Asia

We have been informed that, despite the ferocious police repression and the arrest of comrade Hameed Khan, the leader of the strike of the Baluchistan Civil Secretariat Employees Association (CSEA), the strike is continuing. Negotiations are taking place but the government have not yet agreed to the demands. And Hameed Khan and the other leaders are still behind bars.

We have been informed that, despite the ferocious police repression and the arrest of comrade Hameed Khan, the leader of the strike of the Baluchistan Civil Secretariat Employees Association (CSEA), the strike is continuing. Negotiations are taking place but the government have not yet agreed to the demands. And Hameed Khan and the other leaders are still behind bars.

The strike of the CSEA is still continuing. The Baluchistan Government under pressure from strike and protest messages and the international solidarity campaign has started negotiating with the strike leaders. Yesterday's negotiations failed because the government is not accepting some of the demands.

The strike of the CSEA is still continuing. The Baluchistan Government under pressure from strike and protest messages and the international solidarity campaign has started negotiating with the strike leaders. Yesterday's negotiations failed because the government is not accepting some of the demands.

This morning we have received the news from Pakistan of the arrest of comrade Hameed Khan, the leader of the strike of the Baluchistan Civil Secretariat Employees Association, which we reported on yesterday. This is an extremely serious situation. As the main strike leader, Hameed faces severe torture at the hands of the state. We urge all readers to give this matter the maximum publicity.

This morning we have received the news from Pakistan of the arrest of comrade Hameed Khan, the leader of the strike of the Baluchistan Civil Secretariat Employees Association, which we reported on yesterday. This is an extremely serious situation. As the main strike leader, Hameed faces severe torture at the hands of the state. We urge all readers to give this matter the maximum publicity.

The situation in Afghanistan after the dramatic fall of Kabul continues to give the British and Americans a headache. Washington is still trying to improvise a coherent strategy, making up its policy as it goes along. Bush's lackey, Tony Blair is having trouble keeping step. An update on the war by Alan Woods.

We have received the following message from Pakistan. We urge all our readers to act immediately to protest against the brutal repression of our fellow workers and trade unionists.

We have received the following message from Pakistan. We urge all our readers to act immediately to protest against the brutal repression of our fellow workers and trade unionists.

In the Saturday (November 17) issue of the Jang - the biggest daily paper in Pakistan, the well-known columnist Munnoo Bhai published extensive extracts from Alan's article The fall of Kabul with the comment that this is the "best analysis one can find anywhere". The Jang newspaper is read by up to 20 million people every day, and Munnoo Bhai's column is widely read.

Afghanistan is full of surprises. And what surprise could be bigger than the lightening advance of the Northern Alliance over the last seven days? In less than a week, Taliban forces have been swept from most of northern Afghanistan, including the key cities of Mazar-e-Sharif, Herat, Kunduz, Taloqan, Bamiyan, Jalalabad and the capital Kabul. The question is: How did a force that only two months ago controlled most of Afghanistan get swept from the battlefield so quickly, and is the battle over?

Events inside Afghanistan are moving quickly. So quickly that it is difficult to keep up with the lightening changes in the situation. The fall of Kabul came more quickly than anyone could forsee. Washington hoped that it would be able to hold back the Northern Alliance's advance until it had succeeded in putting together a coalition of non-Taliban forces (read: American stooges) to take over the country. However, in war, events cannot be directed like an orchestra under the conductor's baton. Alan Woods explains how this affects the situation on the ground in Afghanistan.

Report on a PTUDC anti-war meeting held in Quetta, a city close to the Afghan border. American planes and Special Forces are operating from airbases in the area. The fundamentalists also have a strong presence here. In spite of this the comrades of the PTUDC held a successful meeting where the ideas of genuine socialism were explained to the workers and youth present.

As the autumn haze sets in, Pakistan seems to be engulfed in an environment of gloom, confusion, apathy and sorrow. The masses are bewildered at what is going on and what is about to happen. It is a country not directly at war and yet all the social and economic implications of a war are very much present. Pakistan society seems to be in a state of war - a war nobody wants to wage, since not even the ruling junta is prepared to commit Pakistani troops to this most peculiar conflict.