The Taliban
Taliban Leader Killed in Missile Strike, Says Mod
Man known as Sadiqullah, is killed by Hellfire missiles fired from a British helicopter
Militants Blow Themselves Up in Kabul Standoff
Five suspected Taliban militants kill themselves after building surrounded by security forces
Militants Blow Themselves Up After Kabul Standoff
Five suspected Taliban militants blew themselves up in Afghanistan today, after the house they were holed up in was surrounded by security forces
US Marines Launch Mini Surge to Weaken Taliban
British troops aid attack on Afghan insurgents in southern Helmand with aim of disrupting major smuggling routes
US Marines Launch 'mini Surge' Against Taliban
• British troops aid attack on Afghan insurgents• Mission aims to disrupt major smuggling routes
Hamburger Hill: Frontline Base in a Sea of Poppies British Soldiers Dare Not Clear
War on drugs loses out to anti-Taliban fight for hearts and minds in Helmand province
Leave Taliban Alone, Afghan President Tells West
Karzai says US and British troops undermine his authority and stop insurgents laying down their arms
Taliban Commander Calls for Ceasefire in Pakistan Border Area
Move comes after secret talks between new government and Taliban leader accused of orchestrating Benazir Bhutto assassination
Taliban Commander Orders Ceasefire in Tribal Areas
Deal is a triumph for new Pakistani government, which has promised to tackle militancy through dialog in contrast with Musharraf's iron-fisted approach
Taliban
Where they hide / how they operate...
'Bullets Were Winging Everywhere'
Lieutenant Simon Cupples tells the Guardian about being caught in a Taliban ambush
Taliban Commander Captured
Senior Taliban commander captured in Pakistan after being seriously wounded is second big catch in two weeks
Seven Killed As Taliban Militants Storm Luxury Hotel in Kabul
Taliban militants stormed Kabul's leading luxury hotel last night, killing seven people including a Norwegian journalist. By Declan Walsh in Lahore
Talking to the Taliban
Leader: When Liam Fox piles into an argument, it is usually sensible to take the opposite side. Yesterday the shadow defence secretary was full of outrage over reports that MI6 agents, as well as UN and EU officials, have been talking to Taliban leaders
Of Course We Must Talk
Jason Burke: Outrage over western officials' contact with the Taliban is predictable, contrived and harmful
Allies Move Into Town Held By Taliban
British and American forces place cordon round battle zone to halt escape of 200 resistance defenders
Five Mps Among Up to 50 Killed As Insurgents Switch Focus From Military to Civilian Targets
Bomber struck in crowd gathered at sugar factory· Taliban deny carrying out deadly assault
UN Horrified By Surge in Opium Trade in Helmand
Despite 7,000 UK troops, Taliban-backed production up 48%.
Strategy That Fails to Win Hearts and Minds
Airpower allowed Nato to move into Taliban areas but at high cost for the alliance.
Three British Troops Killed By Us Jet
· US jet kills three British soldiers· Soldiers were under Taliban attack· Two more seriously injured by bomb
Taliban Free Two Korean Hostages
Women from group of 23 kidnapped three weeks ago.
Fleeing Mosque Leader Caught in Islamabad As Siege Tightens
The leader of a pro-Taliban mosque was captured hiding under a burka last night as he tried to escape a siege.
Red Mosque Leader Attempts to Flee in Burka
The leader of a pro-Taliban mosque was captured hiding under a burka as he tried to slip through a tightening siege tonight, while hundreds of his radical followers reportedly surrendered to the Pakistani government.
Christians Live in Dread As New, Local Taliban Rises in the North of Nigeria
In areas such as Kano it is corruption, not religion, fuelling Muslim extremism in Nigeria.
Thirsty to Fight, Hard to Wake Up
The US has spent $2bn creating an anti-Taliban force, but the shock of barracks life is creating its own issues.
75 'taliban Fighters' Killed in Helmand Offensive
UK-led operation sees fierce battles in the Sangin valley in southern Helmand province.
Taliban Overrun Town As Peace Deal Fails
Locals flee after militants disarm new police force - Offensive happens two days before Nato handover
Dam Holds Back Force of the Taliban
An Afghan reservoir built by the Russians carries hopes of reconstructing a nation, but standing in the way are the ever-evolving enemy.
Fighting Expected to Intensify As Winter Ends
British troops in Helmand will be on the frontline of a coming Taliban offensive expected to present one of the greatest challenges in Nato's 58-year history.
Nato General: We Need One More Year to Defeat Taliban
British head of Nato forces in Afghanistan warns that more troops and more money will be required.
Fugitive Mullah Omar Leaves Only a Trail of Devotees
The capture of the Taliban spokesman Muhammad Hanif produced a sensational confession: that Omar was hiding in south-west Pakistan.
Strapped to Apaches and Dodging Fire, How Troops Recovered Fallen Comrade
Marine died during failed attack on Taliban fort - Four soldiers clung to gunships in rescue effort
Marine Killed During Mission to Clear Taliban
A Royal Marine was killed yesterday in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan - the second fatality in three days as British commandos continued to attack Taliban positions around the town of Garmsir.
Special Deals and Raw Recruits Employed to Halt the Taliban in Embattled Helmand
Fight for hearts and minds leads to unproven tactics and new local leadership.
'Jihad Equipment is Not for Personal Use': Taliban Rules
The dos and don'ts of a good Taliban fighter were agreed by the 33-member shura, or ruling council, during the recent Eid religious holiday.
Now We Must Face the Facts and Talk to the Taliban in Afghanistan
One immutable law of insurgency warfare is that, while conventional armies need to win, insurgents need only to avoid losing. The disagreeable truth is that, though we are not losing the war in Afghanistan, we are not winning. Neither, looking at the current situation, are we likely to. By Jason Burke
Marine Dies in Clash With Taliban
A Royal Marine has been killed and a second seriously injured in a battle with Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence said last night.
Nato Countries Must Live Up to Pledges on Troops, Says Blair
The battle against the Taliban in Afghanistan is 'winnable', Tony Blair declared today, as Nato allies promised extra forces and greater flexibility in deploying soldiers to combat zones.
Blair Calls on Nato Countries to Renew Fight Against Taliban
PM admits reconstruction will take some time - Former forces chief accuses politicians
From Soft Hats to Hard Facts in Battle to Beat Taliban
· Hearts and minds battle gives way to shooting war · Despite losses military chiefs feel fight is worth it
UN Chief: Nato Cannot Defeat Taliban By Force
Official says alliance failing in Afghanistan as Blair admits Iraq is a 'disaster'.
As Taliban Insurgency Gains Strength and Sophistication, Suspicion Falls on Pakistan
Five years on, more than 4,000 killed in succession of attacks and suicide bombings in Afghanistan.
Growing Anger As Us Accused of Being Behind Madrasa Attacks
· School was not a front for al-Qaida, say protesters · Taliban can only gain from situation, say experts
Nato Claims 70 Taliban Killed in Firefight
Hopes for a winter lull in fighting in southern Afghanistan were halted by a weekend firefight in Uruzgan province in which Nato said it killed 70 suspected militants.
Taliban Plan to Fight Through Winter to Throttle Kabul
Militia fighters are operating just an hour's drive from the capital's suburbs, confident of undermining Western support for the war.
Musharraf Faces New Questions Over Taliban
· Pakistani president to meet British commander · Reports claim intelligence agency helps militants
Arrested in Afghanistan: Abdullah, 25, an Iranian Jihadist 'rejected By the Taliban'
Officials claim there is a new stream of support for the insurgency coming from Iran.
Taliban Attacks Double After Pakistan's Deal With Militants
Afghan offensives add weight to safe haven fear Relations between Karzai and Musharraf hit new low.
Taliban Kill Top Afghan Woman
Suspected Taliban gunmen shot dead a leading women's rights campaigner in Kandahar in the latest assassination of a government official in the restive southern provinces.
Better Paid, Better Armed, Better Connected - Taliban Rise Again
Kandahar under threat, war raging in two provinces and an isolated president. So what went wrong?
Taliban Not Behind All Violence in Afghanistan, Says Nato Chief
The Taliban should not be blamed for all the violence in Afghanistan, which was also being perpetrated by al-Qaida remnants and criminals, Nato's top commander said yesterday.
Nato Faces Crisis As Call for Troops Goes Unanswered
· Britain and US press allies for help to fight Taliban · 1,000-strong reserve battalion may be offered
Taliban Exposes Cracks in Nato
Nato chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer's public plea today for up to 2,500 additional soldiers to fight in southern Afghanistan has highlighted deep internal strains in the alliance.
Nato Claims to Have Killed 420 Taliban in Nine Days
· Estimate of rebel numbers raised to thousands · Provincial governor killed in suicide bomb blast
Nato Wants 2,000 Extra Troops to Combat Taliban
The call for member nations to provide more troops in Afghanistan comes as a suicide car bomb targets a US patrol in central Kabul, killing 16 people, including civilian bystanders and two US soldiers.
Pakistan Agrees Peace Pact With Pro-taliban Tribal Fighters
The Pakistani army and pro-Taliban tribal militants signed a peace pact yesterday aimed at ending months of ambushes, assassinations and pitched battles along the volatile Afghan border.
British Soldier Killed in Clash With Taliban
A British soldier was killed and another seriously injured yesterday during clashes with the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence said.
Taliban Assassins Target the Clerics Faithful to Kabul
Staying one step ahead of the assassins is a nail-biting business, says one of Afghanistan's most senior Islamic clerics.
British Soldier Killed and Three Wounded in Clash With Taliban
A British soldier was killed and three others wounded yesterday in a battle with Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan.
