WASHINGTON, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- The White House on Friday said it would not use U.S. military forces as a tools in rebuilding Afghanistan's government should the Taliban regime fall as a result of the U.S.-led military campaign against terrorism.
"The purpose of the military is not, as he said on October 12th, during the course of the campaign, to use troops all around the world to serve as social workers or policemen or, you know, school walking guards," said White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer during the afternoon press briefing.
"Obviously, what's going on in Afghanistan with America's military is just the opposite. The military is being used for the purpose the president said in the campaign: to fight and win wars."
The United States began military strikes against Afghanistan on Sunday in answer to terrorist attacks in Washington and New York on Sept. 11 that left about 6,000 people dead. Federal authorities had identified Saudi fugitive Osama bin Laden as a prime suspect in the attack along with his Muslim extremist group al Qaida as being responsible for the attacks. Bush demanded the Taliban surrender bin Laden, who it has been hiding bin Laden within Afghan borders
Fleischer said that after the military mission is completed, then it would be appropriate to talk with other nations about foreign aid and diplomacy to create a stable Afghanistan. He said Bush and United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan a day earlier had discussed United Nations involvement in establishing a post-Taliban government in Afghanistan.
"Kofi Annan said the United Nations was interested in pursuing the subject," Fleischer said. He said that the idea of a replacement government for the Taliban regime had been a topic of conversations in U.N. Security Council meetings, and that it stated it would "assist those who seek a peaceful, economically developing Afghanistan free of terrorism."
President Bush during his prime-time news conference Thursday night said it would be useful for the United Nations to take over "so-called nation-building."
"I would call it the stabilization of a future government -- after our military mission is complete. We'll participate. Other countries will participate. I've talked to many countries that are interested in making sure that the post-operations Afghanistan is one that is stable and one that doesn't become yet again a haven for terrorist criminals," Bush said Thursday.
The clarification on the U.S. position on a post-Taliban Afghanistan comes one week before President Bush leaves Washington to participate in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Shanghai, where he is expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to re-ignite talks on U.S. efforts to create a missile defense shield, an initiative that Putin opposes as a violation of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
Fleischer said recent events prove why President Bush believes a need exists the U.S. to move forward with plans to retool the framework of the decades-old pact the the then Soviet Union.
"And that's (the Sept. 11 attacks) why the president believes that from this we have learned the motives of those who would do harm to the United States, making it even more important for the United States to be able to protect itself from an accidental missile launch, or a deliberate one, if it ever got to that point," Fleischer said.
President Bush left Washington Friday afternoon to spend the weekend at Camp David, the presidential retreat in the Catoctin Mountains. Before he left, he praised the U.S. House of Representatives for passing the anti-terrorism bill, saying it was virtually identical to the version approved by the U.S. Senate.
"I urge the Congress to quickly get the bill to my desk. We must strengthen the hand of law enforcement to help safeguard America and prevent future attacks," Bush said.
Still pending before Congress is the aviation security bill which the Senate approved Thursday. The bill expands the air marshals program, makes baggage screeners federal employees, require stronger cockpit doors and allows pilots to carry firearms. The unanimous vote sets up a fight in the House, where conservatives oppose expanding the federal mandate to include baggage screening.
The White House said Friday that Bush still had "concerns" about the federalization of airport screeners.
