US President George W. Bush said Saturday he wanted Northern Alliance forces battling the Tablian regime in Afghanistan to avoid marching into the capital Kabul, while also calling on world leaders to support the global war against terrorism in a UN address, said reports.
"For every regime that sponsors terror, there is a price to be paid and it will be paid," Bush told over 40 world leaders and diplomats at the UN on Saturday, according to ABCNEWS Online. "The allies of terror are equally guilty of murder and equally accountable to justice."
The president, addressing the UN's annual "general debate" in New York, said that all nations must play a part in the war — that "every nation in our coalition has duties" whether they are called upon to actively fight individual battles or not, added the news service.
Bush has been working to rally support for the gobal war on terrorism proclaimed in the wake of the Sept. 11 suicide attacks in the US, which the administration has blamed on Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden. The current war in Afghanistan targets the ruling Taliban regime, which has hosted bin Laden for many years.
WARNING TO NORTHERN ALLIANCE
President Bush on Saturday also tried to head off a possible advance into Kabul by the opposition Northern Alliance.
"We will encourage our friends to head south ... but not into the city of Kabul itself," Reuters cited Bush as saying at a news conference one day after Northern Alliance forces claimed the strategic city of Mazar-e-Sharif, about 200 miles from the Afghan capital.
Bush's demand was an apparent effort to prevent new ethnic wars from breaking out in the wake of the hoped-for collapse of the Taliban. Ethnic wars flared throughout much of the 1990s, pitting tribe against tribe, and numerous press reports have pointed out that the rebel alliance is hated by most people in Kabul.
Bush made his comments alongside Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, who agreed that the rebels must not move into Kabul. He said if they did, "we'll see the same atrocities committed" as after the Soviets left Afghanistan more than a decade ago.
Pakistan, long a strong backer of the Taliban regime before switching sides to join the US-led anti-terror war, reportedly fears the idea of a hostile regime appearing next door. It has also been rocked by huge pro-Taliban demonstrations.
In an interview with The Washington Post cited by Reuters, Musharraf said Kabul should "be maintained as a demilitarized city."
He has also warned that scenes of civilian suffering - the result of off-target American bombs - beamed by satellite television throughout the world were hurting the coalition's cause.
US officials have ridiculed the Taliban's claims of high civilian casualties, but Al Jazeera satellite channel's footage of the mutilated bodies of children killed in the bombing has stirred outrage in much of the Arab and Muslim world.
Bush lavished praise on Musharraf after a private meeting, and opened the news conference with an announcement he was supporting $1 billion in economic assistance to Pakistan, as well as debt relief, said Reuters.
BOMBS, TALIBAN DEFENSES CONTINUE FALLING
Meanwhile, the US-led bombing in Afghanistan continued amid reports of more rebel advances.
US jets also resumed punishing bombing raids on Taliban front lines near Kabul and in the far north, witnesses told Reuters on Saturday.
The planes dropped more than 20 bombs on trenches some 200 yards from the opposition-held Bagram airport, 15 miles north of Kabul.
The Pentagon recently announced plans to double the number of American troops operating in Afghanistan, where they play a key role in helping warplanes drop bombs accurately.
In the wake of Friday's seizure of Mazar-e-Sharif in the northern part of the country, alliance commanders have indicated a push against Kabul might begin within days, added the agency, which noted that their progress to date had depended heavily on US bombs and other assistance.
ABCNEWS Online confirmed that rebel forces were "gathering tanks and artillery along the front lines north of Kabul, the Afghan capital, for a possible attack."
The alliance claimed to have captured four provinces in the last few days, in some cases encountering little resistance.
Northern Alliance leaders previously proclaimed their intention of marching into Kabul, but have recently showed more signs of flexibility - Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
