DATE=03/29/2002

TYPE=EDITORIAL

NUMBER=0-09791

TITLE=EDITORIAL: AFTER ANACONDA

INTERNET=Yes

CONTENT=THIS EDITORIAL IS BEING RELEASED FOR USE BY ALL SERVICES.

Anncr: Next, an editorial expressing the policies of the United States Government:

Voice: Operation Anaconda in eastern Afghanistan is over. General Tommy Franks, head of the U.S. Central Command, said that the campaign was "very successful." Similar operations may be undertaken in the days and weeks ahead. Meanwhile, the U.S.-led coalition continues to search cave complexes throughout Afghanistan. They have already found many of the al-Qaida terrorists' weapons, computers, manuals, and bomb-making notes.

Even more chilling has been the discovery of equipment that could possibly be used to make chemical weapons. U.S. General Richard Myers said "There was a lab in Kandahar where we did find equipment that was indicative of perhaps manufacturing anthrax." Not all the equipment was there -- just part of it. What has been recovered is being studied.

The U.S.-led coalition will stay in Afghanistan until the job of ridding the country of terrorists is complete. U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said he is "very reluctant to put a deadline on it." There's no question, said Mr. Rumsfeld, "that the remaining al-Qaida and Taleban would like very much to reconstitute and conduct terrorist operations in the country." The U.S. is committed to seeing that that doesn't happen. The interim Afghan government and the U.S. have the same goal. They do not want al-Qaida or Taleban in Afghanistan.

Other countries share that view. Mr. Rumsfeld said that Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, has been "enormously cooperative." He has put forces along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border to stop the remaining terrorists from escaping.

The U.S. hope, as Mr. Rumsfeld put it, is "that there will be a sufficient police force, a sufficient border patrol, and a sufficient Afghan national army." The Afghans must create an environment that permits humanitarian assistance to continue and that allows refugees to return to their homes. That is the goal. And the U.S.-led coalition intends to help them achieve it. "But," said Mr. Rumsfeld, "it is not knowable how long that will take."

Anncr: That was an editorial expressing the policies of the United States Government. If you have a comment, please write to Editorials, V-O-A, Washington, D-C, 20237, U-S-A. You may also comment at www-dot-ibb-dot-gov-slash-editorials, or fax us at (202) 619-1043.