Four British Soldiers Killed on Black Day for Army
· Three die in Taliban ambush; one in Basra · Morale still 'very strong' insists forces commander
British General Takes Control of Nato Troops in Fight Against Taliban
A British general took command of an expanded Nato force in Afghanistan today, vowing to "strike ruthlessly" against the Taliban as the west's military alliance prepared to conduct land combat operations for the first time in its 57-year history.
British General Takes Command and Promises Ruthless Strikes on Taliban
· 18,000-strong force ready for first land operations · Nato troops take charge of most of Afghanistan
600 Taliban Killed in Bloodiest Month for 5 Years
More than 600 suspected Taliban fighters have been killed over the past month, the bloodiest period in southern Afghanistan since their regime was overthrown five years ago, US officials said yesterday.
US Military Vows to Reclaim Helmand Towns From Taliban
US military officials were preparing to launch "decisive operations" to reclaim territory in southern Afghanistan yesterday after the Taliban seized control of two towns in Helmand province.
British Troops Join Raid on Taliban Stronghold
· Helmand offensive like punching flies, says major · Area is site of six British deaths in about a month
Hunt for the Taliban Trio Intent on Destruction
Behind the rising death toll of British soldiers in Afghanistan is a shadowy group known as 'the junta'. Now the coalition has them in its sights.
UK Has Boosted Taliban, Admits Defence Chief
Des Browne, the defence secretary, conceded yesterday that the deployment of 3,300 British forces into the Taliban heartland of southern Helmand has "energised" the Taliban.
Jabron Hashmi, the British Muslim Soldier Killed Fighting the Taliban
L/Cpl Hashmi, who has died in southern Afghanistan, was the first British Muslim soldier to be killed since the 'war on terror' began five years ago.
Britain Plans Extra Troops to Fight Taliban
Review of tactics as soldiers killed. Hundreds of extra combat troops will be deployed to southern Afghanistan under plans being drawn up by the Ministry of Defence as part of...
Death by chocolate
The one I like best is dropping all 250 tons of salmonella infected chocolate onto the Taliban.
Taliban Ambush Kills 30 in Helmand
Taliban gunmen killed at least 30 people, many from the same family, during an ambush in a notorious corner of Helmand province, officials and relatives said on Monday.
Relatives Claim 30 From Same Family Killed By Taliban
Taliban gunmen killed at least 30 people, many from the same family, during an ambush in the southern Afghan province of Helmand, officials and relatives said yesterday.
Beaten, Robbed and Exiled: Life on the Frontline of Someone Else's War
Villagers caught in crossfire between the Taliban and government forces.
30 Killed in Taliban Ambush
Taliban fighters have killed 30 people in an ambush in southern Afghanistan, officials said today.
Taliban Tactics Fuel Anti-western Feeling
Iraq-style suicide attacks on civilians harden opposition to troops in Afghanistan, reports Declan Walsh in Kandahar.
US-led Troops Launch Largest Assault on Taliban Since 2001
· 11,000-strong force tries to cripple militants in south · Response to increasing violence from insurgents
US Troops to Lead Major Attack on Taliban
An American-led force of 11,000 troops will launch their biggest offensive against Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan since 2001 on Thursday, concentrating their firepower on an area under British control.
Taliban Leader: 'more Zarqawis to Come'
A statement believed to be from Taliban leader Mullah Omar has mourned the "martyrdom" of al-Qaida militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and vowed to continue the "struggle against crusaders".
Taliban Blamed for Murder of Afghan Aid Workers
Three Afghan women working for the Action Aid agency were gunned down yesterday in a rare attack on aid workers in the normally tranquil northern provinces.
Across the Border From Britain's Troops, Taliban Rises Again
This has been Afghanistan's bloodiest week for five years, and in the Pakistani city of Quetta, insurgents roam at will.
Taliban Grows in Strength, Us Admits
The Taliban are growing in strength, the US military admitted yesterday as it defended 16 civilian deaths inflicted by its bombers during southern Afghanistan's most violent week in years.
Fifteen Killed in Shootout With Taliban
Three policemen and 12 Taliban militants were killed today when a government convoy was ambushed in the southern Afghan mountains.
US Warplanes Kill Scores of Taliban in Worst Afghan Clashes for Years
· Villagers tell of air raid as insurgents hid in school · Six days of violence raises stakes for British troops
Pakistan Sheltering Taliban, Says British Officer
· Colonel's outburst follows multiple terror attacks · Afghanistan president says Quetta used as base
A Kandahar Soap Story
Daughter of liberal Harvard law professors, Sarah Chayes arrived in Kandahar as a correspondent for America's National Public Radio to report on the fall of the Taliban in 2001, then couldn't bring herself to leave. By Declan Walsh
Pakistani Taliban Take Control of Unruly Tribal Belt
· Militia inflicts major blow on 'war on terror' · Music and films banned as Islamic court takes over
Fears of a Lost Generation of Afghan Pupils As Taliban Targets Schools
Arson attacks and death threats have turned playgrounds into battlegrounds in Helmand.
Bush to Visit Afghanistan Despite Taliban Attacks
· President to extend vital visit to India and Pakistan · US marines to lead huge sub-continent security
30 Hurt As Taliban and Al-qaida Prisoners Lead Revolt at Afghan Prison
· Uprising prompted by new uniform regulations · Soldiers surround jail to prevent mass escape
Friend or Foe? Uk Forces Enter Afganistan's Dark Zone
· Helmand mission aims to reclaim night from Taliban · Lawless province provides big challenge for soldiers
US Ambassador Escapes Taliban Suicide Bomb
The US ambassador fled a central Afghan town after a Taliban suicide bomber killed 10 people and wounded 50, further stoking fears of an Iraqi influence on the escalating insurgency.
Headteacher Decapitated By Taliban
Suspected Taliban militants have beheaded a headteacher in central Afghanistan, the latest in a string of gruesome attacks on teachers working in schools where girls are taught.
Booming and Broke - a Tale of Two Cities
Four years after the fall of the Taliban, major reconstruction in Kabul is polarising rich and poor.
Taliban Exploit Drug Trade to Step Up Afghan Attacks
Resurgent Taliban forces have forged an alliance with drug smugglers in the lawless Afghan province of Helmand, underscoring a worrying slide in security just months before thousands of British troops are due to take control in the spring.
British Troops May Face Taliban Fighters Next Year
British troops face the prospect of fighting al-Qaida and Taliban forces in Afghanistan next year even though that is not the purpose of their deployment, their commander said yesterday
US Fears Backlash After Tv Documentary Shows Soldiers Burning Taliban Corpses
· Embassies worldwide try to defuse situation · Afghans outraged by desecration
Kabul Attack Raises Fear of Al-qaida Link to Taliban
A suicide bombing outside an army base in the Afghan capital Kabul killed nine people and injured 28 yesterday, raising fears that insurgents are importing ruthless Iraqi-style tactics into Afghanistan.
Afghan Leader Calls for Tactical Shift in Battle Against Taliban
The Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, called yesterday for a major shift in the battle against Taliban insurgents, away from American military strikes and towards greater political pressure on neighbouring Pakistan.
Afghans Ignore Taliban Threats to Go to the Polls
· Illiteracy poses biggest problem at booths · Warlords and women among candidates
The Taliban's Rocket Man Adopts a Gentler Image to Woo Voters
Former warlords are playing down their hardline credentials to contest Sunday's Afghan elections.
Your country needs you (to dress up as Taliban)
Germany's defence minister, Peter Struck, may have produced the answer to the problem that has eluded his beleaguered chancellor, Gerhard Schröder - how to reduce Germany's teaming army of unemployed. Get them all to dress up and pretend to be the Taliban.
British Warplanes Join Assault on Taliban
Scores of rebels killed as violent attacks increase in Afghanistan.
Al-Qaida Militants Raise Fears of Taliban Resurgence
Fears of a bloody Taliban resurgence, bolstered by newly arrived al-Qaida militants, are rising in southern Afghanistan amid a string of Iraq-style attacks, executions and a steadily rising US death toll.
Mullahs Target Women Runners
Placard-waving women protesting against the "Talibanisation" of Pakistan demonstrated outside the national parliament yesterday after a mob attacked female runners.
US Releases 80 Taliban Suspects in Peace Gesture
The US military freed 80 suspected Taliban members from custody in Afghanistan yesterday in a move intended to bolster peace talks and hasten the dismantling of the militant Islamist group.
How to Find the Elusive Taliban: Pop Down to the Shops in Quetta
As US forces comb Afghan mountains, fighters stock up on supplies in Pakistan.
Taliban spectre returns as 17 die in blasts
The Taliban claimed responsibility for a car bomb that ripped through Kabul yesterday. The Afghan government said two Americans, three Nepalese and two Afghans were killed in what was the largest attack for months in the Afghan capital.
Afghan Warlords 'bigger Threat Than Taliban'
The warlords and private militias who were once regarded as the west's staunchest allies in Afghanistan are now a greater threat to the country's security than the Taliban, according to the interim president, Hamid Karzai. His claim comes in the wake of a decision to delay the...
Taliban Murders Voters to Derail Election
Taliban gunmen shot dead 16 people after discovering that they had registered to vote in the general election scheduled for September, Afghan officials said yesterday. Targeting would-be voters appears to be a new tactic in the violent campaign by the Taliban against the election, which...
Gunmen Kill Pro-taliban Cleric
A pro-Taliban cleric was shot dead in Karachi yesterday, sparking riots which led to looting of shops and banks and nearly 20 people being injured on the streets. A gang of six people on motorcycles and in cars shot at Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai as he drove out of his home, fatally wounding...
