WASHINGTON, Nov 22: With Taliban control apparently reduced to Kandahar, the Bush administration shows no sign of relenting on its intention to carry on with its anti-terrorism campaign and taking it to other countries.

President George Bush told troops at Fort Campbell on Wednesday that there were “other terrorists who threaten America and our friends and there are other nations willing to sponsor them. We will not be secure as a nation until all of these threats are defeated”.

Iraq has often been cited in reports as a possible future target, and Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told a Pentagon briefing that Iraq was continuing to build chemical, biological and other nuclear weapons.

And in the hunt for Osama bin Laden, carrying a reward of up to $25 million on his head, it has been officially confirmed that US navy ships in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Pakistan have been authorized to stop and search any commercial vessel.

There is a fleet of American warships near the Pakistani coast based on three aircraft carriers and two Marine amphibious assault ships. There are also frigates, destroyers and cruisers. It was not made clear whether permission for such operations had been sought from Pakistan.

The US navy has been carrying out similar stop-and-search operations with regard to commercial shipping in the Gulf in its bid to stop supplies to heavily-embargoed Iraq.

Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the US now had “broader and deeper” special forces working with groups opposing the Taliban and was conducting operations that “go up and down in intensity”.

In reaffirming the frighteningly wide thrust that is being given to the anti-terror campaign, Mr Bush said: “America has a message for the nations of the world. If you harbour terrorists, you are terrorists. If you arm or train a terrorist, you are terrorist. If you feed a terrorist or fund a terrorist, you are a terrorist, and you will be held accountable by the US and our friends.”

The US Ambassador to India, Robert Blackwill, is quoted in reports published here on Thursday as telling reporters in New Delhi: “A terrorist is a terrorist. They are not freedom fighters.”