German Journalist Killed in Afghanistan

A freelance journalist of the Hamburg-based news magazine "Stern", German journalist Volker Handloik, 40 was reportedly killed in a Taliban ambush in Afghanistan. According to the spokesman of the "Stern" magazine, Handloik was an experienced journalist who had reported from several crisis zones in the world.

The two other journalists were–34-year-old French radio reporter Johanne Sutton, who worked for Radio France International (RFI), and Pierre Billaud, a correspondent for Luxembourg-based RTL radio.

They were the first journalists to be killed in the conflict in Afghanistan since the start of U.S.-led military action against the ruling Taliban on October 7.

The three journalists were among six reporters who had set out with Northern Alliance forces to try to verify opposition claims to have captured the town of Taloqan. They were accompanying Commander Hassan of the Northern Alliance on an inspection of a Taliban trench that they thought they had surrendered.

The three of them fell from the roof of an armored personnel carrier when Taliban forces waiting in ambush opened fire on the vehicle at close range with semi-automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades.

The incident is believed to have taken place near the border to Tadschikistan.

Handloik, from the eastern town of Rostock, had been reporting from the region since early October. He was the fourth journalist working for "Stern" to be killed covering a conflict in the last seven years.

"The death of Volker Handloik depresses us all and leaves us speechless," Stern editor-in-chief Thomas Osterkorn said.

During the Kosovo war in 1999, another two "Stern" reporters, Volker Krämer und Gabriel Grüner were shot dead by unknown assailants.

Greens in Germany Still Agonising over War Issue

The death of a German journalist will now raise new doubts among the traditionally Pacifist Green Party, the junior coalition partner in Germany’s Red-Green coalition, many of whose members are vehemently against the planned mobilisation of upto 3,900 German in the Afghan war.

German chancellor Gerhard Schröder is facing his biggest crisis as the Greens appear to be divided in supporting the Chancellor.

The question remains whether the government will survive a vote in parliament this week. The mobilisation is certain to be approved by parliament because the main opposition parties, the conservative Christian Democrats and liberal Free Democrats, have said they support it.

But Schroeder would be embarrassed if he failed to get a majority with his own coalition. His pledge of "unlimited solidarity" with the United States would be undermined, and the Red-Green government that has ruled Germany since 1998 could break apart.

Many leading Green politicians are demanding that the government furnish more information before ordering German troops to Afghanistan.

By Monday eight Green deputies had decided to vote against the planned military action in the German parliament. But even about 25 members of the ruling Social Democratic are said to have their doubts about the move.

Last week Greens Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer threatened to resign in a heated debate with the party's 47 deputies and warned them that opposing the mission could bring down the government.

Afghan Opposition Plans to Take Herat

Meanwhile fierce fighting continued in Afghanistan with Afghan opposition fighters saying they would advance on the strategic western city of Herat on Monday after making sweeping gains in the north.

In the north-west of the country, opposition commander Ismail Khan is reported to be at the gates of Herat, and set to take it in the next 24 hours.

Herat commands vital highways leading to Iran and Turkmenistan, and would clear the way for an opposition advance on Kandahar, the home of Taleban spiritual leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar.

The Northern Alliance has taken a large part of the north of the country following their key breakthrough: the capture of Mazar-e-Sharif.

In Mazar-i-Sharif on Sunday, Afghans lined up at barber shops to shave their once-mandatory beards; forbidden music blared from shops and some women threw off the head-to-toe burqa veil as the city emerged from the draconian lifestyle under the Taliban, the Afghan Islamic Press said.

American B-52 bombers pounded Taliban positions north of Kabul on Monday as opposition forces prepared for action.

The opposition forces further claim to have seized the strategic town of Pul-e-Khumri, north of Kabul, and the town of Qala-e-Nau in the western province of Badghis.

The capture of Pul-e-Khumri would cut the main north-south road through the centre of Afghanistan, leaving the remaining Taleban forces in the north stranded.

Northern Alliance Warned to Stay away from Kabul

US President George W Bush has warned the Northern Alliance after they took the important city of Mazar-e-Sharif, against trying to seize control of Kabul because it could endanger hopes for a future broad-based government.

The Northern Alliance is hated in Kabul for its power struggles in the 1990s that subjected the city to almost daily rocket attacks and killed 50,000 residents.

Pakistan has also warned of a repeat of violence in Kabul if the Northern Alliance takes the city. Other countries including Germany have also said it could complicate a post-Taliban political settlement.