Pentagon Forced to Withdraw Leaflet Linking Aid to Information on Taliban
The US-led coalition in Afghanistan has distributed leaflets calling on people to provide information on al-Qaida and the Taliban or face losing humanitarian aid. The move has outraged aid organisations who said their work is independent of the military and it was despicable to pretend...
Taliban Warning As Stronghold is Pounded
Fugitive leader cannot escape, claims Pakistan.
Taliban Claim Responsibility for Attack on Reconstruction Team
An Australian helicopter pilot was killed and a British security officer seriously injured in southern Afghanistan yesterday after their team, working for an American construction company, was attacked by a gunman. An American woman employed to build cottage hospitals was also seriously...
Time to Talk to the Taliban
Supporters of the old regime can help end violence in Afghanistan. The latest atrocity in Afghanistan - a dozen children killed by a "bicycle bomb" in Kandahar yesterday - is a reminder that Iraq is not the only place where US-sponsored regime change has not produced peace.
Taliban Spies Keep Strong Grip on South
James Astill meets the elite US forces on patrol in Gereshk trying to stem the rising tide of bloody attacks.
US Apologises After Children Die in Bombing Meant for Taliban Chief
American military commanders in Afghanistan who have been hunting renegade Taliban leaders yesterday apologised for an air strike which killed nine children. The target of the attack, which happened at Hutala, in eastern Afghanistan, was Mullah Wazir, thought to have been behind the...
The Taliban Returns, Stronger and Deadlier
Close to Kandahar is a little village they call the cradle of the Taliban. Now, two years after the collapse of Mullah Omar's feared regime, the movement is once again on the march. Jason Burke in Sangesar tracks a resurgent menace.
Military Interpreter Faces Spying Charge
A serviceman in the US air force has been charged with espionage as part of an investigation into security violations at the American naval base in Cuba where suspected al-Qaida and Taliban prisoners are held, the Pentagon said yesterday. Senior Airman Ahmad Al Halabi, who is in jail at...
US Troops Die in Week-long Fight With Taliban
Two American soldiers died in a gun battle in eastern Afghanistan yesterday as hundreds of Taliban fighters poured into the southern mountains to join a week-long battle against Afghan and US forces. Four Taliban insurgents were killed and an American soldier injured as a US combat patrol...
US Bombs Base of Resurgent Taliban
US jets bombed a Taliban base in the mountains of southern Afghanistan yesterday, killing as many as 50 fighters. The assault followed an upsurge in attacks during the last fortnight in which suspected Taliban loyalists have killed up to 100 people, including dozens of Afghan government...
Three Killed in Taliban Raid on Police Post
Suspected Taliban fighters attacked a police station in a remote part of south-east Afghanistan early yesterday, killing at least three people. It was the latest attempt to destabilise the pro-US government of Hamid Karzai. The fighters attacked a compound in Tarway, a village in Paktika...
22 Die in Taliban Attack on Police Station
At least 22 people died when hundreds of suspected Taliban fighters seized control of a police station in southern Afghanistan at the weekend, one of the most serious attacks against the government for a year.
Taliban Blamed As Afghan Bus Bomb Kills 15
Series of attacks sparks fear of resurgent regime.
Heavy Hand of America Fans the Taliban Embers Into Life
The new police chief of Khost, the Afghan town once synonymous with al-Qaida, always knew he had a tough job on his hands. But Abdul Saboor wrongly assumed that no one would try to kill him on his first day at work. Shortly before reviewing his force last month he found six...
Taliban Are Back - and With a Murderous Vengeance
A suicide bomber in Kabul blows up a bus and kills German soldiers in the latest, deadliest attack on Afghan capital.
Taliban shadow falls on North West Frontier
In the Pakistani border province an Islamist government is imposing the sort of restrictions that once made Afghanistan notorious.
Taliban thinking
The Cannes film festival is an uncomfortable place to be an American. Or that at least is how it is beginning to be viewed through the distorting night-vision goggles of homeland security.
US Muslim guilty of Taliban aid
James Ujaama, an American Muslim who worked at the Finsbury Park mosque in London and was a close associate of the cleric Abu Hamza, has pleaded guilty to assisting the Taliban in Afghanistan.
US forces target Taliban massing near Kandahar
About 1,000 US soldiers backed by helicopter gunships and armoured vehicles began an assault in southern Afghanistan yesterday against suspected al-Qaida and Taliban fighters, acting on intelligence reports that Islamist militants were regrouping in the Kandahar region.
Taliban captives should go home, says rights group
The US has no legal basis for holding members of the Taliban at Guantanamo Bay, the organisation Human Rights Watch said in a letter to the American defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld.
Taliban Blamed for Deadly Bomb Attack
Newly laid mine kills 18 near Kandahar.
Guantanamo Prisoners Still Held Because of 'wrangling'
Almost 10% of the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay have no meaningful connection with al-Qaida or the Taliban and have been held for more than a year because of bureaucratic wrangling and obstinacy, published reports said yesterday. One had suffered horrendous injuries that make it unlikely he...
Seumas Milne: A war that can't be won
The west isn't just losing the fight against terrorism - it is fuelling it across the globe. This time last year, supporters of George Bush's war on terror were in euphoric mood. As one Taliban stronghold after another fell to the US-backed Northern Alliance, they hailed the advance as a decisive blow to the authors of the September 11 atrocities.
How a Suitcase Full of Dollars Finished Off the Taliban
A new book has revealed how a CIA operative, codenamed 'Jawbreaker', was dropped into Afghanistan just over two weeks after the 11 September attacks with an attaché case containing $3 million (£2m).
Appeal Court Blow for British Taliban Suspect
The government cannot be compelled to intervene over the fate of a Briton held by the US in Guantanamo Bay even though his imprisonment is "legally objectionable", the court of appeal ruled today. The family of Feroz Abbasi, 22, who was taken to US base in January following his capture in...
Shock Islam Victor Wants Us to Leave
Pro-Taliban leader's gains in Pakistani election are set to hamper hunt for al-Qaeda.
Bright Boy From the California Suburbs Who Turned Taliban Warrior
Spiritual quest of American caught in Afghanistan ends in prison.
TV Station Carries Taliban Leader's 'statement' of Resistance
The pan-Arab satellite channel al-Jazeera today carried a statement allegedly from the vanished Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar vowing to drive US forces from Afghanistan. Mullah Omar - either dead or in hiding - was ousted from power at the end of last year by the US-led assault on...
Taliban melt away before army sweep
The commander of the biggest US search for Taliban and al-Qaida fugitives in Afghanistan for five months said last night that the quarry appeared to have been tipped off that the troops were coming.
UN Evidence of Taliban Massacre
The UN has gathered enough evidence to begin a criminal investigation into the allegation that almost 1,000 captured Taliban are buried in mass graves in Afghanistan, it was revealed last night. A confidential UN memo leaked to the American magazine Newsweek, said disturbing evidence had...
US Taliban fighter admits guilt
The American Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh accepted the certainty of a 20-year jail sentence yesterday by changing his plea to guilty on two of the 10 charges he faced.
In the Lair of the Hunted Taliban
It was the power wielded by men like Mullah Taj Mohamed, once the Taliban's deputy chief of intelligence in Kabul, that allowed Osama bin Laden to build his terrorist movement. Mohamed was one of the few senior Taliban figures with access to Mullah Omar, the reclusive one-eyed cleric who...
US lost chance to oust Taliban leader
The Taliban's intelligence chief offered to help the US depose their leader Mullah Mohamed Omar in 1999, but was turned down by diplomats on the grounds that the Clinton administration wanted to avoid interfering in Afghan politics.
Lawyers take US to court for breach of Camp X-Ray detainees' rights
A civil rights lawyer is taking on the US government on behalf of the Taliban and al-Qaida prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay.
Alleged Taliban Dealer in Moscow
Britain has asked Russia to take action against an arms dealer living freely in Moscow despite his alleged role in supplying weapons to the Taliban and al-Qaida.
'Miracle' of 2nd Century Bowl Saved From Taliban
The art historian Dan Cruickshank has become the first outsider in years to see one of the lost treasures of the Kabul museum, a 2nd century AD stone wine bowl.
Pits Reveal Evidence of Massacre By Taliban
A team from the United Nations travelled to a remote Afghan province yesterday to investigate three mass graves allegedly containing victims of one of the last Taliban bloodbaths. Pits with what appear to be bodies of people slaughtered last November in a campaign of ethnic cleansing have...
Second Us Taliban Fighter Held at Cuba Base
The Pentagon confirmed yesterday that it had a second American prisoner among the 300 Taliban and al-Qaida fighters captured last year in Afghanistan who are being detained at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. US officials said they had found a birth certificate apparently confirming the prisoner's...
Fifty Taliban Reported Killed on New Front
A new offensive against defiant Taliban guerrillas hiding in Afghanistan's barren mountains seemed to be under way last night.
I Was Tortured By Us Troops, Says Taliban American
Lawyers for John Walker Lindh, the American who fought with the Taliban, claim he was systematically brutalised and threatened with 'torture and death' after US troops seized him. The claims come as his lawyers prepare to argue that he was a soldier of the Taliban, not an anti-US...
The Taliban Fish Have Swum Away
Isabel Hilton:British troops are marching off to fight in another Afghan civil war.
Taliban No 2 'was Caught in Us Attack'
Senior Afghan military officials said yesterday that they believed the deputy leader of the Taliban regime was hiding in the eastern Afghan mountains during intensive US attacks there last week.
Kabul Fears Taliban Regrouping
Afghanistan's interim government last night said it believed that large numbers of Taliban and al-Qaida fighters were regrouping across southern Afghanistan and ordered 5,000 troops to be deployed south of Kabul. The soldiers will be sent to the provinces of Wardak, Ghazni, Khost and...
