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U.S. Gets Russian Support, As Taliban Calls General Mobilization
WASHINGTON, Sept 24 (News Agencies) - U.S. President George W. Bush on Monday received a crucial Russian pledge of support for military operations against Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, where the ruling Taliban militia upped the ante by calling a general mobilization.
In a move that could be crucial to strikes against targets inside Afghanistan, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he would allow some U.S. flights to use his country's airspace.
"We are ready to offer Russian airspace for humanitarian missions in the regions where anti-terrorist missions are conducted," Putin said in a nationally televised address.
Just as crucially, he said former Soviet republics in Central Asia shared the Russian position.
Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan have said they would open their airspace to "humanitarian" flights, while Ukraine also said it would allow access some U.S. military flights.
Officials in Uzbekistan said U.S. surveillance planes already were deployed in the Central Asian nation.
The Taliban claimed they downed two unmanned spy aircraft over the weekend. U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld acknowledged the loss of one but said there was no evidence it had been shot down.
Putin said Russians may also participate in "international search and rescue missions" and was willing to provide military supplies to the Northern Alliance, which is fighting the Taliban militia.
His comments came as a major deployment of U.S. forces continued in preparation for possible military action.
The Taliban also prepared for war, and the militia's defense minister, Mullah Obaidullah, said in a statement that 300,000 Afghans "experienced in
jihad" - struggle - had been deployed in the capital, along the borders and at "other important sites".
"We have instructed the whole mujahed (fighting) nation to prepare themselves for
jihad and wage [a struggle] at any time they think is necessary," Obaidullah said.
The Taliban's supreme leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, warned that terrorism would continue as long as U.S. troops remained in the Gulf region, home to Islam's holiest places, and as long as Washington sided with Israel against the Palestinians.
"The United States should not harbor any misunderstanding," Omar said in a statement released to a pro-Taliban press agency. "It cannot come out of the current crisis if it kills me or Osama."
"If America wants to end terrorism it should withdraw its forces from the Gulf and end its partiality on the Palestine issue," he said, giving his backing to bin Laden's stated goals.
The U.S. administration says bin Laden is the chief suspect behind the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon that left close to 7,000 people dead or missing.
Bin Laden on Monday urged Pakistanis to take up arms, according to Qatar's Al Jazeera television.
"We incite our Muslim brethren in Pakistan to prevent the American crusader forces from invading Pakistan and Afghanistan with all means at their disposal," the Saudi-born multi-millionaire reportedly said in a statement received by fax.
Indian security agencies Monday said they had intercepted messages from commanders in Afghanistan telling fighters in Kashmir to join the struggle against the United States.
They said the Kashmiri fighters were ordered to return across the border to Pakistan and Afghanistan, where bin Laden is believed to run the vast al-Qaeda network.
Al-Qaeda tops a list of 27 organizations and individuals targeted by the U.S. administration. Bush on Monday ordered the freezing of the U.S. assets of those on the list.
At the same time, military deployments continued, with thousands of troops, bombers and naval battle groups taking up positions.
U.S. Air Force B-52 and B-1 bombers were in place at undisclosed overseas locations Monday, and Rumsfeld said the aim was to get into position so that Bush decides on military action, "we'll be able to salute and go do it."
A large British task force of 24,000 troops and at least 18 warships was also en route for exercises in Oman and could find itself called into action.
U.S. officials, meanwhile, denied reports that Saudi Arabia refused to allow U.S. military forces to used its territory.
"They've been nothing but cooperative," Bush said. "There's been no indication, as far as I'm concerned, that the Saudis won't cooperate once they understand exactly our mission."
On the diplomatic front, Bush held talks with Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien. Japanese Premier Junichiro Koizumi on Monday visited the site of the terrorist carnage in New York and was to meet Bush on Tuesday.
The U.S. president was set for a crucial meeting on Friday with Jordan's King Abdullah II, who on Monday met with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who was on a whirlwind Middle East tour.
Straw also discussed efforts to forge a "political coalition" against terrorism with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, while Putin took up the subject in a telephone conversation with Iranian leader Mohammad Khatami.
Bush already scored a diplomatic victory on Sunday, when the United Arab Emirates cut off diplomatic ties with Kabul on Sunday. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are the only two countries that still recognize the Taliban. But Pakistan on Monday withdrew all its diplomatic staff from Kabul.
Pakistan has in the past been a strong supporter of the Taliban, but President Pervez Musharaf has now promised to assist U.S. strikes, risking the wrath not only of Taliban sympathizers in his own country, but also elements of his army and intelligence services.
Meanwhile, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said Monday that governments should prepare for possible attacks with biological or chemical weapons.
"We must prepare for the possibility that people are deliberately harmed with biological or chemical agents," Gro Harlem Brundtland told a meeting of health ministers from the Western Hemisphere in Washington.
The warning came as U.S. authorities, for the second time in two weeks, banned all flights by crop-duster aircraft.
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