Jalalabad falls to United Front By Juan 0. Tamayo, Andrew Maykuth & Steven Thomma Knight Ridder Newspapers KABUL, Afghanistan (KRT) — The rout of Afghanistan’s Taliban extended into their ethnic Pashtun homeland Tuesday with the capture of Jalalabad, even as the Taliban’s supreme leader urged his retreating troops to regroup and stop running around “like slaughtered chickens.” Gunfire was also reported near Kandahar, spiritual capital of the Taliban, heartland of the Pashtuns and a city where they may gather their forces for a final stand against opposition fighters in hot pursuit. American warplanes struck fleeing Taliban forces outside Kabul, the cap ital, as United Front officials took con trol of the city. Freed from five years of Taliban rule, men in Kabul celebrated by shaving off mandated beards and throwing away turbans. City residents also dug up once-for bidden televisions and played music, which also had been banned. The U.S.-led anti-terrorism coali tion is hoping that the United Front’s victories in Kabul and the north will persuade Pashtuns in southern Afghanistan to rebel against the Taliban. Two American missionaries held prisoner by the Taliban in Kabul had not been found in the city, and Taliban officials told their families they were taken to Kandahar. Taliban leader Mullah Mo hammed Omar and Osama bin Laden and members of his al-Qaeda terrorist network remained at large. “We’re going to get them,” said Defense Secretary Donald H. Rums feld at a Pentagon briefing. “I doubt that they’ll find peace wherever they select.” Rumsfeld said the Taliban and al Qaeda “continue to have large num bers of forces.” He cautioned that neither the quick advances Tuesday nor the eventual apprehension of bin Laden would end what is still likely to be a long war against terrorism. “The war is not about one man or one terrorist network or even one country,” Rumsfeld said. The United Front seized Kabul and most of the Afghan north in a four-day offensive. The alliance sent troops into Kabul despite American requests that it remain on the outskirts until a new political or der could be established. Alliance officials said they ordered their mil itary to enter the city after the Tal iban abandoned Kabul and armed groups began to loot it. The fall of Jalalabad, 146 miles southeast of Kabul, marked the first Taliban loss of a city dominated by Pashtuns, who make up 40 percent of Afghanistan’s population of 25 million people and the overwhelm ing majority of Taliban ranks. Most of the United Front’s fight ers are members of Afghanistan’s Uzbek, Tajik and Shiite Muslim Hazara minorities, traditional rivals of the Sunni Muslim Pashtuns. Taliban fighters stole out of Jalal abad without firing a shot Tuesday after receiving a warning from war lord Abdul Qadir to leave or face at tacks by his anti-Taliban forces, journalists in the city reported. The Taliban reportedly headed east and then south to Kandahar, birthplace of the Taliban in 1994. Heavy gunfire was heard Tuesday at the airport southeast of Kandahar, but there was no immediate expla nation, said three Afghan exiles who have been in telephone contact with relatives in Kandahar. Several hundred Taliban were cut off and surrounded in the northern town of Kunduz, the anti-Taliban al liance said. They included Pakista nis, Chechens, Uzbeks, and Uighurs fighting alongside the Taliban. Among them, the alliance said, were Juma Namangani and Tahir Yuldashev, the leaders of a group with ties to bin Laden called the Is lamic Movement for Uzbekistan. “We have surrounded Kunduz and soon, we will attack,” said Ashraf Nadeem, a United Front spokesman, in a satellite phone in terview from Mazar-e-Sharif. “The foreign fighters with ties to bin Laden are in the center of Kunduz. They have played into our hands and cannot escape. ” ©2001, Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services. Students protest federal drug law ■ Opponents of the provision say the drug law unfairly targets students of color By Kara Cogswell Oregon Daily Emerald Thousands of students with drug convictions lost financial aid this year as the U.S. Department of Edu cation began enforcing a 1998 provi sion of the federal Higher Education Act more strictly. Now, student advocacy groups across the country are putting more pressure on legislators to repeal the provision. Last weekend, the Stu dents for Sensible Drug Policy spon sored a conference attended by high school and college students in Washington, D.C. Students who attended the con ference plan to protest the law be ginning Nov. 29 on more than 100 campuses nationwide. They will ask university presidents to endorse a resolution to repeal the drug pro vision. Students in Oregon, including some at the University, are also working on campaigns to change the law. Nearly 26,000 students were de nied financial aid this year because of a drug conviction, compared to 1,835 students last year, according to Education Department spokes woman Jane Glickman. At the University, seven of the 9,701 University students who sub mitted financial aid applications this year lost aid because of the law, Financial Aid associate director Jim Gilmour said. That number may be misleading, Gilmour said, because students who would have been denied aid because of a drug conviction may have chosen not to