Author:
Publications: The Times of India
Dated: December 4, 2001
Washington: With the military campaign
in Afghanistan in its final stages, the Bush administration has increased
its focus on uncovering and eliminating AI Qaida "sleeper cellls" and the
groups directly involved with them around the world.
The administration is concentrating
for now on what it sees as a serious, ongoing threat posed by the AI Qaida
in the United States and abroad.
"There are AI Qaida cells sitting
out there - some in the US and some in friendly countries, some in countries
with a long history" of harbouring terrorist groups, a senior White House
official said.
"We have to assume that since there
were cells prior to September 11 buried in the US for some time, there
might be others. This is the most dangerous fact for American security
right now," the Washington Post reported quoting administration officials.
Cooperation regarding international
intelligence, law enforcement, diplomacy and the military is a crucial
factor in uncovering cells, the small, self-contained terrorist operational
units that the administration has said exist in as many as 60 countries.
"The good news is that, for the
first time, we have a real, international intelligence network," the White
House official said. The US has offered assistance to countries in which
the terrorist organisation is known to operate. In Pakistan, which has
already received the promise of one billion dollars in economic and military
aid, the FBI launched a training programme on Friday to help immigration
officers detect suspected terrorists at Pakistani airports.
Last week in Washington, US President
George W Bush told Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar That he would
send CIA and FBI officials to Spain, where a number of alleged Al Qaida
operatives have been arrested.
US officials denied reports that
the Pentagon had encouraged Ethiopian troops to intervene in a skirmish
in a remote corner of Somalia.
But defence secretary Donald H Rumsfeld
noted that Al Qaida cells have been reported in Somalia and Yemen. Allied
naval vessels - from Germany, France and elsewhere have joined US ships
around the Arabian peninsula, patrolling possible Al Qaida escape routes
from Afghanistan.
On Friday, state department spokesman
Richard Boucher said the US is willing to help those willing to go after
the Al Qaida and its supporters.
"Some places, it's consultations
and information-sharing both ways, Mr. Boucher said.
"Some places, it may end up being
training. Some places, it may be economic and other support that they need
in order to sustain their activities. Some places, you have things like
border security, which has been an issue in the central Asian region for
a long time," he said.
Although the administration clearly
intends Afghanistan and its ousted Taliban regime to stand as an example
of what can happen to countries that decline to join the anti-terrorism
effort, the emphasis for now is on the benefits of cooperation.
Deputy defence secretary Paul D
Wolfowitz on Wednesday called for increased intelligence and law enforcement
cooperation with the US by Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines.
"We are working hard with your government
and are very interested in working even harder," Mr. Wolfowitz, a former
US ambassador to Jakarta said.
"When we eliminate the Al Qaida
in Afghanistan, we still have a lot of work to do," he said in an interview
with Indonesian television.
