National News Taliban under mounting pressure; U.S. shows evidence linking bin Laden

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Afghanistan's isolatedTaliban regime was under mounting pressure Oct. 3, with the United States poised to launch military strikes. Moves to form a post-Taliban government are also gathering momentum.

The Taliban received a further blow Oct. 3 when an Italian official said Pakistan wanted former Afghan king Mohammed Zahir Shah to urgently send an emissary to Islamabad to discuss a post-Taliban government.

Zahir Shah, who has lived in exile in Rome since he was overthrown in 1973, has discussed with Afghan opposition leaders and senior U.S. diplomats plans for a new government to replace the Taliban.

Adding to speculation that the Taliban were losing their grip were claims by the anti-Taliban opposition that many Taliban fighters could be prepared to defect.

Afghanistan's deposed President Burhanuddin Rabbani said Oct. 3 in an interview with an Iranian daily that Western special forces were already scouting Taliban positions and that thousands of fighters were deserting the militia.

Meanwhile, the U.S. began providing its allies with what some governments said is clear evidence linking Saudi-born Osama bin Laden to the Sept. 11 attacks. Some reports said that evidence includes records of communications by bin Laden's aides, notes left by suicide hijackers before the attacks, and reports that some of the hijackers received training in bin Laden's military camps.

Shukan ST: Oct. 12, 2001

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