Bush, Musharraf Oppose Afghan Alliance Taking Kabul

12/05/2001| IslamWeb

NEW YORK (Islamweb & News Agencies) - President Bush said on Saturday the United States could accomplish its military mission in Afghanistan without the Northern Alliance taking the capital of Kabul and discouraged it from trying.With Bush at his side in a joint news conference, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said he feared a Northern Alliance takeover would lead to the same atrocities that occurred after troops from the former Soviet Union were driven out more than a decade ago.
``I agree totally with the president,'' Musharraf told reporters.
A day after the Northern Alliance took the strategic city of Mazar-i-Sharif in the first major victory for the U.S.-led forces in more than a month of war, Bush encouraged ``our friends'' to head south, but added ``not into the city of Kabul itself.'' He said he would like to see it become an open city with all parties sharing power
``We believe we can accomplish our military missions by that strategy,'' he said. The decision to stop short of Kabul evoked that of his father, President George Bush, who called an end to the 1991 Gulf War against Iraq after expelling Iraqi forces from Kuwait without going into Baghdad.
After meeting Musharraf, a key ally in the U.S.-led war on terrorism, Bush rewarded him with a new aid package for Pakistan, bringing the total to more than 1 billion. Bush also said he supported debt relief for the South Asian country.
U.S. officials declined to say how much of this was new money, but noted that 100 million had already been pledged in direct assistance. Washington has also previously pledged another 500 million in direct aid.