December 5, 2001	Wednesday	Ramazan 19, 1422

NEW DELHI, Dec 4: A top US diplomat said on Tuesday the military campaign against the Al-Qaeda network and the Taliban would go on even as an interim government is created in Afghanistan.

Richard Haass, coordinator for US diplomatic efforts on Afghanistan, said he saw no conflict between military operations in the country and setting up an interim authority agreed by Afghan factions at their meeting in Bonn.

“Coalition military operations will continue, there will be a co-existence. I see no tension between the military campaign while an interim authority flourishes in Afghanistan,” said Haass, who is also director of policy planning at the State Department.

He told reporters that the coalition had no plans to stay in Afghanistan longer than was necessary but it could not leave the job half done. “Nobody wants Afghanistan to become home to terrorists and drug traffickers.”

Afghan leaders agreed on a blueprint on Tuesday for an interim government as fighting raged around the Taliban’s last major power base of Kandahar.

Haass, who held talks with Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh, said the coalition would work with governments around the world to target the Al Qaeda network, which could be present in up to 60 countries.

“We are looking at Al Qaeda cells in 40, 50, 60 countries...we want to create a world where it will be difficult for them to operate — to deny them sanctuary, deny them resources,” he said.

RESTRAINT IN KASHMIR: Haass said that the United States’ relationship with India had improved to what he described the “best condition ever”, consulting closely on Afghanistan and global terrorism.

Haass said US relations with both India and Pakistan had improved since the September 11 attacks and stressed that ties with each were not at the expense of the other.

He said India had decided to “act with restraint” in Kashmir. —Rreuters