Blair's ultimatum to Taliban

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, SEPT. 26. In what is seen here as by far the most definitive indication yet that a U.S.-led military attack on Afghanistan could come within days, the British Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair on Tuesday raised the level of war rhetoric with a tough ``ultimatum'' to the Taliban that if they failed to hand over Osama bin Laden in double quick time and close down terrorist camps they should be prepared for some ``very considerable damage''.

``Military conflict there will be unless the Taliban change and respond to the ultimatum given to them,'' he said declaring the Taliban to be ``as much our enemy as Bin Laden himself'' but assured his critics that ordinary people of Afghanistan, whom he described as victims of the Taliban regime, would not be targeted. His remarks at a hastily arranged press conference came even as Washington sought to talk down the idea of a ``sudden dramatic start'' to any military operation and the U.S. Defence Secretary, Mr. Donald Rumsfeld said there would be ``no D-Day''.

Observers said after a week of hectic diplomacy, which saw Mr. Blair recruit new converts to the global coalition against terrorism, the British Prime Minister believed that time had come to take the plunge. They said the level of support for the coalition, most significantly from the Muslim world, was now at its peak but on calmer reflection some of the new broom might lose their stomach for a massive retaliatory action against a country which is already struggling to survive. Hence, the anxiety among Britain's hawks to speed up the action even as apparently in Washington the opinion was divided.

``The strengthening of Mr. Blair's language - with announcements that the Labour and Tory conferences would be scaled down and Parliament would be recalled on Thursday next week - reinforced the belief among M.P.s that the first wave of attacks on Afghanistan would begin within days,'' said The Independent while The Guardian interpreted Mr. Blair's remarks as a signal that a U.S.-British military offensive could come as early as ``within the next week unless the coalition demands are met''. The Times said the Prime Minister's statement was ``the clearest signal yet that reprisals...could result in the toppling of the Kabul regime,'' a view which gained momentum amid attempts to wheel out the 86-year-old Mohammed Zahir Shah, the former King of Afghanistan, to lead an interim government with the help of the Northern Alliance after toppling the Taliban.

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