ISLAMABAD, Oct 3 (UNI): Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf wants to "ditch" the ruling Taliban in Afghanistan and set a new course designed to align the country to the United States without any unspoken reservations, media reports said today.
The president has "enthusiastically endorsed" the idea that the exiled king of Afghanistan Zahir Shah should be invited to take up residence in Pakistan and convene a tribal assembly to decide the fate of his nation, the news reported quoting former president Sardar Farooq Khan Leghari.
Mr Leghari wants to become a bridge between king Zahir Shah, who now lives in Rome and president Musharraf.
The former president had a lengthy meeting with Gen Musharraf in Rawalpindi late Monday evening and also held discussions with top army generals on the current Afghan crisis.
Mr Leghari, whose Afghan connections and links are well known, also claimed to have devised a plan to "obviate the US urge to put its diplomatic chips on the Northern Alliance to the exclusion of other political forces (of Afghanistan)." The Leghari-scheme could "enable Gen Musharraf of formally ditch the Taliban," the newspaper said.
Hundreds of Afghan refugees, who had crossed over to Pushtun areas of Balochistan from Kandahar and villages around it, have already been planning for the past two weeks to "return to their motherland in waves," in case the exiled King returns there.
To prepare the exiled King for the "eventual return" to Afghanistan, Mr Leghari had suggested to General Musharaf that once Pakistan, Zahir Shah should be encouraged to "take up residence" at a spot in tribal Waziristan, which happens to be only six kms away from Afghanistan, the news said.
The former president also wants Zahir Shah to convene Loya Jirga at the same site for the purpose of establishing an interim government in Afghanistan.
Camps in Afghanistan identified as targets WASHINGTON, Oct 3 (Reuters): U.S.
intelligence agencies have identified 23 militant bases in Afghanistan, as well as some Taliban military forces, as targets in president George W.
Bushs campaign against terrorism, the Washington Times reported today.
officials, the newspaper said the 23 training camps were located throughout the Central Asian Nation and included sites near the cities of Kabul and Jalalabad.
Defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld told a group of former U.S.
government officials last week that numerous "high-value" targets inside Afghanistan had been targetted, the Washington Times said, citing a participant in the meeting.
According to the report, Rumsfeld told the group military action is likely to cause collateral damage.
The newspaper said officials provided no further details about the location of the camps that have been targeted by U.S.
military forces mobilising in the region.
Russia told the United National Security Council that Bin Laden has 55 camps, offices and residences as part of what it called his "terrorist infrastructure" in Afghanistan.
Defence officials were quoted as saying other targets include some military forces of Afghanistans ruling Taliban, which has been harboring fugitive Osama Bin Laden.
The Islamic militant is blamed by the United State, NATO and Britain for the Sept.
11 attacks on Washington and New York that.
More than 5,700 are dead or missing.
has demanded that the Taliban hand over Bin Laden and key operatives in his Al Qaeda organisation and has rejected the Afghan leaders repeated calls for negotiations.
Anti-Taliban forces say getting fresh military aid JABAL-US-SARAJ, Oct 3 (Reuters): The foreign minister of the opposition Northern Alliance, Dr Abdullah , today said that it was receiving new military aid from Iran and Russia in its battle against the ruling Taliban.
Abdullah told a news conference that alliance officials and commanders had been in contact with United States officials since the devastating September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
"I have met American officials face to face within the past several days," Abdullah told reporters.
"In the immediate term, it is coordination of efforts in order to eradicate terrorism from Afghanistan." He said the Northern Alliance had received military aid from Russia and Iran in the past, but "as a result of the new situation, we have received new commitments that we hope will provide what we need".
Northern Alliance moves closer to Taliban - held areas PESHAWAR (PAKISTAN), Oct 3 (DPA) Anti-Taliban forces claimed to have moved within two KMs of Chakcharan, the capital of the militia-held Ghor province in central Afghanistan, the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP)reported today.
Quoting an opposition spokesman Mohammad Habeel in Takhar, northern Afghanistan, the AIP said their forces made an advance of about 15 kilometres to get closer to Chakcharan and are preparing to March on the town soon.
Habeel said the movement was possible after three Taliban commanders with their 75 fighters also defected to the opposition, leading to the fall of the strategically located villages of Adham, Telak, Band-e-Amir and Tajakhaa.
The spokesman also reported fighting on the Lolash frontline in another northern Faryab province but gave no further details.
He, however, confirmed that the Taliban Militia had recaptured the centre of the Lolash district on Tuesday.
The rest of the district was under our control, Habeel said.
The Taliban control, under increasing international pressure to turn over Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in the September 11 suicide bombings in the US, still control some 90 percent of Afghanistan.
Pak papers condemn Srinagar attack ISLAMABAD, Oct 3 (Reuters): Pakistani newspapers today condemned a deadly suicide attack on the state legislature in Srinagar, saying it maligned the "freedom struggle" to end Indian rule in the disputed region.
They said the attack, which killed at least 38 people, also put Pakistan in an awkward position at a time when it was cooperating with a US -led global campaign against terrorism.
"While Pakistan has condemned this attack, what may be embarrassing for the government is the fact that Jaish-e-Mohammad, which first allegedly claimed responsibility for the attack, has a branch in Pakistan," the Nation daily said in its editorial.
"Despite Jaishs denial the damage has been done, and could give additional ammunition to the Indian governments propaganda against Pakistan." The Dawn daily said in its editorial the timing of the Srinagar attack was particularly awkward for Pakistan, with the US-led anti-terrorism coalition apparently on the brink of military action in Afghanistan in a bid to root out bin Laden who is based there.
"Islamabad was therefore correct in promptly condemning the bombing and pointing out that it was all the more reprehensible because it was aimed at maligning the legitimate struggle of the Kashmiri people for their right to self-determination," Dawn said.