Defense Secretary Rumsfeld says Afghanistan operation won't take years to complete

By LAURINDA KEYS
Associated Press Writer

NEW DELHI, India – Putting more military teams into Afghanistan has improved the U.S. bombing, and the campaign will not take years to complete, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Monday.

"I don't think there has ever been a bombing campaign as effective and precise," Rumsfeld said at a news conference with India's Defense Minister George Fernandes, who has been quoted as calling the U.S. bombing raids in Afghanistan a "waste of explosives."

Asked if he wanted to respond to that, Rumsfeld answered, "You bet."

The increased number of teams of people on the ground to find targets and direct the planes has meant that "the effectiveness of the bombing is improving every day," Rumsfeld said. The teams also help direct the food parcels that U.S. planes drop in Afghanistan, he said.

Rumsfeld headed back to Washington on Monday after a tour of four nations, including Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Pakistan, which are partners in the campaign to eliminate Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida network from Afghanistan. The United States accuses bin Laden of organizing the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the United States.

"This is much bigger than Afghanistan," Rumsfeld said, "It's first because al-Qaida is there and needs to be stopped before it kills thousands of more people."

"Do I think the operation in Afghanistan will take years? No, I don't," he said. "I think it is something that is being very aggressively addressed. We will take the least possible time."

Asked if he approved of the U.S. military tactics, Fernandes said, "It's the military men who decide the military tactics. One should accept what's happening."

In Tajikistan, Rumsfeld had said the United States would form an "assessment team" to see how the Central Asian nation can assist the campaign beyond allowing flights carrying U.S. aid to cross its airspace. Tajikistan's Foreign Minister Talbak Nazarov said overflights of military planes or the use of Tajikistan's air fields could be allowed.

Rumsfeld and Fernandes discussed increased military cooperation, India's request for an end to restrictions on technology that can be used for nuclear power or nuclear weapons, and the future of Afghanistan.

President Bush recently lifted many sanctions on India and Pakistan, including bans on military contacts and economic punishments, imposed after both nations tested nuclear weapons in 1998. Restrictions on missile technology remain and were being discussed, Fernandes said.

Rumsfeld also said he and Fernandes talked about the kind of terrorism affecting both countries, but did not specify whether Kashmir was a topic of discussion.

India accuses Pakistan of funding and training Islamic militants at camps in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir. The separatists have attacked Indian security forces and civilians in their fight for independence or merger with Pakistan. Tens of thousands of people have died in the insurgency since 1989. Pakistan says it provides only moral support.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947. Two of them have been over Kashmir, the Himalayan region divided between them by a volatile cease-fire line.

AP-WS-11-05-01 1241EST