ISLAMABAD/WASHINGTON, 18 September — A Pakistani officer said yesterday the army had been deployed along the border with Afghanistan, whose Taleban rulers were massing troops on the other side. “We fear they may attack us, but we will defend the motherland,” Capt. Abid Bahtti, of the paramilitary Khyber Rifles, told reporters at a checkpoint in the Khyber Pass some 200 km west of Islamabad.
He said the Taleban had massed up to 25,000 fighters armed with Scud missiles in positions near the frontier. Afghan travelers who crossed the border said they had seen Taleban fighters digging trenches near the border.
But Maj. Gen. Rashid Qureshi, spokesman for Pakistan’s military government, said Pakistan had not deployed its half-million-strong army, nor had he heard of reinforcements by the Taleban. “We don’t have any reports of deployment on the other side,” he said.
Pakistan has effectively closed its porous 1,400-km border with Afghanistan, giving passage only to those with valid travel documents. Bahtti said Islamabad had reinforced the frontier, with troops fanning out amid mounting signs the United States may attack the neighboring country that harbors Osama Bin Laden, prime suspect in last Tuesday’s devastating US terror attacks.
Saudi Arabia yesterday restated its total support for the United States in its bid to track down the perpetrators of terror attacks, but criticized media attacks on Arabs and Muslims before the investigations have been completed. The Council of Ministers, chaired by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd, renewed its condemnation of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, describing them as being against the teachings of Islam.
“Saudi Arabia rejects any association with any person linked to terrorism, and calls on all the information media to report the facts without blindly blaming Islam and Muslims,” Information Minister Dr. Fuad Al-Farsi told the Saudi Press Agency after the Cabinet meeting in Jeddah.
“Saudi Arabia, which is ruled by Shariah law in all its affairs, considers the killing of innocent people as a gross injustice forbidden by Islam,” King Fahd told the Cabinet meeting at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah. Addressing the meeting, King Fahd denounced the inhuman attacks against US installations in Washington and New York and offered the Kingdom’s full support and cooperation “to fight all forms of terrorism whoever may be behind them.”
The Cabinet praised the understanding expressed by US President George W. Bush during a telephone conversation with Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, about how the American public should refrain from verbally or otherwise attacking Arabs and Muslims living in the United States.
In Washington, Bush said yesterday he wanted Bin Laden “dead or alive,” firing up a campaign against global terrorism, after horrific assaults on New York and the Pentagon which killed more than 5,000 people. Bush issued his most explicit call yet for Bin Laden’s head.
Moving the United States closer to a war of vengeance, Bush pledged to target not just Bin Laden but terrorism everywhere. “I want justice. There’s an old poster out west that says, as I recall, ‘Wanted dead or alive’, “ Bush said during a visit to the Pentagon. “There’s no rules. It’s barbaric behavior ... they slit throats of women on airplanes in order to achieve an objective that is beyond comprehension.” “But we’re going to smoke them out.”
In a last ditch bid to avert US action against Afghanistan Pakistan sent a high-level delegation to meet Taleban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar. Omar announced he would put a decision on Bin Laden’s fate to 1,000 Ulema, or scholars today, a move that came as a surprise as the Taleban leader has been a staunch backer of Bin Laden.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf sent the delegation to Kandahar led by intelligence chief Gen. Mahmoud Ahmad, yesterday. The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press said they held three hours of talks with the Taleban foreign minister and Omar.
Musharraf was locked in meetings as he tried to try to stave off a US strike on Afghanistan, while preparing his nation for a war next door.
Fearing US strikes, some 100,000 people — up to half the population — are believed to have fled Kandahar, a UN High Commissioner for Refugees spokesman said. Bin Laden has vehemently denied having any part in the attacks. “The US is pointing the finger at me, but I categorically state that I have not done this,” he told AIP via fax.
Afghanistan also closed its airspace and warned that violators would be dealt with. The US Embassy in Pakistan said it had requested permission from Washington for all non-essential American staff and their dependents to be allowed to leave the country.
Bahtti said that the Taleban fighters massed near the border had brought a large arsenal of weapons, including Russian Scud missiles with a range of around 300 km — putting them within striking distance of Islamabad — as well as anti-aircraft guns as well as light and heavy weaponry.
Officials of Taleban began fleeing Kabul yesterday. While the Pakistani delegation arrived earlier in the day, Taleban officials and their families were heading out of the city for the relative safety of the countryside, but it was not clear if this was under instructions from Omar, witnesses said.
The United Nations reported tens of thousands of Afghans streaming out of major cities and heading toward the borders with Pakistan and Iran. Pakistan Television said 20,000 refugees had crossed the border into southwestern Balochistan in the last few days.
Time was running out for the Taleban to hand over Bin Laden and avoid US retribution, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar told Reuters. “Time is of the essence,” he said. “There is no ultimatum, but time is definitely running out.” Sattar said that unless the Taleban reacted swiftly, there was a real possibility of a change of government in Afghanistan.
Shaken New Yorkers returning to work braved tight security, trudging past troop carriers, burned-out cars and posters of those missing. In another sign of a slow return to normalcy after events which changed the country forever, Major League Baseball games were scheduled again, for the first time since Tuesday. Workers spent another day clearing smoking rubble of the World Trade Center’s collapsed 110-story twin towers.
New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said 180 bodies had been retrieved but that another 5,097 people were missing. Rescuers had all but given up hopes of finding survivors. Among the victims were hundreds of foreign nationals, including Britons, Bangladeshis and Mexicans.