Warlords Argue As Last Push on Taliban Caves Draws Near
A dangerous row opened up between rival Afghan commanders fighting in the eastern mountains of Afghanistan last night as Afghan and US troops prepared to mount their final drive against a Taliban and al-Qaida holdout. Senior Afghan military leaders in Gardez said they resented a decision...
US Faces Guerrilla Warfare
March 8: Taliban and al-Qaida fighters lie low around Gardez, waiting for the chance to fight back, writes Rory McCarthy.
Bring Back the Good Taliban
March 8: In Gardez, as in much of eastern Afghanistan, sympathy for the old regime is widespread, writes Rory McCarthy.
Alleged Gun-runner for Taliban 'free in Russia'
The former Soviet officer suspected of being the main gunrunner to al-Qaida and the Taliban said yesterday he was living freely in Russia despite statements from the Russian authorities that they were seeking him on an Interpol warrant. Viktor But, a Russian businessman, said he had...
Doubts Cloud Us Taliban Case
Scepticism about the strength of the case against John Walker, the so-called American Taliban fighter, is growing, but few legal analysts expect him to escape a long prison sentence. The odds are not in his favour. The court in Virginia that will hear the case is nicknamed the 'rocket...
Captures Point to Pakistan As Taliban Hiding Place
Most of the Taliban's senior leadership has spent the past three months hiding in neighbouring Pakistan, it now appears following the dramatic surrender over the weekend of Mullah Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil, the Taliban's former foreign minister. Officials in Kandahar yesterday said that...
Taliban Chief is Held at Us Base
American intelligence officers were yesterday questioning Mullah Abdul Wakil Muttawakil, the former Taliban Foreign Minister, the highest- ranking member of the hardline Islamic militia captured in Afghanistan. Muttawakil, a close aide of fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Omar, surrendered...
US accused of killing anti-Taliban leaders
Afghan villagers last night claimed that American special forces had botched a raid north of Kandahar, killing at least 15 pro-government local leaders who were negotiating the surrender of local Taliban fighters. US troops have now been accused of blundering in several ground assaults...
Congress delegates scorn X-Ray fears
A US congressional delegation arrived in Guantanamo Bay yesterday for a lightning tour of the controversial prison camp holding Taliban and al-Qaida suspects. Its leading members denied the visit was motivated by concern about conditions for the 158 inmates. "This has nothing to do...
US troops take Taliban camps near Kandahar
US special forces mounted a pre-dawn raid on two Taliban outposts in southern Afghanistan yesterday, killing a number of fighters and taking 27 prisoner. One US soldier was wounded in the raid, which was the first significant engagement for at least a week. US...
15 Taliban die in firefight
As many as 15 Taliban fighters were killed and dozens captured in a firefight with US special forces yesterday, the Pentagon said. In a sign that resistance is still strong, the US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, said American forces were likely to stay in Afghanistan at least until...
US to improve conditions at Guantanamo after international outcry
The US authorities running a prison camp for al-Qaida and Taliban detainees in Guantanamo Bay signalled yesterday that they would bow to international pressure and introduce changes in the treatment of inmates. Days after a visit by a four-man delegation from the International Committee...
Northern Alliance almost fired on British forces at Bagram airfield
An advance party of British special forces came "within an ace" of being fired on by Northern Alliance troops as they flew into Bagram air base north of Kabul, it was revealed yesterday. Leaders of the anti-Taliban alliance, furious at not being consulted about the arrival of 100 Special...
Red Cross accuses US of violating Geneva rights
The Red Cross yesterday accused the US of violating the Geneva convention by distributing photographs of Taliban and al-Qaida detainees, kneeling and masked, at the makeshift prison camp at Guantanamo Bay. As 14 wounded prisoners were flown in to the US-run enclave in Cuba yesterday, bringing...
What will happen to the prisoners?
What is the state of play with British captives? Three of the 80 alleged Taliban and al-Qaida prisoners being held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba claim to be British. The Foreign Office has not yet accepted they are, insisting that they could be using aliases. British diplomats...
UK dilemma over treatment of captives
American treatment of suspected al-Qaida and Taliban prisoners at the US base in Guantanamo, Cuba - including three claiming to be British - and uncertainty about their fate is causing ill-ease and embarrassment across Whitehall. Ministers are caught between concern over human rights...
20 British Taliban suspects now held
At least 20 Britons suspected of fighting with Taliban or al-Qaida forces are being held in Afghanistan and Pakistan, western intelligence sources said last night. The figure emerged as Tony Blair responded to increasing pressure over US treatment of prisoners being held at its base at Guantanamo...
Britain presses for more Guantanamo assurances
Britain has stepped up the pressure on the US to provide assurances about the fate of the captured al-Qaida and Taliban fighters - at least three of whom are believed to be UK citizens - held in a special prison at the US base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. "We are requesting further...
Afghans let Taliban ministers wanted by US walk free
Three Taliban ministers wanted by the United States for questioning walked free from Afghan custody yesterday after apparently obtaining amnesties from the new authorities. The three were freed a day after surrendering to their fellow ethnic Pashtuns in the southern city of Kandahar and...
MI5 questions captured British Taliban supporters
Teams of MI5 and MI6 officers are in Afghanistan and Pakistan questioning three captured Britons about their links with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network and what they know about the activities of sympathisers in Britain. The three, who are as yet unidentified, are from the West...
Bloody evidence of US blunder
The attack on Qalaye Niazi was as sudden and devastating as the Pentagon intended. American special forces on the ground confirmed the target and three bombers, a B-52 and two B-1Bs, did the rest, zapping Taliban and al-Qaida leaders in their sleep as well as an ammunition dump. The war...
Taliban security chief dies in raid
American warplanes have killed the Taliban's intelligence chief in a bombing raid on a house in eastern Afghanistan, it was claimed yesterday. Qari Ahmadullah was among 25 people reported killed when bombs struck their compound in the village of Naka, in Paktika province, in a raid which...
Hypocrisy at the heart of the Taliban
Waiting in a television studio for his turn to read the news, Shahbaddin Tarakhil seems the most western of his colleagues. He speaks English, flirts with anything in a burqa and wears jeans, a black leather jacket and an Errol Flynn moustache. The Taliban soldiers who roamed the...
Wanted: Missing ministers on the run
Supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, the Taliban's supreme leader, broke his reclusive lifestyle by fleeing Kandahar hours before it fell. His refusal to hand over Osama bin Laden after the September 11 attacks infuriated his lieutenants who believe the US air strikes could...
Pakistan accused of sheltering fugitive Taliban
Most Taliban leaders have escaped the American dragnet and remain free because the Afghan and Pakistani authorities lack the political will to arrest them, it was claimed yesterday. Suspects wanted by the US are living openly after returning to their villages or slipping across the...
Unpaid soldiers spark crimewave in Kabul
Gangs of Northern Alliance soldiers have unleashed a crimewave of looting and killing in Kabul which is awakening nostalgia for the Taliban. Lawlessness is creeping into daily life, after six years of Taliban order, in the form of robberies, extortion and murder aimed at the few Kabul...
Prisoners of the Taliban go free
Spectral but alive, more than a thousand prisoners of the Taliban have emerged from a Kandahar jail with tales of torture, starvation and executions inflicted by guards who have since been allowed to join the new administration. Gaunt and with bloodshot eyes, about 250 former inmates -...
British special forces enter Kandahar
Soldiers with the royal marine special boat service (SBS) were thought to be patrolling in and around the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar yesterday, as the US stepped up the hunt for the Islamist movement's supreme leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar. The troops, not in uniform but...
Australian also joined Taliban
An ex-poultry processor, 26, from the South Australian capital of Adelaide was discovered yesterday to be the second westerner fighting for the Taliban. The Australian attorney general, Daryl Williams, revealed that David Hicks had received extensive training from Osama bin Laden's...
Gul Agha rules and forbidden city opens its gates
The young soldier was standing guard as we drove into the darkened streets of Kandahar last night. Last week this was the headquarters of the Taliban and their supreme leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar. Now the Taliban have gone. Or almost. When we pick out the soldier in our headlights, we...
Scramble to cut off Taliban escape routes
Crusading radical editor David Astor dies aged 89the qualities of serious and popular papers. He was a brilliant spotter of writers, though he had difficulty in writing himself." Astor was the son of the second Viscout Astor of Hever and his wife Nancy, the first woman to be elected to...
Kandahar celebrates the Taliban's departure
Hundreds of people carrying portraits of the exiled Afghan king, Zahir Shah, poured on to the streets of Kandahar yesterday to celebrate the demise of the Taliban regime in its last bastion. To conflicting reports of the whereabouts of the Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, cheering...
Taliban promise to surrender Kandahar
Intense negotiations were last night under way over the fate of the Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar who yesterday offered to surrender to the leader of the new Afghan interim government.
The Taliban agreed to hand over Kandahar, their last bastion, to anti-Taliban forces in exchange...
How bombing and diplomacy eased the Taliban's grip on Kandahar
Relentless American bombing, a trickle of defections from senior ministers which gradually became a flood, and the offer of individual survival in return for surrender were the crucial factors which finally led Mullah Mohammed Omar, the Taliban's supreme leader, to throw in the towel yesterday...
Cool but confident welcome for victory
The Bush administration reacted cautiously yesterday to the rapidly unfolding events in and around Kandahar, refusing official comment on the details of the deal reportedly struck for the surrender of the Taliban's last stronghold while expressing concern that Taliban leaders and senior members...
