3 - 9 January 2002
Issue No.567
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 3 - 9 January 2002 Issue No.567 |
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Keeping up the heat
US President George W Bush is beating his war drum all the way into the New Year, writes Anayat Durrani from Washington
The new year is here, but the US-led war on Afghanistan continues unabated. 2002 will be a great year for America, said US President George Bush on Monday. He also called on Americans to be vigilant, adding that the objectives of the "war on terror" would be pursued into 2002.
Afghan girl cries as she waits for a relative collecting wheat from an aid truck in Madakhel, 50 km east of the former eastern Afghan Taliban stronghold of Jalalabad (photo: AP)
The US definition of success in this "war" is to make sure the Taliban ceases to exist, to help rebuild Afghanistan and to disrupt Al Qa'eda's international terror network, the president told reporters in Crawford, Texas on Monday.
In his weekly radio address to the nation, Bush said that a sustained commitment to the battle against terrorism would be necessary in 2002. "We cannot know how long this struggle will last. But it can end only one way: in victory for America and the cause of freedom."
During a Pentagon press briefing to review the past year, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called 2001 "a tough year." Rumsfeld said the most difficult moment for the US military was the attack on the Pentagon on 11 September that took the lives of 184 people. He recounted the events of recent months that led to the first strikes on Afghanistan -- which began on 7 October -- and the successes of the war. "On 11 September, the Pentagon and the trade towers were burning. The Taliban were in power, and Afghanistan was a reasonably safe haven for terrorists. Today the fires are finally out. The Taliban have been driven from power. Their leaders are on the run." Rumsfeld also said there was much more work to be done in the war on terrorism, both at home and abroad.
Meanwhile, the hunt for Osama Bin Laden continues and the search for Taliban leader Mullah Mohamed Omar is also being intensified.
Omar formed the Taliban in Kandahar in 1994 and within two years the movement took control of Kabul and most of Afghanistan. On Monday, anti-Taliban forces took positions in the Bagram area northwest of Kandahar. This is where Omar is believed to be hiding, according to US officials, and some reports place Bin Laden in the same region. Bin Laden was believed to be in the Tora Bora region of Afghanistan at least until mid- December. Pentagon officials are unsure of his exact whereabouts, however.
Bush remains confident that Bin Laden and Omar will eventually be found. "You know, you hear all kinds of reports, and all kinds of rumors. You've got people saying he [Bin Laden] is in a cave, people saying he's dead, people saying he's in Pakistan," said Bush on Monday. "All I know is that he's running. And any time you get a person running, it means you're going to get him pretty soon. And the same with Mullah Omar. It's just a matter of time."
Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division will be deployed in Afghanistan to relieve the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit that have occupied Kandahar airfield since mid-December, said US Central Command officials on Sunday. The soldiers, from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, will be deployed to Kandahar airport and other areas around the city sometime in January, officials said. The division's mission will be "to defeat remaining Taliban and Al-Qa'eda forces, to process detainees and to secure the Kandahar airfield to allow entry of humanitarian relief supplies and personnel," according to a Defence Department statement.
The number of Taliban and Al-Qa'eda fighters now in the custody of US Forces in Afghanistan continues to rise. Approximately 180 prisoners are being held at facilities in Kandahar, Mazar-e-Sharif and the Bagram airbase. Eight fighters, including American citizen John Walker Lindh, are aboard the USS Peleliu in the Arabian Sea.
The Pentagon plans to eventually move some detainees to detention facilities at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for further interrogation. The prisoners may be subject to possible military tribunals. Following the 11 September terrorist attacks, Bush announced that special military tribunals would be created to try non-citizens charged with terrorism.
On Monday, President Bush named Afghan-born Dr Zalmay Khalilzad as his special presidential envoy for Afghanistan. He will serve as a representative of the Afghan people to the US as they rebuild their country. Khalilzad, a top-ranking Muslim in the US government, will work with the UN Representative to Afghanistan and report to the president through Secretary of State Colin Powell.
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