Arab fighters given Afghan citizenship, say Taliban

Arab fighters suspected of links to Osama bin Laden have been given citizenship by the former Afghan Government, now fighting the Taliban.

The findings come in documents shown to an American news agency by the Taliban.

The papers show 604 people were granted Afghan citizenship in March 1993 by President Burhanuddin Rabbani.

President Rabbani, who was ousted by the Taliban in 1996, now heads the opposition Northern Alliance.

The documents do not include the names of any publicly known al Qaida figures linked to the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US.

However, the documents do add substance to claims by critics of the Northern Alliance that some of its leading figures have maintained close ties to Islamic extremists dating back to the 1979-1989 war against the Soviet Union.