November 3, 2001	Saturday	Shaba’an 16, 1422

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WASHINGTON, Nov 2: President George Bush on Thursday ruled out a bombing pause in Afghanistan during the coming month of Ramazan, underlining a similar statement made by his national security adviser a day earlier.

While for most of last month, US official statements about a Ramazan pause tended to be ambiguous, they have become more categorical in the past few days in ruling out any halt in the bombing.

It is unclear whether this is due to the fact that the US led military campaign has not made as much progress as earlier expected or whether the United States believes that it may soon be able to move more decisively against the Taliban.

Talking to reporters at the White House after meeting Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo on Thursday, President Bush said: “The enemy won’t rest during Ramazan, and neither will we.”

He said the military campaign would be pursued till its objectives were met. This was not a political campaign, the president added, but a war.

The United States has been expanding its military support for anti-Taliban forces and was said to be ready to send more ground troops into Afghanistan, but still largely to pinpoint targets from the ground for US bombers.

The number of American land-based troops is expected to rise three or four times in the coming days.