Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (10886)	11/19/2001 5:25:23 PM
From: maceng2	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Just hope Tony Blair does not screw things up now. He has done a grand job so far, he just needs to listen to Bush and Allied Military advisors. The N/A are heavily armed, they won the "ground war", and we cannot disarm them imho. Bringing in our armed troops without them being perfectly happy about it would be a blunder as far as I can see. This is not a time to try and verbally batter them into agreement either. The request needs to come from them. ========================================================= Blair "determined" to send British troops to Afghanistan The Government tonight signalled its determination to press ahead with the deployment of thousands of British troops in Afghanistan despite the opposition of the Northern Alliance. Downing Street said it would continue to “consult and discuss” with alliance leaders about its plans to send up to 6,000 British troops as part of a multinational “stabilisation force”. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman made clear that alliance objections to the presence of large numbers of foreign troops on Afghan soil would not be allowed to stand in the way of their deployment. “The Prime Minister gave a pretty clear signal of our willingness and readiness to commit further forces should they be required,” he said. “I think we have to see how things move forward but I doubt you have seen the last of our forces in Afghanistan.” Earlier, Britain’s envoy, Stephen Evans, arrived in Kabul with a small team of officials to establish a diplomatic mission and open talks with the alliance in an effort to secure agreement on an international military presence. After meeting the alliance’s foreign minister, Abdullah Abdullah, at Bagram airbase, Mr Evans admitted that more talks would be needed. “Decisions have still got to be made. Obviously there will be the closest consultation with our colleagues here in Kabul,” he told reporters. Since seizing the capital last week, the alliance leaders have made clear that they see no role for foreign troops in maintaining security in the country. Tony Blair believes that an international presence is essential to prevent Afghanistan slipping back into the murderous faction-fighting which scarred the country in the 1980s and 1990s. The United States administration of President George Bush has appeared far less enthusiastic about committing its troops to the task of “nation building”, forcing Downing Street to deny reports of a rift between London and Washington. The Pentagon has seemed more interested in the operation to track down Osama bin Laden, confirming today that it had committed more United States commandos (probably means SF's..pb) to the hunt in the south of the country, taking the total to “several hundred”. The American Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, warned tonight that it may still take some time to pin down bin Laden and other leading figures in al Qaeda and the Taliban. “People can hide in caves for long periods and this will take time,” he told a Pentagon news conference.“The Taliban and al Qaeda leadership can be in any number of places and they move frequently. To try to think that we have them contained in some sort of a small area would be a misunderstanding of the difficulty of the task,” he said. The United Nations was continuing its efforts to bring together the leaders of the various tribes and factions in Afghanistan to form a “broad-based” interim government. Any meeting is likely to take place in a third country, with Germany mooted as a possible venue. The American envoy in Kabul, James Dobbins, said he believed the alliance was still committed to sharing power with other factions, including the Pashtuns - the country’s largest ethnic grouping. However, the alliance’s moves to consolidate its grip on Kabul have intensified concerns that it will not give up its position of power lightly when it comes to the negotiating table. United States warplanes meanwhile continued to attack Taleban positions around the besieged city of Konduz, the regime’s last stronghold in the north of the country. Mr Rumsfeld urged the besieging Northern Alliance forces not to accept a negotiated surrender which would allow the foreign fighters - mainly Pakistanis and Arabs - to leave. “It is our hope that they will not engage in negotiations that would provide for the release of al Qaeda forces; that would provide for the release of foreign nationals leaving the country and destabilising neighbouring countries,” he said. “The idea that they would keep their weapons is not a happy one from our standpoint either.” thetimes.co.uk