Here's the oft talked about Peshawar Frontier Post article saying that Osama has gone to the Wakhan, but as you can see it's basically just a rumor: http://frontierpost.com.pk/main.asp?id=2&date1=9/21/2001 Meanwhile, the military has declared a state of emergency in Pakistan, and the former king, Zahir Shah, is appealing for an emergency grand assembly for Afghanistan: http://frontierpost.com.pk/afghan.asp?id=2&date1=9/23/2001 US planes have landed in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, despite previous Russian and Uzbeki denials that they would cooperate with staging. It's beginning. Where will this war go?

Here are the plans of the Northern Alliance to retake Kabul in the London Times. http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,2001350006-2001354120,00.html

More press giving aid and comfort to the enemy by telling them what we are doing minute by minute? I think I better retreat to the sanity of Geo and science.

Allied bombing leaves Taliban frontline intact One week of US bombing in and around Kabul has disrupted Taliban logistics and communications, closed down air operations and inflicted some 200 military casualties, according to opposition intelligence sources. However, it has also had the effect of forcing hundreds of Taliban and allied troops out of the city onto what is now a significantly reinforced front line to the north. 15/10/01

GULBAHAR DISPATCH Playing Games by Elizabeth Rubin Post date 11.25.01 | Issue date 11.05.01 Yesterday, in a field encircled by willow trees and surrounded by close to a thousand men of all ages, a dozen whip-wielding horsemen cantered around and into each other, grabbing after the carcass of a headless goat. A burly man in knee-high sheepskin boots, baggy woolen trousers, and a thick, black wool cardigan that barely stretched over his shoulders, hunched over the headless sack of goat he'd hitched between his horse's belly and his stirrup and managed to gallop to the edge of the playground, around a flag post, and back into center field to bulldoze his wild, dusty white horse through the others and drop the goat into one of the two pits that serve as goalposts. .... A little further south, across the Bagram airfield about 35 miles north of the capital, every night this past week you could watch dozens of Taliban pickups moving supplies and men to the front line. Yet U.S. planes were nowhere in sight. Why, the commander asked, is America bombing Kabul and not the front lines? It was something of a rhetorical question. It's well known that, since the beginning of the war, Pakistan has been pressuring the United States to avoid bombing frontline Taliban troops in order to prevent the Northern Alliance from marching on Kabul. What the commander really wanted to know is why the United States still supports Pakistan when everyone, he said, knows that Pakistan is the source of both the Taliban and international terrorism? Why didn't the United States bomb the terrorist training camps in Pakistan a long time ago or stop its madrassas from pouring out new Taliban fighters? "We're such a poor, destroyed country, that there are no real consequences for bombing us. It's cheap," the commander complained. "But if America really wants to get rid of terrorism in this region she's going to have face Pakistan." Everywhere I turned up this last week, the sentiment was nearly the same. " continued at http://www.tnr.com/110501/rubin110501.html

Our killer drones. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Killer-Drones.html?searchpv=aponline

