Blair: War ends when Osama caught

Charles Reiss12 April 2012

Tony Blair today vowed that action in Afghanistan will continue until both Osama bin Laden and the ousted Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar are hunted down.

Speaking on his arrival in Pakistan, Mr Blair gave his clearest acknowledgement yet that the alliance campaign cannot be counted a final success until the two principal individual targets have been captured or killed.

Asked about Bin Laden and Mullah Omar, the Prime Minister gave no hint of any new information as to their whereabouts. He said: "The campaign remains in place to make sure all our objectives are secure - and that includes tracking down those responsible for terror. Until that is done, our mission is not completed."

Mr Blair and Cherie Blair abandoned their chartered British Airways Boeing for an RAF Hercules for the flight from Delhi to the Pakistan capital.

In his arrival press conference, the Prime Minister went out of his way to pay tribute to the British forces operating beyond the Afghan border, 120 miles away. Mr Blair appears to have reaffirmed a distinctly ambitious target.

All the recent evidence is that the Bin Laden trail has gone cold. The Bush administration has admitted that it has no idea whether the al Qaeda leader is alive or dead, or whether he is still hiding out in Afghanistan or elsewhere.

At the same time, his broader claim to a "pivotal role" in world affairs faced a critical test as he entered the final stages of his Asia trip.

His arrival in Pakistan follows talks in India aimed to "calm" the tension which has brought the two countries to the brink of war. However, his impact in Delhi was muted at best, amid evidence that India resents outside interference.

The United States is reported to be in retreat over proposals for President George Bush to despatch a special envoy to the region after public protest from the Indian government. Mr Blair spoke to President Bush today but after the 15-minute telephone call the British side said the Prime Minister was not carrying any new peace proposals either on his own behalf or that of the President.

Instead, Mr Blair and his Indian counterpart, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, signed a New Delhi Declaration which even the Indian leader dismissed as "bland".

The two countries remain deadlocked over India's demand for Pakistan to hand over 20 terrorists it believes were behind last month's attack on the Parliament in Delhi which left 14 dead. Today the Indian government said there could be "no question" of talks with Pakistan until it changed its attitude to terrorism.

President Pervez Musharraf has overseen the rounding up of a number of militants from organisations based in his country but India says he must do much more - a line likely to be followed by Mr Blair when he meets the president this evening. There is no sign that Mr Blair has made significant-progress in his relatively brief private talks. A British source said: "We don't go with blueprints. We do not go with specific proposals, because those are matters for India and Pakistan."

The caution contrasted strongly with Mr Blair's declaration only two days ago that Britain was uniquely placed to be a force for good.

Meanwhile, a British man who says he recruited 200 Muslims to fight for the Taliban claimed today many are returning to launch atrocities in this country.

Hassan Butt, 22, who was brought up in Manchester, says leading politicians and government buildings will be targets.

Leader of the Islamic fundamentalist al-Muhajiroun group in Lahore, Pakistan, he told Radio 4's Today programme that those fighters returning to Britain "should strike at the heart of the enemy, within Britain".

In Afghanistan, up to 30 additional Royal Marines are today arriving in Bagram. The troops will join about 300 already at the airfield.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in