Rumsfeld says major combat over in Afghanistan

Kabul, May 01: US defence secretary Donald H Rumsfeld, seeking to reassure allies` jittery reconstruction and humanitarian efforts in Afghanistan, today said a "major combat activity" has ended there. The declaration, delivered alongside president Hamid Karzai, came hours before US President George W Bush planned to declare that combat has concluded in Iraq, the second of two nations that became the focal point of the US-led war on global terrorism. Karzai said Afghanistan has made great progress since the Taliban was overthrown and a new government installed, but he said much more needs to be done.
"Can we provide the whole country with strong administration? No. Why? Primarily because the severe lack of human resources that we have," he said. "Have we achieved something from last December to today? Yes .... Is it enough? No. Should we do more? Yes. A lot more has to be done," the nation`s first post-war president said.

Rumsfeld said the US military will still be involved in trying to stabilise the security situation in Afghanistan, which he said has "porous borders."

"People can in fact return and do things that are unhelpful to the success of this government," he said.

He opened a joint news conference with Karzai with the good news, "We`re at a point where we clearly have moved from major combat activity to a period of stability and stabilisation and reconstruction activities."
Bureau Report