"Delicate negotiations on a post-Taliban regime were under way yesterday as Afghanistan's former king, pro-Western guerrilla leaders and American congressmen began talks in Rome." Bruce Johnston in Rome and Ahmed Rashid in Lahore. Daily Telegraph, UK.

Eulogy for the murdered Abdul Haq, whom Ahmed Rashid knew for over 20 years. Daily Telegraph, UK.

"Massoud was giving an interview in his office to a group of Arab journalists who had arrived from Kabul. When they started filming, the camera exploded." From Lahore. Daily Telegraph, UK.

"Front spokesmen denied that he had died and accused the Taliban, the wanted Saudi terrorist Osama bin Laden and Pakistan of planning the assassination attempt." From Lahore. Daily Telegraph, UK.

"The U.S. is angry and ready to retaliate against terrorists. All eyes now turn to Afghanistan." From Lahore. Far Eastern Economic Review, Hong Kong.

"More than 100 UN and aid workers left Kabul and four other cities in an airlift organised by the UN in Pakistan." From Lahore. Daily Telegraph, UK.

About the supporters, recruits, training, financing, communication and network organization. Daily Telegraph, UK.

After seven years of rule, characterised by an almost complete indifference to the welfare of the vast majority of the population, the Taliban has suddenly discovered concern for civilian victims of US bombing raids. Daily Telegraph, UK.

Five men, including two Northern Alliance commanders, were publicly hanged in Mazar-i-Sharif. Julius Strauss in Faizabad and Ahmed Rashid in Lahore. Daily Telegraph, UK.

"Law and order was breaking down in Kabul yesterday as Taliban soldiers and poverty-stricken civilians carried out armed daylight robberies and looted houses left empty by people who have fled." Daily Telegraph, UK.

"'Bin Laden may have used the murder of Massoud as a means to win support with the Taliban at the precise moment he knew he would need that support most, because he [bin Laden] was also planning the bombings in the US,' said a Western diplomat. 'But I doubt he told the Taliban about the US bombings, which is why they are so shocked.'" From Lahore. Daily Telegraph, UK.

By Nermeen Shaikh. Discussion of the current situation in the area, including the role of Pakistan and the impact of the US war in Afghanistan.

"For months Washington has been promising a new Afghanistan policy, combining incentives and pressures on the Taliban, bin Laden and Pakistan, the Taliban's main backer. Yet the Bush administration has delayed its review and has taken a hands-off attitude towards Afghanistan. The result has been a lack of policy or direction in a part of the world which is the centre of global terrorism." Daily Telegraph, UK.

Report on Lakhdar Brahimis meetings with a broad range of anti-Taliban Afghan commanders, NGO representatives and women's group leaders, aiming at building support for a new broad-based government. EurasiaNet.org

"The world faces a new flood of Afghan heroin at throwaway prices as local drug dealers and the Taliban rapidly dispose of their stocks because of the threat of war and the need to raise money. Prices of opium, the raw material for heroin, have fallen by 80 per cent in the past three weeks." From Lahore. Daily Telegraph, UK.

"One reason why the American military attack on bin Laden is being delayed is because the US army does not have a single person in its ranks who speaks Pashto, the language of the Taliban." From Lahore. Daily Telegraph, UK.

Two prominent Afghan Pathan commanders have gone to southern Afghanistan to raise a rebellion against the Taliban. Daily Telegraph, UK.

"Following last night's air strikes, two vast battlefields will emerge, one in the north and the other in the centre of the country, as the Taliban struggle to retain their hold on power." From Lahore. Daily Telegraph, UK.

"Equally significant has been the growing rift between the hardliners who surround Mullah Omar in Kandahar and the moderates who form the government in Kabul and have had to deal with the international community and the growing humanitarian crisis in the country." Daily Telegraph, UK.

Interview with the UN's Special Representative for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, about the results of his six days of talks in Islamabad. EurasiaNet.org.

"Pakistan's Interservices Intelligence (ISI), which until two weeks ago was backing the Taliban, is now rapidly trying to put together a new alliance from among Taliban defectors, other Pathan radicals and intellectuals, which would still include few members of Afghanistan's minority ethnic groups." In Lahore.Daily Telegraph, UK.

"With widespread defections depleting the Taliban forces, Mullah Omar has become increasingly dependent on these foreign fighters. In turn, they know they have nowhere to go, because if they return to their own countries they will be executed." From Islamabad. Daily Telegraph, UK.

"If Pakistan can get economic relief, Gen Musharraf can point out the benefits of his alliance with the West. But if the American military campaign extends to months, which is likely, the danger of the Islamic parties being able to rally greater support will increase." From Lahore. Daily Telegraph, UK.

