Word: russian
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...bomb"--a conventional explosive packed with radioactive debris. Whatever bin Laden's got, he has made any number of attempts to get more. As early as the mid-1990s, intelligence sources tell TIME, bin Laden's agents began cruising the black markets of Europe and Asia looking for pirated Russian warheads. Al-Qaeda also made it known that loose components such as enriched uranium would do too. Relatively new to the free-for-all thieving of the post-Soviet republics, bin Laden was fleeced at least twice, getting fooled by black marketeers who tried to sell him low-grade, radioactive...
Much of the espionage involves collaborating with overseas intelligence services to round up bin Laden supporters. Some 300 suspects have been arrested in 42 countries, many as a result of intelligence the CIA fed to foreign agencies. Operatives have even been trying to penetrate the Russian mafia for leads on chemical or biological agents that bin Laden has been trying to buy from it. Agents have also been trying to entice Pashtun warlords to turn against the Taliban with offers of cash. But they have had limited success. One reason: drug trafficking in the region has driven up bribe prices...
...missile-defense system--now seems possible. President George Bush was already cracking the whip on American negotiators to clinch a deal. Now, with the U.S. ready to cut warhead levels to around 2,000 from 6,000-plus, the biggest battle may not be between President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin, but among Bush Administration factions...
...Northern Alliance swears it inducts no soldiers younger than 18 years old. But a visit to the trenches proves that rule unenforced. Zulmai leans against a rusty Russian tank on a hill overlooking the Taliban-controlled city of Taloqan. He is 18 but joined the mujahedin at 15, just as his four brothers did. One brother has already been killed, and Zulmai falters when asked if children should be fighting an adult's war. A Northern Alliance Foreign Ministry official named Musadiqallah steps in: "Our cause is so great that even our children want to join us in fighting...
...uniformed, well-trained fighters is massed north of the capital. The best of the bunch, the Guards Brigade, was created by the late mujahedin commander Ahmed Shah Massoud--even in death the spiritual leader of the Northern Alliance--and comprises several infantry assault battalions backed up by Russian T-55 and T-62 tanks. The Guards have already moved into position northeast of Kabul for a possible raid on the city. Winter won't necessarily deter them: against the Soviets, Afghan guerrillas fought brilliantly in the cold, fortified by high-protein energy bars made of nuts and fruits ground...