news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050921/ap_on_re_as/afghanistan
Click Here His call for a new approach to tackling militants came despite the fierce st fighting in Afghanistan since US-led forces invaded in late 2001, w ith more than 1,200 people killed in the six months leading up to Sunday 's historic legislative elections. Karzai demanded an immediate end to foreign troops searching people's hom es without his government's authorization. He also said foreign governme nts should "concentrate on where terrorists are trained, on their bases, on the supply to them, on the money coming to them" a veiled referenc e to support that militants allegedly get from neighboring Pakistan. Afghan officials have repeatedly accused Pakistan of aiding Taliban rebel s and other militants, a charge Islamabad vehemently denies. "I don't think there is a big need for military activity in Afghanistan a nymore," Karzai told reporters. "The nature of the war on terrorism in A fghanistan has changed now. "No coalition forces should go to Afghan homes without the authorization of the Afghan government. The use of air power is something that may not be very effective now. It was the second time Karzai has publicly challenged the US-led coalit ion.
Karzai's comments coincided with the start of the count from the Sunday's parliamentary elections the first here in more than 30 years. Trucks, helicopters and even donkeys were ferrying an estimated 6 million ballo ts to 34 counting centers around the country.
At a news conference in Washington, US Defense Secretary Donald H Rums feld appeared to agree that airstrikes in Afghanistan might not be as us eful as they once were. "When you don't have a massed army on the ground or large puddles of enem ies, then airstrikes are less effective than when you do have that type of a situation," he said. Overall, however, Rumsfeld emphasized the country's ability to hold parli amentary elections without major violence, saying it marked a significan t step toward stability. "The country that hosted Osama bin Laden, that supported training camps f or al-Qaida, endured decades of civil war, Soviet occupation, drought, T aliban brutality, is now a democracy that fights terrorists instead of h arboring them," Rumsfeld said. White House press secretary Scott McClellan said the US government work s closely with the Afghan government and will continue to do so after Ka rzai's remarks on foreign military operations. "These are all issues that we stay in close contact with them on and we'l l continue to do so," McClellan said in New Orleans where President Bush was getting updates in Hurricane Katrina. Karzai said he was "very, very satisfied" with the election. But in a tape aired on Arabic television, Al-Qaida's No. "Thieves and warlords are controlling affairs in the country, where inter national monitors can't observe more than 10 constituencies even if they wanted to," bin Laden's Egyptian deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, said in a fi ve-minute videotape aired late Monday on Al-Jazeera television. Both al-Qaida leaders are believed to be hiding along the rugged Pakistan -Afghan border. Celebrations over the vote have been tempered by projections that turnout was just over 50 percent down from 70 percent in presidential electio ns last October. The lack of any major Taliban assault to disrupt the vo te Sunday was seen as a major boost to efforts to marginalize the rebels , though the insurgency shows no signs of waning. In the latest fighting, guerrillas ambushed police patrols in southern Ur uzgan and Zabul provinces Tuesday, sparking fire fights that left three officers and four militants dead and four officers wounded, officials sa id. Karl Eikenberry w arned that he expected "more fighting in the weeks ahead." "We are staying on the offensive against the enemies of Afghanistan, and we will continue that process throughout the fall and throughout the win ter," Eikenberry said. He said the United States is committed to helping Afghanistan with securi ty and reconstruction so that terrorists cannot use it as a base. But Karzai played down the militant threat, saying, "We do not think a se rious terrorist challenge is emanating from Afghanistan." He did not spe cify whether he was referring to a threat from al-Qaida terrorists, Tali ban rebels or both.
An Afghan police officer keeps guard as election workers unload ballo t boxes from a truck at a counting center in Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday , Sept. Afghanistan continues the long process of collecting a nd counting votes Tuesday, two day after landmark legislative elections.
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