0
WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warns the Taliban “you cannot wait us out” in Afghanistan, using the killing of Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden to press for an end to their insurgency.
“Our message to the Taliban remains the same, but today, it may have even greater resonance,” Clinton told reporters after US special forces killed bin Laden in a helicopter raid on his heavily fortified villa in Pakistan.
“You cannot wait us out. You cannot defeat us. But you can make the choice to abandon Al-Qaeda and participate in a peaceful political process,” the chief US diplomat said.
Clinton saw the occasion of bin Laden's death as an “opportunity to renew our resolve and redouble our efforts” in the fight against extremism.
“In Afghanistan, we will continue taking the fight to Al-Qaeda and their Taliban allies, while working to support the Afghan people as they build a stronger government and begin to take responsibility for their own security,”she said.
“We are implementing the strategy for transition approved by Nato at the summit in Lisbon. And we are supporting an Afghan-led political process that seeks to isolate Al-Qaeda and end the insurgency,” she said.
Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda planned the attacks of September 11, 2001 from its bases in Afghanistan, which was ruled by the extremist Taliban movement from 1996 to 2001.
As most Al-Qaeda members are now believed to be based in the lawless tribal areas of Afghanistan, the Taliban is waging a deadly insurgency against the US-backed government of President Hamid Karzai.
Karzai urged the Taliban Monday to lay down their weapons and stop fighting his government, telling them to take heed from Osama bin Laden who “paid for his deeds”.
Karzai insisted bin Laden's death in Pakistan “proved” the war on terror was not rooted in his troubled country, where about 130,000 US-led troops have been hunting for remnants of Al-Qaeda and their Taliban allies since 2001.
“The war against terrorism is in its sources, in its financial sources, its sanctuaries, in its training bases, not in Afghanistan,” Karzai added, alluding to militant bases in neighboring Pakistan.
Clinton glossed over tensions in the US-Pakistani efforts to stamp out extremism on the Pakistani side of the border.
“In Pakistan, we are committed to supporting the people and government as they defend their own democracy from violent extremism. Indeed, as the president said, bin Laden had also declared war on Pakistan,” she said.
“He had ordered the killings of many innocent Pakistani men, women and children.
“In recent years, the cooperation between our governments, militaries and law enforcement agencies increased pressure on Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, and this progress must continue, and we are committed to our partnership,” she said.
The United States still harbor suspicions that Pakistani intelligence service supports the Afghan Taliban and Al-Qaeda, even if Islamabad is threatened by the Pakistan Taliban.
“History will record that bin Laden's death came at a time of great movements toward freedom and democracy,” Clinton said.
“At a time when the people across the Middle East and North Africa are rejecting the extremist narratives and charting a path of peaceful progress, based on universal rights and aspirations, there is no better rebuke to Al-Qaeda and its heinous ideology,” Clinton said.
