Bush gives another chance, Taliban mock at offer

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, OCT. 12. After pounding targets in the early hours of Friday, the Pentagon indicated air operations against Afghanistan were being slowed down on account of the Muslim holy day of Miraj al-Nabi.

But the U.S. Defence Department was also careful in qualifying what this ``pause'' meant. ``Military operations continue,'' said the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard Myers. This means there has been a pause in going after fixed and planned targets, but the aircraft are on the lookout for moving targets - military convoys.

An assortment of planes and jets took to the skies early on Friday to take on targets to the north of Kabul. But after dawn, the raids tapered off and the jets returned to their carriers in the Arabian Sea.

Meanwhile, the U.S. President, Mr. George W. Bush, gave the Taliban militia a second chance. ``If you cough him (meaning Osama bin Laden) up and his people today... we'll reconsider what we are doing to your country. You still have a second chance. Bring him in. And bring his leaders and lieutenants and other thugs and criminals with him,'' Mr. Bush said from the East Room of the White House during the course of his first prime time press conference.

Mr. Bush said it might take a year or two to unravel the terror network behind the September 11 horrific attacks on New York and Washington, but maintained that the bombing raids on Afghanistan had already put Osama's network on notice and on the run. ``I want him (Osama) brought to justice''. He said he did not know if Osama was alive or dead but this mattered little.

(A PTI report from Islamabad said the Taliban rejected Mr. Bush's renewed demand to hand over Osama and mocked at his offer to stop attacks in Afghanistan. The Taliban Ambassador to Pakistan, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, laughed away Mr. Bush's offer, saying Mr. Bush would make some ``more offers'' after losing more in the war. ``We reject this offer. The world has seen that the Afghans cannot be dictated,'' he said.)

Earlier in the day, the U.S. Defence Secretary, Mr. Donald Rumsfeld, said in a briefing that the Navy fighter jets were keeping a close watch on possible targets and would attack them, if detected.

The Pentagon said the airdrop of relief material for the Afghan people scheduled for Friday would go on as planned.

Caves, bunkers targeted

The U.S. Defence Secretary, Mr. Donald Rumsfeld, said caves and bunkers were being specifically targeted with a variety of munitions, including the 5000-pound GBU-28, known as ``Bunker Busters''.

The Defence Department released a photograph showing an airfield in Herat, Afghanistan, which had a number of planes and jets parked prior to the bombardment. Heavy damage was seen in the second photograph with the aircraft in total shambles.

Unnamed Pentagon officials say that the U.S. jets may have hit the Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar's Chevrolet Suburban. The hit may have come about on Wednesday, The Washington Post says. The occupants of the vehicle may have been family members or top officials of the Taliban militia.

Defence and intelligence officials were tight-lipped on whether or not they believed the caves being used for fortification and operations were occupied at the time of the attacks. The belief is that this may remain unknown as persons would be buried in the aftermath of the punishing raids.

The Pentagon is also saying that the U.S. may be moving away from fixed assets to ``emerging targets'' such as troops concentrations. It is also keen on softening up the ground resistance to help the Northern Alliance begin its land offensive.

One view is that while the bombing runs have substantially weakened the Taliban militia and destroyed many of their fixed targets, the game is far from being over. In fact, Mr. Rumsfeld said air defences, including mobile missile launchers, remained a problem.

Both the Pentagon and the State Department have denied that the U.S. was going after civilian population. ``... any assertions that we are deliberately targeting civilians are totally baseless,'' the State Department spokesman said.

Nation building role

For a person who has been quite critical in the past of nation building exercises, Mr. Bush seemed reconciled to the fact that the U.S. would indeed have to play that role in Afghanistan if stability and peace were to materialise in Central Asia.

This in many ways is a policy shift for, this Republican administration, in being critical of the Clinton era, had said the U.S. should not be in the business of nation building in failed states. But in indicating that the U.S. was in Afghanistan for the long haul, Mr. Bush also made it clear that nation building of that country should be in the hands of the U.N.

``It would be a useful function for the United Nations to take over the `nation building'. I would call it the stabilisation of a future government after our military mission is complete,'' Mr. Bush observed.

In the immediate context, he called for patience and sought to reassure American people that the noose is being tightened on the Al-Qaeda, slowly but surely. One of the lessons learnt from the Vietnam War was that a guerrilla war cannot be won through only conventional forces. In the present War on Terrorism, Mr. Bush argued that the U.S. and its allies were using methods other than military force such as cutting off financial flows to terror outfits.

``Slowly but surely we're smoking the Al-Qaeda out of their caves so we can bring them to justice. This particular battlefront will last as long as it takes to bring Al-Qaeda to justice. It may happen tomorrow; it may happen a month from now; it might take a year or two. But we will prevail,'' he said.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Front Page
Next     : U.S., U.K. freeze Jaish assets