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Rumsfeld Says Afghan Progress Remarkable
Monday, October 7, 2002
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

He said that within a month the fruits of the actions were being reaped. Mazar-e Sharif fell Nov. 7, and then actions moved south with the fall of Bagram, Kabul and, on Dec. 7, 2001, Kandahar -- the stronghold of the Taliban. He said the Afghan people have spoken via the loya jirga process and selected a government that is working to establish itself. The government needs help to maintain itself and to start bringing security to the region.

WASHINGTON -- AFIS
A year after the beginning of combat operations against the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the achievements of coalition forces has been remarkable.

Rumsfeld said during an Oct. 7 Pentagon news conference that the United States has put together a coalition of more than 90 nations against the terror threat. He said it is the largest military coalition ever assembled.

"As we stated last Oct. 7, ... U.S. military objectives in Afghanistan were to drive the Taliban from power, to capture, kill or disrupt al Qaeda, to provide humanitarian relief to the Afghan people and begin the process of creating conditions that will eventually make Afghanistan inhospitable to terrorist networks," he said.

Rumsfeld said he would like to know what has happened to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, but he is not frustrated. "We said when this began that it was not about one person," he told reporters.
(More: DoD News Source)
2002 © The United States Department of Defense.

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