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U.S., Coalition Troops 'Stand Against Evil'
Friday, April 26, 2002
By Linda D. Kozaryn
American Forces Press Service

Operation Enduring Freedom, Rumsfeld said, has been very successful in combating terrorists in Afghanistan thanks to the help of many people from many countries. He commended the coalition troops for voluntarily putting their lives at risk for their country and their families. "They do it willingly. They do it professionally. Each of you can be enormously proud of the contribution you're making."

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan -- AFIS
U.S. and coalition forces stand against "an evil of mass murderers" that aims to kill large numbers of innocent people, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said here today.

"It's an evil that can't be appeased. It can't be ignored and it certainly can't be allowed to prevail," the secretary told several hundred troops at Ganci Air Base. The world must be alert to the dangers that exist, he stressed.

"There are a handful of nations in the world with close connections to terrorist networks and those nations have weapons of mass destruction and they are developing weapons of mass destruction," Rumsfeld said. "They're trading among themselves with those technologies and they're testing them."

That being the case, he told the uniformed men and women, "What you're doing is of the utmost importance."

The secretary's visit here was the first stop on a five-day trip to visit American and coalition forces in Afghanistan and neighboring nations. About 950 American and an equal number of coalition troops are deployed here to support air operations into Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.

U.S. officials said the coalition has a one-year renewable agreement with the local government to base troops at the airport and that with the concurrence of the Kyrgyz government, the coalition will stay until their work is done.
(More: DoD News Source)
2002 © The United States Department of Defense.

Dan