Taliban rulers, vowing to ‘‘fight to the last’’ against those who side with the United States, today said they have sent thousands of troops to the border with Uzbekistan.

Helicopter gunships belonging to opposition troops fired rockets in the vicinity of the Kabul airport early today, hours after the devastating terrorist attacks in the United States, according to Taliban soldiers and eyewitnesses.

Vice President Dick Cheney today rejected Pope John Paul II’s request that President George W Bush spare Timothy McVeigh’s life, saying the Oklahoma City bomber should be put to death.