International
Afghan campaign to continue: Blair
By B. Muralidhar Reddy
ISLAMABAD, JAN. 7. The British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, has said that the military campaign by the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan will continue till all its objectives are attained.
Mr. Blair, who worked relentlessly in the post- September 11 phase to cobble together the international coalition in the war against Osama bin Laden and the Taliban, told a news conference here today the campaign in Afghanistan was far from over.
Mr. Blair claimed that proving the prophets of doom wrong, the coalition had notched up impressive gains in its campaign in Afghanistan. He said the fears of a military, political and humanitarian disaster had been averted.
Such was his enthusiasm for the U.S.-led coalition campaign in Afghanistan that his first engagement in Islamabad on arrival from New Delhi was to visit the Information Coalition Centre and hold a news conference about the progress in the Afghan campaign.
He was all praise for the Musharraf Government for the support to the coalition in the campaign in Afghanistan and said the military campaign had been a success. Mr. Blair said that though the Taliban regime was no more and the Al-Qaeda network and terrorist training camps had been busted, the coalition was yet to achieve some of its objectives. ``Our mission is not yet complete,'' he said.
Afghanistan had been a failed State for many years because the international community left it unattended after the withdrawal of the erstwhile Soviet Union. This time round, the international community was determined to help in the task of reconstructing Afghanistan. Mr. Blair said Afghanistan had the prospect of becoming a stable State with a proper political regime for the future. But, the international community would have to fulfil its commitments.
`Deporting of Zaeef illegal'
The Human Rights Organisation of Pakistan (HRCP) has termed the decision of the Government to deport the former Taliban Ambassador to Pakistan, Mullah Zaeef, to Afghanistan as illegal.
Mullah Zaeef, who was deported last week on charges of overstaying in the country after the Taliban embassy was shut down, was taken into custody by the U.S.-led coalition forces the moment he crossed over to Afghanistan.
More than the decision of the U.S.-led coalition to detain Mullah Zaeef, it was the action of the Pakistan Government to deport the former Taliban envoy against his wish that has caused outrage in various circles here.
Media reports suggest that the U.S. has taken Mullah Zaeef to an undisclosed destination and the coalition is hopeful of gathering valuable information from him on the hideouts of Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar.
``Although there is no Taliban regime in Afghanistan, Mullah Zaeef is one of the prominent and recognised personality and he is against the present Afghan Government. We have law about deporting any one from Pakistan, which is called foreign Act. Pakistani courts can make decision in this regard,'' the HRCP chief, Afrasaid Khattak, said.
He was of the view that the Government had not followed the procedure prescribed under the relevant law. It was the violation of Pakistani law.
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