The despatch of an international peace-keeping force to Afghanistan would be premature, the White House said yesterday. It suggested instead that the opposition parties participating in the talks in Bonn could issue an invitation if they thought it necessary.
"There is a war that is still underway and the objectives have not yet been achieved," President Bush's spokesman Mr Ari Fleischeer, told reporters, calling conditions on the ground "fluid and dangerous".
"The President looks forward to the day when, as a result of the talks (in Germany) and the structure of an Afghani government being created, peace-keepers will be able to arrive. But that day has not yet arrive," he added.
He said US troops would not be part of such an operation, recalling the president's view that the purpose of the American military is to fight and wind wars".
Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon, the Defence Secretary, Mr Donald Rumsfeld, added that the US still believes that locally generated security is preferable.
Responding to questions about Amnesty calls for an inquiry into the deaths in the Mazar0e-Sharif prison uprising, a puzzled Mr Rumsfeld said that he did not have a position. However, he suggested there would be considerable logistical difficulties in conducting an inquiry in a war zone.
He said that he was not aware of the details of what happened but clearly prisoners who had not been properly searched had weapons and were able to get others from guards. They had been subdued at the loss of hundreds of lives. But, he insisted, in the face of the rising which had taken many Northern Alliance lives, guards had "every right in the world" to stop them from escaping and killing others. He said it was difficult to define "proportionate" in this context.
Warning again of the threat of nuclear-related terrorism, the US yesterday pledged to support UN efforts to stop terrorists from obtaining radioactive material. The Energy Secretary, Mr Spencer Abraham, said the US is giving the International Atomic Energy Agency Euro1.2million for the anti-terrorism effort while Washington discusses increasing its funding for the agency.
Reuters adds: Mr Rumsfeld yesterday rejected any amnesty for the Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, in exchange for a surrender of Kandahar.
"I can assure you that the United States would vigorously oppose any idea of providing him amnesty or safe passage of any type," Mr Rumsfeld said.
