Thu, Nov 01, 2001 page1

• Powell seeking to allay fears about flagging support

  • AFP
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  Secretary of State Colin Powell on Tuesday predicted the US-led anti-terrorism coalition would hold together in the long term despite a perceived "flat spot" in the military campaign now underway in Afghanistan.

  In a wide-ranging interview, Powell urged coalition allies as well as the American people to have patience and vowed the military operation would yield eventual success.

  The secretary of state also said he believed the composition of a post-Taliban peacekeeping force in Afghanistan would likely be decided by whatever transitional authority is chosen to replace the Islamic militia and warned India and Pakistan that now was not the time for a "flare-up" over Kashmir.

  "I have been through this cycle in almost every crisis I have gone through; there is always a flat spot where everyone says `Why isn't it over yet?' and then you have to remind them it's over when it's over," Powell said.

  "But the key is we are going to be patient, we are going to pursue it and we are going to prevail," he said when asked about apparent growing frustration that the three-week military campaign in Afghanistan had not yet achieved total success.

  Powell maintained that the campaign had accomplished "quite a bit" and said Washington's partners in the global anti-terror coalition understood that as well as the length of time it would take to prosecute the military effort.

  "I think the coalition will remain intact because what holds it together is the campaign against terrorism," Powell said.

  "It's a campaign that everybody knew they were signing up to and remains signed up to," Powell said, referring to the wide array of allies who have enlisted in the fight aimed now at Osama bin Laden, his al-Qaeda network and their hosts, Afghanistan's Taliban militia.

  US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher earlier Tuesday outlined cooperation Washington had received from its coalition partners since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

  Some 150 nations have agreed to disrupt the assets of suspected terrorists and their supporters, including 80 which have frozen specific bank accounts, more than 40 that have arrested terror suspects and more than 100 nations had offered to share intelligence information, Boucher said.

  In addition more than 50 countries have granted the US landing and overflight rights for the military operation now underway in Afghanistan, Boucher said.

  "With respect to Afghanistan, there were people, I guess, who expected that all you had to do is snap your finger and you've finished your mission in one day," Powell said. "Do not expect an immediate outcome, it will take time."

  The question of what will replace the Taliban when it is driven from power and the composition of a peacekeeping force to ensure order under the new government was also one that would take time to answer, he said.

  "It really comes almost behind what kind of civil administration you're going to put in," Powell said when asked how he envisioned the setup of a peacekeeping operation.

  He said he had not yet formed an opinion about which of three options now on the table -- a blue-helmeted UN force, one made up of troops from "willing nations," or an all-Afghan unit -- would suit Afghanistan best.

  But he stressed that he still saw such an operation as essential to the success of a transitional government and to the restoration of rule in the country by a government that draws its authority from the people.

  "I continue to feel there will be a need for some force to go in," Powell said, adding that there was wide agreement that a transition government and what follows must represent a "broad-base" of Afghan society.

  But he allowed that because of the fractious and often violent nature of Afghan political discourse, such a decision will not come quickly or easily and might not involve elections.

  "It's something that's going to have to rise up from within these different elements of the Afghan society and that will take a little time," Powell said. "They are not going to suddenly in one meeting decide who the new leader is or should be when the post-Taliban government [arrives]."

  On India and Pakistan, which both have interests in Afghanistan, Powell said the South Asian nuclear rivals should take great care to avoid a "flare up" over Kashmir as the US presses them to concentrate on the anti-terrorism war.

  "We have been encouraging both sides to exercise restraint, more than we normally would encourage them to do," Powell said. "This is not the time to see a flare-up or an exchange that might escalate."

  He added Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee appeared to recognize the US position.

  Powell visited both countries earlier this month to press that position home and said he believed he had been largely successful.

  "I think both sides understand that and we get assurances from both sides that they do understand it and not withstanding reports ... that something [in Kashmir] was about to happen imminently, nothing has happened beyond what one sees on a steady basis," Powell said.
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