http://au.news.yahoo.com/060518/2/z0hh.html
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Wednesday February 28, 08:05 AM
<b>Cheney vows to keep backing Afghanistan</b>
US Vice President Dick Cheney has pledged to keep supporting Afghanistan's efforts to build its security forces and defeat Taliban insurgents, in talks with President Hamid Karzai.
The pair met in Kabul hours after a Taliban suicide bomber struck the US military base in Bagram as Cheney was preparing to travel to the capital for the talks. At least 14 people were killed, including three foreigners.
Their talks focused on the "war on terror (and) strengthening of peace and regional security," a statement from Karzai's office said.
Cheney pledged continued US support "in providing security, reconstruction and the war on terror," it said.
He noted in particular that the United States would assist in the building of Afghan institutions and equipping the national army and police, it said.
"He emphasised that the United States will remain with Afghanistan as long as it is needed."
Karzai in turn assured Cheney that his government would maintain its efforts to stop opium, of which Afghanistan is the world's top producer.
Cheney arrived in Afghanistan on Monday from Pakistan, where he urged President Pervez Musharraf to step up the hunt for Islamic militants said to have sanctuaries in tribal areas along the Afghan border.
The main US military base in Afghanistan was attacked by a suicide bomber while Cheney was there.
The attack killed up to 23 people and wounded 20 more. The Taliban claimed responsibility and said Cheney was the target.
Cheney told reporters he heard "a loud boom" and that the Secret Service informed him of the attack and that officials moved him to a bomb shelter on Bagram.
"As the situation settled down and they had a better sense of what was going on, I went back to my room," Cheney said.
Asked if the Taliban were trying to send a message with the attack, Cheney said that fighters "clearly try to find ways to question the authority of the central government."
"Striking at the Bagram (base) with a suicide bomber, I suppose, is one way to do that," he said. "It shouldn't affect our behaviour."
Major William Mitchell said it did not appear the explosion was intended as a threat to the vice-president. "He wasn't near the site of the explosion," Mitchell said. "He was safely within the base at the time of the explosion."
But a purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, said Cheney was the target of the attack, which Ahmadi said was carried out by an Afghan called Mullah Abdul Rahim from Logar province.
"We knew that Dick Cheney would be staying inside the base," Ahmadi told AP telephone from an undisclosed location. "The attacker was trying to reach Cheney."
Mitchell noted that Cheney's overnight stay occurred only after a meeting with Karzai on Monday was cancelled because of bad weather.
"I think it's a far-fetched allegation," he said, referring to the Taliban claim. "The vice-president wasn't even supposed to be here overnight, so this would have been a surprise to everybody."
The explosion happened near the first of at least three gated checkpoints vehicles must pass through before gaining access to Bagram.
The sprawling base houses 5,100 US troops and 4,000 other coalition forces and contractors. High security areas within the base are blocked by their own checkpoints. It was unclear how an attacker could expect to penetrate the base, locate the vice president and get close to him without detection.
"We maintain a high-level of security here at all times. Our security measures were in place and the killer never had access to the base," said Lt. Col. James E. Bonner, the base operations commander. "When he realised he would not be able to get onto the base he attacked the local population."
South Korea's Defence Ministry said one of its troops stationed in Bagram, Sgt. Yoon Jang-ho, 27, was killed in the explosion. South Korea has about 200 engineers and medics in Bagram.
Cheney, who spent the night at Bagram, left the base about two hours after the 10 am blast. The explosion sent up a plume of smoke visible by reporters inside the base travelling with Cheney, and American military officials declared a "red alert" inside the base.
In Pakistan, Cheney had pressed President Pervez Musharraf to do more about the Taliban and other militants using its territory for shelter and training.
Citing US officials, ABC News reported CIA deputy director Stephen Kappes had also shown Musharraf "compelling" CIA evidence of al Qaeda's resurgence on Pakistani soil.
The CIA evidence was said to include surveillance satellite photos pinpointing the locations of several new al Qaeda camps in the Pakistani border province of Waziristan, ABC reported.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
(1) T-ban say that Cheney was target
(2) US side argues that they could not have known as Cheney's stay there was a late decision
(3) Cheney had been talking to Poisonous Mushroom of Terroristan before coming to Afghanistan
(4) Terroristan is known to harbour T-ban and AQ: who are the ISI's special little helpers
Could Cheney, during his talks with Poisonous Mushroom (PM), have unthinkingly dropped information about his stay in the US military base in Afghanistan? Or could his entourage have done so to any Paki security personnel? Then President PM of Terroristan or TSP's ISI might have told their friendly contacts (in the Afghan region concerned) to aim for Cheney. He had after all insulted/chastised their Grand Mushroom and the Land of the Pure/Poor.
