Rumsfeld: War on Track

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan--UPI-- U.S. Defense officials insisted Sunday that their military campaign in Afghanistan was going according to plan and had crippled the infrastructure of the country's ruling Taliban militia. U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told a news conference in Pakistan that the Taliban were "not really functioning as a government" any more as a result of four weeks of relentless bombardment by U.S. airpower, comments echoed in Washington by senior military officers.

Speaking after a ninety-minute meeting with Pakistan's military leader, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Rumsfeld added that the United States was taking great care to minimize civilian casualties and defended the U.S. decision to continue bombing Afghanistan during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Shortly thereafter, Rumsfeld left for India -- the final stop on a whirlwind five-nation tour of the region to shore up support for the U.S. led military campaign in Afghanistan.

During the meeting in Islamabad, the subjects of the worsening humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, the security of Pakistan's nuclear weapons and the country's dispute with its nuclear neighbor India over the Kashmir were also discussed, according to Pakistani officials.

Speaking to reporters in Islamabad, Rumsfeld said that the U.S. bombing campaign was interfering with the Taliban's ability to rule. "There is not really a government to speak of in Afghanistan today... The Taliban are not really functioning as a government."

But he acknowledged that they were still able to rule, "They have weapons and they are using their power in enclaves throughout the country to impose their will on the Afghan people," he concluded.

In Washington, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard Myers, echoed Rumsfeld's comments. The war, he told NBC's "Meet the Press" is going "exactly according to our plans... the Taliban are on their heels. They are not the ones that have the initiative ...most of their communications have been taken down. (They) are communicating now with runners, which is obviously -- in Afghanistan, not the most efficient way..."

At a joint news conference with the Pakistani Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar, Rumsfeld also defended the United States' decision to continue bombing during Ramadan, which begins Nov. 17. The United States began attacking the country's ruling Taliban militia Oct. 7, after they refused to hand over accused terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden and his al Qaida network, who the United States says were behind the Sept. 11 terror attacks in New York and Washington that killed nearly 5,000 people.

Pakistan, in common with many other Muslim countries who have supported U.S. military action, is concerned that bombing during the religious festival may affect public opinion. Many Islamic leaders have urged a pause in the campaign.

But Rumsfeld, echoing the comments of other U.S. leaders over the past few days said the campaign must go on.

"We know the feelings... I have heard the views of President Musharraf and a number of other countries. The question is very important and sensitive, but the reality is that additional terrorist acts are being expected and they could be terrible and could harm a lot of more people."

"Our task certainly is to consider views of the people but the real objective before is to root out terrorism," he concluded.

Pakistan -- which has long been concerned about small but vocal Islamic groups opposed to the war -- has also made it clear repeatedly that it wants the military campaign over as soon as possible.

Rumsfeld re-stated the U.S. position, which is that the campaign needs to achieve its objectives of toppling the Taliban regime and rooting out al Qaida before it can be ended: "We would like to end the military operation as quickly as possible. We are aggressively trying to do what needs to be done and we end up doing what needs to be done."

Addressing the question of who should rule Afghanistan once the Taliban had been toppled, both men agreed that a new government needed to be installed under the aegis of the United Nations. Sattar said it was extremely important that the government in Afghanistan should be multi- ethnic. Pakistan is concerned that the Pashtuns, the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan and the second largest in Pakistan, are represented in any future government.

Endorsing Sattar's statement, Rumsfeld said, "That is exactly correct and the same as the U.S. position -- the U.S. President has said that, Secretary of State Colin Powell has said that."

Rumsfeld also addressed widespread concerns in Pakistan and elsewhere about the level of civilian casualties.

"Never in history has so much care been taken ... by the United States to reduce civilian casualties to the minimum possible, and I think this statement is extremely valuable in view of the news that we see every day alleging increasing civilian casualties in Afghanistan," he said.

Rumsfeld said that news reports about massive civilian casualties in Afghanistan were not true, adding that there was lot of ordnance flying around in Afghanistan and that casualties which did occur were not necessarily the fault of the United States: "The ordnance is coming, to be sure, air down but it is also coming from ground down and also from the opposition side."

Rumsfeld said that he had discussed the worsening plight of Afghan refugees and displaced people with President Musharraf, adding that the situation was brought about by the Taliban and al Qaida. He pointed out that the United States is the biggest donor of aid to Afghan people both inside and outside of the country.

