| Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, November 15, 2001 |
Bush Says War to Continue Until Al-Qaeda Destroyed |
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U.S. President George W. Bush was pleased with the military success in Afghanistan, but his goal remains the destruction of Osama bin Laden's network, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said on Wednesday.
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U.S. President George W. Bush was pleased with the military success in Afghanistan, but his goal remains the destruction of Osama bin Laden's network, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said on Wednesday.
Bush "will not rest until the objectives are accomplished, and those objectives are the destruction of al-Qaeda and the elimination of the Taliban and their ability to harbor terrorists, " Fleischer said in Crawford, Texas, where Bush would treat visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin at his ranch.
"The president continues to be very pleased with the progress in the war in Afghanistan and recent developments are very positive," said the spokesman.
"The president has said repeatedly that this is a different type of war, and the fall of a capital city in a different type of war is not the end result," Fleischer said.
"The end result is bringing to justice those terrorists who now hide in caves or have moved to other locations," he added.
The U.S., accusing bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network of masterminding the September 11 terrorist attacks, launched military strikes against Afghanistan on October 7. The opposition Northern Alliance of Afghanistan, with the help of U.S. forces, took over Kabul on Monday night and is now driving the Taliban forces to the south of the country.
U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney said on Wednesday that the Taliban are on the run, but the U.S. must rout terrorism before the mission in Afghanistan is complete.
"We've got a long way to go," Cheney said at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "Our objectives in Afghanistan not only were to take down the Taliban but also to wrap up the al-Qaida network."
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