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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29156-2002Mar28.html U.S. Troops To Remain in Afghanistan By Sally Buzbee Associated Press Writer Thursday, March 28, 2002; 2:03 AM WASHINGTON –– American troops will stay on indefinitely in Afghanistan amid troubling power struggles and the continued presence of al-Qaida fighters. The Bush administration says it will not send American peacekeepers to the country, but U.S. combat troops will train the Afghan army in addition to fighting the al-Qaida network. The Americans also might intervene to keep feuding warlords apart, a top official said. Many analysts are urging an even more aggressive U.S. and international role, worried that the day American and other Western soldiers leave is the day Afghanistan again will start to disintegrate. "The law may be there on paper but unless you have someone to turn to ... then it's only paper," said the U.N. human rights representative for Afghanistan, Kamal Hossain. He urged expansion of the 4,500-member international force beyond Kabul, the capital, to "create an environment in which people can feel free from fear." The administration opposes the security force expansion, in addition to rejecting the idea of sending American peacekeepers. Yet Vice President Dick Cheney said over the weekend the United States will not "walk away" from Afghanistan once the al-Qaida threat is gone. President Bush's special envoy to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, suggested Wednesday that American troops might be used to stop disputes among rival warlords, stepping in to make up for the lack of peacekeepers outside Kabul. "In some places, the U.S. capabilities, assets have not been given this mission of discouraging ... the potential conflict among the warlords," Khalilzad said. "This could be added." In addition, U.S. officials will meet next week in Geneva with other countries to try to raise money for an Afghan army, on which the Bush administration pins its hopes for a stable Afghanistan. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said this week his hope is that the Afghan army can eventually become strong enough to overcome regional rivalries and guarantee stability for Afghanis so that U.S. troops can leave. "But it is not knowable how long that will take," Rumsfeld acknowledged. The main U.S. role will continue to be attacking al-Qaida who have now "melted" into mountains and villages and across borders, Rumsfeld said. Some Afghans say the United States has actually worsened local rivalries by paying some Afghan warlords to help in that search for al-Qaida – essentially working to create a national army on one hand, while supporting local warlords on the other. Expectations are unrealistically high for the national army, now under the control of one small Tajik faction that other ethnic groups, including the dominant Pashtuns, might not accept, said Anatol Lieven of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "This idea that the army will be up and running and that the international force can pull out by 2004 – that just seems to me absolute lunacy," said Lieven, who recently traveled in Afghanistan. Parts of Afghanistan are relatively secure, said Lieven. But virtually none are under the control of interim leader Hamid Karzai's central government. "What we need are modest, realistic aims about Afghanistan's future," Lieven said. "But above all, we need to be prepared to stay for a long time." Italy put off the exiled king's return after reports of plans to assassinate him. Troops in the Afghan Interior Ministry who would have protected the king came from the Tajik faction considered political rivals to the king and Karzai. In other signs of trouble, a dispute last week between two of America's Afghan allies threatened to explode in Khost in eastern Afghanistan. And around Mazar-e-Sharif in the north, there have been reports of warlords targeting other ethnic groups. American made an "incredible commitment militarily" to kick out the Taliban and al-Qaida from Afghanistan, said Warren Haffar, director of the International Peace and Conflict Resolution program at Arcadia University in suburban Philadelphia. "To make that payoff lasting requires follow-up support to establish a culture of democracy," Haffar said. "That ultimately will do more to get rid of terrorism." __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Movies - coverage of the 74th Academy Awards® http://movies.yahoo.com/ --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org 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 ==^================================================================
