The war on terrorism will enter a "deliberative and considered" new phase that will take it beyond the current campaign in Afghanistan, Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Wednesday.
"I have always said there would be two phases of this operation. The first is in Afghanistan and our military action is focused in Afghanistan," Blair told lawmakers in the House of Commons.
The second is, in a deliberative and considered way, to take what action we can against international terrorism in all its forms," he said.
Blair was responding to a lawmaker who asked him to rule out military action by the U.S.-led coalition against other countries such as Yemen, Somalia or Iraq.
Blair did not say whether future "action" against terrorism would be military, but noted that countries that harbored terrorists or developed weapons to be used by them would be treated as terrorists.
"That has been the position from the beginning," he said. "It is the position of myself, the American administration and everyone else in the international coalition and that remains the case." Bureau Report