---------- From: "Charles Brown" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 14:39:53 -0500 To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [L-I] 95 Americans killed in five weeks, Taliban say 95 Americans killed in five weeks, Taliban say >http://www.megastories.com/attack/aip/01nov05/otn011105.shtml > > >Report by Out There News >Monday 5 November 2001 > >ISLAMABAD (Out There News): Afghanistan's ruling Taliban said on >Monday that 95 Americans had been killed during the last five weeks >of conflict in Afghanistan. > >"Families of American soldiers fighting the war against Afghanistan >should consider their near and dear ones dead, if they have not heard >anything about them since October 20," the Taliban Ambassador to >Pakistan, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, told reporters here. > >He said that the families of the crews of two US helicopters which >the Taliban reported on Saturday had been brought down should also >accept that they were all dead. > >Zaeef said that it was "a real tragedy" that US military planes >bombed the wreckage of the helicopters so that the Taliban would not >be able to show the bodies of the crew to the American public as >evidence of the casualties of this war. "We regret that we could not >return to the families the bodies of the US soldiers who had been >sent here to die," Zaeef said. > >The Taliban said on Saturday that their forces had shot down a >helicopter gunship in the mountainous Nawur area of Ghazni province. >The helicopter was on a mission to rescue those on board another >helicopter which had earlier crashed in the same region due to bad >weather. > >Zaeef said that northern Kabul came under severe air raids on Monday, >adding that Dara Souf district of Samangan, Kishendah district of >Balkh and some regions of Takhar province were also heavily >bombarded. > >He said that in the Aqu Kupruk district of Balkh province, air >strikes had killed 10 civilians and injured 15. He said opposition >forces in the same area launched a severe offensive, which had been >defeated and 30 to 35 opposition troops killed. > >Zaeef criticised Pakistan's decision not to allow refugees to cross >its borders, saying that the UN, which could resolve the problem, >also seems unwilling to help the suffering refugees. "It is >unfortunate that the UN is not ready to realize the problems >confronting Afghans," he said. "The UN must help the people of >Afghanistan inside Afghan territory before the weather turns bad. The >Islamic Emirates of Afghanistan will extend maximum possible >cooperation to the UN in this regard." > >"We also call upon Islamic and humanitarian relief organizations to >assist the people of Afghanistan inside the country directly because >the UN accords priority to its own political interests with the >distribution of relief supplies in Afghanistan," Zaeef said. > >He said the UN's claim that it could not operate inside Afghanistan >for security reasons was totally baseless, adding that UN agencies >are facing this problem not because of the Taliban but because of >continued bombardment by the US-led international coalition. > >Responding to a question, he said that Mullah Omar had already issued >a decree instructing the authorities to return the assets of UN >agencies operating inside Afghanistan and that this matter is being >sorted out. > >He denied statements by the UN officials that Taliban had taken away >their staff's communications equipment, saying that the authorities >in Afghanistan had in fact provided wireless sets and other >facilities to the UN staff to communicate with each other. > >Replying to another question, he said that a Japanese national >arrested recently inside Afghanistan was being investigated and that >the authorities have yet to determine whether he was a journalist or >a spy. He said that a Frenchman arrested last month had been released >after investigations revealed that he was a journalist. > >In response to another query, he said that Taliban have arrested a >few Americans but he did not have the exact number. He gave no >further details.# > >__________________________________ >www.edsamail.com > > _______________________________________________ Leninist-International mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international
