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Day twenty-five developments

After a short break, United States jets carried out a heavy bombing raid on the Taleban stronghold of Kandahar in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, an agency report said.

The Taleban claimed that eight people were injured when one of the bombs fell in the centre of the city (Full Story).

This was on the twenty-fifth day of the strikes. Or was it the twenty-fourth? Or the fourth? This is the question that the Afghanistan watchers -- which basically means the whole world -- are asking. For, the events that occur on one day are fast becoming indistinguishable from events that occur on other days.

However, one thing is evident on going through the reports: America is getting desperate. Consider these points.

1. Tired of Pakistan's constant harping that the strikes in Afghanistan must pause during the Muslim holy month of Ramzan, the US snubbed President Pervez Musharraf once again and said that it did not need constant advice from him on such matters.

Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters that they did not share Musharraf's assessment of the war, though they appreciated his help to the anti-terror coalition (Full Story).

2. Rumsfeld asserted that the Taleban and the Al Qaeda would lose popularity as the US bombings continued (Wishful thinking?) (Full Story). He also admitted the presence of US ground troops in Afghanistan (Full Story).

3. Concerned over the constant exchange of words between the two neighbours in the subcontinent, the US once again asked India and Pakistan to avoid any "flare up". Secretary of State Colin Powell said, "We have been encouraging both sides to exercise restraint, more than we normally would encourage them to do.(Full Story)" Note: The key word here is "more than we normally."

4. Powell also admitted that the US-led campaign against terrorism had hit a "flat spot", but asserted the coalition would ultimately prevail in the military campaign (Full Story).

The above reports clearly indicate that the US is getting impatient with Pakistan and the Indo-Pak relations. The fact that it doesn't have much to show after dropping tens of thousands of pounds of bombs in Afghanistan isn't a cause for cheer either.

Of course, there is another war that the US is fighting -- the war against anthrax.

In the latest case, a New York woman died of inhalation anthrax on Wednesday. The woman, 61-year-old Kathy Nguyen of Vietnamese origin, worked in a supply room at the Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital and was the first to die of the disease in New York (Full Story).

To make matters worse, reports coming our of Saudi Arabia -- one of America's 'key allies' -- were not too encouraging either.

Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz said Saudi Arabia was not backing the strikes "in the real sense of the word", and added that it only had a "position" on the war against terrorism

"No, the kingdom is not backing (the strikes) in the real term of the word," the Al-Riyadh quoted the prince as saying (Full Story).

Another Saudi Prince, Turki as-Sudairi said that Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf may be toppled if the United States continued to bomb Afghanistan during Ramzan.

"Emotions will run high. There will be more support for Islamic groups. Some governments can be toppled," he said (Full Story).

Meanwhile, tensions between the United Nations and the Taleban came to the fore when the militia took control of a field office run by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Spin Boldak in the southern part of the country (Full Story).

There was also tension over a meeting of the world body's special envoy to Afghanistan Lakhdar Brahimi with the militia's ambassador to Pakistan Abdul Salam Zaeef.

Brahimi, who arrived in Islamabad on Sunday to discuss a post-Taleban regime with Pakistani and Afghan leaders, had 'no time' to meet Zaeef.

At the same time, Zaeef was directed by Taleban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar not to meet the UN's special representative with the Taleban's leadership accusing the UN of being 'a tool' of the United States (Full Story).

However, Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Vijay Nambiar discussed with Brahimi the formation of a broad-based government in Afghanistan that would replace the Taleban.

Nambiar held talks with Brahimi for over an hour during which they exchanged views on the progress made in setting up a new government in Afghanistan (Full Story).

In Pakistan, the administration banned the use of public address systems in mosques for purposes other than azan (prayer) and sermon.

A cabinet meeting presided over by President Gen Pervez Musharraf, took 'strong notice of misuse of loud speakers in certain mosques' and directed the interior ministry and provincial governments to strictly implement the ban (Full Report).

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