|
Wolfowitz Says U.S. Campaign in Afghanistan to Last for Years
 |
| A victim of the random U.S. bombing of Afghanistan. |
BAGRAM
AIR BASE, Afghanistan, July 15 (AFP) – Citing "remarkable"
achievements of the U.S.-led coalition, U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary
Paul Wolfowitz said Monday, July 15, that the U.S. campaign in
Afghanistan will last for years with more than half of the Taliban
leadership still intact.
Wolfowitz
told U.S. troops at the U.S. coalition air base that the campaign
against Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters would "continue as long as
it takes" as he drew a parallel with the decades-long face-off
against the Soviet Union, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
"It's
going to be a long struggle. Maybe not as long as the Cold War, but it
does not hurt to think [in terms of] the Cold War," he added.
Wolfowitz,
due to hold talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai later Monday,
praised the "remarkable" achievements of the U.S.-led
coalition since the campaign began last October.
However,
he also said that the former Taliban regime and its Al-Qaeda allies
remained far from finished.
"We
have taken out maybe half of the top Al-Qaeda and almost half of the
Taliban leadership," he said, noting that Al-Qaeda leader Osama
bin Laden still remained at large along with Taliban leader Mullah
Mohammad Omar.
Wolfowitz's
visit to Bagram coincided with the start of a high-level probe headed
by U.S. Major General Anthony Przybyslawski into a U.S. bombing raid
on a wedding party in central Uruzgan province two weeks ago. The
so-called “errant-bomb” killed and injured dozens of Afghan
civilians and fueled anger at U.S. soldiers operating in Afghanistan.
After
the tragic event, not the first of its kind though, the head of the
Afghan Higher Supreme Court said Sunday, July 7, that the inability of
the Afghan legislative system to take legal action against U.S.
soldiers who committed war crimes against civilians in Afghanistan is
a sign of the system’s lack of independence.
Mawlawi
Fadl Hadi Shenwary, in an interview with Tehran Radio, called for the
independence of the legislative system, adding that its decisions
should be enforced by the executive authorities in the country.
“The
Afghani judiciary is completely helpless in front of the continuous
American bombing of the Afghani civilians, as it has no authority to
try those responsible of the death of these people,” he said.
“Killing
civilians is a criminal act and those responsible should be
punished,” he added.
Shenwary
also said that the U.S. existence in Afghanistan has a negative
impact, especially that foreigners in the country are not abiding by
laws.
“So
far, the Afghani people have been patient regarding the behavior of
the U.S. soldiers in their country, but if the U.S. attacks continued,
it will not be in the best interest of the Americans,” he said.
“Why
do the U.S. airplanes bomb people on their way to congratulate the new
president, and why do they bomb women and children attending
weddings?”
Recently,
many incidents of U.S. bombing civilians in Afghanistan during its
military attacks against what it claims are Al-Qaeda and Taliban
forces have occurred.
The
most recent attack took place Sunday, June 30, when American airplanes
bombed a wedding in a town north of Kandahar, killing and injuring
more than a 100 civilians, mostly women and children.
This
incident has caused wide popular anger against the U.S. for the
continuous random attacks on the towns and villages of Afghanistan.
Wolfowitz
expressed his regrets at the loss of civilians in the raid, insisting,
however, that the bombing was prompted by the belief that terrorists
were active in the area.
"We
have no regrets,” he said. “It was a combat zone and bad things
happen in a combat zone."
Asked
if incidents such as the Uruzgan bombing could alienate Afghan people,
Wolfowitz claimed that "the fundamental principle that we are
here as an army of liberation."
The
deputy to U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld added that the recent
assassination of Afghan Vice President Haji Abdul Qadir was a firm
reminder of the prevailing instability in Afghanistan.
"This
remains a very dangerous place and security of key officials is
obviously of enormous importance. After 20 years of civil war, this
place is going to have security problems and they are not going to
solve them overnight."
Wolfowitz
denied that the United States was more eager to pump cash into the
military campaign than help fund the reconstruction of Afghanistan.
"The
economic side is always slow. It's a lot harder to get economic aid
flowing."
|
