Taliban Say They Captured, Executed Leading Opponent

WASHINGTON/KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan (news - web sites)'s Taliban leaders said on Friday they captured and executed a top leader of the opposition in exile, dealing a serious blow to U.S. efforts to build a new coalition to rule the country if and when a U.S.-led military onslaught achieves victory.

On the home front of the U.S. war on terrorism launched in response to last month's suicide attacks on U.S. soil, traces of the deadly germ warfare agent anthrax were found in the mail room of the CIA (news - web sites) after already contaminating several other government, mail and media offices.

Abdul Haq, a famous mujahid, or holy warrior, who lost a foot in the 1980s war against Soviet occupation, entered Afghanistan on a mission to rally Pashtun tribesmen against the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban and for the former king, Zahir Shah, who the United States is promoting as the figurehead leader of a future government.

``The Taliban have killed Abdul Haq along with two other people,'' an Information Ministry official, Abdul Himat Hanan, told Reuters in Kabul. ``This happened on the basis of the verdict of the Ulema (Muslim clerics) that anyone who assists the United States is liable to be killed.''

Taliban Education Minister Amir Muttaqi said, ``The bodies of Abdul Haq and his two other friends called Haji Dawran and Izatullah will be given to their relatives.''

There was no independent confirmation of the claim. Earlier, the Taliban said they had captured Haq despite attempts by U.S. attack helicopters to protect him as he fled on horseback.

With the United States failing to achieve a dramatic military or political breakthrough after almost three weeks of intensive air strikes and struggling to contain the spreading anthrax threat at home, the death of Haq, if confirmed, underlined the difficulties facing President Bush (news - web sites) to achieve his stated aims.

Bush has vowed to topple the Taliban for refusing to hand over Osama bin Laden (news - web sites), the Saudi-born militant who stands accused of masterminding the Sept. 11 hijacking attacks on New York and Washington that killed around 5,000 people.

Some in the United States had expected the Taliban to buckle and more internal opposition to spring up in Afghanistan as U.S. warplanes steadily dismantled Taliban military power. But that has not happened and the fate of Haq makes it even less likely.

A Taliban spokesman in the eastern city of Jalalabad told the private Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press that Haq had been captured at Azra in Logar province, only 30 km (20 miles) west of Pakistan's northwestern frontier.

``We had secretly surrounded the place for two days where Haq was hiding with his supporters,'' said the spokesman.

``U.S. helicopters bombed the Taliban to enable Haq to escape but we were able to capture him when he tried to leave at 2:30 this morning,'' he said from Jalalabad.

The burly 43-year-old Pashtun, who lost his right foot to a land mine in the 1980s and limped with an artificial foot, quit politics in 1992 to run a business in Dubai. He returned in September to push the anti-Taliban cause.

The Taliban later issued a stern warning to the supporters of the former king not to enter Afghanistan or they would face dire consequences.

In the United States, Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge said traces of the germ warfare agent anthrax had been detected at a Central Intelligence Agency (news - web sites) mail handling facility.

Anthrax sent through the mail to media outlets and government buildings has killed three people, sickened at least 11 others, forced the temporary closure of the Capitol and contaminated the mail facilities of the White House and the State Department.

Reuters Photo Law enforcement agencies have launched one of the biggest investigations in U.S. history to trace the person or persons responsible, as evidence has mounted that the bacteria being spread was of weapons-grade quality, unusually pure, concentrated and easily spread.

``I can't tell you how much is there,'' Ridge said of the anthrax finding at the CIA. ``Preliminary determination is that is medically insignificant, but we're trying to test it to make sure that that's an accurate conclusion,'' Ridge said.

The mail processing facility on the grounds of the CIA compound in Langley, Virginia was closed on Friday for further testing and cleaning after test results returned on Thursday confirmed there was a ``trace amount'' of anthrax in the building, a CIA spokesman said earlier on Friday.

In the ongoing military assault on the Taliban, the United States suffered another potential public relations embarrassment when the International Committee of the Red Cross announced that three of its warehouses full of aid supplies in Kabul had been hit by air strikes and were on fire.

``It has happened again. At 11:30 a.m. (Afghan time) huge explosions took place and three of our warehouses are on fire now,'' ICRC spokesman Mario Musa told Reuters.

U.S. bombs had hit ICRC warehouses in Kabul on Oct. 16 as well. Musa said the warehouses had essential food supplies, tents, tarpaulins, blankets and other aid supplies intended for the impoverished people of Kabul.

Britain, Bush's staunchest ally in his war on terrorism, announced Friday ground forces were joining the fight and 200 crack commandos were ``immediately available'' for action.

The Taliban, who describe the U.S.-led campaign to flush out bin Laden and punish his Taliban protectors as a crusade against Islam, say that U.S. bombs and missiles have killed more than 1,000, many of them civilians. There is no way to verify such claims.

A Taliban spokesman said the overnight raids on Kabul had killed at least five civilians and wounded six.

