Malaysian PM Urges US to Halt Bombings in AfghanistanMalaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad Saturday appealed to the United States to halt bombings in Afghanistan due to the increasing number of civilians killed there.He hoped the US would cease its operations immediately, whether or not it was Ramadan. The bombings must be halted as nothing had been achieved so far, he told a media conference at the Royal Malaysian Air Force base in Subang near here on his return from the overseas trip. The Prime Minister stopped over in South Korea on his way home after attending the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Shanghai last week. Mahathir said that Malaysia's sentiment was shared by other countries like Russia which felt that diplomatic initiatives should be taken to resolve the conflict in Afghanistan. He said Malaysia's stand was that the bombings would only result in the loss of lives of civilians as compared to the targeted group, whether the Taliban forces or the Al-Qaeda movement said to be led by Washington's prime suspect Osama bin Laden. Mahathir reiterated Malaysia's stand that retaliatory strikes on Afghanistan was not the way to counter terrorism. The best way was to identify its root causes, he added. |
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