That could explain the Afghan T-ban's claim to know of Cheney's stay.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Wednesday February 28, 08:05 AM
<b>Cheney vows to keep backing Afghanistan</b>
US Vice President Dick Cheney has pledged to keep supporting Afghanistan's efforts to build its security forces and defeat Taliban insurgents, in talks with President Hamid Karzai.
The pair met in Kabul hours after a Taliban suicide bomber struck the US military base in Bagram as Cheney was preparing to travel to the capital for the talks. At least 14 people were killed, including three foreigners.
Their talks focused on the "war on terror (and) strengthening of peace and regional security," a statement from Karzai's office said.
Cheney pledged continued US support "in providing security, reconstruction and the war on terror," it said.
He noted in particular that the United States would assist in the building of Afghan institutions and equipping the national army and police, it said.
"He emphasised that the United States will remain with Afghanistan as long as it is needed."
Karzai in turn assured Cheney that his government would maintain its efforts to stop opium, of which Afghanistan is the world's top producer.
Cheney arrived in Afghanistan on Monday from Pakistan, where he urged President Pervez Musharraf to step up the hunt for Islamic militants said to have sanctuaries in tribal areas along the Afghan border.
The main US military base in Afghanistan was attacked by a suicide bomber while Cheney was there.
The attack killed up to 23 people and wounded 20 more. The Taliban claimed responsibility and said Cheney was the target.
Cheney told reporters he heard "a loud boom" and that the Secret Service informed him of the attack and that officials moved him to a bomb shelter on Bagram.
"As the situation settled down and they had a better sense of what was going on, I went back to my room," Cheney said.
Asked if the Taliban were trying to send a message with the attack, Cheney said that fighters "clearly try to find ways to question the authority of the central government."
"Striking at the Bagram (base) with a suicide bomber, I suppose, is one way to do that," he said. "It shouldn't affect our behaviour."
Major William Mitchell said it did not appear the explosion was intended as a threat to the vice-president. "He wasn't near the site of the explosion," Mitchell said. "He was safely within the base at the time of the explosion."
But a purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, said Cheney was the target of the attack, which Ahmadi said was carried out by an Afghan called Mullah Abdul Rahim from Logar province.
"We knew that Dick Cheney would be staying inside the base," Ahmadi told AP telephone from an undisclosed location. "The attacker was trying to reach Cheney."
Mitchell noted that Cheney's overnight stay occurred only after a meeting with Karzai on Monday was cancelled because of bad weather.
"I think it's a far-fetched allegation," he said, referring to the Taliban claim. "The vice-president wasn't even supposed to be here overnight, so this would have been a surprise to everybody."
The explosion happened near the first of at least three gated checkpoints vehicles must pass through before gaining access to Bagram.
The sprawling base houses 5,100 US troops and 4,000 other coalition forces and contractors. High security areas within the base are blocked by their own checkpoints. It was unclear how an attacker could expect to penetrate the base, locate the vice president and get close to him without detection.
"We maintain a high-level of security here at all times. Our security measures were in place and the killer never had access to the base," said Lt. Col. James E. Bonner, the base operations commander. "When he realised he would not be able to get onto the base he attacked the local population."
South Korea's Defence Ministry said one of its troops stationed in Bagram, Sgt. Yoon Jang-ho, 27, was killed in the explosion. South Korea has about 200 engineers and medics in Bagram.
Cheney, who spent the night at Bagram, left the base about two hours after the 10 am blast. The explosion sent up a plume of smoke visible by reporters inside the base travelling with Cheney, and American military officials declared a "red alert" inside the base.
In Pakistan, Cheney had pressed President Pervez Musharraf to do more about the Taliban and other militants using its territory for shelter and training.
Citing US officials, ABC News reported CIA deputy director Stephen Kappes had also shown Musharraf "compelling" CIA evidence of al Qaeda's resurgence on Pakistani soil.
The CIA evidence was said to include surveillance satellite photos pinpointing the locations of several new al Qaeda camps in the Pakistani border province of Waziristan, ABC reported.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
(1) T-ban say that Cheney was target
(2) US side argues that they could not have known as Cheney's stay there was a late decision
(3) Cheney had been talking to Poisonous Mushroom of Terroristan before coming to Afghanistan
(4) Terroristan is known to harbour T-ban and AQ: who are the ISI's special little helpers
Could Cheney, during his talks with Poisonous Mushroom (PM), have unthinkingly dropped information about his stay in the US military base in Afghanistan? Or could his entourage have done so to any Paki security personnel? Then President PM of Terroristan or TSP's ISI might have told their friendly contacts (in the Afghan region concerned) to aim for Cheney. He had after all insulted/chastised their Grand Mushroom and the Land of the Pure/Poor.
That could explain the Afghan T-ban's claim to know of Cheney's stay.