US troops encircle Taliban hideaway
A huge manhunt for Mullah Mohammed Omar was under way in southern Afghanistan last night, with American troops closing in on a mountain village suspected of harbouring the Taliban leader. Helicopters hovered as the US soldiers and their Afghan allies fanned across the slopes of Helmand...
Five suspected Taliban militants blew themselves up in Afghanistan today, after the house they were holed up in was surrounded by security forces
US Marines Launch Mini Surge to Weaken Taliban
British troops aid attack on Afghan insurgents in southern Helmand with aim of disrupting major smuggling routes
US Marines Launch 'mini Surge' Against Taliban
• British troops aid attack on Afghan insurgents• Mission aims to disrupt major smuggling routes
Hamburger Hill: Frontline Base in a Sea of Poppies British Soldiers Dare Not Clear
War on drugs loses out to anti-Taliban fight for hearts and minds in Helmand province
Leave Taliban Alone, Afghan President Tells West
Karzai says US and British troops undermine his authority and stop insurgents laying down their arms
Taliban Commander Calls for Ceasefire in Pakistan Border Area
Move comes after secret talks between new government and Taliban leader accused of orchestrating Benazir Bhutto assassination
Taliban Commander Orders Ceasefire in Tribal Areas
Deal is a triumph for new Pakistani government, which has promised to tackle militancy through dialog in contrast with Musharraf's iron-fisted approach
Taliban
Where they hide / how they operate...
'Bullets Were Winging Everywhere'
Lieutenant Simon Cupples tells the Guardian about being caught in a Taliban ambush
Taliban Commander Captured
Senior Taliban commander captured in Pakistan after being seriously wounded is second big catch in two weeks
Seven Killed As Taliban Militants Storm Luxury Hotel in Kabul
Taliban militants stormed Kabul's leading luxury hotel last night, killing seven people including a Norwegian journalist. By Declan Walsh in Lahore
Talking to the Taliban
Leader: When Liam Fox piles into an argument, it is usually sensible to take the opposite side. Yesterday the shadow defence secretary was full of outrage over reports that MI6 agents, as well as UN and EU officials, have been talking to Taliban leaders
Of Course We Must Talk
Jason Burke: Outrage over western officials' contact with the Taliban is predictable, contrived and harmful
Allies Move Into Town Held By Taliban
British and American forces place cordon round battle zone to halt escape of 200 resistance defenders
Five Mps Among Up to 50 Killed As Insurgents Switch Focus From Military to Civilian Targets
Bomber struck in crowd gathered at sugar factory· Taliban deny carrying out deadly assault
UN Horrified By Surge in Opium Trade in Helmand
Despite 7,000 UK troops, Taliban-backed production up 48%.
Strategy That Fails to Win Hearts and Minds
Airpower allowed Nato to move into Taliban areas but at high cost for the alliance.
Three British Troops Killed By Us Jet
· US jet kills three British soldiers· Soldiers were under Taliban attack· Two more seriously injured by bomb
Taliban Free Two Korean Hostages
Women from group of 23 kidnapped three weeks ago.
Fleeing Mosque Leader Caught in Islamabad As Siege Tightens
The leader of a pro-Taliban mosque was captured hiding under a burka last night as he tried to escape a siege.
Red Mosque Leader Attempts to Flee in Burka
The leader of a pro-Taliban mosque was captured hiding under a burka as he tried to slip through a tightening siege tonight, while hundreds of his radical followers reportedly surrendered to the Pakistani government.
Christians Live in Dread As New, Local Taliban Rises in the North of Nigeria
In areas such as Kano it is corruption, not religion, fuelling Muslim extremism in Nigeria.
Thirsty to Fight, Hard to Wake Up
The US has spent $2bn creating an anti-Taliban force, but the shock of barracks life is creating its own issues.
75 'taliban Fighters' Killed in Helmand Offensive
UK-led operation sees fierce battles in the Sangin valley in southern Helmand province.
Taliban Overrun Town As Peace Deal Fails
Locals flee after militants disarm new police force - Offensive happens two days before Nato handover
Dam Holds Back Force of the Taliban
An Afghan reservoir built by the Russians carries hopes of reconstructing a nation, but standing in the way are the ever-evolving enemy.
Fighting Expected to Intensify As Winter Ends
British troops in Helmand will be on the frontline of a coming Taliban offensive expected to present one of the greatest challenges in Nato's 58-year history.
Nato General: We Need One More Year to Defeat Taliban
British head of Nato forces in Afghanistan warns that more troops and more money will be required.
Fugitive Mullah Omar Leaves Only a Trail of Devotees
The capture of the Taliban spokesman Muhammad Hanif produced a sensational confession: that Omar was hiding in south-west Pakistan.
Strapped to Apaches and Dodging Fire, How Troops Recovered Fallen Comrade
Marine died during failed attack on Taliban fort - Four soldiers clung to gunships in rescue effort
Marine Killed During Mission to Clear Taliban
A Royal Marine was killed yesterday in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan - the second fatality in three days as British commandos continued to attack Taliban positions around the town of Garmsir.
Special Deals and Raw Recruits Employed to Halt the Taliban in Embattled Helmand
Fight for hearts and minds leads to unproven tactics and new local leadership.
'Jihad Equipment is Not for Personal Use': Taliban Rules
The dos and don'ts of a good Taliban fighter were agreed by the 33-member shura, or ruling council, during the recent Eid religious holiday.
Now We Must Face the Facts and Talk to the Taliban in Afghanistan
One immutable law of insurgency warfare is that, while conventional armies need to win, insurgents need only to avoid losing. The disagreeable truth is that, though we are not losing the war in Afghanistan, we are not winning. Neither, looking at the current situation, are we likely to. By Jason Burke
Marine Dies in Clash With Taliban
A Royal Marine has been killed and a second seriously injured in a battle with Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence said last night.
Nato Countries Must Live Up to Pledges on Troops, Says Blair
The battle against the Taliban in Afghanistan is 'winnable', Tony Blair declared today, as Nato allies promised extra forces and greater flexibility in deploying soldiers to combat zones.
Blair Calls on Nato Countries to Renew Fight Against Taliban
PM admits reconstruction will take some time - Former forces chief accuses politicians
From Soft Hats to Hard Facts in Battle to Beat Taliban
· Hearts and minds battle gives way to shooting war · Despite losses military chiefs feel fight is worth it
UN Chief: Nato Cannot Defeat Taliban By Force
Official says alliance failing in Afghanistan as Blair admits Iraq is a 'disaster'.
As Taliban Insurgency Gains Strength and Sophistication, Suspicion Falls on Pakistan
Five years on, more than 4,000 killed in succession of attacks and suicide bombings in Afghanistan.
Growing Anger As Us Accused of Being Behind Madrasa Attacks
· School was not a front for al-Qaida, say protesters · Taliban can only gain from situation, say experts
Nato Claims 70 Taliban Killed in Firefight
Hopes for a winter lull in fighting in southern Afghanistan were halted by a weekend firefight in Uruzgan province in which Nato said it killed 70 suspected militants.
Taliban Plan to Fight Through Winter to Throttle Kabul
Militia fighters are operating just an hour's drive from the capital's suburbs, confident of undermining Western support for the war.
Musharraf Faces New Questions Over Taliban
· Pakistani president to meet British commander · Reports claim intelligence agency helps militants
Arrested in Afghanistan: Abdullah, 25, an Iranian Jihadist 'rejected By the Taliban'
Officials claim there is a new stream of support for the insurgency coming from Iran.
Taliban Attacks Double After Pakistan's Deal With Militants
Afghan offensives add weight to safe haven fear Relations between Karzai and Musharraf hit new low.
Taliban Kill Top Afghan Woman
Suspected Taliban gunmen shot dead a leading women's rights campaigner in Kandahar in the latest assassination of a government official in the restive southern provinces.
Better Paid, Better Armed, Better Connected - Taliban Rise Again
Kandahar under threat, war raging in two provinces and an isolated president. So what went wrong?
Taliban Not Behind All Violence in Afghanistan, Says Nato Chief
The Taliban should not be blamed for all the violence in Afghanistan, which was also being perpetrated by al-Qaida remnants and criminals, Nato's top commander said yesterday.
Nato Faces Crisis As Call for Troops Goes Unanswered
· Britain and US press allies for help to fight Taliban · 1,000-strong reserve battalion may be offered
Taliban Exposes Cracks in Nato
Nato chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer's public plea today for up to 2,500 additional soldiers to fight in southern Afghanistan has highlighted deep internal strains in the alliance.
Nato Claims to Have Killed 420 Taliban in Nine Days
· Estimate of rebel numbers raised to thousands · Provincial governor killed in suicide bomb blast
Nato Wants 2,000 Extra Troops to Combat Taliban
The call for member nations to provide more troops in Afghanistan comes as a suicide car bomb targets a US patrol in central Kabul, killing 16 people, including civilian bystanders and two US soldiers.
Pakistan Agrees Peace Pact With Pro-taliban Tribal Fighters
The Pakistani army and pro-Taliban tribal militants signed a peace pact yesterday aimed at ending months of ambushes, assassinations and pitched battles along the volatile Afghan border.
British Soldier Killed in Clash With Taliban
A British soldier was killed and another seriously injured yesterday during clashes with the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence said.
Taliban Assassins Target the Clerics Faithful to Kabul
Staying one step ahead of the assassins is a nail-biting business, says one of Afghanistan's most senior Islamic clerics.
British Soldier Killed and Three Wounded in Clash With Taliban
A British soldier was killed and three others wounded yesterday in a battle with Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan.
Four British Soldiers Killed on Black Day for Army
· Three die in Taliban ambush; one in Basra · Morale still 'very strong' insists forces commander
British General Takes Control of Nato Troops in Fight Against Taliban
A British general took command of an expanded Nato force in Afghanistan today, vowing to "strike ruthlessly" against the Taliban as the west's military alliance prepared to conduct land combat operations for the first time in its 57-year history.
