AFP on Convoy Confusion: Attack in Afghanistan Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit [Note: New definition for "confusion." Confusion now means: "Oh shit. We got snookered and we fucked up. How to cover it up?"] 'Confusion' over convoy attack in Afghanistan KABUL, Dec 21 (AFP)--Afghans scarred by decades of war awaited the inauguration Saturday of the first post-Taliban government as conflicting reports emerged over the identity of a large group of people killed in a convoy blasted by US planes. The United States said AC-130 helicopter gunships and navy jets destroyed a convoy in eastern Afghanistan carrying "leadership" figures, as part of raids targeting militant leader Osama Bin Laden, his al-Qaeda network and his former Taliban protectors. "There were a lot of people killed and a lot of vehicles damaged, or destroyed," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said. A report from Pakistan however said 65 tribal elders, chiefs and commanders heading for the inauguration of the new government in Kabul were killed in the raid. But the Pentagon was adamant. "There is no doubt, they hit the bad guys," spokesman Lieutenant Colonel David Lapan said. President George W Bush meanwhile invited nations battling terrorism to seek US military aid ranging from logistical support to deploying US special forces troops. "If a nation comes to us and says 'we need your help, we'd like some of your special forces teams, we'd like something other than logistical support, to help get it done,' we'll help," he said. Bush's comments came a day after US officials gave the Philippines five military trucks, as well as hundreds of mortars, grenade launchers and sniper rifles to fight local allies of Bin Laden, a Saudi-born militant blamed for deadly terror attacks September 11 in the United States. Bush admitted the United States did not know where to find Bin Laden but assured Americans he was "not the least bit anxious" about eventually snaring him. US and allied soldiers meanwhile set about the perilous task of scouring hundreds of caves in mountains in eastern Afghanistan for bin Laden remaining al-Qaeda fighters, after a fierce US bombing onslaught died down. British commandos, spearheading a UN-approved multinational force, have moved into Kabul to ensure security for the inauguration of the power-sharing government. The new government, under Pashtun loyalist Hamid Karzai, will rule for six months pending the establishment of a transitional authority ahead of elections. It represents an uneasy compromise between ethnic groups that share a strong mutual distrust, containing ethnic Pashtuns, Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazaras. General Peter Pace, vice chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the convoy was attacked around Khost, southwest of Tora Bora, former stronghold of al-Qaeda. "We had some intelligence indicators that were cross-referenced and determined by Central Command that in fact what we had was a convoy of vehicles, about 10 to 12 that contained leadership," Pace said. The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press however said US jets blasted a convoy on Thursday night killing 65 elders and injured many others at Sato Kandaw, 25 kilometers (15 miles) south of Gardez, capital of Paktia province. "Several Afghan elders, tribal chiefs and commanders were among the victims of the killings," AIP quoted Sayed Yaqeen, an official of the Paktia tribal council, as saying. Fourteen vehicles in the convoy were destroyed and according to one source quoted in the report, the victims included a militia commander, Mohammadi Ibrahim, brother of the renowned Afghan commander Maulvi Jalaluddin Haqqani. Many al-Qaeda fighters have fled to Pakistan, where some have been arrested by local forces, and the United States is mounting a massive search to prevent them fleeing to suspected hideouts in other countries. One of the countries named as a possible al-Qaeda hiding place is Somalia, where bin Laden has allies. A Somali official said Friday eight foreigners suspected of terrorist links had been arrested. The official of the Somali transitional government, speaking in Nairobi, did not identify the eight -- who are being interrogated by intelligence officials -- but police in Mogadishu said a number of Iraqis had been picked up. The US-led coalition and its Afghan allies are holding 7,000 prisoners in Afghanistan, coalition officials said. US officials have said their intelligence agents have been able to talk to many of the prisoners, as well as some al-Qaeda men caught in Pakistan, but admit that they have no good information on bin Laden's whereabouts. Rumsfeld said US forces and their Afghan allies were carefully scouring caves for evidence of bin Laden or his network. "The people that are going into these caves obviously understand what they're up against. "The assumption is that anyone in there is dead, but if you make that assumption you can get in an awful lot of trouble awful fast." UN spokesman Ahmed Fawzi said the ceremony to inaugurate Karzai as head of the new government would be held at 11:00 am (0630 GMT) in front of 2,000 invited guests at an interior ministry building. The UN Security Council Thursday gave a British-led multinational force a six-month mandate to provide "security and assistance" to the interim government. Britain, which will lead the force for the first three months, is set to be the largest contributor with between 1,000 and 1,500 troops. The force is expected to grow to be around 3,000-strong. German Defence Minister Rudolf Scharping said his country would contribute up to 1,200 troops -- reinforced by 250 Danes and Dutch -- and other allied countries including France, Italy and Canada have offered to take part. In Rome, Afghanistan's exiled former king, Mohammed Zahir Shah, said he wished Karzai well and would himself return to his homeland within two months and, "like a setting sun," end his days there. In Yemen, security forces continued to comb the east of the country for suspected al-Qaeda members following a gun battle Tuesday which killed 22, all but four from the government side.(AFP) ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytmid-12.22.01-05:09:52-30496