20 - 26 December 2001
Issue No.565
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 20 - 26 December 2001 Issue No.565 |
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On to the next round
As the US war in Afghanistan inches towards a conclusion, the focus turns on the next country-candidate for the campaign against terrorism. Anayat Durrani reports from Washington
It has been over three months since the 11 September terrorist attacks, and the war in Afghanistan rages on. The hunt for Osama Bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the attack, has intensified. And US President George W Bush said that catching Bin Laden is now "just a matter of time."
"Osama Bin Laden is going to be brought to justice. It may happen tomorrow, it may happen in a month, it may happen in a year. But he is going to be brought to justice. He's on the run," Bush told reporters after a White House ceremony marking the end of Ramadan on Monday.
Over two months of bombing in Afghanistan have produced one palpable result -- the toppling of the Taliban regime. However, US officials say that the task at hand remains the rounding up of Al-Qa'eda and Taliban forces at large; a process they say will take time. "There is no way to know how long it is going to take, to find Mullah Omar and to find Osama Bin Laden and to find the senior Al-Qa'eda leadership and to see that they are punished," said US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld on a visit with US troops at the Bagram airbase in Afghanistan on Sunday.
US officials say that they now face the most difficult phase of the campaign -- "smoking out" Al-Qa'eda operatives from their cave and tunnel hideouts -- men determined to fight to the death. Rumsfeld said that the US military presence will remain "until we get the job done" and added that the job would not be complete before the Taliban leadership was captured, disarmed and no longer posed a threat to the people of Afghanistan. Another basic objective of the current process is to ensure that the country does not become a future haven for terrorists. He emphasised that Al-Qa'eda must be fully dealt with in order for the US to achieve its objectives.
"Our assignment is to deal with the terrorist networks globally," said Rumsfeld. "It's to deal with the Al-Qa'eda leadership, to see that they are captured or killed and that the remainder of Al-Qa'eda are imprisoned so that they don't escape across borders, regroup and continue their terrorist activities."
But that begs the question of where exactly Bin Laden is. US officials who believed that Bin Laden was hiding somewhere in the mountainous Tora Bora region near the Pakistani border or on the outskirts of Kandahar, are now uncertain about his precise whereabouts. They are still, however, focusing on the Tora Bora region. "There are still isolated pockets of Al-Qa'eda fighting in this area, so we're not done yet," said Rear Adm. John D Stufflebeem at a Pentagon press briefing on Monday. When asked where Bin Laden might be hiding out, Stufflebeem responded, "Anybody's guess."
According to Stufflebeem, the blocking of exit routes by ground forces has led to a number of fleeing Taliban and Al-Qa'eda troops surrendering or being captured, despite a number having already escaped. Stufflebeem compared the task of rounding up those on the loose to "searching for fleas on a dog."
The US is eager to capture Bin Laden and has posted a $25 million reward for him and a $10 million reward for information leading to the capture of Mullah Mohamed Omar. Alongside the nearly 2.4 million humanitarian ration packs dropped daily to date, military officials continue to drop leaflets advertising the bounty on both men. "The groups that are looking for the Al-Qa'eda and Taliban leaderships are using every available avenue: interrogating those who have been captured, searching for intelligence, checking with locals," Stufflebeem said.
Meanwhile, on Monday, for the first time in nearly 13 years, the US embassy in Kabul opened its doors. The embassy was closed down in 1989, just before the Soviet withdrawal, but will now run as a "liaison office" between the United States and the interim Afghan government, which is set to take office on 22 December. James Dobbins, the US special envoy to Afghanistan, chaired the embassy reopening ceremony. Turkey, a long-time US ally, also reopened its embassy in Kabul. Foreign Minister Ismail Cem travelled to Kabul to mark the occasion.
Britain will take the lead role in overseeing an initial peace-keeping force for Afghanistan, contributing 1,500 British troops to the multinational force. The first peace-keepers may arrive in Kabul as early as Saturday. The US has no plans, as of yet, to join the peace-keeping force.
With the war in Afghanistan continuing, there has already been talk about broadening the war on terrorism to other regions of the world. US officials have said that there are over 60 countries that are believed to have Al-Qa'eda cells. Countries at the top of the list include Somalia, Iraq and the Philippines. However, exact plans on expanding the war on terrorism beyond Afghanistan have not yet been divulged. US officials continue to emphasize that the main focus at present remains Afghanistan. When the president was asked on Monday if Iraq might be next, he responded, "Oh, no, I'm not going to tell the enemy what's next. They just need to know that so long as they plan, and have got plans to murder innocent people, America will be breathing down their neck."
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