Arabs flee Kabul fearing US retaliation

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5.45pm update

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Arabs flee Kabul fearing US retaliation

Special report: Afghanistan

Staff and agencies Thursday September 13, 2001

Arabs in Afghanistan are reported to be fleeing the capital Kabul today as the country braces itself for the expected military action from the US. It is anticipated that the country will be targeted because Osama bin Laden, the man suspected of masterminding the US terror attacks on New York and Washington, has been sheltering there, harboured by the ruling Taliban militia.

Almost all of the Arab nationals living in Afghanistan have already left Kabul, where they have been more visible in recent months, according to reports.

And in the last 24 hours, Arabs have been moving out of a housing complex built for them in the southern Kandahar province, where the Taliban has its headquarters.

The sprawling complex housing some 300 Arabs was built after the Taliban's reclusive leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, ordered Bin Laden to relocate to Kandahar in 1996. There, Bin Laden, a millionaire Saudi Arabian whose family wealth is from the construction business, built a large home for Mr Omar and housing for his own followers.

Conflicting reports emerged today on whether Bin Laden had been placed under house arrest by the Taliban regime.

Guardian

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), September 13, 2001

Answers

As foreigners evacuate Kabul, residents dig in for likely conflict

-- PHO (owennos@bigfoot.com), September 13, 2001.

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