British General Takes Command and Promises Ruthless Strikes on Taliban
· 18,000-strong force ready for first land operations · Nato troops take charge of most of Afghanistan
600 Taliban Killed in Bloodiest Month for 5 Years
More than 600 suspected Taliban fighters have been killed over the past month, the bloodiest period in southern Afghanistan since their regime was overthrown five years ago, US officials said yesterday.
US Military Vows to Reclaim Helmand Towns From Taliban
US military officials were preparing to launch "decisive operations" to reclaim territory in southern Afghanistan yesterday after the Taliban seized control of two towns in Helmand province.
British Troops Join Raid on Taliban Stronghold
· Helmand offensive like punching flies, says major · Area is site of six British deaths in about a month
Hunt for the Taliban Trio Intent on Destruction
Behind the rising death toll of British soldiers in Afghanistan is a shadowy group known as 'the junta'. Now the coalition has them in its sights.
UK Has Boosted Taliban, Admits Defence Chief
Des Browne, the defence secretary, conceded yesterday that the deployment of 3,300 British forces into the Taliban heartland of southern Helmand has "energised" the Taliban.
Jabron Hashmi, the British Muslim Soldier Killed Fighting the Taliban
L/Cpl Hashmi, who has died in southern Afghanistan, was the first British Muslim soldier to be killed since the 'war on terror' began five years ago.
Britain Plans Extra Troops to Fight Taliban
Review of tactics as soldiers killed. Hundreds of extra combat troops will be deployed to southern Afghanistan under plans being drawn up by the Ministry of Defence as part of...
Death by chocolate
The one I like best is dropping all 250 tons of salmonella infected chocolate onto the Taliban.
Taliban Ambush Kills 30 in Helmand
Taliban gunmen killed at least 30 people, many from the same family, during an ambush in a notorious corner of Helmand province, officials and relatives said on Monday.
Relatives Claim 30 From Same Family Killed By Taliban
Taliban gunmen killed at least 30 people, many from the same family, during an ambush in the southern Afghan province of Helmand, officials and relatives said yesterday.
Beaten, Robbed and Exiled: Life on the Frontline of Someone Else's War
Villagers caught in crossfire between the Taliban and government forces.
30 Killed in Taliban Ambush
Taliban fighters have killed 30 people in an ambush in southern Afghanistan, officials said today.
Taliban Tactics Fuel Anti-western Feeling
Iraq-style suicide attacks on civilians harden opposition to troops in Afghanistan, reports Declan Walsh in Kandahar.
US-led Troops Launch Largest Assault on Taliban Since 2001
· 11,000-strong force tries to cripple militants in south · Response to increasing violence from insurgents
US Troops to Lead Major Attack on Taliban
An American-led force of 11,000 troops will launch their biggest offensive against Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan since 2001 on Thursday, concentrating their firepower on an area under British control.
Taliban Leader: 'more Zarqawis to Come'
A statement believed to be from Taliban leader Mullah Omar has mourned the "martyrdom" of al-Qaida militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and vowed to continue the "struggle against crusaders".
Taliban Blamed for Murder of Afghan Aid Workers
Three Afghan women working for the Action Aid agency were gunned down yesterday in a rare attack on aid workers in the normally tranquil northern provinces.
Across the Border From Britain's Troops, Taliban Rises Again
This has been Afghanistan's bloodiest week for five years, and in the Pakistani city of Quetta, insurgents roam at will.
Taliban Grows in Strength, Us Admits
The Taliban are growing in strength, the US military admitted yesterday as it defended 16 civilian deaths inflicted by its bombers during southern Afghanistan's most violent week in years.
Fifteen Killed in Shootout With Taliban
Three policemen and 12 Taliban militants were killed today when a government convoy was ambushed in the southern Afghan mountains.
US Warplanes Kill Scores of Taliban in Worst Afghan Clashes for Years
· Villagers tell of air raid as insurgents hid in school · Six days of violence raises stakes for British troops
Pakistan Sheltering Taliban, Says British Officer
· Colonel's outburst follows multiple terror attacks · Afghanistan president says Quetta used as base
A Kandahar Soap Story
Daughter of liberal Harvard law professors, Sarah Chayes arrived in Kandahar as a correspondent for America's National Public Radio to report on the fall of the Taliban in 2001, then couldn't bring herself to leave. By Declan Walsh
Pakistani Taliban Take Control of Unruly Tribal Belt
· Militia inflicts major blow on 'war on terror' · Music and films banned as Islamic court takes over
Fears of a Lost Generation of Afghan Pupils As Taliban Targets Schools
Arson attacks and death threats have turned playgrounds into battlegrounds in Helmand.
Bush to Visit Afghanistan Despite Taliban Attacks
· President to extend vital visit to India and Pakistan · US marines to lead huge sub-continent security
30 Hurt As Taliban and Al-qaida Prisoners Lead Revolt at Afghan Prison
· Uprising prompted by new uniform regulations · Soldiers surround jail to prevent mass escape
Friend or Foe? Uk Forces Enter Afganistan's Dark Zone
· Helmand mission aims to reclaim night from Taliban · Lawless province provides big challenge for soldiers
US Ambassador Escapes Taliban Suicide Bomb
The US ambassador fled a central Afghan town after a Taliban suicide bomber killed 10 people and wounded 50, further stoking fears of an Iraqi influence on the escalating insurgency.
Headteacher Decapitated By Taliban
Suspected Taliban militants have beheaded a headteacher in central Afghanistan, the latest in a string of gruesome attacks on teachers working in schools where girls are taught.
Booming and Broke - a Tale of Two Cities
Four years after the fall of the Taliban, major reconstruction in Kabul is polarising rich and poor.
Taliban Exploit Drug Trade to Step Up Afghan Attacks
Resurgent Taliban forces have forged an alliance with drug smugglers in the lawless Afghan province of Helmand, underscoring a worrying slide in security just months before thousands of British troops are due to take control in the spring.
British Troops May Face Taliban Fighters Next Year
British troops face the prospect of fighting al-Qaida and Taliban forces in Afghanistan next year even though that is not the purpose of their deployment, their commander said yesterday
US Fears Backlash After Tv Documentary Shows Soldiers Burning Taliban Corpses
· Embassies worldwide try to defuse situation · Afghans outraged by desecration
Kabul Attack Raises Fear of Al-qaida Link to Taliban
A suicide bombing outside an army base in the Afghan capital Kabul killed nine people and injured 28 yesterday, raising fears that insurgents are importing ruthless Iraqi-style tactics into Afghanistan.
Afghan Leader Calls for Tactical Shift in Battle Against Taliban
The Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, called yesterday for a major shift in the battle against Taliban insurgents, away from American military strikes and towards greater political pressure on neighbouring Pakistan.
Afghans Ignore Taliban Threats to Go to the Polls
· Illiteracy poses biggest problem at booths · Warlords and women among candidates
The Taliban's Rocket Man Adopts a Gentler Image to Woo Voters
Former warlords are playing down their hardline credentials to contest Sunday's Afghan elections.
Your country needs you (to dress up as Taliban)
Germany's defence minister, Peter Struck, may have produced the answer to the problem that has eluded his beleaguered chancellor, Gerhard Schröder - how to reduce Germany's teaming army of unemployed. Get them all to dress up and pretend to be the Taliban.
British Warplanes Join Assault on Taliban
Scores of rebels killed as violent attacks increase in Afghanistan.
Al-Qaida Militants Raise Fears of Taliban Resurgence
Fears of a bloody Taliban resurgence, bolstered by newly arrived al-Qaida militants, are rising in southern Afghanistan amid a string of Iraq-style attacks, executions and a steadily rising US death toll.
Mullahs Target Women Runners
Placard-waving women protesting against the "Talibanisation" of Pakistan demonstrated outside the national parliament yesterday after a mob attacked female runners.
US Releases 80 Taliban Suspects in Peace Gesture
The US military freed 80 suspected Taliban members from custody in Afghanistan yesterday in a move intended to bolster peace talks and hasten the dismantling of the militant Islamist group.
How to Find the Elusive Taliban: Pop Down to the Shops in Quetta
As US forces comb Afghan mountains, fighters stock up on supplies in Pakistan.
Taliban spectre returns as 17 die in blasts
The Taliban claimed responsibility for a car bomb that ripped through Kabul yesterday. The Afghan government said two Americans, three Nepalese and two Afghans were killed in what was the largest attack for months in the Afghan capital.
Afghan Warlords 'bigger Threat Than Taliban'
The warlords and private militias who were once regarded as the west's staunchest allies in Afghanistan are now a greater threat to the country's security than the Taliban, according to the interim president, Hamid Karzai. His claim comes in the wake of a decision to delay the...
Taliban Murders Voters to Derail Election
Taliban gunmen shot dead 16 people after discovering that they had registered to vote in the general election scheduled for September, Afghan officials said yesterday. Targeting would-be voters appears to be a new tactic in the violent campaign by the Taliban against the election, which...
Gunmen Kill Pro-taliban Cleric
A pro-Taliban cleric was shot dead in Karachi yesterday, sparking riots which led to looting of shops and banks and nearly 20 people being injured on the streets. A gang of six people on motorcycles and in cars shot at Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai as he drove out of his home, fatally wounding...
Pentagon Forced to Withdraw Leaflet Linking Aid to Information on Taliban
The US-led coalition in Afghanistan has distributed leaflets calling on people to provide information on al-Qaida and the Taliban or face losing humanitarian aid. The move has outraged aid organisations who said their work is independent of the military and it was despicable to pretend...