Some news from 'our boys' at sea. Emailed letter to Navy guys, which is being circualted among military types, active, ex, retired. Hello all, I know it has been a while since I updated you but it has been busy out here as the ship continues to pound away at the remnants of the Taliban and the Afghani section of the Al Qaida network. The headlines pretty much speak for themselves. The relentless pressure provided by airpower destroyed their air defenses, command and control networks, supply lines and eroded their will to resist. There are still a number of hard liners that are holding out but the majority of these are non-Afghanis. We will continue to support the Northern Alliance ground forces and attack Al Qaida strongholds. We are making some great progress in the latter. More coalition partners are arriving daily. The amount of naval power headed this way is staggering. Great Britain, Canada, Australia, France, Italy, and Japan have ships here or they are ! enroute. Many more countries are pledging ground or air forces. This is truly an international fight. It is sad in way that it took the 9/11 tragedy to bring the world together like this. The men and women of my crew continue to amaze me. We have been at sea for 60 days. Of those 60 days, only two have been days off (days without conducting flight operations). Despite all the above, the crew gathers around me whenever I walk around and want to know how we are doing and if we are making a difference. They cheer with every bomb on target and our success spurs them on to greater accomplishments. I do a weekly talk show on the ship's TV system. It is a chance for me to chat with the crew as they phone in to ask questions. Move over Larry King. As part of the show I roll a weekly "greatest hits" video. The best of the bombing from the last week. Very popular. Even the studio crew looks away from their cameras to study each hit. I emphasize that every mission we execute is a total team effort from ! the propulsion plant operators to the bomb assembl ers to the administrative support personnel to the flight deck aircraft maintainers. We have had some fun though. Two weeks ago we paused for a "steel beach" picnic. We set up barbeques on the flight deck and cooked up steak, chicken, hamburgers and hot dogs. The morale and welfare division set up volleyball and basketball matches. We have these oversize tricycles that people race on the flight deck. There were golfers, fishers, bands and, for the first time on an aircraft carrier in quite a while, a swim call. The Air Department lowered one of the aircraft elevators to the hangar deck level and crewmembers were given the opportunity to jump the 26 feet from the elevator to the water. Two thousand people literally jumped ship. Not all at once, of course. Life boats in the water, safety swimmers, etc. We even had sharpshooters looking out for sharks (none were seen). There is another no fly t! omorrow. We are using this as a maintenance day so there are no big events with one exception. Navy regulations say that if you are at sea for 45 consecutive days the captain can authorize a special ration of two cans of beer per crewmember. I guess I have to remind you that US Navy ships are dry i.e. no alcohol allowed except as noted above. So tonight as we recover the last aircraft we are going to serve pizza and BEER to the crew. It may seem like no big deal to most of you but this is huge out here. In the biggest surprise of the cruise to date, several members of the NY Yankees phoned me after Game 7 as they were flying home. I spoke to Willie Randolph and Paul O'Neill. I was told that Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams and Joe Torre were standing by to talk but the connection was severed as Jeter was handed the phone. They sent along their best wishes and gratitude to the crew who were thrilled to hear that the Yankees took time out to think of us. We continue to fly 14 hours a day 7 days a week but the ship's activities don't end at the end of flight operations. We are constantly gathering intelligence, fixing aircraft and ship's equipment, preparing more of our 20,000 meals a day, navigating the ship to our next launch point. The list goes on. TR is literally the city that never sleeps. We train constantly to keep the crew ready to respond to any contingency and go to battle stations for drill often shoot our guns and train our missiles. We even impose simulated damage to provide training in firefighting and damage control. As many of you know the human spirit is an formidable force. It is the only fighting reserve the evildoers in Afghanistan have left. All of us on TR and throughout this coalition have spirit and resolve that exceeds any quantity the enemy ashore has. But, unlike our adversary, we have some really cool weaponry left with which to carry out our orders. The reason I started on this spirit angle was to segue into a discussion on keeping morale high on the ship; my primary job. The support we have received from our families back in Norfolk has been spectacular. We on TR are blessed to have such strong, devoted spouses. The ship has also received messages and pledges of support from many parts of the country. I thank you all deeply. A small gift from home whether it be in the form of a video, a CD, a snack pack, a card, a let! ter, an email or a photograph means more than you know. It makes the difference between a Sailor who can give a little more for the nth consecutive day and a Sailor who can not. We could not do our job without the unflagging support of our family, friends and the American people. To all, you have my gratitude. I have rambled on enough. There are some images of life on the ship at the bottom of this email. Hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving. We are pulling all the stops out here for a spectacular turkey dinner with all the trimmings. Please stay in touch as our deployment progresses. Best wishes, Rich CAPT Rich O'Hanlon Commanding Officer USS Theodore Roosevelt

The specialist on Afghan water tunnels is John "Jack" Shroder, a geology professor at the University of Nebraska, who made the headlines by recognizing the rocks in a OBL video. He is a former director of the National Atlas of Afghanistan. The Russians only surveyed the northern part of Afghanistan. Shroder's team did the rest. http://europe.cnn.com/2001/COMMUNITY/10/18/ret.shroder.c nna/ "Consider the Zhawar complex in Paktia province. In 1986, the compound withstood 57 days of bombardment before the mujahedin finally abandoned it. The advancing Soviets were astonished by what they found inside." "Mujahedin rebels had built an underground mosque with an ornate brick facade; a hospital with an ultrasound machine; a grease pit occupied by a T-34 tank; a library stocked with books in English and Farsi; and a subterranean hotel furnished with comfy chairs and plush carpets."

