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Upcoming Class |
Top U.S. general
in Afghanistan confident bin Laden will be caught KABUL, Afghanistan - (KRT) - America's top general in Afghanistan on Tuesday promised a renewed focus on the hunt for Osama bin Laden and a new strategy for dealing with a revitalized Taliban insurgency. Lt. Gen. David Barno, predicting a "critical year" ahead for Afghanistan and the U.S. military effort, also said he was confident that bin Laden and other al-Qaida and Taliban leaders would be caught before 2005. "Their day has ended, and this year will decisively sound the death knell of their movements in Afghanistan," Barno said at a ceremony marking the relocation of the U.S. military headquarters in Afghanistan to Kabul from Bagram air base, an hour's drive outside the capital. "Our military operations are taking on a new form. As the enemy has shifted his tactics, we, too, have adjusted," said Barno, who commands the 11,000-strong U.S. force in Afghanistan. His comments follow reports from Washington that the military is planning a "spring offensive" against al-Qaida hideouts along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border where bin Laden and other al-Qaida and Taliban leaders are thought to be hiding. Speaking to reporters after the ceremony, Barno would not comment on plans for an offensive, but promised there would be no letup in the hunt for al-Qaida in the coming year. Although Barno wouldn't say why he is so confident bin Laden will be caught this year, or how the U.S. military plans to do it, the refocusing of military attention on the hunt for bin Laden reflects a newly aggressive approach toward the war effort in Afghanistan, which had for more than a year taken a back seat to Iraq. Until recently, U.S. officials in Afghanistan had downplayed the hunt for bin Laden, saying they weren't sure he was alive. "We're absolutely focused on bringing the leadership of these terrorist organizations to justice," Barno said. That includes not only bin Laden but also Taliban leader Mullah Omar, who is believed to be hiding in southern Afghanistan, and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who is leading his Hezb e Islami faction in the fight against U.S. forces from his stronghold in the eastern province of Kunar. In recent months, the three groups have been waging a low-level guerrilla war that has killed more than 500 people, most of them Afghans. International aid agencies have fled the stricken areas, and the United Nations has warned that unless more is done to halt the slide toward violence, the world is in danger of losing the war. Hours after the ceremony, two rockets crashed into Kabul, reportedly causing no casualties but reminding the city that the security promised by the international community more than two years ago still has not been achieved. Moving the U.S. military headquarters to Kabul will allow greater coordination between U.S. military intelligence and other intelligence-gathering operations based in the capital, Barno said. The new strategy will also depend heavily on the delivery of aid to areas in which the Taliban and its allies are active, Barno said. More Provincial Reconstruction Teams will be established in the unstable south and east, which are also the areas that have received least aid so far. The teams comprise soldiers, civil affairs units and civilian aid workers and are designed simultaneously to bring aid and security to Afghan communities. The Bush administration has sharply increased the amount of assistance earmarked for Afghanistan, to at least $1.6 billion in the coming year. It doesn't appear, however, that there will be any significant increase in the number of troops deployed to Afghanistan. The 12,000-strong coalition force must ensure that the countryside is secure enough for promised elections to be held next summer. Although the United Nations and other international agencies have questioned the feasibility of holding the elections amid the continuing insecurity, Barno said he is determined the elections will be held on schedule. "The focus is on," he said. "This is an important year. Afghanistan is coming out of a long difficult period, and I think this is going to be very, very critical year for us here." --- © 2004, Chicago Tribune. |
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National Security Studies is an Executive Education Program of the Maxwell School of Syracuse University |
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