Taliban Warning As Stronghold is Pounded
Fugitive leader cannot escape, claims Pakistan.
Taliban Claim Responsibility for Attack on Reconstruction Team
An Australian helicopter pilot was killed and a British security officer seriously injured in southern Afghanistan yesterday after their team, working for an American construction company, was attacked by a gunman. An American woman employed to build cottage hospitals was also seriously...
Time to Talk to the Taliban
Supporters of the old regime can help end violence in Afghanistan. The latest atrocity in Afghanistan - a dozen children killed by a "bicycle bomb" in Kandahar yesterday - is a reminder that Iraq is not the only place where US-sponsored regime change has not produced peace.
Taliban Spies Keep Strong Grip on South
James Astill meets the elite US forces on patrol in Gereshk trying to stem the rising tide of bloody attacks.
US Apologises After Children Die in Bombing Meant for Taliban Chief
American military commanders in Afghanistan who have been hunting renegade Taliban leaders yesterday apologised for an air strike which killed nine children. The target of the attack, which happened at Hutala, in eastern Afghanistan, was Mullah Wazir, thought to have been behind the...
The Taliban Returns, Stronger and Deadlier
Close to Kandahar is a little village they call the cradle of the Taliban. Now, two years after the collapse of Mullah Omar's feared regime, the movement is once again on the march. Jason Burke in Sangesar tracks a resurgent menace.
Military Interpreter Faces Spying Charge
A serviceman in the US air force has been charged with espionage as part of an investigation into security violations at the American naval base in Cuba where suspected al-Qaida and Taliban prisoners are held, the Pentagon said yesterday. Senior Airman Ahmad Al Halabi, who is in jail at...
US Troops Die in Week-long Fight With Taliban
Two American soldiers died in a gun battle in eastern Afghanistan yesterday as hundreds of Taliban fighters poured into the southern mountains to join a week-long battle against Afghan and US forces. Four Taliban insurgents were killed and an American soldier injured as a US combat patrol...
US Bombs Base of Resurgent Taliban
US jets bombed a Taliban base in the mountains of southern Afghanistan yesterday, killing as many as 50 fighters. The assault followed an upsurge in attacks during the last fortnight in which suspected Taliban loyalists have killed up to 100 people, including dozens of Afghan government...
Three Killed in Taliban Raid on Police Post
Suspected Taliban fighters attacked a police station in a remote part of south-east Afghanistan early yesterday, killing at least three people. It was the latest attempt to destabilise the pro-US government of Hamid Karzai. The fighters attacked a compound in Tarway, a village in Paktika...
22 Die in Taliban Attack on Police Station
At least 22 people died when hundreds of suspected Taliban fighters seized control of a police station in southern Afghanistan at the weekend, one of the most serious attacks against the government for a year.
Taliban Blamed As Afghan Bus Bomb Kills 15
Series of attacks sparks fear of resurgent regime.
Heavy Hand of America Fans the Taliban Embers Into Life
The new police chief of Khost, the Afghan town once synonymous with al-Qaida, always knew he had a tough job on his hands. But Abdul Saboor wrongly assumed that no one would try to kill him on his first day at work. Shortly before reviewing his force last month he found six...
Taliban Are Back - and With a Murderous Vengeance
A suicide bomber in Kabul blows up a bus and kills German soldiers in the latest, deadliest attack on Afghan capital.
Taliban shadow falls on North West Frontier
In the Pakistani border province an Islamist government is imposing the sort of restrictions that once made Afghanistan notorious.
Taliban thinking
The Cannes film festival is an uncomfortable place to be an American. Or that at least is how it is beginning to be viewed through the distorting night-vision goggles of homeland security.
US Muslim guilty of Taliban aid
James Ujaama, an American Muslim who worked at the Finsbury Park mosque in London and was a close associate of the cleric Abu Hamza, has pleaded guilty to assisting the Taliban in Afghanistan.
US forces target Taliban massing near Kandahar
About 1,000 US soldiers backed by helicopter gunships and armoured vehicles began an assault in southern Afghanistan yesterday against suspected al-Qaida and Taliban fighters, acting on intelligence reports that Islamist militants were regrouping in the Kandahar region.
Taliban captives should go home, says rights group
The US has no legal basis for holding members of the Taliban at Guantanamo Bay, the organisation Human Rights Watch said in a letter to the American defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld.
Taliban Blamed for Deadly Bomb Attack
Newly laid mine kills 18 near Kandahar.
Guantanamo Prisoners Still Held Because of 'wrangling'
Almost 10% of the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay have no meaningful connection with al-Qaida or the Taliban and have been held for more than a year because of bureaucratic wrangling and obstinacy, published reports said yesterday. One had suffered horrendous injuries that make it unlikely he...
Seumas Milne: A war that can't be won
The west isn't just losing the fight against terrorism - it is fuelling it across the globe. This time last year, supporters of George Bush's war on terror were in euphoric mood. As one Taliban stronghold after another fell to the US-backed Northern Alliance, they hailed the advance as a decisive blow to the authors of the September 11 atrocities.
How a Suitcase Full of Dollars Finished Off the Taliban
A new book has revealed how a CIA operative, codenamed 'Jawbreaker', was dropped into Afghanistan just over two weeks after the 11 September attacks with an attaché case containing $3 million (£2m).
Appeal Court Blow for British Taliban Suspect
The government cannot be compelled to intervene over the fate of a Briton held by the US in Guantanamo Bay even though his imprisonment is "legally objectionable", the court of appeal ruled today. The family of Feroz Abbasi, 22, who was taken to US base in January following his capture in...
Shock Islam Victor Wants Us to Leave
Pro-Taliban leader's gains in Pakistani election are set to hamper hunt for al-Qaeda.
Bright Boy From the California Suburbs Who Turned Taliban Warrior
Spiritual quest of American caught in Afghanistan ends in prison.
TV Station Carries Taliban Leader's 'statement' of Resistance
The pan-Arab satellite channel al-Jazeera today carried a statement allegedly from the vanished Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar vowing to drive US forces from Afghanistan. Mullah Omar - either dead or in hiding - was ousted from power at the end of last year by the US-led assault on...
Taliban melt away before army sweep
The commander of the biggest US search for Taliban and al-Qaida fugitives in Afghanistan for five months said last night that the quarry appeared to have been tipped off that the troops were coming.
UN Evidence of Taliban Massacre
The UN has gathered enough evidence to begin a criminal investigation into the allegation that almost 1,000 captured Taliban are buried in mass graves in Afghanistan, it was revealed last night. A confidential UN memo leaked to the American magazine Newsweek, said disturbing evidence had...
US Taliban fighter admits guilt
The American Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh accepted the certainty of a 20-year jail sentence yesterday by changing his plea to guilty on two of the 10 charges he faced.
In the Lair of the Hunted Taliban
It was the power wielded by men like Mullah Taj Mohamed, once the Taliban's deputy chief of intelligence in Kabul, that allowed Osama bin Laden to build his terrorist movement. Mohamed was one of the few senior Taliban figures with access to Mullah Omar, the reclusive one-eyed cleric who...
US lost chance to oust Taliban leader
The Taliban's intelligence chief offered to help the US depose their leader Mullah Mohamed Omar in 1999, but was turned down by diplomats on the grounds that the Clinton administration wanted to avoid interfering in Afghan politics.
Lawyers take US to court for breach of Camp X-Ray detainees' rights
A civil rights lawyer is taking on the US government on behalf of the Taliban and al-Qaida prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay.
Alleged Taliban Dealer in Moscow
Britain has asked Russia to take action against an arms dealer living freely in Moscow despite his alleged role in supplying weapons to the Taliban and al-Qaida.
'Miracle' of 2nd Century Bowl Saved From Taliban
The art historian Dan Cruickshank has become the first outsider in years to see one of the lost treasures of the Kabul museum, a 2nd century AD stone wine bowl.
Pits Reveal Evidence of Massacre By Taliban
A team from the United Nations travelled to a remote Afghan province yesterday to investigate three mass graves allegedly containing victims of one of the last Taliban bloodbaths. Pits with what appear to be bodies of people slaughtered last November in a campaign of ethnic cleansing have...
Second Us Taliban Fighter Held at Cuba Base
The Pentagon confirmed yesterday that it had a second American prisoner among the 300 Taliban and al-Qaida fighters captured last year in Afghanistan who are being detained at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. US officials said they had found a birth certificate apparently confirming the prisoner's...
Fifty Taliban Reported Killed on New Front
A new offensive against defiant Taliban guerrillas hiding in Afghanistan's barren mountains seemed to be under way last night.
I Was Tortured By Us Troops, Says Taliban American
Lawyers for John Walker Lindh, the American who fought with the Taliban, claim he was systematically brutalised and threatened with 'torture and death' after US troops seized him. The claims come as his lawyers prepare to argue that he was a soldier of the Taliban, not an anti-US...
The Taliban Fish Have Swum Away
Isabel Hilton:British troops are marching off to fight in another Afghan civil war.
Taliban No 2 'was Caught in Us Attack'
Senior Afghan military officials said yesterday that they believed the deputy leader of the Taliban regime was hiding in the eastern Afghan mountains during intensive US attacks there last week.
Kabul Fears Taliban Regrouping
Afghanistan's interim government last night said it believed that large numbers of Taliban and al-Qaida fighters were regrouping across southern Afghanistan and ordered 5,000 troops to be deployed south of Kabul. The soldiers will be sent to the provinces of Wardak, Ghazni, Khost and...
