Saudi Arabia cuts ties with Taliban

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- All but sealing Afghanistan's isolation, Saudi Arabia formally severed relations with the hard-line Taliban government Tuesday. Stung, the Taliban denounced the Saudi move as intolerable to all Muslims and accused it of siding with "the infidel forces."\nFierce fighting was reported in northern Afghanistan, where an opposition alliance is trying to wrest strategic territory from Taliban fighters. Reports were sketchy, and the two sides made conflicting claims that could not be reconciled. \nFrom the organization of Osama bin Laden, the accused terrorist mastermind at the heart of the hardening confrontation between Afghanistan and a U.S.-led coalition, came a volley of new threats. "Wherever there are Americans and Jews, they will be targeted," said a statement issued in the name of Naseer Ahmed Mujahed, military chief for bin Laden's al-Qaida network. \n"The holy warriors are fully prepared," added the statement, faxed to news organizations in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad. Muslims everywhere, it said, "should prepare for jihad (holy war), and by the grace of God, victory will be Islam's." \nLater, the Taliban's leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, appealed to Americans to "be wise" and urged Washington to reconsider its policies toward Islamic countries, as well as its next move. His statement also was faxed to news organizations in Islamabad. \nIn the two weeks since suicide attackers used hijacked planes to topple the twin towers of the World Trade Center and smash a wing of the Pentagon, many Islamic nations have agreed to support the emerging U.S.-led anti-terror coalition. But the prospect of American retaliation against Afghanistan has stirred anger in much of the Muslim world.