Striking Back: Latest Developments

By Stephen M. Silverman

Sunday September 23, 2001 10:52 AM EDT

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•After nearly two weeks of flags flying at half-staff, President Bush raised the Stars and Stripes high at Camp David, in a ceremony with U.S. Marines, on Sunday. The guard at the White House raised the flag on the executive mansion to full staff at dawn.

•On the diplomatic front, the president lifted sanctions barring economic and military assistance to Pakistan and India. The U.S. will need assistance from those countries to uproot bin Laden from his refuge in neighboring Afghanistan.

•As the Pentagon rolled out B-52 bombers and moved more troops and equipment into place in the Persian Gulf, America's Middle East allies stepped up to support the operation, reports the Associated Press. The United Arab Emirates cut ties with Afghanistan's Taliban leadership, and NATO ally Turkey said it would let American military planes use its airspace and airports.

•In northern Afghanistan on Sunday, heavy fighting was reported to be taking place between Taliban and opposition forces as the U.S. stepped up preparations for an attack to capture or kill suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden and destroy his training camps.

•President Bush and Russian President Putin spoke for an hour by phone on Saturday, their third talk since the Sept. 11 attacks. Putin said afterward, "We must unite forces of all civilized society."

•The president signed a $15 billion aid package for the battered U.S. airline industry late Saturday, less than 24 hours after it cleared Congress. Many analysts predict that the country will not escape recession. Yet in his radio address to the nation Saturday, Bush predicted that the economy would rebound "in American in the years ahead." He did not provide specifics on how.