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Taliban Deploys Troops Near Pakistan
Friday, September 21, 2001
By Kathy Gannon / Associated Press writer

TORKHAM, Pakistan -- AP
Taliban troops have taken up positions in the jagged mountain peaks overlooking Afghan’s border with Pakistan, border officials said as they built up their own forces on the slopes across the frontier.

“They are in a warlike position. They have prepared themselves for full-scale war,” Pakistani border guard Mohammed Gul said in Torkham, a town that is normally a bustling border crossing but was quiet Friday.

“They have deployed fresh troops in the mountain posts,” Gul said of Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers, pointing at peaks across the border above the outpost in the Khyber Pass.

A Pakistan Frontier Corps official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the Taliban buildup and said Pakistan has countered with a fresh deployment of border troops on its side of the line. He didn’t say how many new soldiers were deployed.

The buildups came as the Taliban refused to hand over alleged terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden and said U.S. attempts to apprehend him by force could plunge the region into crisis.
(More: WashingtonPost.com News Source)

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