The Guardian newspaper, quotes secret
diplomatic documents to say the US "is bent on force to
evict the Taliban from power" and will not stop at finding Osama bin
Laden and destroying his training camps. The documents
quote the US administration as canvassing the views of the allies
after
"the liberation" of Afghanistan.


In a BBC interview on Friday, British foreign secretary Jack Straw
refused to discuss "secret memos", but confirmed that
the coalition of nations engaged in "the war on terrorism" were keen
to
ensure Afghanistan had a proper government. The
king, who was overthrown in 1973, is said to have already told the
Italian authorities that he is willing to fill the void if the
Taliban is toppled.

http://www.MiddleEast.Org/forum

http://www.MiddleEast.Org/discussion



There is a strange and growing tension coming from the Middle East
this weekend; and we don't mean from Afghanistan and Pakistan this
time, rather we mean from America's closest allies, Israel, Egypt
and Saudi Arabia. We're in no position to know for sure just what
is happening. But in each of these countries very unusual and
potentially historic developments are unfolding.

The 3rd World War: A Message to the Anti-Globalization

Movement by Lorenzo Komboa Ervin



5,000 people have been killed in a murderous attack just a
few days ago, clearly stemming from past events in the
Middle East. Although the President of the United States
correctly refers to this as "acts of war", he does not tell
us that this war has been raging for many years, and is
fueled by long standing American support of Israel, acting
as its military proxy. The US is "no peace loving country,"
it is the world's largest salesmen of military armaments and
has its hands in most of the wars waging around the globe.



 

THE LEFT IN PAKISTAN: A BRIEF HISTORY
by Farooq Sulehria



(Farooq Sulehria is a member of the Executive Committee of the Labour Party
Pakistan and of the Editorial Board of Links.)



The following article appeared in issue number 13 of Links (September to
December, 1999).
http://www.dsp.org.au/links/
--------------------------------------------------------------

The left movement in Pakistan traces its origins to the Indian communist
movement. The Indian communist movement in turn drew its inspiration from
Russian revolutions of 1905 and October 1917. Lenin himself paid
considerable attention to India, and, long before him, Karl Marx showed a
great interest in what he called "an interesting country" and a "good future
ally". He wrote quite a few articles on the Indian subcontinent, especially
during the 1857 war of independence, which ended in defeat. That defeat
strengthened and consolidated the imperialist base for a century, an era of
exploitation, plunder and repression.

Anonymous Comrade writes: "The Sunday Times (UK) is reporting that British SAS troops ("Special Forces") clashed with Taliban militia deep inside Afghanistan this past Friday.

It has also been reported that British intelligence agents (M16) working undercover in Afghanistan have traced Osama bin Laden to a desolate region near Jalalabad, close to Pakistan: http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news/4326959

MI6 has maintained a
small, specialised team in the region since 1999; they are an elite unit who usually investigate major drugs
producers in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkey."

Louis Lingg writes: "arabia.com has posted a piece by journalist Ramzy Baroud on the implications of the WTC attack on the Palestinian struggle.

Interesting: the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (Iran) is reporting that the Iranian Foreign Minister, together with his Syrian counter-part, have dismissed linking the WTC attack to pre-existing crises in the Middle East.

The Palestine Chronicle has posted an interview with journalist Robert Fisk, one of the few westerners to have met and spent time with Osama bin Laden at his Afghan camps."

The Times of India is reporting that the opposition Northern Alliance in Afghanistan is claiming major territorial gains in northern provinces; 15 Taliban positions have been claimed seized.

The Telegraph (UK) is reporting that discipline is breaking down among Taliban militia in Kabul: looting, robberies, watching movies and listening to music...

Bush's Faustian Deal With The Taliban

by Robert Scheer



May 22, 2001 © Los Angeles Times

Enslave your girls and women, harbor anti-U.S. terrorists, destroy

every vestige of civilization in your homeland, and the Bush

administration will embrace you. All that matters is that you line

up as an ally in the drug war, the only international cause that this

nation still takes seriously.

That's the message sent with the recent gift of $43 million to the

Taliban rulers of Afghanistan, the most virulent anti-American

violators of human rights in the world today. The gift, announced

last Thursday by Secretary of State Colin Powell, in addition to

other recent aid, makes the U.S. the main sponsor of the Taliban and

rewards that "rogue regime" for declaring that opium growing is

against the will of God. So, too, by the Taliban's estimation, are

most human activities, but it's the ban on drugs that catches this

administration's attention.

Never mind that Osama bin Laden still operates the leading

anti-American terror operation from his base in Afghanistan, from

which, among other crimes, he launched two bloody attacks on American

embassies in Africa in 1998.

The London Guardian is reporting on a secret memo revealing US plan to overthrow Taliban regime.

The embassy
cable reveals that the US administration is bent on force to evict the
Taliban from power because of the shelter it has offered Osama bin Laden

Anonymous Comrade writes: "There is an excellent lecture by the late Dr. Eqbal Ahmed entitled
"Terrorism: Theirs and Ours" on the A-Infos Radio Project:



http://www.radio4all.net/proginfo.php?id=3633



The lecture was given shortly after the US embassy bombings in Africa,
which were attributed to Osama bin Laden. In the talk, Ahmed describes when
Osama bin Laden "was actually a guest in the Reagan White House" when the
US was funding bin Laden to fight the Red Army in Afganistan. He and
other Afghani "freedom fighters" were praised by Reagan during that visit
as "the moral equivalent of our founding fathers". Really damning stuff."