""How many of our aircraft had worked this site over and the hotel and caves were still intact," marveled Viktor Kustensko, a Soviet witness to the 1986 incident, in a article he wrote in 1996 for Soldat udachi, the Russian version of Soldier of Fortune magazine." "After being used by the mujahedin, the Zhawar compound was occupied and expanded by bin Laden and then bombed ineffectually by the Americans in retaliation for the bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998." http://www.usatoday.com/news/attack/2001/11/06/caves-usat cov.htm "During the Soviet invasion, mojahedin camped in the karez network besieged the town of Khost for almost 10 years. The town's Russian defenders ranged Scud missiles, bombers, artillery, helicopters and commandos against them, but could not shift them from the tunnel system. Eventually Khost was retaken." "They may also have been used by Osama bin Laden to evade the 1998 US missile strikes launched by President Clinton in retaliation for the African embassy bombings. Some have said he escaped that attack by using the karez near Khost." http://www.guardian.co.uk/waronterror/story/0,1361,585412 ,00.html

Three Sea King choppers with 20 Marines each took off from Kandahar for Helmand between 5 and 6 pm (Afghan time) yetserday. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46626-2001Dec31.html and http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_1737000/1737032.stm

The Brits report on of the SF 'A' Teams (12 men) accounted for 1,300 El Queda dead. http://www.portal.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;$sessionid$IR3BRZYAAAO05QFIQMGCFFOAVCBQUIV0?xml=/news/2002/01/08/wafg108.xml&sSheet=/news/2002/01/08/ixnewstop.html

Wow. A special forces team with no Alliance soldiers surrounded a Taliban compound and got in to a firefight with hand to hand combat a la Hollywood. The box score: 15 Taliban killed 27 Taliban captured 1 SF soldier wounded in the ankle http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20020124/ts/attack_military_dc_3.html for more details.

Account of the hardcore rescue mission which led to the seven deaths: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/06/international/asia/06FIGH.html One of the American commandos killed was a Navy Seal, Petty Officer Neil C. Roberts, 32, who tumbled from one of two MH-47 Chinook helicopters that was to carry in Special Operations forces. Just as the helicopters touched down about 5:30 p.m. Sunday Eastern time � in the dark of night in Afghanistan, where it is 9 1/2 hours later � one of the helicopters was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade, officials said. Both lifted off quickly and flew about a mile, where they set down again to check for damage. That was when they realized that Petty Officer Roberts was not on board. But commanders had access to real-time surveillance videos shot by a Predator, an unmanned airborne vehicle, and they saw his capture. One of the two helicopters flew back to where Petty Officer Roberts was lost, and dropped off its Special Operations team to try to rescue him. In addition, General Hagenbeck, speaking to reporters in a Pentagon press pool in Afghanistan, said that "a quick reaction force of about 30 Special Operations troops" was also sent to rescue him. By about 9 p.m. Eastern time Sunday, two more Chinooks touched down about a mile or so from where the Navy Seal was last seen. The opposing forces apparently had set up an ambush and were waiting.

U.S. airstrike near Asadabad In an Afghan province known for its hostility to the West, the U.S. is hunting for a fierce Islamic military leader. - - - - - - - - - - - - By Phillip Robertson Sept. 6, 2002 | ASADABAD, Kunar Province, Afghanistan -- U.S. aircraft opened a thunderous airstrike Friday night in the mountains southeast of Asadabad near the Pakistani border, apparently targeting the forces of an Islamic radical who may be linked to Thursday's attempted assassination of Afghan President Hamid Karzai. After a day of mounting tension here, two large explosions were heard at about 9:30 p.m. [1 p.m. EST] in a Kunar Province valley, reverberating with the deep, booming signature of a B-52 bombing run. Propeller-driven aircraft then circled the area, apparently in search of targets, and about 40 minutes later, a steady stream of helicopters were seen racing toward the Pakistani border. Few details of the attack were immediately available. Asadabad is a stronghold of the Hizb-e-Islami party, a radical fundamentalist group headed by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, which has pressed for creation of an Islamic state in Afghanistan. On Friday morning, U.S. special forces troops raided an Asadabad hotel where a handful of Western journalists were staying, and briefly detained a reporter for Asia Week magazine. ep http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2002/09/06/asadabad/index_np.html

http://www.urban75.com/Action/news144.html http://www.information-international.com/pdf/attack_on_afghanistan-eng.pdf