ACTION AGAINST QAEDA AND TALIBAN: RUMSFELD SAYS PAKISTANI OPERATION HAS HAD
SIGNIFICANT IMPACT

Says US Developing Master Plan To Counter Afghan Drug Trade

MUSCAT: US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Wednesday praised President
Pervez Musharraf for aggressively pursuing Al Qaeda and Taliban insurgents
in tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

Talking to reporters in the Omani capital on an unannounced trip to the
region, Rumsfeld said the Pakistani operations had had a significant impact.

"Is the Taliban still active in the neighbouring areas? Sure. That's just a
fact. Are they going to end up being successful, No. They are going to end
up losing," he said. "The larger the groups of Taliban that come together,
the better the target, and the faster they'll be killed or captured."

Rumsfeld said it was "debatable" that Mulla Omar was still in control of
the militant Islamic movement. "He's probably alive," he said. "He's
certainly hiding."

Rumsfeld warned that US efforts to create a democratic system Afghanistan
were threatened by hundreds of millions of dollars in drug money flowing to
its opponents. A "master plan" was being developed to combat it, he said.

Rumsfeld stopped short of committing US troops to a broad new effort to
attack the lucrative drug trade, saying they were busy fighting insurgents.
"It would require an overall master plan. That is what is being developed,"
Rumsfeld told reporters as he flew here from Washington.

The worries about the impact of drug money come as Afghanistan braces for
presidential elections in October and parliamentary elections next year.
Taliban insurgents have stepped up attacks around the country in an effort
to derail the vote. Rumsfeld said there was "a full understanding that the
enormous wealth that comes from dealing drugs can be put to uses that are
adverse to our interests or the interests of the Afghan government."

"You need a broad effort in Afghanistan to make sure the hundreds and
hundreds of millions of dollars, and undoubtedly billions of dollars over
time, that people are willing to pay for these destructive drugs will not
go into the hands of people who want to also simultaneously destroy
democracy, or reinstitute a Taliban government or provide funds to al-Qaeda
or whatever," he said.

"We just don't want that to happen. Too much effort has gone into this in
Afghanistan to have it go up like that," he said. Rumsfeld noted that
Afghanistan's had a bumper poppy crop this year. "To the extent millions of
dollars are available to criminals and to people who are not democratic, it
puts at risk the entire system. So it's something the government and the
coalition are determined to address," he said. afp