There is much evidence to suggest that one of Osama bin Ladens leading heroes is Ismail Enver, known in the West as Enver Pasha, the militant Turkish leader who lived between 1881 and 1922. The records clearly speak for themselves and as bin Laden has been protected by the Taliban, it was Enver Pasha who was defended and harbored by the Basmachis.

One wing of the Taliban movement wants to give its top priority to demoralizing and evicting the United States and its NATO allies from Afghanistan. The other, led by Baitullah Mehsud, the man who allegedly ordered the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, wants to focus on the Talibanization of Pakistan. Mullah Muhammad Omar, the one-eyed Taliban leader whose movement was deposed and who has been in hiding since the U.S.-led invasion a month after Sept. 11, 2001, resurfaced – long enough to fire Mehsud.

Muhammad Omar Ali, 31, sits on a bench under a tree in Zawra Park, looking around impatiently for his friend to arrive. Ali, a Shiite Muslim, has not seen Ayad Murtadha for almost a year since he and his family were forced to leave the Baghdad neighborhood where the two friends grew up together.

As the French would say, what took place in Afghanistan last weekend was a real "ballet diplomatique" -- a diplomatic ballet -- as world leaders shuffled in and out of the country in a sudden "surge" of high-level visits, to use a word in vogue these days.

Its been a busy weekend for Afghan President Hamid Karzai. In a matter of hours he played host to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi and Australias new prime minister, Kevin Rudd. All came to pledge support in the war against terrorism and voiced their commitment to the NATO-led military initiative against the Taliban.

On the eve of the publication of its report, the 9/11 commission in the US was given a stunning document from Pakistan, claiming that Pakistani intelligence officers knew in advance of the 9/11 attacks.

United States Marines have engaged in a fierce battle with Afghan insurgents, amid ongoing clashes in the former strongholds of the fundamentalist militia ousted in a US-led invasion more than two years ago.

At least 17 women have been arrested in a region of southern Somalia for ignoring a decree banning women from wearing veils, a spokesman for the area’s administration said last weekend.