Sat, Feb 02, 2002 page1

• Bush warns `terror' states that justice will be served

  • REUTERS
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  The US threatened to impose its own justice on countries it saw as backing terrorism as Afghan tribal fighters buried their dead yesterday after routing rival forces in two days of bitter clashes.

  US President George W. Bush, who has made the war on terrorism the main theme of his presidency since the Sept. 11 attacks that killed about 3,100 people, gave a warning to countries involved in the development of weapons of mass destruction.

  "If you're one of these nations that developed weapons of mass destruction and you're likely to team up with a terrorist group or you're now sponsoring terror, and you don't hold the values that we hold dear true to your heart, then you too are on our watch list," Bush said in a speech to supporters at an Atlanta hotel.

  He said there was no middle ground in a campaign that has focused until now on Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.

  "People say, `well what does that mean?' It means they better get their house in order is what it means," Bush said. "It means they better respect the rule of law. It means they better not try to terrorize America and our friends and allies or the justice of this nation will be served on them as well."

  In Afghanistan, where the US military has all but destroyed the former hardline Islamic rulers who sheltered al-Qaeda, a victorious Pashtun tribal force was consolidating its grip in a southeastern town after driving its rivals out.

  The clashes in eastern Afghanistan and simmering tension in the west of the country gave added urgency to appeals by interim leader Hamid Karzai for an expanded international peacekeeping force.

  The battle underlined the difficulties facing Karzai's government as it tries to forge unity and stability in a country riven by tribal and ethnic divisions and shattered by more than 20 years of war.

  Karzai, in Britain for a one-day visit, told a meeting of Prime Minister Tony Blair's Cabinet, "The Afghan people keep asking for more and more security forces in Afghanistan ... to see to it that Afghanistan gets the stability and peace that it requires."

  But Blair responded that Britain could not commit more troops to an expanded international force. Britain is leading the force, deployed in the Afghan capital of Kabul, but wants to end its command of the 17-nation mission by the end of April.

  Pakistani police said they were no closer to finding kidnapped US reporter Daniel Pearl, who is under threat of death as a deadline neared for the US to release Pakistani prisoners from the Afghan war.

  But Pakistan's top spokesman said there had been some progress in the search for the 38-year-old Wall Street Journal reporter and repeated there was evidence showing an Indian link.

  New Delhi has dismissed the allegation as ridiculous.

  Afghan tribal fighters buried their fallen comrades in the southeastern town of Gardez yesterday after pushing out forces loyal to the newly appointed governor in two days of bitter clashes.

  The forces of governor Padshah Khan Zadran, recently appointed by the fledgling interim government in Kabul, had retreated from the town after the battle in which an estimated 50 fighters were killed.

  "Now we are focusing on the funerals and treating the wounded," an official from the victorious faction, Safiullah said.

  Safiullah, the son of Haji Saifullah, commander of the victorious faction, said the fighting ended before dawn yesterday after Zadran's troops retreated to the outskirts of the town, located some 122km south of the capital, Kabul.

  "It is quiet now. We control all of Gardez town. Zadran's people are no longer here," Safiullah said.

  Sources close to Zadran conceded the loss of the town.

  The fighting erupted on the outskirts of the town on Wednesday when Zadran's fighters tried to disarm some of Haji Saifullah's men. The next day the two sides were battling with heavy weapons over key government buildings inside the town.

  Residents said hundreds of people had fled the town.

  Safiullah said a provincial governor appointed by Karzai's administration would be acceptable, provided he had the agreement of the province's tribal council, led by Haji Saifullah.

  "We don't want war with anybody. We have no problem with Karzai. The fighting in Gardez was to a large extent a tribal issue, not a political one," he said.

  Meanwhile, snow blanketed Kabul for the first time in years yesterday, raising spirits by bringing hope for an end to four years of withering drought.

  Snow started falling after dawn and quickly piled up in open areas of the capital. It finally ended in the middle of the afternoon, white flakes replacing the choking dust that normally envelopes the city.
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