Bush administration puts pressure on Taliban

By Barry Schweid

Associated Press

WASHINGTON – In an effort to pressure Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban, the Bush administration is widening its contacts with opposition groups to try to force the breakup of Osama bin Laden’s terror network.

An American diplomat, William Pope, met Tuesday in Rome with former Afghan king Mohammed Zahir Shah. Dethroned in 1973, the 86-year-old king still has a following among southern Afghan tribesmen.

“We keep in touch with a variety of people and factions,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Wednesday. He had been asked about possible U.S. contacts with Afghanistan’s northern alliance opposition, the United States’ only identifiable friend in Afghan politics.

The group’s military leader, Ahmed Shah Massood, was assassinated last month, but the alliance has stepped up its offensive against the Taliban, the rigidly Islamic militia that gives sanctuary to bin Laden and his al-Qaida terrorist network’s headquarters.

The Taliban movement itself is divided, with reports that many of its commanders are at odds with the top leaders.

Asked if the administration was encouraging the divisions, Secretary of State Colin Powell told The Associated Press on Tuesday, “You can be sure we are thinking of all the ways to make (the Taliban) think properly.”

However, Powell and other administration officials have stressed the United States does not seek to overthrow the Taliban government but only to force it to expel bin Laden and dismantle al-Qaida bases.

On Wednesday, Powell was visited by the Foreign Minister of Ireland Brian Cowen and said he thanked the Irish government for authorizing use of its airspace of Ireland in the campaign against bin Laden.

Ireland assumes the presidency of the U.N. Security Council on Monday, “and we look forward to working with the chair as we pursue new resolutions that will assist us in this struggle against terrorism.”

Boucher said the administration might seek a resolution in the United Nations to freeze the accounts of terror groups and their supporters. This would strengthen the moves taken by President Bush to have accounts frozen in the United States and overseas.

Bush has warned that the United States might retaliate against banks that refuse to comply by freezing their assets in the United States.

Boucher denied that the United States needs U.N. authority to act. The president has the authority “to take any action he considers appropriate,” the spokesman said.

He also said the United States will hold Afghanistan responsible for damage caused by a fire at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul caused by rioters. The United States has no diplomatic relations with Afghanistan, and Boucher said Afghan workers were not at the embassy at the time.

On another front, Iran, the administration appeared to be stymied.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Muslim country’s supreme leader, ruled out help in any U.S.-led attack on neighboring Afghanistan. He said the United States was not competent to lead a global campaign and called U.S. behavior “disgusting.”

Iran is at odds with the Taliban, and Boucher did not rule out some measure of support. He said Powell had not received a report from the British foreign secretary, Jack Straw, on just-completed talks in Tehran.

At the White House, spokesman Ari Fleischer said, “The president has made it clear that this is a time for nations to choose; that either they are with the United States and the free world and the war against terrorism, or they are not.”

Iran is one of seven countries listed by the State Department as a supporter of international terrorism. Two others, Sudan and Syria, are credited by Powell with providing some cooperation.

White House spokesman Fleischer accused the leaders of the insurgent movement in the Russian republic of Chechnya of having ties to terrorists.

That long has been the position of the Russian government, which has fought a bloody and unsuccessful campaign against the rebels. The United States consistently has urged the Kremlin to hold political talks with the insurgents, saying a military response would not resolve the conflict.

Russian President Vladimir Putin offered the United States broad support Monday for anti-terrorist operations in Afghanistan, including arming anti-Taliban forces.

Bush has promised a campaign against terrorism worldwide, not just in Afghanistan. Russia, and China, which also has pledged support, consider themselves victims of terrorism, too.

On Wednesday, Egypt echoed Russia’s call for an international conference to consider any long-term campaign against terrorism. But after seeing Powell, Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher said an international conference “is not a substitute for punishing these culprits.”