Task of dismantling Al-Qaeda not over: Wolfowitz’s interview
PARIS, Nov 28: The task of dismantling the al-Qaeda network consists of far more than merely eliminating its leader Osama bin Laden, deputy US Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz warned in European newspaper interviews Wednesday.
“The most important personality is Osama, but for reasons more symbolic than operational. If he went tomorrow there would still be a very dangerous network,” Wolfowitz told the influential French daily Le Monde.
“We are only at the beginning of penetrating the networks, neutralising certain leaders, collecting information on certain leaders outside (Afghanistan),” he was quoted as saying.
“Al-Qaeda does not only exist in Afghanistan .... It is an organisation which is present in 60 countries,” he said.
“We would still like to get him, but it wouldn’t make much difference,” Wolfowitz reiterated in another interview with Britain’s the Daily Telegraph.
“So one really has to think about the network as a whole, and for that matter think of a variety of networks, because the more we learn about al-Qaeda the more one is struck by how all these networks communicate with one another and cooperate with one another.”
His comments came as the US-led coalition prepared for a final push to flush out Osama.
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who saw a live video feed of the raid while visiting the US Central Command in Florida, could not name who was in the compound but said those present were of “appreciable” importance.
In his comments to Le Monde, Wolfowitz said that he was concerned the public thought Afghanistan was a closed case, after the ouster of the ruling Taliban from most corners of the country earlier this month.
“What worries me, now, is that a lot of people may think that, as regards Afghanistan, the story is over. It is far from being the case,” he said.
SIGHTS ON AL-QAEDA: With the Taliban regime down to its last patch of territory in Afghanistan, US forces have begun training their sights on the ground and in the air on Osama bin Laden.
Kenton Keith, the American spokesman for the US-led coalition, said in Islamabad on Wednesday that 600 Marines were already on the ground at an airstrip south of Kandahar and that another 400 would arrive “within hours or days”.
Talks, meanwhile, were said to be underway on Wednesday between Taliban officials and tribal elders to persuade the militia to relinquish control of Kandahar.
The discussions were reported by Farid Karzai, whose cousin Hamid Karzai is a Pakhtoon tribal chief, leading anti-Taliban figure and supporter of the ex-king.
Farid Karzai said representatives of anti-Taliban factions were currently in Kandahar city.—AFP
