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Peacekeeping Effort Not Likely to Expand, Cheney Indicates
Thursday, March 21, 2002
By Alan Sipress
Washington Post Service

“Clearly, what has to happen is we have to stand up a viable government and they have to have a national army that is capable of providing the security that the country requires. We've said we're prepared to help them do that.”

ANKARA, Turkey -- WP
Vice President Dick Cheney said Wednesday that the international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan would remain restricted to the immediate area of Kabul, signaling that administration discussions about expanding the mission to at least one other city beyond the capital have been brought to a close.

The United States and its allies intend to keep the International Security and Assistance Force at its current strength of about 5,000 troops as command of the mission is turned over to Turkey in the coming weeks, according to senior American and Turkish officials.

“I think there's general agreement that what we're talking about here is the ISAF focused on the area in and around Kabul and we're not talking about expanding it to other regions,” Cheney told reporters as he prepared to leave Ankara after meetings Tuesday with top Turkish officials. “The United States will clearly have to find other ways to deal with problems that may arise in Mazar-i-Sharif or Herat or Kandahar or other places.”
(More: The Miami Herald News Source)
2002 © The Washington Post.

Dan