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Politics : War -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: D. Long who wrote (4037)	9/20/2001 12:40:16 PM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 23908

More evidences to back up the Masood Connection.... Afghan hijacking in fourth day at London's Stansted airport By Chris Marsden 9 February 2000 wsws.org Excerpt: No group has, as yet, claimed responsibility for the hijacking and the police have not reported any demands being made by the hijackers. It has been widely reported, however, that the hijackers are seeking the release of Ismail Khan, a prominent leader of the opposition to Afghanistan's Taliban government. One hostage released in Tashkent said the hijackers were from Afghanistan's Tajik ethnic minority and spoke a dialect of Persian. Khan, 58, is a Tajik and speaks Persian. Known amongst his supporters as the Lion of Herat, Khan first rose to prominence during the Mujahedeen's struggle against the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan between 1979 and 1989. A former Afghan army officer, he joined the Mujahedeen after Soviet forces massacred an estimated 25,000 people in the western city of Herat, during an uprising against the pro-Moscow regime of President Najibullah. Khan led a counterattack, recaptured the town and went on to launch a series of successful raids against Russian troops. In the years that followed the Soviet army's departure in 1989 and the collapse of the Najibullah government in 1992, Khan established a personal fiefdom in the Herat region and made a bid for a role in the national political leadership of the Mujahedeen. But internal dissent and the rise of the Taliban put paid to these ambitions. The US, Britain and other Western powers backed the Mujahedeen financially and militarily. But the Taliban, or Students of Islam, were eventually the main political beneficiaries of what became a proxy struggle between the Stalinist regime in Moscow and the US, which cost 1 million Afghan lives. The Taliban emerged from Pakistan's universities and religious schools as a loosely organised student militia. They were developed by Pakistan's ISI intelligence service from amongst the 6 million Afghan refugees in camps there. They propound an extreme form of Islamic fundamentalism and have sought to restore the traditional domination of the Pashtun ethnic group over Afghanistan. Faced with a Mujahedeen deeply split between pro-Pakistani and pro-Iranian factions, they were able to swiftly rise to dominance within the war-ravaged country. Khan, who supported pro-Iranian forces, was routed from his Herat stronghold in 1995. He fled to Iran before the Taliban finally took power in 1996, but was betrayed by a fellow opposition commander and has been imprisoned since 1997. Mullah Mohammed Omar, the cleric who leads the Taliban militia, has used the alleged demand for Khan's release to blame Ahmed Shah Massoud's Jamiat-i-Islami movement for the hijacking. Massoud, who is supported by Khan, leads the most powerful armed opposition group in Afghanistan. He is prominent within the mainly Tajik Northern Alliance, which supports former President Burhanuddin Rabbani, who briefly held power before being driven out of office by the Taliban in September 1996 and who still controls about 10 percent of the country in the north. The Northern Alliance has denied any connection with the hijacking and described it as an act of terrorism against innocent people. Britain, along with every other country except Pakistan and two Gulf states, does not recognise the Taliban regime. It does have diplomatic links with the Tajik coalition, which is also recognised by the UN as the government of Afghanistan. [snip] ______________

To: D. Long who wrote (4037)	9/22/2001 9:34:36 AM
From: Yaacov	Respond to of 23908

Derek, I agree, all we here is Osama, osama and osama! (it used to be Carlos, Carlos, Carlos!) Don't put your hopes on Gus. He is actually a very sick and mis-lead chap, and hopefully on his way to be deported from Belgium, back to Iraq! I don't believe there will a war in classical form, US will estavlish a well-fortified base inside Afghanistan, to be used to attak the terrorist dens. I believe the Talebans days are numbered and the Northeren Alliance of late Ahmad Shah Massoud will prevail! I alos believe Bin laden is as good as dead! But would we get rid of terrorism? I doubt it! I also heard a good peace of news in CNN!! All Arabs in the US, Citizens or non, shold cary special ID cards! I think it will be a help if the law passes! Gus will be the first to get one of those tags!