Afghanistan's ruling Taliban cranked up their propaganda yesterday, accusing the US of bombing a hospital and using chemical weapons as Britain signalled it might soon send in troops.
The Afghan capital, Kabul, spent its first bomb-free night of the two-week US-led military campaign to capture Osama bin Laden, but the Taliban said at least 50 patients were killed when bombs hit the hospital in the eastern city of Herat.
PHOTO: AFP
"During last night's raids on the 100-bed Herat hospital between 50 to 70 people were killed," Information Ministry official Abdul Hanan Himat said. "All medical equipment and facilities at the hospital were destroyed."
With the source of an anthrax-in-the-mail outbreak in the US still a mystery and the country in the grip of germ warfare jitters, the Taliban also accused the US-led coalition of using chemical and biological weapons.
"Today in my contact with doctors in Herat and Kandahar, they told me that they have found signs that Americans are using biological and chemical weapons in their attacks," Himat said.
Washington immediately denied the charge.
The Taliban also said they had found pieces of a US helicopter near the southern city of Kandahar, and Qatar's al-Jazeera television network showed footage of what it said the Taliban described as new aircraft wheels and a piece of metal stencilled with the English words "Shock. Loud Engineering."
More than 100 US special forces raided a command center near Kandahar used by Taliban spiritual leader Mullah Mohammad Omar and an airfield on Friday and Britain said yesterday its troops were ready to go in at "very short notice."
Speaking after government officials gave the strongest hint yet over the weekend that ground troops might be deployed. Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon declined to say when British troops might be sent.
"I'm not going to put a timescale on that. But certainly we always have troops ready to go at very short notice," he told BBC radio.
Taliban leader Omar praised his forces who he said had "achieved significant successes recently."
"I hope that Almighty Allah will make the Islamic Emirate [Taliban government] victorious over the oppressive American government," the private Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) reported him as saying in a statement.
AIP said Omar issued the statement from a location near Kandahar, and he expressed condolences for those killed in US-led air raids or during anti-US protests around the world.
With the leaders of the US-led coalition highlighting the approach of Ramadan and winter in their public comments, the Taliban's civil war foes said that they were preparing a push to recapture the strategic northern town of Mazar-i-Sharif.
One said US advisers had briefed General Abdul Rashid Dostum, who will head any attack on what was once his stronghold.
"Now our troops are readying themselves for a full attack on the town," General Baryalai, a deputy to opposition Defense Minister General Muhammad Fahim, said Sunday.
Northern Alliance commanders say fighters from bin Laden's al-Qaeda network have been gathering in Mazar-i-Sharif, which straddles a key supply route to the Afghan capital Kabul.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Washington wanted to see Kabul fall by winter, which is due in the next few weeks.
Washington, its main ally Britain and other nations have been pushing for some form of early agreement on a post-Taliban government.
Afghan factions, fighting over the spoils after forcing the Soviets to withdraw, killed thousands of Kabul residents before the Taliban seized the capital in 1996.
WTO director General Mike Moore meanwhile said trade ministers would hold their meeting on schedule next month in Qatar despite security concerns following the strikes on Afghanistan.
Moore told reporters after meeting Qatari leaders to discuss preparations for the meeting that the level of participation would not be affected by security concerns, adding: "We expect 141 countries to attend."
The meeting is expected to try to launch a new round of global trade talks.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS