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Date Posted: 02:42:49 12/29/01 Sat
Author: Nikolai von Kreitor
Subject: Kabul Asks U.S. to End Bombing

Kabul Asks U.S. to End Bombing
Compiled by Our Staff From Dispatches AP, Reuters Saturday, December 29, 2001



For Related Topics See:
Asia/Pacific
Front Page

< < Back to Start of Article
But Bush Vows to Continue War

KABUL Afghan officials on Friday said the war on terrorism in Afghanistan had been won and urged the United States to quickly end its bombing campaign, but the Bush administration said the military campaign would continue until Osama bin Laden is killed or brought to American justice.
.
Appearing at a news conference with General Tommy Franks, who is in charge of the military campaign, President George W. Bush said the U.S. military would stay in Afghanistan for as long as it takes to rid the nation of Qaida terrorists and to ensure political stability.
.
"The world must know that this administration will not blink in the face of danger and will not tire when it comes to completing the missions that we said we would do," Mr. Bush said, bracing Americans for a long struggle.
.
Mr. Bush, who was vacationing at his ranch in Texas, said Mr. bin Laden would not escape.
.
"He is not escaping us," he said. "This is a guy who three months ago was in control of a country. Now he's maybe in control of a cave."
.
The Afghan defense minister, Mohammed Fahim, said in Kabul that Mr. bin Laden had most likely crossed the Pakistan border in Peshawar.
.
"Osama is out of our control," Mr. Fahim told reporters. "To a large extent it depends on Pakistan. America can pursue him with the help of the Pakistani government."
.
Pressure has been growing in Afghanistan for a halt to the American bombing, and Mr. Fahim said there would be no need for bombing once a few remaining border areas had been cleared of final resistance. Earlier, his spokesman said that suppressing that resistance would take no more than three days, after which the bombing must stop.
.
The United States, though, said it had received no request to stop the bombing, and declined to make such a promise.
.
"We have very seldom ruled out anything," a Pentagon spokeswoman said. "We will do what it takes to achieve what it is we're trying to achieve."
.
Washington said Thursday that, in the first strike in three days, its planes had destroyed a compound used by members of the former ruling Taliban southwest of Kabul. A Pakistan-based press agency said 25 villagers had been killed by bombs in the same vicinity.
.
In Pakistan, Maulana Fazal-ur Rehman, head of the Jamiat-e-Ulema-e- Islam party, which helped create the Taliban, denied Kabul's claim that he was protecting Mr. bin Laden and called it a ruse to divert the U.S. campaign.
.
Mr. Bush's news conference, held on a clear, windy, winter day just outside his home near Crawford, Texas, followed two days in which Mr. bin Laden had held the media spotlight with a newly released videotape.
.
The president dismissed the tape as terrorist propaganda.
.
"I didn't watch it all," Mr. Bush said. "I saw snippets of it on TV. Who knows when it was made."
.
In the video, Mr. bin Laden called the September attacks blessed and urged Muslims to wage military and economic holy war against America.
.
"It is very important to concentrate on hitting the American economy with every available tool," he said, adding: "The economy is the base of its military power." Gaunt and hollow-eyed Mr. bin Laden was dressed in a camouflage jacket with a rifle beside him.
.
Asked if he feared that Mr. bin Laden's terrorist network was still targeting Americans, Mr. Bush said: "I hope 2002 is a year of peace, but I'm also realistic. I know full well that bin Laden and his cronies would like to harm America again."
.
The president said he did not know whether Mr. bin Laden was still in control of the Qaida terrorist network.
.
"If he's alive he's on the run, and you don't need to worry about whether or not we're going to get him, because we are," Mr. Bush said. "It's just a matter of time. I mean, I've read reports where he's dyed his hair red. It's not going to stop us from finding him."
.
In Kabul, Mr. Fahim, who has been defense minister since the interim administration of Hamid Karzai was sworn in on Saturday with a six-month mandate, said Afghanistan had reached agreement on Friday on the terms of operation of an international security force.
.
He earlier conferred with Major General John McColl, British commander of the UN-mandated international force.
.
"Now, around 3,000 people are supposed to come," Mr. Fahim said. "Around 1,000 are for security and the rest will be for logistical and humanitarian purposes."
.
General McColl said he was pleased with the deal that had been reached.
.
"It was very helpful, very supportive," he said.
.
He declined to comment on details of the talks.
.
Meanwhile, 25 more prisoners arrived at the U.S. base set up by Marines in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, a Pentagon spokeswoman, Victoria Clarke, said Friday. That brought the number of captured Qaida and Taliban figures in U.S. custody there to 62 and overall to 70.
.
Eight, including an American, John Walker Lindh, were being held on a navy amphibious assault ship, the Peleliu, in the Arabian Sea.
.
Speaking at the press conference with Mr. Bush, General Franks said his helicopter entourage might have been fired on Saturday as he traveled in Afghanistan to attend the inauguration of the new government of Mr. Karzai.
.
"I didn't see it happen," he said, adding that pockets of Taliban fighters are still at large in the country. The Pentagon has said no one was hurt in the apparent attack.
.
Ms. Clarke said earlier Friday that the Pentagon had given the go-ahead for work to begin at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to ready a facility for some prisoners after they are removed from Afghanistan.
.
The Guantanamo base, which the United States has held since 1903, is highly secure. The Cuban military prohibits access to areas around the base, and the U.S. military patrols its side from behind tall fences topped with razor wire.
.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Thursday that the military had made no plans to hold tribunals at Guantanamo.
.
The new prisoners in U.S. custody were from among hundreds held by Pakistan. Afghan fighters hold about 7,000 more who were captured as they took one city after another and wrested control of the country from the former radical Islamic rulers and the Qaida terrorist network.
.
CIA and FBI agents are among those who have been interrogating prisoners to learn Mr. bin Laden's whereabouts, trying to determine which ones should be brought to trial and trying to get information about other terrorists or planned terrorist attacks.
.
(Reuters, AP)
But Bush Vows to Continue War

KABUL Afghan officials on Friday said the war on terrorism in Afghanistan had been won and urged the United States to quickly end its bombing campaign, but the Bush administration said the military campaign would continue until Osama bin Laden is killed or brought to American justice.
.
Appearing at a news conference with General Tommy Franks, who is in charge of the military campaign, President George W. Bush said the U.S. military would stay in Afghanistan for as long as it takes to rid the nation of Qaida terrorists and to ensure political stability.
.
"The world must know that this administration will not blink in the face of danger and will not tire when it comes to completing the missions that we said we would do," Mr. Bush said, bracing Americans for a long struggle.
.
Mr. Bush, who was vacationing at his ranch in Texas, said Mr. bin Laden would not escape.
.
"He is not escaping us," he said. "This is a guy who three months ago was in control of a country. Now he's maybe in control of a cave."
.
The Afghan defense minister, Mohammed Fahim, said in Kabul that Mr. bin Laden had most likely crossed the Pakistan border in Peshawar.
.
"Osama is out of our control," Mr. Fahim told reporters. "To a large extent it depends on Pakistan. America can pursue him with the help of the Pakistani government."
.
Pressure has been growing in Afghanistan for a halt to the American bombing, and Mr. Fahim said there would be no need for bombing once a few remaining border areas had been cleared of final resistance. Earlier, his spokesman said that suppressing that resistance would take no more than three days, after which the bombing must stop.
.
The United States, though, said it had received no request to stop the bombing, and declined to make such a promise.
.
"We have very seldom ruled out anything," a Pentagon spokeswoman said. "We will do what it takes to achieve what it is we're trying to achieve."
.
Washington said Thursday that, in the first strike in three days, its planes had destroyed a compound used by members of the former ruling Taliban southwest of Kabul. A Pakistan-based press agency said 25 villagers had been killed by bombs in the same vicinity.
.
In Pakistan, Maulana Fazal-ur Rehman, head of the Jamiat-e-Ulema-e- Islam party, which helped create the Taliban, denied Kabul's claim that he was protecting Mr. bin Laden and called it a ruse to divert the U.S. campaign.
.
Mr. Bush's news conference, held on a clear, windy, winter day just outside his home near Crawford, Texas, followed two days in which Mr. bin Laden had held the media spotlight with a newly released videotape.
.
The president dismissed the tape as terrorist propaganda.
.
"I didn't watch it all," Mr. Bush said. "I saw snippets of it on TV. Who knows when it was made."
.
In the video, Mr. bin Laden called the September attacks blessed and urged Muslims to wage military and economic holy war against America.
.
"It is very important to concentrate on hitting the American economy with every available tool," he said, adding: "The economy is the base of its military power." Gaunt and hollow-eyed Mr. bin Laden was dressed in a camouflage jacket with a rifle beside him.
.
Asked if he feared that Mr. bin Laden's terrorist network was still targeting Americans, Mr. Bush said: "I hope 2002 is a year of peace, but I'm also realistic. I know full well that bin Laden and his cronies would like to harm America again."
.
The president said he did not know whether Mr. bin Laden was still in control of the Qaida terrorist network.
.
"If he's alive he's on the run, and you don't need to worry about whether or not we're going to get him, because we are," Mr. Bush said. "It's just a matter of time. I mean, I've read reports where he's dyed his hair red. It's not going to stop us from finding him."
.
In Kabul, Mr. Fahim, who has been defense minister since the interim administration of Hamid Karzai was sworn in on Saturday with a six-month mandate, said Afghanistan had reached agreement on Friday on the terms of operation of an international security force.
.
He earlier conferred with Major General John McColl, British commander of the UN-mandated international force.
.
"Now, around 3,000 people are supposed to come," Mr. Fahim said. "Around 1,000 are for security and the rest will be for logistical and humanitarian purposes."
.
General McColl said he was pleased with the deal that had been reached.
.
"It was very helpful, very supportive," he said.
.
He declined to comment on details of the talks.
.
Meanwhile, 25 more prisoners arrived at the U.S. base set up by Marines in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, a Pentagon spokeswoman, Victoria Clarke, said Friday. That brought the number of captured Qaida and Taliban figures in U.S. custody there to 62 and overall to 70.
.
Eight, including an American, John Walker Lindh, were being held on a navy amphibious assault ship, the Peleliu, in the Arabian Sea.
.
Speaking at the press conference with Mr. Bush, General Franks said his helicopter entourage might have been fired on Saturday as he traveled in Afghanistan to attend the inauguration of the new government of Mr. Karzai.
.
"I didn't see it happen," he said, adding that pockets of Taliban fighters are still at large in the country. The Pentagon has said no one was hurt in the apparent attack.
.
Ms. Clarke said earlier Friday that the Pentagon had given the go-ahead for work to begin at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to ready a facility for some prisoners after they are removed from Afghanistan.
.
The Guantanamo base, which the United States has held since 1903, is highly secure. The Cuban military prohibits access to areas around the base, and the U.S. military patrols its side from behind tall fences topped with razor wire.
.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Thursday that the military had made no plans to hold tribunals at Guantanamo.
.
The new prisoners in U.S. custody were from among hundreds held by Pakistan. Afghan fighters hold about 7,000 more who were captured as they took one city after another and wrested control of the country from the former radical Islamic rulers and the Qaida terrorist network.
.
CIA and FBI agents are among those who have been interrogating prisoners to learn Mr. bin Laden's whereabouts, trying to determine which ones should be brought to trial and trying to get information about other terrorists or planned terrorist attacks.
.
(Reuters, AP)
But Bush Vows to Continue War

KABUL Afghan officials on Friday said the war on terrorism in Afghanistan had been won and urged the United States to quickly end its bombing campaign, but the Bush administration said the military campaign would continue until Osama bin Laden is killed or brought to American justice.
.
Appearing at a news conference with General Tommy Franks, who is in charge of the military campaign, President George W. Bush said the U.S. military would stay in Afghanistan for as long as it takes to rid the nation of Qaida terrorists and to ensure political stability.
.
"The world must know that this administration will not blink in the face of danger and will not tire when it comes to completing the missions that we said we would do," Mr. Bush said, bracing Americans for a long struggle.
.
Mr. Bush, who was vacationing at his ranch in Texas, said Mr. bin Laden would not escape.
.
"He is not escaping us," he said. "This is a guy who three months ago was in control of a country. Now he's maybe in control of a cave."
.
The Afghan defense minister, Mohammed Fahim, said in Kabul that Mr. bin Laden had most likely crossed the Pakistan border in Peshawar.
.
"Osama is out of our control," Mr. Fahim told reporters. "To a large extent it depends on Pakistan. America can pursue him with the help of the Pakistani government."
.
Pressure has been growing in Afghanistan for a halt to the American bombing, and Mr. Fahim said there would be no need for bombing once a few remaining border areas had been cleared of final resistance. Earlier, his spokesman said that suppressing that resistance would take no more than three days, after which the bombing must stop.
.
The United States, though, said it had received no request to stop the bombing, and declined to make such a promise.
.
"We have very seldom ruled out anything," a Pentagon spokeswoman said. "We will do what it takes to achieve what it is we're trying to achieve."
.
Washington said Thursday that, in the first strike in three days, its planes had destroyed a compound used by members of the former ruling Taliban southwest of Kabul. A Pakistan-based press agency said 25 villagers had been killed by bombs in the same vicinity.
.
In Pakistan, Maulana Fazal-ur Rehman, head of the Jamiat-e-Ulema-e- Islam party, which helped create the Taliban, denied Kabul's claim that he was protecting Mr. bin Laden and called it a ruse to divert the U.S. campaign.
.
Mr. Bush's news conference, held on a clear, windy, winter day just outside his home near Crawford, Texas, followed two days in which Mr. bin Laden had held the media spotlight with a newly released videotape.
.
The president dismissed the tape as terrorist propaganda.
.
"I didn't watch it all," Mr. Bush said. "I saw snippets of it on TV. Who knows when it was made."
.
In the video, Mr. bin Laden called the September attacks blessed and urged Muslims to wage military and economic holy war against America.
.
"It is very important to concentrate on hitting the American economy with every available tool," he said, adding: "The economy is the base of its military power." Gaunt and hollow-eyed Mr. bin Laden was dressed in a camouflage jacket with a rifle beside him.
.
Asked if he feared that Mr. bin Laden's terrorist network was still targeting Americans, Mr. Bush said: "I hope 2002 is a year of peace, but I'm also realistic. I know full well that bin Laden and his cronies would like to harm America again."
.
The president said he did not know whether Mr. bin Laden was still in control of the Qaida terrorist network.
.
"If he's alive he's on the run, and you don't need to worry about whether or not we're going to get him, because we are," Mr. Bush said. "It's just a matter of time. I mean, I've read reports where he's dyed his hair red. It's not going to stop us from finding him."
.
In Kabul, Mr. Fahim, who has been defense minister since the interim administration of Hamid Karzai was sworn in on Saturday with a six-month mandate, said Afghanistan had reached agreement on Friday on the terms of operation of an international security force.
.
He earlier conferred with Major General John McColl, British commander of the UN-mandated international force.
.
"Now, around 3,000 people are supposed to come," Mr. Fahim said. "Around 1,000 are for security and the rest will be for logistical and humanitarian purposes."
.
General McColl said he was pleased with the deal that had been reached.
.
"It was very helpful, very supportive," he said.
.
He declined to comment on details of the talks.
.
Meanwhile, 25 more prisoners arrived at the U.S. base set up by Marines in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, a Pentagon spokeswoman, Victoria Clarke, said Friday. That brought the number of captured Qaida and Taliban figures in U.S. custody there to 62 and overall to 70.
.
Eight, including an American, John Walker Lindh, were being held on a navy amphibious assault ship, the Peleliu, in the Arabian Sea.
.
Speaking at the press conference with Mr. Bush, General Franks said his helicopter entourage might have been fired on Saturday as he traveled in Afghanistan to attend the inauguration of the new government of Mr. Karzai.
.
"I didn't see it happen," he said, adding that pockets of Taliban fighters are still at large in the country. The Pentagon has said no one was hurt in the apparent attack.
.
Ms. Clarke said earlier Friday that the Pentagon had given the go-ahead for work to begin at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to ready a facility for some prisoners after they are removed from Afghanistan.
.
The Guantanamo base, which the United States has held since 1903, is highly secure. The Cuban military prohibits access to areas around the base, and the U.S. military patrols its side from behind tall fences topped with razor wire.
.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Thursday that the military had made no plans to hold tribunals at Guantanamo.
.
The new prisoners in U.S. custody were from among hundreds held by Pakistan. Afghan fighters hold about 7,000 more who were captured as they took one city after another and wrested control of the country from the former radical Islamic rulers and the Qaida terrorist network.
.
CIA and FBI agents are among those who have been interrogating prisoners to learn Mr. bin Laden's whereabouts, trying to determine which ones should be brought to trial and trying to get information about other terrorists or planned terrorist attacks.
.
(Reuters, AP)


http://www.iht.com/articles/43258.html


Bush promises to pursue bin Laden to the end
By Kim Sengupta in Herat and Andrew Buncombe in Washington
29 December 2001
The American President George Bush poured scorn on Osama bin Laden yesterday, and despite calls from the new Afghan government for a quick end to the bombing made clear that the United States would hunt for the al-Qa'ida leader for as long as it took to find him.
In a voice dripping with sarcasm, Mr Bush described Mr bin Laden as a man on the run who in just three months had swapped control of a country for control of a cave.
Making his first public comments since Christmas, when a new videotape set off reports that Mr bin Laden had escaped to Pakistan, Mr Bush said the Saudi-born militant's main achievement was to be on the losing side of a rout.
Yesterday the Afghan Defence Minister, General Mohammad Fahim, added his voice to others by saying that Mr bin Laden was in Pakistan. He said: "After fleeing from Tora Bora [in eastern Afghanistan], there is a strong probability Osama is in Peshawar."
The mountainous Tora Bora region was thought to be the last redoubt of Mr bin Laden's al-Qa'ida network before they were blasted from the region's myriad caves by US bombing.
General Fahim said there would be no need for US bombing once a few remaining border areas had been cleared of final resistance. Earlier, his spokesman said this would take no more than three days after which the bombing must stop. But the Pentagon said it had received no request to stop the bombing, and declined to make such a promise. Mr Bush and his commander in charge of the Afghan operation, General Tommy Franks, said they were keeping all their options open.
Mr Bush said: "We don't know whether [Mr Bin Laden] is in a cave with the door shut, or a cave with the door open. We just don't know. There's all kinds of reports and all kinds of speculation. But one thing is for certain: he's on the losing side of a rout."
Speaking at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, with General Franks at his side, Mr Bush said he expected American forces to remain in Afghanistan "for quite a long period of time", as long as General Franks said was necessary.
General Franks added: "I think that it's best for all of us to recognise that we will not be hurried. We will not be pressed into doing something that does not represent our national objectives, and we will take as long as it takes."
Mr Bush also rejected any suggestion that Mr bin Laden was no longer in a position to mastermind another attack on the US or its allies, saying intelligence reports showed that al-Qa'ida could strike again.
"I hope 2002 is a year of peace, but I'm also realistic," he said. "And I know full well that bin Laden and his cronies would like to harm America again ... How do I know that? I receive intelligence reports on a daily basis that indicates that that's his desires."
In Pakistan, Maulana Fazalur Rehman, the head of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam party, which helped create the Taliban, denied claims from Kabul that he was protecting Mr bin Laden and called it a ruse to divert the American campaign away from Afghanistan.
Pakistan's government faced unrest after it put Mr Rehman under house arrest when the US bombing began on 7 October, but now has graver problems to deal with over Kashmir. Washington fears Pakistan's President, General Pervez Musharraf, could switch forces from the Afghan to the Indian border, making it easier for Mr bin Laden or his followers to escape. The US has been pulling diplomatic strings and urging the nuclear rivals to step back from a standoff triggered by a suicide attack on India's parliament earlier this month. Mr Bush said that the US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, had spoken to both countries yesterday, urging calm.
Mr bin Laden taunted his American adversary by video. In the film, probably shot in early December, the millionaire militant called the 11 September attacks blessed and urged Muslims to wage military and economic holy war against a fragile America. "It is very important to concentrate on hitting the American economy with every available tool ... The economy is the base of its military power," said a gaunt, Mr bin Laden.
"The end of the United States is imminent," he said in the tape aired in full for the first time on Thursday on Qatar's al-Jazeera television.
Washington said on Thursday that in the first strike in three days its planes had destroyed a compound used by Taliban south-west of Kabul. A Pakistan-based news agency said 25 villagers were killed by bombs in the same vicinity.
• The Ministry of Defence denied a claim by General Fahim, the Afghan Defence Minister, last night that an agreement had been reached with the Afghan government to limit the foreign force to 3,000.
A UN Security Council mandate allowed as many troops as were considered necessary to be sent to Afghanistan, said a spokeswoman. This is likely to be 3,000 to 5,000.
Major General John McColl, the head of the International Security and Assistance Force, is close to finalising the Security Assistance Agreement that would lay out the duties and jurisdiction of the foreign troops but not the numbers, she said.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia_china/story.jsp?story=112013

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