Warlords Argue As Last Push on Taliban Caves Draws Near
A dangerous row opened up between rival Afghan commanders fighting in the eastern mountains of Afghanistan last night as Afghan and US troops prepared to mount their final drive against a Taliban and al-Qaida holdout. Senior Afghan military leaders in Gardez said they resented a decision...
US Faces Guerrilla Warfare
March 8: Taliban and al-Qaida fighters lie low around Gardez, waiting for the chance to fight back, writes Rory McCarthy.
Bring Back the Good Taliban
March 8: In Gardez, as in much of eastern Afghanistan, sympathy for the old regime is widespread, writes Rory McCarthy.
Alleged Gun-runner for Taliban 'free in Russia'
The former Soviet officer suspected of being the main gunrunner to al-Qaida and the Taliban said yesterday he was living freely in Russia despite statements from the Russian authorities that they were seeking him on an Interpol warrant. Viktor But, a Russian businessman, said he had...
Doubts Cloud Us Taliban Case
Scepticism about the strength of the case against John Walker, the so-called American Taliban fighter, is growing, but few legal analysts expect him to escape a long prison sentence. The odds are not in his favour. The court in Virginia that will hear the case is nicknamed the 'rocket...
Captures Point to Pakistan As Taliban Hiding Place
Most of the Taliban's senior leadership has spent the past three months hiding in neighbouring Pakistan, it now appears following the dramatic surrender over the weekend of Mullah Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil, the Taliban's former foreign minister. Officials in Kandahar yesterday said that...
Taliban Chief is Held at Us Base
American intelligence officers were yesterday questioning Mullah Abdul Wakil Muttawakil, the former Taliban Foreign Minister, the highest- ranking member of the hardline Islamic militia captured in Afghanistan. Muttawakil, a close aide of fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Omar, surrendered...
US accused of killing anti-Taliban leaders
Afghan villagers last night claimed that American special forces had botched a raid north of Kandahar, killing at least 15 pro-government local leaders who were negotiating the surrender of local Taliban fighters. US troops have now been accused of blundering in several ground assaults...
Congress delegates scorn X-Ray fears
A US congressional delegation arrived in Guantanamo Bay yesterday for a lightning tour of the controversial prison camp holding Taliban and al-Qaida suspects. Its leading members denied the visit was motivated by concern about conditions for the 158 inmates. "This has nothing to do...
US troops take Taliban camps near Kandahar
US special forces mounted a pre-dawn raid on two Taliban outposts in southern Afghanistan yesterday, killing a number of fighters and taking 27 prisoner. One US soldier was wounded in the raid, which was the first significant engagement for at least a week. US...
15 Taliban die in firefight
As many as 15 Taliban fighters were killed and dozens captured in a firefight with US special forces yesterday, the Pentagon said. In a sign that resistance is still strong, the US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, said American forces were likely to stay in Afghanistan at least until...
US to improve conditions at Guantanamo after international outcry
The US authorities running a prison camp for al-Qaida and Taliban detainees in Guantanamo Bay signalled yesterday that they would bow to international pressure and introduce changes in the treatment of inmates. Days after a visit by a four-man delegation from the International Committee...
Northern Alliance almost fired on British forces at Bagram airfield
An advance party of British special forces came "within an ace" of being fired on by Northern Alliance troops as they flew into Bagram air base north of Kabul, it was revealed yesterday. Leaders of the anti-Taliban alliance, furious at not being consulted about the arrival of 100 Special...
Red Cross accuses US of violating Geneva rights
The Red Cross yesterday accused the US of violating the Geneva convention by distributing photographs of Taliban and al-Qaida detainees, kneeling and masked, at the makeshift prison camp at Guantanamo Bay. As 14 wounded prisoners were flown in to the US-run enclave in Cuba yesterday, bringing...
What will happen to the prisoners?
What is the state of play with British captives? Three of the 80 alleged Taliban and al-Qaida prisoners being held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba claim to be British. The Foreign Office has not yet accepted they are, insisting that they could be using aliases. British diplomats...
UK dilemma over treatment of captives
American treatment of suspected al-Qaida and Taliban prisoners at the US base in Guantanamo, Cuba - including three claiming to be British - and uncertainty about their fate is causing ill-ease and embarrassment across Whitehall. Ministers are caught between concern over human rights...
20 British Taliban suspects now held
At least 20 Britons suspected of fighting with Taliban or al-Qaida forces are being held in Afghanistan and Pakistan, western intelligence sources said last night. The figure emerged as Tony Blair responded to increasing pressure over US treatment of prisoners being held at its base at Guantanamo...
Britain presses for more Guantanamo assurances
Britain has stepped up the pressure on the US to provide assurances about the fate of the captured al-Qaida and Taliban fighters - at least three of whom are believed to be UK citizens - held in a special prison at the US base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. "We are requesting further...
Afghans let Taliban ministers wanted by US walk free
Three Taliban ministers wanted by the United States for questioning walked free from Afghan custody yesterday after apparently obtaining amnesties from the new authorities. The three were freed a day after surrendering to their fellow ethnic Pashtuns in the southern city of Kandahar and...
MI5 questions captured British Taliban supporters
Teams of MI5 and MI6 officers are in Afghanistan and Pakistan questioning three captured Britons about their links with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network and what they know about the activities of sympathisers in Britain. The three, who are as yet unidentified, are from the West...
Bloody evidence of US blunder
The attack on Qalaye Niazi was as sudden and devastating as the Pentagon intended. American special forces on the ground confirmed the target and three bombers, a B-52 and two B-1Bs, did the rest, zapping Taliban and al-Qaida leaders in their sleep as well as an ammunition dump. The war...
Taliban security chief dies in raid
American warplanes have killed the Taliban's intelligence chief in a bombing raid on a house in eastern Afghanistan, it was claimed yesterday. Qari Ahmadullah was among 25 people reported killed when bombs struck their compound in the village of Naka, in Paktika province, in a raid which...
Hypocrisy at the heart of the Taliban
Waiting in a television studio for his turn to read the news, Shahbaddin Tarakhil seems the most western of his colleagues. He speaks English, flirts with anything in a burqa and wears jeans, a black leather jacket and an Errol Flynn moustache. The Taliban soldiers who roamed the...
Wanted: Missing ministers on the run
Supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, the Taliban's supreme leader, broke his reclusive lifestyle by fleeing Kandahar hours before it fell. His refusal to hand over Osama bin Laden after the September 11 attacks infuriated his lieutenants who believe the US air strikes could...
Pakistan accused of sheltering fugitive Taliban
Most Taliban leaders have escaped the American dragnet and remain free because the Afghan and Pakistani authorities lack the political will to arrest them, it was claimed yesterday. Suspects wanted by the US are living openly after returning to their villages or slipping across the...
Unpaid soldiers spark crimewave in Kabul
Gangs of Northern Alliance soldiers have unleashed a crimewave of looting and killing in Kabul which is awakening nostalgia for the Taliban. Lawlessness is creeping into daily life, after six years of Taliban order, in the form of robberies, extortion and murder aimed at the few Kabul...
Prisoners of the Taliban go free
Spectral but alive, more than a thousand prisoners of the Taliban have emerged from a Kandahar jail with tales of torture, starvation and executions inflicted by guards who have since been allowed to join the new administration. Gaunt and with bloodshot eyes, about 250 former inmates -...
British special forces enter Kandahar
Soldiers with the royal marine special boat service (SBS) were thought to be patrolling in and around the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar yesterday, as the US stepped up the hunt for the Islamist movement's supreme leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar. The troops, not in uniform but...
Australian also joined Taliban
An ex-poultry processor, 26, from the South Australian capital of Adelaide was discovered yesterday to be the second westerner fighting for the Taliban. The Australian attorney general, Daryl Williams, revealed that David Hicks had received extensive training from Osama bin Laden's...
Gul Agha rules and forbidden city opens its gates
The young soldier was standing guard as we drove into the darkened streets of Kandahar last night. Last week this was the headquarters of the Taliban and their supreme leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar. Now the Taliban have gone. Or almost. When we pick out the soldier in our headlights, we...
Scramble to cut off Taliban escape routes
Crusading radical editor David Astor dies aged 89the qualities of serious and popular papers. He was a brilliant spotter of writers, though he had difficulty in writing himself." Astor was the son of the second Viscout Astor of Hever and his wife Nancy, the first woman to be elected to...
Kandahar celebrates the Taliban's departure
Hundreds of people carrying portraits of the exiled Afghan king, Zahir Shah, poured on to the streets of Kandahar yesterday to celebrate the demise of the Taliban regime in its last bastion. To conflicting reports of the whereabouts of the Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, cheering...
Taliban promise to surrender Kandahar
Intense negotiations were last night under way over the fate of the Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar who yesterday offered to surrender to the leader of the new Afghan interim government.
The Taliban agreed to hand over Kandahar, their last bastion, to anti-Taliban forces in exchange...
How bombing and diplomacy eased the Taliban's grip on Kandahar
Relentless American bombing, a trickle of defections from senior ministers which gradually became a flood, and the offer of individual survival in return for surrender were the crucial factors which finally led Mullah Mohammed Omar, the Taliban's supreme leader, to throw in the towel yesterday...
Cool but confident welcome for victory
The Bush administration reacted cautiously yesterday to the rapidly unfolding events in and around Kandahar, refusing official comment on the details of the deal reportedly struck for the surrender of the Taliban's last stronghold while expressing concern that Taliban leaders and senior members...
US troops encircle Taliban hideaway
A huge manhunt for Mullah Mohammed Omar was under way in southern Afghanistan last night, with American troops closing in on a mountain village suspected of harbouring the Taliban leader. Helicopters hovered as the US soldiers and their Afghan allies fanned across the slopes of Helmand...