WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD, 3 November — US President George W. Bush said the United States "won’t rest" the war on terrorism during Ramadan, but left it to the military to decide the shape of strikes on Afghanistan during the Muslim holy month and US forces stepped up their uncompromising assault on Afghanistan’s Taleban regime yesterday. "My own personal attitude is the enemy won’t rest during Ramadan and neither will we. We’re going to pursue this war until we achieve our objectives," he told reporters during a public appearance in the White House Rose Garden.
"As to the specific times and dates, we’ll let the military speak to that. They’re in charge of this operation. This is not a political campaign, this is a war," he said.
Several predominately Muslim nations, including Indonesia and key anti-terror war ally Pakistan, have opposed bombing during Ramadan, when Muslims are obliged to shun eating, drinking, smoking and sex from dawn to dusk.
On Thursday, Bush’s National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice brushed aside such calls, saying the United States "can’t afford" to pause the military attacks during Ramadan, which starts mid-November. "The best thing we can do for the world, for all of the allies in the coalition, whether they are Muslim or not, is to make certain that this war on terrorism succeeds, and that means we have to finish the mission," said Rice.
US forces dismissed speculation they were planning a pause in their attacks in two weeks’ time to mark the month of Ramadan, and unleashed their third day of carpet bombing on Taleban front lines.
The White House denied a Taleban claim that 70 to 100 Americans had been killed in Afghanistan. "Once again, the Taleban are just lying," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer. The Taleban consul in Karachi, Pakistan, Moulvi Rahamatullah Kakazada, made the claim to Qatar’s Al-Jazeera television.
Tensions were already high in Pakistan as Islamic hard-liners held street protests one day after Osama Bin Laden urged rebellion against the pro-American government and as armed tribesmen flocked to the Taleban banner. Pakistan is Washington’s key front-line ally in its campaign to avenge the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington that left around 5,000 dead, but President Pervez Musharraf’s cautious support for US strikes has stirred dangerous tensions in the fragile nuclear-armed state.
Islamic parties yesterday defied the government, called for mass demonstrations after prayers and vowed to ignore a government ban on using mosques’ loudspeakers to urge war against the United States. Armed police stood guard as several thousand people marched through the city of Quetta near the Afghan border chanting "Down with America, down with Musharraf" and more were on standby for planned protests in other key towns.
On Thursday, witnesses saw about 1,000 armed Pakistani tribesmen crossed into Afghanistan to join the Taleban in their war with America, and yesterday an Islamic party said it had sent 1,200 more. "Twelve hundred volunteers went into Afghanistan under the command of Malik Jan Muhammad. They left Bajaur around midday in 50 vehicles, they are armed," said Faizullah Farooq, spokesman for the Tehreek Nifaz-e-Shariat Mohammadi.
Musharraf’s government insists that most Pakistanis back its pro-US stance, and has arrested several leading figures accused of backing radical violence. He has also called on America to end airstrikes by the start of Ramadan in two weeks time and warned Pakistan cannot cope with the Afghan refugees gathering on its border.
But as the bombing continued yesterday, Washington said Ramadan would not disrupt its attacks and B-52 bombers dropped tons of explosive on Taleban front lines facing opposition forces north of Kabul. Early yesterday in two raids, B-52 heavy bombers and F-18 fighters pounded a Taleban-held hilltop southwest of Bagram air base which was first hit when the B-52 Stratofortress made its debut over the front on Wednesday.
The Taleban consul in Karachi told Al-Jazeera that Bin Laden and Taleban supreme leader Mulla Muhammad Omar had survived the latest attacks. The Taleban have around 6,000 of their best fighters stationed on the front line near Bagram. Small numbers of US commandos have joined the Northern Alliance troops to guide in the airstrikes.
The brother of Hamid Karzai, an ally of Afghanistan’s former king Muhammad Zahir Shah, said that the envoy had survived a clash with Taleban forces while on an undercover mission to canvas support for the revolt.
Ahmad Wali Karzai told AFP he had spoken to his elder brother at 11:20 a.m. (0420 GMT) and he was "on the outskirts of Deharwad" in Uruzgan province, where Karzai and his supporters fought with the Taleban on Thursday night.
Ahmad Wali Karzai denied Taleban claims that the militia had captured 25 of Karzai’s followers. According to the Afghan Islamic Press, the Taleban planned to hang some of the detained followers.
