Afghanistan Under Attack

Mast_Lahori · October 8, 2001, 2:36pm

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United States attacked Afghanistan, the NNI news agency reported. 2355 GMT

The Afghan capital came under a second attack by U.S.-led forces early Oct. 8, with at least one large explosion heard after a jet flew over the city, residents said. They said the explosion seemed to be centered on the Kabul airport and was larger than most heard some four hours earlier, AFP reported. 2245 GMT

AP reports that the Northern Alliance launched attacks against the Taliban Sunday from an air force base north of Kabul approximately one hour after the United States began strikes. The attacks were made from opposition-controlled Bagram air force base, 25 miles north of Kabul, against Taliban forces that control the surrounding mountains. An opposition spokesman said from Tajikistan that the alliance knew that the United States intended to attack military targets in Kabul and Kandahar. Asked about immediate plans, Afghan embassy official Rahimullah told AP that the opposition could make an attempt to enter Kabul. 2320 GMT

BBC reports that the United States National Reconnaissance ffice launched a Titan IV rocket from Vandenberg airforce base in California on Saturday, and that the rocket is believed to be carrying a KH-11 spy satellite for use in gathering intelligence information in the fight against terrorism. The 15 ton satellite can reportedly track the movement of small groups of people, vehicles and weapons on the ground and can monitor conversations and ven spot campfires at night using infrared technology. 2300 GMT

IRNA reports that three American fighters bombed Shindand air base in the western Afghan province of Farah, citing a “reliable Afghan source”. 2208

CNN reports that Taliban command and radar systems at the Kandahar airport had been destroyed, citing a senior Taliban official in Kandahar. 2210 GMT

Northern Alliance forces in Afghanistan are ready to launch their own attacks against the Taliban “as the sun comes up”, according to an Afghan sources cited by IRNA. 2214 GMT

Jang, a Pakistani news service, reported that a Taliban official said Sunday that they had shot down an unidentified plane in southern Afghanistan. This report is unconfirmed. 2155

Pakistan Link, an Internet news source, reported Oct. 7 that the Afghan opposition Northern Alliance has claimed that more than 800 Taliban fighters and commanders have defected to the alliance in Badghis Province during this past week. 2026 GMT

Pakistan’s airspace was used by U.S. and British forces to launch attacks Oct. 7 against targets in Afghanistan, Defense Ministry officials said, AP reported. 2020 GMT

The southern Afghan city of Kandahar came under second wave of U.S. air attack Oct. 7, with the home of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar a possible target, CNN reported. It said the attack was more intense and heavier than a first wave launched earlier that night. The network said the residence of Mullah Omar could have been hit but it was not known whether the leader was there at the time. 2000 GMT

The Afghan Islamic Press agency quoted the Taliban Oct. 7 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 Karachi, Pakistan, the Taliban’s consul-general said the Islamic militia is ready for holy war, following the U.S. and British strikes. “We condemn this attack,” Rehmatullah Kakazada told The Associated Press. “We have received word that a plane has bombed Kabul. We don’t have any more information. We are ready for jihad.” 1941 GMT.

The U.S. aircraft that attacked Kabul and other Afghan cities Oct. 7 dropped at least four bombs or missiles on the capital near the Taliban defense ministry, witnesses said. One big blast struck near the defense ministry, south of the presidential palace. Taliban Ambassador to Pakistan Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef told Reuters that he had heard via telephone that the southern city of Kandahar, headquarters of the ruling Taliban, was also under attack. A major command base at the airport in Kandahar, stronghold of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar and the chief protector of Osama bin Laden, has been destroyed, CNN said. 1940 GMT

Finally LAST BUT NOT THE LEAST:

Pakistan daily Dawn reports that, in a pre-recorded message broadcast today on Qatar-based al-Jazeera television channel shortly after the start of the U.S. attacks on Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden said, “I swear to God that America will no longer know security before Palestine knows it and before all the infidel Western armies leave the (Islamic) holy lands.” 2105 GMT

Something to ponder:

U.S. President George W. Bush is pushing a $75 billion tax cut package to Congress in an effort to help the suffering economy, the New York Times reported. 1718 GMT

Once the Prophet was asked, “Who are the chosen people of God?”

He replied, “The truthful and the pure-hearted.”

“O Prophet of Allah,” they said, “truthful we understand, but who are the pure-hearted?”

“Those who neither fall into sin, nor transgress, who neither deceive nor bear malice. Such are the pure of heart.”