Afghani news

US warns of renewed Taliban threat in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON, October 19 (Online): United States officials say US forces in Afghanistan will defeat an expected new offensive by the Taliban, but Washington is concerned about the militia's attempt to rebuild its ranks.

Senior Defence and State Department aides have told a congressional committee that two years after US-led forces ousted the radical Islamic militia from power, Afghanistan remains beset by strife and poverty, according to Radio Australia.

The State Department coordinator for Afghanistan, William Taylor, says the Taliban units appear larger and better organised, and says the growing threat has prompted some humanitarian operations to curtail operations.


Elite German troops to leave Afghanistan

Sunday October 19, 2003 (1504 PST) Germany is to withdraw troops of its elite KSK commando unit from Afghanistan, where they have been engaged in the US-led campaign against remnants of the Taliban regime and al Qaeda forces.


Alexander the Great's treasure found in Kabul

20.10.2003

It lay hidden for 2000 years in Afghanistan, eluded the Taleban and escaped dozens of adventurers and bounty hunters. Now the Bactrian hoard, one of the world's greatest archaeological collections, has been found.

President Hamid Karzai discovered the 20,000 gold coins and artefacts, worth tens of millions of dollars, in a sealed vault under the main palace in the capital, Kabul, after ordering it to be opened earlier this year.

No one expected it to contain the treasure, dating from Alexander the Great's conquest of Afghanistan in 327BC.

Ashraf Ghani, the Finance Minister, said the treasure was probably the most important collection of antiquities in the world outside Egypt.

He said the Taleban had tortured people to reveal the code to get at it. "They were beaten almost senseless but did not reveal it," he said.