Prior to Sept. 11, $170 million had already been allocated and President Bush had since announced another $320 million, he added. "We care about Afghan people and want to improve the situation there so that the Afghan people will be a willing partner in the post-Taliban rehabilitation process," Rumsfeld said.

The lightning visit to Pakistan is part of a regional tour Rumsfeld is undertaking. He arrived in Pakistan from Uzbekistan, and before that had visited the capital of ex-Soviet Tajikistan, Dushanbe, where he held talks with Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov, Russia's Interfax news agency reported Sunday.

After the talks, Rakhmonov expressed readiness to put Tajikistan's airspace and military bases at disposal of U.S. troops.

Interfax quoted a source in the Pentagon as saying Sunday that Tajikistan was likely to let Washington use three military bases located near the Tajik-Afghan border.

According to the source, the United States had promised to provide financial aid to Dushanbe in return for its cooperation.

Tajikistan is by far the poorest of all former member states of the Soviet Union.

Later in the day, Moscow's independent Ekho Moskvy radio quoted the Tajik Foreign Ministry as saying that Rakhmonov and Rumsfeld had discussed the use of Tajikistan's army bases, particularly the one at Kulyab.

The Soviet army formerly ran the Kulyab base, less than 60 miles from Afghanistan.

However, Kulyab's potential operation is doubtful, as a thorough assessment should be made first to evaluate the state of its infrastructure and facilities located on its territory that includes a military airfield, the ministry said.

After the talks, Rumsfeld flew to neighboring Uzbekistan for talks with President Islam Karimov and Uzbek Defense Minister Kadyr Gulyamov.

I'm beginning to think that Rumsfeld (not a military man) has no idea at all what is going on in Afghanistan, and is so afraid of misspeaking that he says absolutely nothing -- yet he just won't give up the podium to the General standing next to him.

The Gulf War was fought against an honest-to-god trained army, and you didn't see Dick Cheney hogging the podium. Despite tough press controls, in an area where the press (at least CNN) had some established contacts already, there were day-to-day situation reports, with maps, charts, graphs, and videos.

Rumsfeld not a military man? He served in the U.S. Navy and was defense secretary way back in the Ford Administration and was also an Ambassador to NATO. Additionally, Rumsfeld has served on various committees including President Reagan's panel on Strategic Systems and the Commission on the Ballistic Missile Threat to the United States.

Thanks for the ping! Too bad that Rummy has a two front war to fight, the propaganda of the Taliban and our media about the civilian casualties. Methinks the media needs to be reminded of the WTC and the Pentagon again and our own civilian casualties.
This is war afterall, and although as he said we are taking every precaution to avoid it, innocent people may be in the line of fire. At least they know it is coming, our people did not have the luxury of advance notice.

Rumsfeld was a navy pilot. By the way, the post of Secretary of Defense is, by law, to go to a civilian.

Now, I am so sorry that you don't get to see your maps and charts, but since we have a fifth column of terrorists operating all around the world, it would be beyond foolish to broadcast information that they could relay to Afghanistan.

I watch the Pentagon briefings every day. Rumsfeld defers often to the generals when he is there, and Rumsfeld is not at every press briefing. His visible presence is because the administration WANTS him there, as his press briefings are quite good.

Did you see the Rumsfeld briefing Friday night at about 3 AM EST.

He was in takastan or whatever his first stop was and they had a press briefing and it was Rumsfeld at his best. He was cutting jokes and seemed pretty happy at 3 AM EST on that side of the world. When the guy from that country said something Rummy would say I couldn't agree more and cut a good laugh. He got some good news or he was just giddy at something. Maybe he knew not too many people would see the briefing but it was one of his best to date !

Rats. I missed it. Somethings afoot, that's for sure.

Well, I guess I will just have to be PATIENT and see what happens.

I will say one thing: the geo-political alignmemnts are going to look VERY different in a few years.

"I will say one thing: the geo-political alignmemnts are going to look VERY different in a few years."

I can see it starting to happen already. I'm not sure where Russia fits in yet, but that needs to be watched very carefully.

You know I saw a news conference and it wasn't Rumsfeld who said the above, but was the Prime Minister of Pakistan who is in fact quoted.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.