"For the past two years Gen Musharraf has walked a fine line; trying to stem the growing street power of Islamic fundamentalists who have been the bulwark of the army's long-term strategy to carry on guerrilla war in Kashmir and support for the Taliban." Daily Telegraph, UK.

"UN, US and EU diplomats are also in Rome to persuade the former king and the United Front to come to an agreement covering military strategy and the composition of the post-Taliban government." From Lahore. Daily Telegraph, UK.

"Western intelligence officials have long been concerned that fundamentalist forces might seize power in Pakistan and gain control of its nuclear arsenal. This now seems a real possibility." By Ahmed Rashid in Islamabad and Rahul Bedi in New Delhi. Daily Telegraph, UK.

History of Mullah Omar and his friendship with Osama bin Laden. From Lahore. Daily Telegraph, UK.

"A senior Pakistani official said: 'This is a moment of reckoning for Pakistan. It has to decide whether it wants to be part of the international community or to go it alone with all the risks involved of becoming a pariah state.'" Daily Telegraph, UK.

Washington's unwillingness to provide arms and money to the anti-Taliban Pathan forces in southern Afghanistan who want to start an uprising. Daily Telegraph, UK.

The strategies of Pakistan's Interservices Intelligence (ISI). Daily Telegraph, UK.

The demands, the trade-offs, the impacts, the backlash and Afghanistan's future. The Nation, USA.

"Although the hard core of the Taliban army is still holding together and has successfully fought off a week-long offensive by the anti-Taliban United Front, the Taliban administration is imploding in many parts of the country and senior officials are defecting to Pakistan." From Lahore. Daily Telegraph, UK.

Pashtun commanders Abdul Haq and Hamid Karzai have entered southern Afghanistan from Pakistan to raise a rebellion against the Taliban, in an attempt to balance the power of the Northern Alliance, which is made up of mainly Tajiks and Uzbeks. Eurasianet.org.

Despite the presence of ISAF (International Security Assistance Force), more is needed for the country's reconstruction. Eurasianet.org

Criticisms from Pakistani officials of the continued bombardment of Afghanistan which is showing few results, and criticisms from the US of Pakistan's inability to mobilise defectors among the Taliban. Philip Smucker in Peshawar and Ahmed Rashid in Islamabad. Daily Telegraph, UK.

"Hundreds of Taliban commanders, mullahs and tribal leaders are ready to defect to the former King Zahir Shah who has issued an appeal for a national uprising against the regime." From Lahore. Daily Telegraph, UK.

The execution of Abdul Haq close to the eastern city of Jalalabad. In Islamabad. Daily Telegraph, UK.

Those involved include Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil, the Taliban foreign minister. In Islamabad. Daily Telegraph, UK.

"The international community has virtually isolated the Taliban regime: Saudi Arabia cut off diplomatic relations with Kabul yesterday. However, the Taliban are also trying to isolate themselves, so that US forces do not gain defence intelligence." From Lahore. Daily Telegraph, UK.

"Since last year the United States government has been building an international alliance to strangle the Taliban leadership in Afghanistan, eliminate the threat of resident terrorist Osama bin Laden and put pressure on Pakistan to halt support for the Taliban. It is an alliance that, according to an official of the U.S. National Security Council, 'starts from Afghanistan's neighbours and extends to the Group of Eight, Nato, the European Union, East Asia and the Middle East.'" From Washington, DC. Far Eastern Economic Review, Hong Kong.

Ahmed Rashid's interviews with the UN Secretary General's Special Representative to Afghanistan Lakhdar Brahimi, and Major General Sir John McColl, the head of the International Security Assistance Force. Eurasianet.org.

"Experts believe that breaking up the Taliban infrastructure depends, in large measure, on offering a credible plan to install a new government that can win legitimacy across a country that has been torn apart by war for more than two decades." From Islamabad. Daily Telegraph, UK.

"US military might and strategy is being dwarfed by the much more urgent task for the Western alliance - to help form a new government in Kabul." Daily Telegraph, UK.

"The lack of intelligence stems from Washington's decision effectively to ignore developments in Afghanistan from 1989 after Moscow withdrew its forces." From Lahore. Daily Telegraph, UK.

"Washington's requests are believed to include permission for the use of Pakistani air space for the bombing of bin Laden's camps, the immediate halting of Pakistani fuel and supplies to the Taliban, the closure of Pakistan's borders with Afghanistan in order to prevent Arab terrorists fleeing, and sharing intelligence information." By Ahmed Rashid in Lahore and Rahul Bedi in New Delhi. Daily Telegraph, UK.

"Iran will not join the US-led multinational coalition even though it loathes the Taliban. But Washington is anxious to make sure that Iran will raise no objections to its planned military action, and it wishes to reassure Teheran that it has no aggressive designs against Iran itself." From Islamabad. Daily Telegraph, UK.

About Osama bin Laden and Al'Qaeda. Daily Telegraph, UK.