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It was Ramadan in Afghanistan. By comparison, Savonarola’s Florence during Lent must have felt like party central. In a country where millions are cold and hungry throughout the winter, the faithful were observing one of the five pillars of Islam: abstaining from food and drink from dawn to dusk during the holy month. No wonder I was the only guest in Kabul’s grim, cavernous, and incongruously named Intercontinental Hotel.

This time the Taliban has gone too far. The movement of religious students turned-warriors that controls most of Afghanistan is systematically destroying the cultural patrimony of their country. And there is, unfortunately, little the rest of the world can do but watch in horror.

Even the most attentive of post-Sept. 11 media junkies will learn something new from reading journalist Peter L. Bergen’s just-published biography of Osama bin Laden.

Published in October, the biography was not a quickie book. Bergen started reporting about Afghanistan in 1983, producing a documentary about the millions of refugees fleeing to Pakistan after the Soviet military invaded. He traveled to Afghanistan for CNN in 1993 after the bombing of the World Trade Center; based on what Bergen learned about the masterminds behind that terrorist attack, he decided to write a biography of Osama bin Laden.

December 7, 2000 Web posted at: 10:25 p.m. EST (0325 GMT) LONDON, England (CNN) — U.S. officials said Thursday there is evidence linking suspects in the October 12 bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen with known operatives of accused terrorist Osama bin Laden’s organization. The officials said the evidence suggests some suspects in the […]

Osama bin Laden had dropped out of the headlines until recently. The bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa tied to the Saudi multimillionaire happened more than two years ago. The Taliban movement of religious students-turned-warriors which controls much of Afghanistan where bin Laden is based said they had clamped down on his ability to conduct operations in other countries.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

LOU WATERS, CNN ANCHOR: Hijackers aboard an Indian Airlines jet in Afghanistan make new demands. They want $200 million and the release of 35 jailed Muslim militants. An Indian minister predicts negotiations will be lengthy. About 160 people are into their fifth day as hostages aboard that plane on the tarmac in Afghanistan. It has been cold and they have been hungry.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. LOU WATERS, CNN ANCHOR: A half-dozen hijackers, a band of negotiators, truckloads of heavily armed soldiers, and 160 exhausted yet terrified captives: Those are the players in a hijack ordeal that’s now well into its fourth day. An Indian Airlines airbus commandeered Friday sits on a tarmac in Afghanistan while direct negotiations with Indian officials gets underway for the first time. Watching events unfold is journalist Peter Bergen, who filed this report just minutes ago.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden has offered to leave Afghanistan if it will prevent the United Nations from imposing sanctions against the country’s de facto rulers, Taliban officials said Friday.

The United Nations two weeks ago voted to impose sanctions on the Taliban, which controls most of Afghanistan, if it did not turn over bin Laden by November 14.

A year ago today, bombs ripped through the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, where 224 people were killed and more than 5,000 were injured. The attacks have prompted a massive campaign to apprehend suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden. U.S. authorities say that bin Laden and his organization could be planning further attacks against the U.S.

 Colleagues, friends and family of more than 200 people killed in the twin bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania a year ago came together on two continents Saturday to mark the anniversary of the terrorist attacks. .. ——————————————————————————–  August 7, 1999Web posted at: 9:19 p.m. EDT (0119 GMT) NAIROBI, Kenya (CNN) — Colleagues, friends […]