Taliban cut off fingers of 2 Afghan voters

In 1996, the CIA established a special unit of officers to analyze intelligence received about bin Laden and plan operations against him, coined the "Bin Ladin unit." It was this unit that first realized bin Laden was more than just a terrorist financier, but a leader of a global network with operations based in Afghanistan. Given these findings, the NSC encouraged the Department of State to "pay more attention" to Afghanistan and its governing unit, the Taliban, which had received funding from bin Laden. The State Department requested the Taliban to expel bin Laden from the country, noting that he was a sponsor of terrorism and publicly urged Muslims to kill Americans. The Taliban responded that they did not know his whereabouts and, even if they did, he was "not a threat to the United States." The CIA's counter-terrorism division quickly began drafting plans to capture and remove bin Laden from the country. However, Marine General Anthony Zinni and some in the State Department protested the move, saying that the United States should focus instead on ending the Afghan civil war and the Taliban's human rights abuses.

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On August 7, 1998, bin Laden struck again, this time with simultaneous bombings on the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. (see above) The CIA, having confirmed bin Laden was behind the attack, informed Clinton that terrorist leaders were planning to meet at a camp near Khowst, to plan future attacks. According to Tenet, “several hundred,” including bin Laden, would attend. On August 20, Clinton ordered the military to fire cruise missiles at the camp and a pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum, where bin Laden was suspected of manufacturing biological weapons. While the military hit their targets, bin Laden was not killed. The CIA estimated that they had missed bin Laden by “a few hours.”

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Guardian UK: Bin Laden allegedly planned to kill Clinton

Osama bin Laden, the millionaire Saudi dissident who was the target of last week's missile attacks by the United States, twice directed his followers to assassinate President Bill Clinton, it was alleged yesterday.

According to Newsday, the assassination was planned to take place during Mr Clinton's visit to the Philippines in November 1994, but was abandoned because of heavy security. The second plot was foiled when Mr Clinton's trip to Pakistan in February this year was cancelled. Counter-terrorism and intelligence sources say Ramzi Yousef, who was convicted of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Centre in New York, was due to carry out the killing in Manila.

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Taliban Head Told U.S. Official Clinton Should Be Ousted
By Dan Eggen

Two days after U.S. missiles struck Afghanistan in retaliation for al Qaeda's bombings of U.S. embassies in East Africa in 1998, the head of that country's Taliban government told a State Department official that Congress should force then President Bill Clinton to resign "in order to rebuild U.S. popularity in the Islamic world," according to documents released yesterday.

The suggestion is contained in a newly declassified State Department cable recounting the first and only direct communication between the U.S. government and Mohammad Omar, the reclusive Taliban leader who was reaching out in the wake of the U.S. strikes on alleged al Qaeda facilities in his country and Sudan.

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Voter turnout appeared to be low, especially in the volatile south where the Taliban is strongest.But women voters seemed to have faced disproportionate obstacles, election observer groups said.

Hundreds of polling stations for women (stations throughout the country were segregated to keep men and women from publicly mingling) did not even open in some areas where Taliban influence is high, but women also suffered discrimination and intimidation in some places in central and northern Afghanistan. Female candidates received threats and were largely ignored in news coverage of the elections, the observers said.

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At least 650 women’s polling centers planned did not open on the day, according to Free and Fair Elections in Afghanistan, known as FEFA, the largest Afghan observer organization. In the southern province of Oruzgan, of the 36 centers for women that were planned, only 6 opened, said Nader Naderi, director of FEFA. In certain polling centers in the south and southeast of the country almost no women voted, according to the National Democratic Institute, an American-financed group that promotes democracy abroad.

The insecurity also led to greater proxy voting, in which male family members vote for the women, further robbing women of their rights, observers said.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/23/world/asia/23afghan.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=women%20voters&st=cse