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U.S. Strikes Effective, Says British Foreign Secretary
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said on Saturday the first ground raid in the war against terrorism was "effective," according to a BBC report.
Shortly after the United States said its special forces had staged their first ground raid in Afghanistan, Straw said on BBC Radio 4's Today program that the strikes had been very effective.
Straw told the radio program, "There isn't any doubt that the aerial bombardment has very seriously degraded the terrorists' capacity and the military capacity of the Taliban who have been sheltering the al-Qaeda organization.
"It's only as a result of the effectiveness of that air bombardment that it's now been possible to develop further tactics in the war," he said.
Straw refused to comment on the possibility of British troops joining the ground war. He said there was "active work going on to build a much better society in Afghanistan as soon as the present crisis is over."
Straw said the fall of the Taliban regime, which is harboring Osama Bin Laden, prime suspect for the September 11 terrorist attacks, appeared inevitable. "It's almost certainly going to be, or has to be a consequence of the military action, as long as the Taliban fail to meet the aims of this overall military campaign," he said.
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