apply. Glickman added that in the past, if students did not answer the ques tion about drug convictions on the Free Application for Federal Stu dent Aid, they were not penalized. But this year, students who left the question blank were sent a letter ad vising them that their financial aid eligibility would be jeopardized if they did not answer the question. Those who do not reply will auto matically lose aid, Glickman said. As of Nov. 7, about 9,500 students who did not answer the question were likely to lose aid because they had not replied to the letter, Glick man said. Former University of Washington student Jamil Scarberry, 24, lost his financial aid because of the law. He was arrested in California last year with three friends after police found drugs in their hotel room. Along with marijuana, the police found Valium bought by one of Scarberry’s friends in Mexico. Scarberry, who was not attending school at the time, was convicted on felony drug charges and was or dered to return to school for the next three years or spend 160 days in jail. He chose school, but because of the drug provision, he was no longer eligible to receive financial aid. Scarberry, who can no longer af ford to attend the UW, now works and attends classes part-time at Seattle Central Community College. “It’s kind of a double-edged sword, the way they set it up,” he said. The law has been criticized by groups such as the NAACP, the Amer ican Council on Education and the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. Opponents of the law argue that it disproportionately targets low-in come and minority students. Some say that it also penalizes students for being honest and punishes them twice for the same crime. Gilmour said it is difficult to check if students are telling the truth when they say they have not received any drug convictions be cause there is no central database containing those records. But, he added, students can be barred from receiving financial aid forever and, in rare cases, even face criminal charges if they are caught lying on the FAFSA form. Even Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., who wrote the law, is not happy with how it is being enforced. Soud er intended the law to apply only to students already receiving aid when convicted, Souder’s spokesman Seth Becker said. Souder’s efforts to rewrite the pro vision have failed in the past, but he is continuing to work to change the law. The Bush administration has been receptive to his proposals, Becker said. But Souder does not support re pealing the law, Becker said. Feder al aid is “a privilege, not a right,” he said, and students should not be al lowed to break the law while receiv ing taxpayer money. “We do not think it is in any way unreasonable to say to students that if ‘you are receiving federal money, we expect you to live within the law,’” he said. Students for Sensible Drug Poli cy, one of the most vocal national or ganizations working to repeal the law, does not have an active chap ter at the University. But while SSDP leaders were rallying at the U.S. Capitol, members of the Ore gon Students of Color Coalition also met to organize a campaign against the drug provision. ASUO Multi cultural Advocate Mario Sifuentez is one University member involved in the campaign. Although the campaign is still in the planning stage, OSCC members will focus on education as a way to raise support for their position, OSCC field organizer Huy Ong said. Ong said the drug provision dis criminates against students of col or. Although drug use rates are fairly consistent among racial and ethnic groups, he said, students of color receive drug convictions at a disproportionately high rate. “Out of all drug arrests, 50 per cent are African-Americans,” he said. “When you look at convic tion rates, that number skyrock ets.” SSDP Board Member Dan Gold man said the law unjustly targets those who need financial assis tance the most and limits educa tional opportunities. “By its very definition, financial aid goes to those who need it most,” he said. “We feel that set ting up a roadblock for students to go to college is not in the govern ment’s best interest.” Kara Cogswell is a student activities reporter for the Oregon Daily Emerald. She can be reached at karacogsweil@dailyemerald.com. CULTURAL OREGON WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14th 7:00pm EMU BALLROOM University of Oregon E. 13th & University, Eugene $8 general public, $5 UO students ticket info call 541.346.4373 EYmMG WSTH JENNIE SPRONKLE FEWISSI2ST PGtm ACT8V2ST Advertise m the ©Of Classifieds c PHOTO SPECIALS NOVEMBER 12-18 PRINTS FROM SLIDES: 3 x 5 - 2 for SI.00 4x6 - 2 for SI 150 5x7- $1.50 each 8 x 10 - $4.00 each From 35mm color slides, glossy surface only. Allow 3-5 working days for 3X and 4X reprints, 5-7 days for 5X enlargements, and 5-10 days for 8X enlargements. FUJICOLOR ) 012970-1 HU0 lc, ujp&car. rucC&ctic. <:<.->CCecje niffc HILLBILLY HOLOCAUST alt-counrty roclc, w i L'li seismic nfferings emu em no am ZJO STUDENTS $3 ^ 1 KCfe** welcome GENERAL BUBLIO $5 after “1 -H F>m please es«» "1 3th st entrance a late r ii(11 'I I program STUDENT TRAVEL (We understand completely.) TRAVEL www.statravel.com Finn stuff m the ode classifieds (mouies 6 shows, personal messages, computers, real estate, job opportunities, and more)