[size=4]We're Watching You[/size=4]
By CHARLES RAE in London
and JOHN ASKILL in Afghanistan

THE Taliban were sent a chilling message by a massive US leaflet drop yesterday: “We Are Watching!”

The point was driven home by a picture of warlord Mullah Mohammed Omar’s NUMBER PLATE — taken from an unmanned Predator spy plane thousands of feet up.

The photo of the plate on Omar’s sports utility vehicle appeared on a leaflet beside his bearded profile, both caught in the crosshairs of a gunsight.

The pamphlet also carried the “Watching” warning under the menacing stare of a pair of fierce eyes.

The Americans have bombarded Afghanistan with thousands of printed pamphlets aimed at striking fear into the ruling regime — and winning over the civilian population.

The leaflets are part of military “psyops” — Psychological Operations - to encourage informants to reveal the whereabouts of one-eyed Mullah Omar, who has banned pictures of himself since he took power in 1996.

US Army spokesman Lt Col Steve Campbell told The Sun: “It is a pretty clear message to these guys — we are watching and we will get you.

“I think if you saw a picture of yourself with a pair of crosshairs over it you would feel pretty uncomfortable and that is the general idea.”

The Pentagon said yesterday that 16 MILLION leaflets in English and Pashtu had been printed and would be dropped in batches at intervals.

Some pamphlets aimed directly at Taliban fighters urged them to surrender or showed an American soldier and an Afghan shaking hands.

One intended to stir up civilian opposition to the regime showed a Taliban man brutally beating a woman wearing the head-to-toe Afghan veil.

The caption next to the picture read: “Do you want your women and your children to live this way?”

Other leaflets gave the frequencies of news programmes running ten hours a day. The Americans even dropped wind-up radios because few Afghans have sets of their own.

Bombing raids also continued yesterday with five waves of B-52s pounding troops north of Kabul. Northern Alliance commander Asil Khan said: “They have hit the right places.”

Another 500 Taliban soldiers deserted and switched sides yesterday as raids intensified. And the Alliance said it had captured several areas south of the key city of Mazar-i-Sharif helped by air support.

In London, Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said the Taliban was under growing pressure.

He told a briefing for Arab media in Downing Street: “The heavy bombing is clearly weakening the front lines. There is clear evidence that the Taliban regime is feeling the pressure.”

Besides leaflets and bombs, the US is also dropping supplies to the Alliance including weapons, ammunition and water — and even hay for the HORSES they still use in blood-curdling cavalry charges.

Meanwhile refugees fleeing into Alliance territory have been telling horrific stories of mass rapes and executions by Taliban thugs.

Villager Buzar Boy, 30, said: “They accused us of being American spies and took 100 people away. We had to run for our lives.”

[url]http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2001382334,00.html[/url]

Eric The(DoNotGoTo'Page3'WhateverYouDo!)Hun[>]:)]

I am a bad listener! [:D]

Hehe, I had a British friend tell me once about what's on the third page of all their tabloids. According to him, it's their national secret shame... [whacko]