Operations
Defense Policy / Programs
Government Statements and Transcripts
US Domestic Responses
International Responses
Defense Industry
Other Conflicts
News Reports

November 15, 2001 Airstrikes

Operations

• AFGHAN/PENTAGON/AID VOA 15 Nov. 2001-- Pentagon officials report a key bridge linking Uzbekistan and Afghanistan is on the verge of re-opening --- a move that will allow an expanded relief effort in the north of the war-torn country
• AFGHAN / PENTAGON / WEAPONS VOA 15 Nov. 2001-- The Pentagon says U-S special forces inside Afghanistan are now searching suspected sites where al-Qaida terrorists may have been working on weapons of mass destruction

Defense Policy / Programs

Government Statements and Transcripts

• Transcript: Special Briefing on Humanitarian Assistance for Afghanistan 15 Nov. 2001 -- "Two subjects today. The first is the role that DOD has played to date in humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people and others in the region, and the second a less well-known story, and that's how the Taliban have obstructed humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan. (..) [The] United States engaged in a war in a country that was already in the middle of a full-blown humanitarian crisis, a crisis brought about by a generation of war, four years of drought, and a century of underdevelopment. This has made humanitarian assistance to distressed populations an integral part of our overall policy".
• Transcript: DoD News Briefing - Secretary Rumsfeld and Gen. Franks 15 Nov. 2001 -- "Our operations are on the timeline which I have described each time I've spoken with you. We in fact have the initiative. We intend to maintain that initiative, and as the Taliban fractures, we'll continue to be about the mission that I described initially -- the destruction of the al Qaeda terrorist network and the Taliban which sponsors al Qaeda. That objective has not changed. We'll remain steady on the course".
• Transcript: Afghanistan Dominates Bush-Putin Talks, Rice Says 15 Nov. 2001-- National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice says the main topic of the three day summit between President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin was Afghanistan and the war on terrorism.
• Text: UN Security Council Resolution 1378 on Afghanistan 15 Nov. 2001-- The resolution, drafted by the United Kingdom and France, gave strong support to the plan set out by UN Special Representative Lakhdar Brahimi to get representatives of the Northern Alliance and Afghan groups both inside and outside the country to meet and begin a process that would eventually lead to the formation of a new government over the next few years.
• Text: U.S. Contributes Additional $4 Million for Afghan Assistance 15 Nov. 2001-- In a press statement issued on November 14, the State Department announced an additional $4 million in funding for humanitarian assistance for the Afghan people.

US Domestic Responses

• BUSH AFGHANISTAN VOA 15 Nov. 2001-- President Bush says the United States and Russia will work together to help bring a broad-based government to Afghanistan
• AFGHAN DETAINEES VOA 15 Nov. 2001-- Eight western aid workers detained by Afghanistan's Taleban rulers for nearly four-months are resting in neighboring Pakistan after being rescued by U-S Special Forces
• RED CROSS / AFGHANISTAN VOA 15 Nov. 2001-- The International Committee of the Red Cross says that with the rapid changes taking place in Afghanistan, greater attention must be paid to protecting prisoners of war and Afghan civilians
• AFGHAN/PENTAGON VOA 15 Nov. 2001-- Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says he is confident U-S forces will find Osama bin Laden but possibly outside Afghanistan

International Responses

• AFGHAN FIGHTING VOA 15 Nov. 2001-- The head of Afghanistan's Taleban militia is vowing a fight to the death against Northern Alliance and other anti-Taleban forces who are reported to have taken over additional territory over the past 24 hours. During the past few days, the hard-line Islamic movement has suffered a series of military blows that cost the Taleban its grip on the capital Kabul and deprived it of most Afghan territory
• TALKS AT KANDAHAR VOA 15 Nov. 2001-- Opposition forces are now trying to talk the Taleban into surrendering Kandahar without further bloodshed
• BRITAIN/AFGHAN AID VOA 15 Nov. 2001-- Britain is sending a team of humanitarian aid experts to Afghanistan to bolster international efforts to feed and shelter people displaced by the fighting there
• AFGHANISTAN-CHINA VOA 15 Nov. 2001-- China's government says it is watching developments in neighboring Afghanistan closely and will carefully consider any plan that leads to a widely based government there and peace with the troubled nation's neighbors
• AFGHAN / HOSTAGES VOA 15 Nov. 2001-- Eight westerners who work for the Christian-based aid group, Shelter Now are free in Pakistan after being jailed by the Taleban for more than three months. The eight foreigners and sixteen Afghans were jailed on charges of trying to convert Afghans to Christianity.

Defense Industry

• Royal Navy assault ship Bulwark launched at Barrow BAE Systems 15 Nov 2001 -- HMS Bulwark, the second of a new class of assault ships for the Royal Navy, was launched at the BAE Systems shipyard at Barrow-in-Furness on November 15th at 10.20am.
• Boeing Successfully Completes Initial Flight Demonstration of EA-18 Airborne Electronic Attack Variant Boeing 15 Nov 2001 -- Boeing today successfully completed an initial flight demonstration of its EA-18 Airborne Electronic Attack (AEA) concept aircraft.
• U.S. Navy's First Swath Oceanographic Research Ship to be Christened Lockheed Martin 15 Nov 2001 -- Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics and Surveillance Systems (NE&SS) - Marine Systems in Baltimore and Atlantic Marine of Jacksonville, FL announced today that the U.S. Navy's newest and most innovative oceanographic research vessel will be christened November 17 at Atlantic Marine's shipyard in Jacksonville.

Other Conflicts

• DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY GENERAL United Nations 15 Nov 2001

News Reports

• Bioterrorist Drill VOA 15 Nov. 2001-- Hazardous materials teams and emergency medical workers sprang into action in Los Angeles (Thursday), as local officials conducted a drill to simulate a bioterrorist attack
• BIN LADEN/NUKES VOA 15 Nov. 2001-- More questions are being raised about how close Osama bin Laden may be to acquiring a nuclear weapon after instructions about how to build a nuclear bomb were reportedly found at an abandoned Al-Qaida safehouse in Kabul
• BIOTERRORISM VOA 15 Nov. 2001-- With thousands of Americans taking medication to prevent anthrax, several senators have introduced legislation to strengthen the U-S ability to fight bioterrorism
• U-S / CENTRAL ASIA VOA 15 Nov. 2001-- To pursue its anti-terror campaign in Afghanistan, the United States has secured the use of military bases in the former Soviet republics of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Their sudden emergence in Western strategy has led to greater scrutiny of the two central Asian republics, which have been trying to cope with independence from the former Soviet Union
• TERROR THREATS VOA 15 Nov. 2001-- A top U-S official says documents that could be helpful in making nuclear weapons have been found in an al-Qaida safe house in Afghanistan. U-S homeland security director Tom Ridge confirmed the discovery Thursday and also said the U-S government remains on the highest state of alert for further terrorist attacks.

• PRESS CONFERENCE BY TOGO’S FOREIGN MINISTER United Nations 15 Nov 2001