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War abates, bin Laden remains at large
( 2001-12-21 11:05 ) (7 )

British Royal Marines landed in Afghanistan on Thursday as the vanguard of a new international force intended to nurture the country's fragile peace.

As war abated and gave way to a detective investigation on a global scale, US agents interrogated captured fighters for clues in the hunt for the vanished Osama bin Laden.

Donor countries met in Brussels to discuss supplying massive aid not only to stave off famine but also rebuild Afghanistan in years to come -- but only if a new post-Taliban government, due to take power on Saturday, can enforce some law and order.

Pakistani secret service agents detained Aminullah Amin, a senior Taliban security official, in their first such seizure since the overthrow of the hard-line Islamic movement, which Pakistan sponsored until only months ago.

Pakistani troops and police were also still searching mountainsides in the hope of recapturing about 20 of bin Laden's Arab fighters who seized weapons from their Pakistani guards on Wednesday and escaped after a battle that left 15 dead.

DRAGNET

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Pakistan had captured hundreds of non-Afghan guerrillas who had fled over its border from US bombing and ground attack by Afghan fighters and who might have leads to bin Laden's cold trail.

Anxious to calm a growing storm between Pakistan and India that could complicate the US campaign against ``terrorist'' groups in the region, Washington called on New Delhi to produce evidence for its allegation that the bloody attack on its parliament last week was the work of Pakistan-based militants.

US officials admit to not knowing whether bin Laden, suspected of masterminding the September 11 attacks, is alive, dead, still hiding in Afghanistan or long gone.

At a newly built detention center at the airport in the Taliban's former powerbase of Kandahar, FBI agents have been interrogating Taliban and al Qaeda fighters, believing they might help capture bin Laden or divulge plans for further attacks on the United States.

The prisoners, some injured, are under heavy guard in a compound with space for 120 and surrounded by mud walls and rolls of barbed wire.

Fifty-three British Royal Marines arrived at Bagram airbase north of Kabul, the first of the International Security Assistance Force, as the UN Security Council prepared to vote on a resolution authorizing the multinational contingent.

The marines would provide a presence at the inauguration of the new government on Saturday, commander Matt Jones said.

The UN resolution authorizes a British-led international force for Kabul expected to be only a small fraction of the size of peacekeeping contingents sent to the Balkans in the 1990s.

A British defense official said the force would eventually total 3,000 to 5,000 soldiers. New Afghan Defense Minister Mohammad Fahim said troops would number around 1,000 with other personnel providing logistical support.

Germany has expressed opposition to the strong role to be played by the US military in commanding the force.

An adviser to outgoing Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani said Germans, not Britons, should lead the force and patrol Kabul because of Britain's 19th and 20th century Afghan history.

``The weapons with which our grandfathers fought against the British are still oiled,'' Hashmatullah Moslih said. ``The Germans are historically popular in Afghanistan.''

The UN resolution gives the troops a six-month mandate, subject to renewal. Britain expects up to 200 marines to be in place when the new Afghan government takes office on Saturday. France and Italy want to send troops soon after.

Afghanistan's designated leader Hamid Karzai returned to Kabul, after talks in Rome with 87-year-old ex-King Zahir Shah, seen as a symbol of unity, though he is unlikely to rule again.

BILLIONS IN AID

A Brussels conference led by the European Union, Japan, Saudi Arabia and the United States was meeting to coordinate billions of dollars' in aid and make Karzai's government work.

``Our message must be clear -- reconstruction will only take place in those parts of Afghanistan where local players provide security and stability,'' said Poul Nielson, European commissioner for development aid, opening the two-day event.

Afghanistan's challenges include rebuilding agriculture, returning refugees and clearing millions of land mines.

A British parliamentary report said aid operations are threatened by ``banditry and lawlessness'' and that past promises of aid had often not been honored.

Speculation is rife that the ``war on terror'' will soon spread to other countries, but Washington is anxious to stress this does not necessarily mean large-scale military action.

Yemen, Sudan and Somalia top the list of countries where US officials believe there are al-Qaeda cells that would welcome escapees from Afghanistan.

Yemeni helicopters and tanks this week stormed a hideout believed used by bin Laden's followers, leaving 22 people dead. Commentators said it was the impoverished Arab state's strongest attempt to end its reputation as a haven for Muslim militants.

German Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping backtracked on Thursday from comments he made on Wednesday that the extension of the conflict to Somalia was inevitable, after Defense Secretary Rumsfeld called the comments ``flat wrong.''