Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2002 23:54:48 EST
From: freemanaz@aol.com
Subject: [azpeace] U.S. 'Let Taliban men escape'
To: azpeace@yahoogroups.com
Reply-To: azpeace@yahoogroups.com


http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,3-2002033128,0.html

MONDAY JANUARY 21 2002 

US 'let Taleban men escape' 

FROM JAMES BONE IN NEW YORK 

THE United States secretly approved rescue flights by Pakistan into Kunduz 
that let Taleban leaders and al-Qaeda fighters escape from the besieged 
northern Afghan city before its fall last year, New Yorker magazine reports 
today. 
US intelligence officials and military officers said that the Bush 
Administration approved the flights and ordered US Central Command to set up 
a special air corridor to ensure their safety to allow evacuation of 
Pakistani soldiers and intelligence men stranded by Northern Alliance 
victories. 

What was supposed to be a limited evacuation apparently slipped out of 
control and, as an unintended consequence, an unknown number of Taleban and 
al-Qaeda fighters managed to join in the exodus, the magazine reports. 

One senior US defence adviser said: Everyone brought their friends with 
them. Youre not going to leave them behind to get their throats cut. 

Mysterious flights into Kunduz were reported by Northern Alliance officials 
in mid-November, but US and Pakistani officials denied an evacuation was 
under way. 

Seymour Hersh, who wrote the report, said that President Musharraf of 
Pakistan won US support for the rescue by arguing that losing the men would 
risk his political survival. 


A US supply helicopter crashed in Afghanistan, killing two Marines and 
injuring the other five aboard yesterday. The cause of the crash was not 
immediately known.



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