Return-Path: <sentto-279987-2865-1002806094-fc=all.net@returns.onelist.com> Delivered-To: fc@all.net Received: from 204.181.12.215 by localhost with POP3 (fetchmail-5.1.0) for fc@localhost (single-drop); Thu, 11 Oct 2001 06:19:07 -0700 (PDT) Received: (qmail 5753 invoked by uid 510); 11 Oct 2001 13:18:06 -0000 Received: from n7.groups.yahoo.com (216.115.96.57) by 204.181.12.215 with SMTP; 11 Oct 2001 13:18:06 -0000 X-eGroups-Return: sentto-279987-2865-1002806094-fc=all.net@returns.onelist.com Received: from [10.1.1.220] by n7.groups.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 11 Oct 2001 13:18:15 -0000 X-Sender: fc@big.all.net X-Apparently-To: iwar@onelist.com Received: (EGP: mail-7_4_1); 11 Oct 2001 13:14:54 -0000 Received: (qmail 73032 invoked from network); 11 Oct 2001 13:14:54 -0000 Received: from unknown (10.1.10.27) by 10.1.1.220 with QMQP; 11 Oct 2001 13:14:54 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO big.all.net) (65.0.156.78) by mta2 with SMTP; 11 Oct 2001 13:18:14 -0000 Received: (from fc@localhost) by big.all.net (8.9.3/8.7.3) id GAA15458 for iwar@onelist.com; Thu, 11 Oct 2001 06:18:13 -0700 Message-Id: <200110111318.GAA15458@big.all.net> To: iwar@onelist.com (Information Warfare Mailing List) Organization: I'm not allowed to say X-Mailer: don't even ask X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.5 PL1] From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net> Mailing-List: list iwar@yahoogroups.com; contact iwar-owner@yahoogroups.com Delivered-To: mailing list iwar@yahoogroups.com Precedence: bulk List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:iwar-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com> Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2001 06:18:13 -0700 (PDT) Reply-To: iwar@yahoogroups.com Subject: [iwar] [fc:Afghan.Envoy:.Taliban.Troops.Defecting] Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | Afghan Envoy: Taliban Troops Defecting Afghan Envoy: Taliban Troops Defecting Thursday October 11, 2001 7:30 AM WASHINGTON (AP) - A Washington-based envoy for rebel forces in Afghanistan says his group welcomes defecting troops from the Taliban government and is willing to bribe Taliban commanders to change sides as well. ``We have no objection in trying to bribe the Taliban,'' Haron Amin said Wednesday in an interview with The Associated Press. ``Bribing other commanders is one the tools of the Taliban in the past.'' Switching sides is as common as war in the Central Asian nation, where U.S. military strikes are paving the way for possible rebel advances. Indeed, Amin's northern alliance - or United Front - claims it has attracted more than a thousand Taliban defectors so far. Amin described the alliance's plan to retake parts of Afghanistan, laying out a four-pronged ground offensive in the country's northern and western regions, all into areas where military facilities have been targeted by U.S.-led air strikes since Sunday. One force would push south from Bagram toward Kabul. A second would attack west toward Taloqan and Konduz. A third force would attempt to take Mazar-e-Sharif from the south. A fourth would strike east into Herat. He gave no timetable for the offensive. Alliance officials say they do not want to capture Kabul too quickly to keep from provoking ethnic Pashtun leaders in the south who lost power when the Taliban took over the government in 1996. If the Pashtun perceived a power grab in the capital by the alliance that didn't include them, they might throw their support to the Taliban, said Ali Jalali, a former Afghan fighter who now works for the Voice of America in Washington. Before the bombing began Sunday, forces of the ruling Taliban numbered about 45,000 troops and were better equipped than the rebels, who have fewer than 20,000 troops and control of about 10 percent of the country. So far, alliance officials say, an estimated 1,200 Taliban soldiers and 40 officers have defected in the Baghlan province of Afghanistan, closing a major north-south road the Taliban had used to supply its forces from Kabul. Apparently cut off are Taliban forces in far northern Afghanistan, near Taloqan and Konduz. ``There are clear signs of Taliban disarray,'' Amin said. But not every Taliban foe can be turned by bribery or fear. Some core Afghan troops, motivated by Taliban ideology above all else, likely will fight to the death, as will foreign forces that are a part of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network, U.S. officials and experts say. Perhaps most famous of these units are the veteran Arab fighters of the 55th Brigade, which spearheaded the Taliban's capture of Mazar-e-Sharif several years ago and last week launched an attack out of Taloqan that Amin said was repelled by alliance forces. The rebel forces aren't planning to attack in southern and eastern parts of Afghanistan, which are dominated by ethnic Pashtuns. There, the CIA likely will try to incite an anti-Taliban revolt, said Michael Vickers, a retired Green Beret and CIA officer in South Asia. He's now with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a Washington think tank. ``The Pashtun areas are really the key to the end game,'' Vickers said. Elsewhere, however, defections and bribery will work well, he said. The Taliban bribed opposing commanders to win several battles in its rapid drive in 1994 to conquer most of Afghanistan. Switching sides in a conflict is not considered dishonorable, Vickers said. Loyalties are to one's immediate clan leaders and family, so groups that switch sides en masse to follow defecting leader is not uncommon. Northern alliance envoy Daoud Mir said his group has ``good intelligence'' on which Taliban officers are likely to defect. ``In light of Islamic teachings, defections are welcome,'' his colleague Amin said. ``We will declare amnesty for anyone who would want to join us.'' What would follow the fall of the Taliban is uncertain. U.S. officials haven't stated any preference for a new government. The exiled King Mohammad Zaher Shah is working to convene an assembly of tribal leaders in the Afghan capital once a cease-fire has been secured. Alliance envoys Mir and Amin welcomed the idea of a transitional government sharing power between the alliance, the king's supporters and other tribes. Burhanuddin Rabbani, whose exiled Afghan government is recognized by the United Nations, said Wednesday in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, that all tribes should be represented in any post-Taliban government, as long as they have no blood on their hands. But Rabbani refrained from endorsing the exiled king as a unifying force. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Pinpoint the right security solution for your company- Learn how to add 128- bit encryption and to authenticate your web site with VeriSign's FREE guide! http://us.click.yahoo.com/yQix2C/33_CAA/yigFAA/kgFolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> ------------------ http://all.net/ Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : 2001-12-31 20:59:54 PST