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Powell Says U.S. Will Not Overextend Itself, Officials in Yemen
WASHINGTON, March 3 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell moved Saturday to assuage concerns that the U.S. anti-terrorist campaign was spinning out of control, insisting that the United States was not looking to engage in wars in any place, where terrorist activity might be detected.
"It's not a question of us sending military units and strength all over the world," said Powell in an appearance on CNN's "Novak, Hunt and Shields" program.
"For the most part these are rather manageable, small missions that are within the capability of the armed forces to handle, and don't tie us down around the world for a lifetime of terrorist-chasing activities," he said.
The comments came amid international and domestic criticism the United States was expanding its war on terrorism - launched last October in Afghanistan - too fast.
Groups of U.S. military advisers will head for Yemen, a suspected key regional base for Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network, to help the local military conduct its own anti-terrorist operations.
Time magazine reported Saturday that the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is poised to send agents back into Yemen because of intelligence reports that Al-Qaeda loyalists may try to establish bases there.
The FBI and the intelligence community consider Yemen, along with Pakistan, top priority as they try to interdict fleeing Al-Qaeda operatives scrambling to find sanctuary.
Some officials believe that some key Al-Qaeda survivors escaped into Pakistan, and that the U.S. is hoping to bolster President Pervez Musharaff’s government's military and political power in order to drive them out.
In addition, with 660 U.S. special forces advisers already helping the Filipino army hunt down the Abu Sayyaf, the Defense Department announced this past week that it will be sending up to 200 troops to the former Soviet republic of Georgia.
They will train about 1,500 Georgian troops to fight suspected Al-Qaeda fighters, reportedly holed up in Pankisi Gorge in the Caucasus, near the border of the breakaway Russian republic of Chechnya, according to Georgian officials.
Meanwhile, fighting in Afghanistan escalated Saturday as U.S. and Afghan forces engaged Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters south of the eastern city of Gardez, according to U.S. defense officials.
The apparent expansion of the anti-terrorist campaign has prompted Democratic Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia to question the sustainability of such an effort at a congressional hearing this past week.
"If we expect to kill every terrorist in the world, that's going to keep us going beyond doomsday," Byrd stressed. "How long can we afford this?"
But Powell hastened to dismiss concern that U.S. engagements overseas were becoming too extensive.
"Well, 'every terrorist in the world' is a bit much," he said. "I don't think that's a mission that we've ever placed upon ourselves."
The secretary of state said U.S. President George W. Bush was determined to go after those terrorist organizations that have a global reach and threaten the United States and its allies.
An administration official told Time that “the philosophy is, keep [Al-Qaeda] on the run... If we can continue to deny them a place where they can gather, raise funds and train, the threat will be marginalized."
Responding to international criticism of Bush's comment in his January State of the Union address, in which the president described Iraq, Iran and North Korea as "an axis of evil," Powell said that with the passage of time "people realize that we're not ready to declare a war on anyone, and that we are following policies that have been in place for a long time."
At the same time, he acknowledged that with security challenges remaining serious in Afghanistan, the United States was consulting with allies and partners around the world about the future role of the British-led 4,500-strong international security force deployed in Kabul.
"We're looking at some of the towns outside of Kabul to see whether there is a need for that kind of presence," he said.
The secretary of state said he did not "see an immediate need to increase the size" of the peacekeeping force.
Commenting on complaints by some Afghan regional leaders that the Northern Alliance is over-represented in the interim administration, Powell acknowledged that the alliance, a key U.S. ally in the anti-terrorism war, has "quite a bit of participation in the government."
"But I think that will adjust over time," said the secretary of state. "I don't think it's necessary to start issuing ultimatums to anyone at this time."
Tajik, Uzbek and Hazara representatives from Afghanistan’s north dominate the Northern Alliance. Southern Afghanistan is populated mainly by Pashtuns.
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