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Afghans
Want “Remaining Pockets Of Terrorism” Eliminated
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U.S. bombing
to continue
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KABUL, Dec. 30 (IslamOnline
& News Agencies) - Afghanistan voiced Sunday its support of the continued
U.S. military campaign to root out “remaining pockets of terrorism” in
Afghanistan, as an agreement on the deployment of international peacekeepers in
the war-ravaged country is expected to be reached later Sunday.
"We agree with [U.S.
President, George W.] Bush that the campaign will continue until the last
remaining pockets of terrorism have been eliminated," Agence France-Presse
(AFP) quoted Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman, Mohammad Habeel, as saying
Sunday.
Habeel said some districts
in the eastern province of Paktia "have not been yet totally cleared, so
the bombardment and our ground attack should continue until they are
eliminated".
The announcement signaled
an apparent reassessment of the situation by the ministry, which said Friday
that after the last pockets of Al-Qaeda resistance are crushed "in three to
four days... we will see if there is a need” for further bombing.
However, Bush immediately
rejected the suggestion, saying, "We're not going to stop until we get (Bin
Laden) and all those murderers that are associated with him."
Meanwhile, an agreement on
the deployment of international peacekeepers in Afghanistan is expected to be
reached later Sunday, British embassy spokesman, Paul Sykes said.
"We
are hoping that they will be able to initial the document later today,"
Sykes said. "However, the formal signing will take place later."
The document is expected to
be initialed by Interior Minister, Yunus Qanooni, and British Major General,
John McColl.
For the first three months,
Britain will lead the International Security Assistance Force, which is expected
to eventually number 3,000-4,000 troops.
"What we are hoping is
that the initialing of the document will show that both parties are happy with
the agreement," Sykes said. "We are keeping our fingers crossed.
Hopefully it will be today."
Afghan factions agreed on
the force during talks in Bonn this month, which led to the establishment of the
power-sharing interim administration.
But members of the new
government initially tried to limit both the size of the force and its duties.
Britain will supply up to
1,500 soldiers; a small Royal Marine advance guard is already patrolling Kabul.
Germany announced on Saturday that its contribution had been set initially at
770 troops.
A German armed forces
spokesman said an advance party of the 16-nation international force, including
five German officers, is scheduled for departure early Monday.
Britain's defense ministry
said late Friday, after a third round of preparatory talks, that military
officials had not yet finalized the shape of the force but hoped to announce
final details early in the coming week.
Habeel
insisted, for the third day in a row, that Osama Bin Laden is allegedly using
the Pakistani border town of Peshawar as a base.
"He is definitely in
Peshawar," Habeel claimed, "under the protection of Fazelur Rahman,"
the head of the Muslim Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam party.
The Jamiat and Pakistani
officials have both vehemently denied the claim.
Habeel said Bin Laden's
arrest was no longer Afghanistan's responsibility.
"We are no longer
responsible, he has already left our country. From now on, this is the
responsibility of the Pakistani government. It must cooperate with the U.S. in
arresting Osama," Habeel said. He added that "Pakistan can help the
U.S. in this regard if it really wants to do so."
Afghan Interior Minister,
Yunus Qanooni, directly accused Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence
(ISI) of aiding Bin Laden.
"Undoubtedly they knew
what was going on,” Qanooni told Iranian television. "The fact that there
has not been any reaction and that (Bin Laden) has not been arrested indicates
that he is somehow being supported by the Pakistani ISI."
Some 4,000 Pakistani
troops, backed by helicopter gunships, had been deployed on the border with
Afghanistan to prevent any Al-Qaeda infiltration, AFP reported December 18.
The United States has been anxious to move into a
new phase in the campaign to root out remaining Al-Qaeda and Taliban loyalists
and determine Bin Laden's whereabouts.
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