Gefangene US-Soldaten Auftakt für Militärschlag? - 500 Beiträge pro Seite

[earlgrey1]

Samstag 29. September 2001, 10:15 Uhr

Arabischer Sender: Drei US-Soldaten in Afghanistan
gefangen

Doha/Washington (dpa) - In Afghanistan sind nach Berichten des arabischen Fernsehsenders Al-Dschasira drei
amerikanische Soldaten gefangen genommen worden. In dem Bericht des im Golf-Emirat Katar ansässigen
Nachrichtensenders hieß es am Samstag, afghanische Sicherheitskräfte hätten außerdem zwei Afghanen mit
amerikanischer Staatsbürgerschaft festgenommen.

Im Besitz der gefangen genommenen Männer sind laut
Al-Dschasira hoch entwickelte Waffen und Kartenmaterial
gewesen. Die Männer würden derzeit vernommen. Fotos
und Namen der fünf Männer sollten später bekannt gegeben werden, hieß es. CNN hatte
am Freitag einen amerikanischen Regierungsbeamten mit den Worten zitiert, die
Spezialeinheiten hätten in den vergangenen Tagen «Operationen» in Afghanistan
durchgeführt. Dabei handele es sich um eine Art Vorhut etwa zur Erkundung des Terrains
und möglicher Landeplätze.


Kann mir nicht vorstellen, daß sich die USA es gefallen lassen können, wenn die Taliban Photos von den gefangengenommenen US-Soldaten veröffentlichen werden.

Ich kann mich noch gut daran erinnern, welche Empörung die Bilder hervorriefen, als ein getöteter US-Soldat in Somalia von einer tosenden Menge durch die Straßen geschleift wurde.

So eine Demütigung wird Amerika sich sicher nicht nochmal gefallen lassen und die USA zu einem schnellen Militärschlag zwingen.

Bei Bildern über gefolterte US-Soldaten könnte die öffentl. Meinung in den USA leicht außer Kontrolle geraten.

[Donizetti]

Afghan Taliban Deny They Seized U.S. Special Forces

September 29, 2001 05:14 AM ET

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan`s ruling Taliban movement denied on Saturday that any U.S. or British special forces had been seized on territory under its control.

Qatar`s al-Jazeera television reported earlier that Afghan security forces had arrested three Americans from U.S. special forces and two Afghan guides with U.S. citizenship who were apparently scouting around in western Afghanistan near the Iran border.

"It is totally wrong, we deny this news that they have come to our areas," Mullah Obaidullah Akhund, the Taliban defense minister, told Reuters in Kabul when asked about the report.

Kabul`s official news agency Bakhtar followed this up with another denial, saying of the al-Jazeera report: "It is not true and has no basis. We contacted the authorities in Kandahar and Nimroz provinces about it and they denied it."

Nimroz lies in southeastern Afghanistan, bordering on both Iran and Pakistan. Afghanistan has two other provinces north of Nimroz -- Farah and Herat -- that also border on Iran.

According to al-Jazeera, the captured Americans were carrying modern weapons and maps of camps said to be run by al-Qaeda, the guerrilla network run by Osama bin Laden, prime suspect in the devastating attacks in the United States this month.

"They were on a reconnaissance mission to know the territory of al-Qaeda," the al-Jazeera correspondent said in his report from Islamabad.

Mullah Obaidullah did not rule out the possibility that some foreign forces could be in regions held by anti-Taliban forces north of Kabul and in the rugged areas of the northeast near the border with Tajikistan.

"They could be in the opposition areas. We don`t reject that possibility...," he said.

Opposition forces led by Burhanuddin Rabbani could neither confirm nor deny the presence in its areas of U.S. or British forces, which Western media reports say are gathering intelligence before possible U.S. attacks on Taliban-held areas.

"Our security sources have not come across such a sign to indicate that they are here. We can neither confirm nor deny the report," Sayed Najibullah Hashimi, a spokesman for the opposition Northern Alliance told Reuters by satellite phone.

However, he said that some 250 foreign journalists, mostly westerners, were currently in opposition-held areas. The Taliban have not allowed any western nationals into their territory.

The Taliban on Friday arrested a British reporter for the London-based Sunday Express near the eastern city of Jalalabad, the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) said.

Yvonne Ridley, 41, was dressed in the all enveloping Afghan burqa, which flows almost to the ground and has a mesh over the eyes, when she was detained with her two guides in Daur Baba district, about 35 miles, from Jalalabad or 9 miles from the Pakistan border, AIP said.

Intelligence agencies had begun interrogating the reporter, who was not carrying a passport and had entered the country illegally, AIP quoted an official in Jalalabad as saying.

http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=topnews&Story…