Hi there,

The media can be the greatest force for peace on Earth. Instead, all too often, it’s wielded as a weapon of war. That's why we have to take the media back. Thanks to a group of generous donors, all donations made today will be DOUBLED, which means your $15 gift is worth $30. With your contribution, we can continue to go to where the silence is, to bring you the voices of the silenced majority – those calling for peace in a time of war, demanding action on the climate catastrophe and advocating for racial and economic justice. Every dollar makes a difference. Thank you so much!

Democracy Now!
Amy Goodman

Non-commercial news needs your support.

We rely on contributions from you, our viewers and listeners to do our work. If you visit us daily or weekly or even just once a month, now is a great time to make your monthly contribution.

Please do your part today.

Donate

Hundreds of Prisoners of War Are Killed As U.S. Jets Launch Air Strikes to Bomb An Apparent Prison Uprising; More Than a Thousand U.S. Troops Are Deployed Into Southern Afghanistan

Listen
Media Options
Listen

Related

Hundreds of Pakistani, Arab and Chechen prisoners of war were killed last night as US jets launched air strikes to help Northern Alliance forces quell an apparent prison uprising.

Footage from a German television crew showed guards on the walls of the compound firing down into crowds of prisoners below. A US special forces soldier was seen calling in air strikes from a satellite telephone.

There are conflicting reports of U.S. casualties. A Time magazine reporter who was trapped inside the fortress when the fighting began said an American soldier was disarmed and killed by prisoners. U.S. television networks ABC and NBC reported the man was believed to be a CIA operative.

A CIA spokesman said the spy agency — which is reportedly running paramilitary units in Afghanistan made up chiefly of non-uniformed U.S. veterans — declined to comment on whether any of its operatives or contractors had been injured or killed.

Northern alliance officials claimed they had crushed the escape attempt Sunday, but an alliance fighter who was inside this morning said more than 100 prisoners were still resisting in a tower with rocket launchers.

Over a thousand U.S. Marines began moving into southern Afghanistan last night, marking the introduction of conventional ground troops into the seven-week-old war.

The Afghan Islamic Press said the city of Kandahar was under intense US bombardment as troops, tanks and artillery arrived near an airport a few miles to the south.

So far the US has had only a few hundred Special Forces troops inside Afghanistan, working along with an unusually large number of CIA operatives and paramilitary units.

Guest:

  • Tony Cross, correspondent for Radio France International and Free Speech Radio News, in Kabul.

Related Story

StoryAug 29, 2024“Gender Apartheid”: Taliban Approves Law in Afghanistan Requiring Women Remain Silent in Public
The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top