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[The Taliban and Al-Qaida fighters, if they are such, presumably have family members with them as previous reports confirm.] U.S. Won't Let Al-Qaida Walk Away By Pauline Jelinek Associated Press Writer Tuesday, March 12, 2002; 10:31 AM WASHINGTON �� U.S. commanders in the biggest ground operation of the war in Afghanistan have rejected an Afghan ally's proposal to halt bombing and allow al-Qaida and Taliban to surrender or escape, officials said Tuesday. "We have made it very clear that we are not going to halt things ... we are not going to stop the fighting to make any deals," said Lt. Col. Dave Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman. He said commanders in the field have stressed to allied Afghan fighters that they will pursue their plan to destroy remnants of the al-Qaida terrorist network and former Taliban government remaining in a 60-square-mile area where an assault began March 2. Lapan was responding to questions about the U.S. position on a proposal to allow remaining enemy fighters to leave the province where the fighting is occurring. The offer was made by Gul Haider, commander of an Afghan force sent to the battle near the eastern town of Gardez last week by interim leader Hamid Karzai, according to the deputy police chief of Surmand, Ghulam Mohammed Farooq. Farooq said Haider told local leaders that if they wanted to extend a peace offer, he could guarantee a 10-day halt in the fighting if the al-Qaida and Taliban commander "is ready to join us or leave the area." Efforts to contact Haider were unsuccessful. However, several local officials confirmed that discussions about a peace overture were under way. Local Afghan leaders were considering whether to extend the offer. Farooq said Haider guaranteed that the Americans would accept the peace offering if the Afghans decided to extend it. Without commenting specifically on the idea, Central Command spokesman Maj. Ralph Mills said war commanders "are still focused on our goal to eliminate al-Qaida and non-Afghan Taliban" in that area. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Monday that the fighting could be completed by the end of the week. Several members of the terrorist network have been captured during the fighting, he said, adding that he had no indication that those killed or captured were senior leaders of al-Qaida. "We do know there are a great many al-Qaida that have been killed. We do not have names and ranks and serial numbers," Rumsfeld said. Rumsfeld and other officials indicated they hope to gain valuable information about Osama bin Laden's terrorist network � not only from interrogations of prisoners, but also from cave complexes the al-Qaida fighters had fiercely defended during the heaviest ground fighting of the war. The fighting has taken place in the Shah-e-Kot Valley, a mountainous region near the Pakistani border. "As the mopping-up process continues, additional information will be gained," Rumsfeld said. He spoke on the steps of the Pentagon during a ceremony marking the six months since the September attack that killed 189 people in the building and aboard the hijacked airliner that was flown into it. Some officials have estimated that more than 700 al-Qaida fighters were killed and at least 200 were still holding out Monday. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Try FREE Yahoo! Mail - the world's greatest free email! http://mail.yahoo.com/ --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
