THOMAS WAGNER
Associated Press Writer
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -- Thousands protested at the abandoned U.S. Embassy compound in the Afghan capital of Kabul on Wednesday, burning cars and tearing down the U.S. seal. In neighboring Pakistan, sources said they reached broad accord with U.S. officials on a plan for attacks on bases inside Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, heavy new fighting was reported in northern Afghanistan as an opposition alliance pressed on with its bid to seize territory from fighters of the Taliban, the hard-line Islamic movement that governs the country.
The demonstration in Kabul was the largest anti-American protest since the crisis sparked by the Sept. 11 terror attacks in New York and Washington. The United States' chief suspect in the attacks is Osama bin Laden, the Saudi exile who has sheltered for the past five years by the Taliban.
Shouting ``Long Live Osama!'' and ``Death to America!'' the protesters burned a U.S. flags and an effigy of President Bush before storming the old embassy compound. The building has been abandoned since 1988.
Gray smoke billowed into the sky after about five vehicles were set afire in the embassy compound, and a several men used hammers to remove the large circular U.S. seal above the front entrance. Taliban authorities eventually dispersed the protesters above the door, and the vehicle fires were put out.
In Pakistan's capital of Islamabad, senior Pakistani sources said Pakistani and U.S. defense and intelligence officials had reached broad agreement on an anti-terror program that included a plan to attack bases in Afghanistan, but that some sticking points remained.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the officials said both sides want to minimize the use of ground forces in any strike. They also said some differences had emerged during talks that began Monday between high-ranking Pakistani officials and an American delegation including senior defense and intelligence representatives.
The points of disagreement include whether or not to lend support to the opposition alliance, something that Pakistan has expressed public misgivings over. Other points of contention: what action is warranted against Pakistan-based militant groups; and whether or not the United Nations should approve any operation against Afghanistan.
Some differences were resolved Tuesday when the some U.S. delegation members held a 40-minute meeting with Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, the sources said without specifying which points had been resolved.
However, banking sources said the State Bank of Pakistan ordered banks to freeze assets of 27 groups suspected of terrorist links. They include two Pakistan-based groups _ the Al-Rashid Trust and the Harkat ul-Mujahideen, a militant group fighting Indian rule in the disputed Kashmir region. The groups said Tuesday the U.S. decision to freeze their assets was unfair but would not impede their operations.
A final round of U.S.-Pakistani talks was taking place Wednesday in Islamabad to try to iron out remaining differences. The discussions were to have ended Tuesday, but were extended.
In northern Afghanistan, new battles broke out in the provinces of Samangan and Balkh between Taliban and opposition fighters. Mohammed Ashraf Nadeem, a spokesman for the opposition's northern alliance, said both sides used artillery, rocket launchers, tanks and machine guns, but that neither had managed to take over new territory.
Nadeem, reached by telephone from Kabul, said Taliban had rushed 3,000 new troops to the region from Kandahar, the southern city where the Taliban are based.
No casualty toll was immediately available, and it was not possible to independently confirm his account of the fighting.
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