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101st Airborne to replace Marines at Kandahar

British Royal Marines, who make up the vanguard of an international peacekeeping mission, stand guard near Bagram, Afghanistan.

(CNN) -- The U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division will replace the Marine contingent at the Kandahar airport, the Pentagon confirmed Sunday.

The Pentagon did not release a deployment date, citing operational security reasons. But officials have said the 101st Airborne -- based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky -- would be deployed in January.

A Marine contingent has occupied Kandahar International Airport in southern Afghanistan since mid-December. (Full story)

Meanwhile, the United Nations and Afghanistan's interim government have reached agreement on a multinational peacekeeping force for the country, Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah said Sunday.

The deal had been held up by disputes over the force's size and duties. The first group of peacekeepers from Britain, which will lead the force, arrived in Afghanistan before the recent inauguration of the interim government.

Abdullah said the peacekeepers initially would be deployed in the capital, Kabul, and would operate under a provision of the U.N. charter that allows for the use of force.

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Latest developments

• Abdullah said U.S. bombing should continue until it has routed the Taliban and al Qaeda, including Osama bin Laden -- whom Abdullah said was still in Afghanistan. His statement contradicted an earlier one by a Defense Ministry spokesman who said bin Laden was believed to be in Pakistan. (Full story)

• Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Bob Graham, D-Florida, told CNN Sunday the latest intelligence reports indicate "the high probabilities are" that bin Laden is still alive. Graham said the "trail has gone cold as to whether he's still in the caves of Tora Bora or, in fact, has slipped out into Pakistan."

• The number of al Qaeda and Taliban fighters in U.S. military custody grew again Sunday as 25 more detainees arrived at the airport near Kandahar. The Marines are holding 150 detainees at the airport for questioning about their activities with al Qaeda and bin Laden's whereabouts.

• The traditional Afghan game of buzkashi -- in which two sides fight over the body of a headless goat -- recently resurfaced in Kabul after being outlawed by the Taliban. In a city deprived of fun for so many years, a recent afternoon match drew thousands to a dusty field. (Full story)

• U.S. Special Forces and Afghan anti-Taliban fighters Sunday continued their search for Osama bin Laden in the Tora Bora region of eastern Afghanistan. But some Eastern Alliance fighters said bin Laden might have fled to neighboring Pakistan. (Full story)

• The first public viewing platform overlooking the wreckage of the World Trade Center opened Sunday morning. "This is hallowed ground, sacred ground," New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Saturday. "We decided to put up these platforms because there's been so much of an interest in seeing this site." Four platforms will be built. (Full story)

• A U.S. Marine CH-53 Super Stallion helicopter experienced a "hard landing" Saturday evening in southern Afghanistan, U.S. military sources said. The crew members, believed to be four, were recovered and suffered no serious injuries.

• The U.S. Central Command said Saturday two U.S. Air Force B-1B bombers fired precision guided missiles at a "Taliban leadership complex" about 10 miles from the city of Gardez. Gardez is about 60 miles south of Kabul. There was no word on whether there were any casualties.

• Weapons smuggled from Afghanistan were discovered at an abandoned house in the western Pakistan city of Quetta, a police spokesman said. The cache included more than 350 machine guns and rifles and some 300 rocket and mortar shells. Police arrested four people and were investigating the matter, which they said might be connected to terrorist activity.