BBC: Hamid Karzai is sworn in as leader of Afghanistan's new interim government to replace the defeated Taleban regime.

The interim government is tasked with uniting a country that is fragmented along ethnic, religious and political fault lines.

Afghanistan's newly-created International Security Assistance Force will demonstrate the global community's backing for the new government, and its interest in ensuring a peaceful transfer of power in the post-Taliban era. The British Royal Marines will be the first visible elements of the international presence in Afghanistan, which was agreed at talks in Germany, in parallel with plans for the interim government. Ultimately, the contingent could comprise as many as 5,000 troops, from several nations.

Afghan Government
The cabinet is drawn from representatives of the Northern Alliance, the Rome group loyal to former king Zahir Shah, and the smaller Cyprus and Peshawar exile groups.

Chairman: Hamid Karzai (Pashtun)

Women's Affairs: Sima Samar (Rome group, Hazara)

Defense: Mohammad Fahim (Northern Alliance, Tajik)

Planning: Haji Mohammad Mohaqqeq (Northern Alliance, Hazara)

Water and Electricity: Shaker Kargar (Northern Alliance, Uzbek)

Finance: Hedayat Amin Arsala (Rome group, Pashtun)

The new Foreign Minister will be Dr Abdullah Abdullah (Northern Alliance, Tajik).

Where in the World is bin Laden?
There was no word on where bin Laden might be following Sunday's capture of the mountain caves of Tora Bora where his terrorist network made its last major stand in Afghanistan. Where is bin Laden. Nowhere and everywhere. He's been reportedly seen by dozens of people in several different places at the same time.

Estimates place the al Qaida forces at perhaps a hundred fighters remaining in the general Tora Bora area; surrounded in small areas the largest being about 2 square miles. Today and this week, several hundred bodies will be collected and the caves will be searched. Other fighters are further north and there are many that are being arrested at the borders with Pakistan.

al Qaida Is Done In Afghanistan
Intelligence experts suspect that bin Laden may have a group of as many as 1000 al Qaida with him, perhaps still in Afghanistan, more likely having escaped. About 2000 al Qaida had thought to have been in the area of Tora Bora at the start of fighting there. Several local fighters said women and children were among the Al Qaeda dead, adding credence to reports that some foreign fighters had brought their families.

Haji Zaman, top military commander in the eastern Jalalabad region, told reporters that the remnants of bin Laden's al Qaida forces had been virtually wiped out in the eastern Tora Bora mountains after days of fierce fighting, but the Saudi-born militant himself was no longer there. He says "This is the last day for al Qaida in Afghanistan.'' He said bin Laden had fled, but this would not stop Afghan mujahideen warriors from completing a mopping-up operation. Already there are hundreds of captured Taliban being brought in to "justice." The anti-Taliban forces are reportedly brutalizing Arab and other foreign fighters.

If confirmed, the report that bin Laden is missing would be a disappointment for Defense Secretary Rumsfeld. US defense chief Donald Rumsfeld paid a surprise visit to a base near Kabul where Afghan fighters told him Osama bin Laden, main quarry of the Pentagon's campaign in Afghanistan, had evaded capture.

Rumsfeld said that US forces had found materials and documents at a former al Qaida base in southern Afghanistan, and were testing them for chemical, biological and radiation content. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has warned NATO it must prepare for terrorists who will use everything from computers to cruise missiles to wreak havoc.

Rumsfeld addressed troops, giving a message of mission to the military.

The BBC's Stephen Sackur "Rumsfeld warned against complacency" CNN report 12/19: Rumsfeld warns NATO of new threats

Right, a large crowd becomes difficult as food and water are in extraordinary short supply. Rumsfeld met with interim leader, Hamid Karzai. There is much to do to ready bases and operations for a UN Peacekeeping Force. Relief, food and water, medical supplies, and transportation to mention a few are still problems too.

As Rumsfeld arrived at Bagram, two U.S. Marines were wounded, one seriously, while clearing ordnance at Kandahar airport.
CNN update: several US marines have been wounded in an explosion in Kandahar.

For multimedia presentations, use the MSNBC Battlefield Interactive.

Peace Keeping

The BBC's David Loyn profiles Afghanistan's new leader Hamid Karzai

	The BBC's Caroline Wyatt reports from Kabul "The sheer number of weapons on the streets here is frightening"
	The BBC's Andrew Gilligan "Three things with this peacekeeping force need to be sorted out"
	General Wesley Clarke, former Nato commander "To control a city the size of Kabul, you want three to four batallions"

Experts Assess bin Laden Videotape Statements
PBS 12 minute Audio: A reporter and an Arab expert examine the international reaction to the Osama bin Laden tape. (12/14/01).

The original translation of the Osama bin Laden videotape misses the fact that bin Laden identifies nine of the hijackers, a Saudi dissident says and an independent translator hired by CNN confirmed Thursday.

One more striking example of detail left out of the government translation, according to Al-Ahmed and the independent translator: Bin Laden's description of exactly what he said to others just before the radio announcement that the first of the attacks had succeeded. They quoted him as saying he told followers, "When you hear a breaking news announcement on the radio, kneel immediately, and that means they have hit the World Trade Center." CNN: New information found on bin Laden tape.

Al Qaida Notebook -- Attack Plan -- London Next
A Portuguese newspaper has reported the discovery of what it says could be al Qaida plans to carry out a "terrorist attack" on London.

A notebook was found in a house in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar from which followers of Osama Bin Laden "are believed to have fled in a hurry", the Lisbon weekly Expresso reported. The notebook contained plans to detonate a 480kg remote control device "to be left in a van parked preferably in Moorgate, in the City of London", the paper said.

Neither the author of the notes nor the time they were written were known, nor was it known whether the document was "simply a hypothetical exercise". But it said the notebook was "enough to give one the shivers". The only clue about a timetable for the operation was the phrase "primary strategy - 1-2 weeks".

The alleged plans to attack London were written in English, with Arabic sentences interspersed, "practically without errors and with uniform handwriting, thus suggesting it was written by one person only", the paper said. Expresso said the document was just one of many items left in "what might have been a school or a base used by soldiers of different nationalities."

Remote-controlled van bombs were used in the attacks on the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 which killed more than 200 people, the vast majority Kenyans. The bombings were blamed on al-Qaida.

Next Move?
In Washington, war councils and the military is turning to the next targets in the global war against terrorism. Top officials are talking, with circumspection, about using the military to track down and eliminate key terrorists among Al Qaida’s terror cells (Newsweek 8.57 minute audio report).