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U.S. Shifts Its Focus as Blair Visits Afghanistan
Wednesday, January 9, 2002
The Associated Press
& Reuters

British Prime Minister Tony Blair looks at Afghanistan's Interim Prime Minister Hamid Karzai at Bagram air base.
Photo Credit: REUTERS.

THE NEXT PHASE:
British Minister Tony Blair and a group of US senators made brief, overlapping visits late Monday to the country, vowing to not abandon the region

KABUL & BAGRAM AIRBASE, Afghanistan
The US military is winding down its search for terror mastermind Osama bin Laden at Tora Bora after failing to find him in the bomb-shattered cave complex and is targeting air and ground attacks against remnants of the al-Qaeda network and the Taliban to stop them from regrouping.

The shift in military activity comes as the US-led coalition focuses increasingly on rebuilding the war-ravaged nation. British Minister Tony Blair and a group of US senators made brief, overlapping visits late Monday to Afghanistan and vowed to help the country create a more stable environment that would prevent extremists from again coming to power.

In Kandahar, a high-ranking security official for Governor Gul Agha, Commander Sadozai, said yesterday that top Taliban officials sent a messenger three or four days ago saying they wanted to talk about surrendering. The officials did not disclose the names of the Taliban members or their location, but former Taliban defense minister Mullah Ubai Dullah is said to be among them.

Agha and others were in a tribal council meeting late yesterday evening to try to decide how to handle the surrender offer, said Sadozai, who uses one name only.
(More: The Taipei Times News Source)
2002 © The Associated Press & Reuters, Ltd.

Dan