The multinational force in Afghanistan is facing its first major tests trying to keep the peace in Kabul after a minister was killed in an attack on Thursday that the interim government blamed on security forces, and thousands of fans tried to force their way into a soccer stadium yesterday.
As the international troops worked to restore security at Kabul's airport and stadium yesterday, the US Congress began probing the intelligence failures that led to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington.
The interim Afghan leader, Mr Hamid Karzai, blamed the beating to death of Air Transport and Tourism Minister, Mr Abdul Rahman, at Kabul airport on Thursday on senior security officials within the administration.
Mr Karzai said in a statement that four people had been arrested, among them two military generals, following the killing which officials had earlier blamed on Muslim pilgrims furious over their long wait for a flight to Mecca. He said the killing had been carried out "for personal reasons".
At the battle-scarred stadium, Afghan police fired shots over the heads of the crowd where an estimated 15,000 fans tried to get in to watch a soccer match between Kabul United and players from the British-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
Three soldiers suffered minor cuts to the face while between 15 and 20 Afghans were hurt, said British Maj Neal Peckham, an ISAF spokesman.
Hours later, the British Foreign Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, arrived to visit the ISAF headquarters. Mr Straw met his Afghan counterpart, Mr Abdullah Abdullah, and discussed Britain's role in the future of ISAF, which London heads until April.
In the US, the House and Senate intelligence committees will appoint former CIA inspector, Gen Britt Snider, to oversee the investigation of the intelligence services' activities before and after the September 11th attacks blamed on Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network.
The investigation will seek to determine what US intelligence agencies could have done to learn of the attacks in advance, the leaders of the committees said in a joint statement on Thursday.
The US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, lamented that action had not been taken earlier against the hardline Taliban.
Mr Powell said the world had been too slow to recognise the true nature of Afghanistan's former rulers and their relationship with al-Qaeda.
But support for the Taliban's al-Qaeda "guests" appears to continue, said the US Defence Secretary, Mr Donald Rumsfeld, accusing Iran of abetting the flight of al-Qaeda from Afghanistan.
In Pakistan, police conducted more raids in a fruitless search for kidnapped US journalist Daniel Pearl, as his wife appealed for his release for the sake of their unborn child.
Meanwhile, an Algerian-born pilot detained in Britain for five months over the September 11th terror attacks claimed yesterday that he had been a victim of his religion, his nationality and his ethnicity.
Mr Lotfi Raissi (27), was released on bail earlier this week after US officials said they no longer wanted to extradite him on terrorism charges.
- (AFP)