Integrity Score 380
No Records Found
No Records Found
Chapter 2 continues…
The Taleban was quick to react. They denied the alleged involvement of Osama in masterminding the attacks and argued that it might be the work of a government or some other internal enemy of the US government. It was held that the Taleban or Osama did not have the means to carry out such an operation.62 These statements, however, were not convincing enough for the USA as they believed that Osama had information and capabilities to acquire chemical, biological, radiological and even nuclear weapons to use on American target. All this events preceded the USA’s first war on terrorism.
They launched a diplomatic liaison with its allies in their war. They were successful in pressurizing Pakistan’s military leader Pervez Musharraf to stop aiding the Taleban and side with America. With Indian leaders’ assured support to the USA, Pakistan had no option but to agree to US demands inspite of severe domestic pressure.
Musharraf carefully defended his decision to cooperate with the USA in a televised address to the nation invoking the threat from India, the teachings of the prophet and for preserving Afghanistan. Such a decision was not easy to make and during the next couple of months, the fundamentalist and religious groups of Pakistan vowed to launch a nation-wide campaign of strikes and protests and expressed widespread discontent.
Rejecting Mullah Omar’s appeal for Osama’s trial in a third country, the US Military began to reposition its forces world wide for its campaign dubbed as ‘Infinite Justice’. Amidst large scale population displacement on the threshold of war the USA planned for its military options ranging from air strikes to commando operations keeping a high level of secrecy on their preparations. With the British and American planners drawing up secret plans for long-term covert campaign to counter the threat of global terrorism, countries like Australia, Belgium, Canada, India, Israel, Italy, Kuwait and Spain offered strong or specific support. China and Iraq were the two countries that opposed the US. Others gave qualified or limited support, while Egypt and Sweden remained neutral.
To be continued…