Taliban front-line positions have also come under heavy U.S. strikes to the north of Kabul where the Islamic movement faces fighters of the main opposition Northern Alliance.

Opposition to the U.S.-led attacks appeared more muted in some parts of the Muslim world after Friday prayers this week.

Radical Muslim groups were absent from the streets of the capital of Indonesia, the world's biggest Muslim country, after the weekly prayers. A week earlier about 10,000 people marched through Jakarta to call for an end to the U.S.-led attacks.

Protesters in mountainous northern Pakistan blocked the road link to China and Islamic groups in the southern city of Karachi said they would hold a ``million man march'' against the U.S. attacks. But witnesses said only about 15,000 people had gathered by mid afternoon.

With the anthrax bacteria increasingly burrowing into every part of American society -- either directly through infection or indirectly from fear of catching it -- the FBI (news - web sites) was poised to get greatly expanded powers to head off the threat.

Legislation to expand the power of law enforcement agencies to combat terrorists won congressional approval clearing the way for Bush to sign the bill into law Friday.

The powers would give the FBI unprecedented authority to monitor phone calls, e-mail and Internet traffic as well as stiffer penalties for terrorism.

He looked just like Rob “Meathead” Reiner, which allows me to post my picture of Meathead as well.

Taliban leaders said on Friday they captured and executed a top leader of the opposition in exile

Now we know exactly what to do with Osama when we get him.
And maybe we will be nice and send his body back to his family.

Ohmigoodness! Surely they didn't execute him on the Muslim Sabbath! I thought everyone was supposed to chill out on the Muslim Sabbath.

Oh, maybe that just applies to us?

Steve Harrigan from the ground with the Northern Alliance stated that this dude was executed yesterday. But, Hauk's family says that he is alive. Who do we believe? If the Taliban killed him, I am sure that they will have photo evidence. If there is no photo evidence, I am not going to take their word for it.

We need to step up the bombing and nuke the caves. We can't entirely trust the Northern Alliance either. At least the Brits are on the way but I've heard this for a week now. I am not going to rely on the media as they are just making our population panic, especially the regrettable anthrax distraction.

"Earlier, the Taliban said they had captured Haq despite attempts by U.S. attack helicopters to protect him as he fled on horseback."

Wait till CNN has a field day with this - where is PETA on this issue?

We are NOT winning this. :o(

Who’s this "we", white man?

Abdul Haq, a famous mujahid, or holy warrior, who lost a foot in the 1980s war against Soviet occupation, entered Afghanistan on a mission to rally Pashtun tribesmen

This almost sounds like suicide to me. We cannot protect the life of a famous, one-footed holy warrior, who decides to traipse back into Afghanistan and try to foment rebellion.

For one thing, everybody recognized him, for another he really couldn’t run away that fast when they did.

We are not his mommy.

I counsel patience Laz. remember the Gulf war took six months to prepare for, and at the time the US Military was much stronger than it is today (thanks to you know who).

These things take time and the biggest danger is faltering resolve right here at home. Every time I feel my commitment flagging I pull up that picture of the WTC at night behind the Statue of Lberty that has an Eagle's head superimposed on the towers. My determination returns immediately.

"Now we know exactly what to do with Osama when we get him. And maybe we will be nice and send his body back to his family."

Naah that would be too kind.. I vote we do that Braveheart thing.. pull him apart and stick limbs N,S,E,W.. for the SHOCK value that the Talibans seem to respect.

Let's see....we detain and do nothing but set up a nice cozy cell for the terrorists we find,they kill em.I say,if we find em don't tell us....get what you can out of them and quietly dispose of them however they seem fit.JUST a thought.

The problem with your plan, which is an excellent one, is that if are doing that in secret, there'd be people like you complaining that we aren't doing it. It's a Catch-22.

Once we start drilling here for oil here at home, I don't really care what happens in the middle east. Screw them and their oil monopoly. We should stand back (not helping them) and let Israel conquer the who damn area.

"..I pull up that picture of the WTC at night behind the Statue of Lberty that has an Eagle's head superimposed on the towers. My determination returns immediately."

I go to a website that flashes up the pictures of all those innocent people who were murdered. They had no warning that day.. seeing people jump to their deaths rather than being burnt a live. The horror of it and so incredibly sad.

I don't really care what happens in the middle east.

Ahhhhh, but your sensitivities are misplaced....

This has nothing to do with oil. The Muslim extremists have been in the U.S. for years, patiently waiting for their opportunity to undermine our culture.

In order to stop the tendrils from strangling us, we must cut off the vine at the root.

Okay, alright then. We will cut his body into pieces and hang them up in the town squares, if they have any town squares left.

Better yet, let's keep him captured for a while and put him in a room filled with a whole host of bio-contagions. His last meal will be a pork barbecue sandwich.

According to the Geneva Convention, you are not supposed to execute prisoners of war. I guess the Taliban is exempt. They can't complain now if they suffer from violations of the convention.

"put him in a room filled with a whole host of bio-contagions. His last meal will be a pork barbecue sandwich."

OK =) that will do fine too!

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