a full war footing yesterday, with Mr Bush preparing Americans for a long "crusade" against terrorism and warning them of possible future attacks on US soil.
"We will rid the world of the evil-doers," he said. "They have roused a mighty giant and make no mistake about it, were determined."
US sources say that if the Taliban turns over bin Laden and shuts his network of training camps in Afghanistan, it will be allowed to stay in power. But US officials said the chances of the Taliban agreeing were "very poor".
The head of Pakistan intelligence, Lieutenant-General Mehmud Ahmed, arrived in the southern Afghan town of Kandahar early yesterday and met senior Taliban officials. He was expected to call on Mullah Omar to appeal for the handing-over of bin Laden.
Lieutenant-General Mehmud was reportedly accompanied by Islamic scholars to bolster efforts to persuade the Taliban that surrendering bin Laden would not transgress religious principles.
Unconfirmed reports said he was also carrying evidence, provided by Washington, of bin Laden's involvement in the attacks.
The former Pakistan interior minister and retired general Naseerullah Babar, who is widely credited with creating the Taliban movement, said he believed Mullah Omar could be persuaded to see reason.
But a former Pakistan foreign secretary, Mr Niaz Naik, said he feared the mission to Kandahar would fail. "I don't think we will succeed because we are dealing with people who live in prehistoric times, who are very committed to their views and don't see modern logic or reason," he said.
The Taliban has justified providing refuge to bin Laden by saying there is no hard evidence against him, and that in Afghan culture guests must be protected.
It has said in recent days that bin Laden is under tight Taliban control and could not have had a role in the attacks. But observers cite strong evidence that the multi-millionaire has become one of the movement's main financial backers.
Mullah Omar, a former mujahideen rebel who fought against communist-backed forces during Afghanistan's civil war, has summoned religious leaders to Kandahar to consider declaring jihad, or holy war, against the US if attacked.
smh.com.au |
