General Franks, commander of US operation in Afghanistan, briefs press

(30 Oct 2001)

1. Wide shot of news briefing
2. Cutaway of cameraman
3. SOUNDBITE: (English) General Tommy Franks, Commander of US operation in Afghanistan "And so in my view it is not at all stalemate. I believe that we are on the time line that we established, which essentially is the time line that we exercise at our initiative."
4. Side view of Franks behind podium
5. Cutaway of media
6. SOUNDBITE: (English) General Tommy Franks, Commander of US operation in Afghanistan "But I will not confirm for you that President Musharraf suggested to me that I either should or should not continue the military operations during Ramadan. I think it would be wholly unrealistic to expect that I'm going to describe the conduct of our future operations, so I would ask that you not take any such implication away from my answer."
7. Cutaway of military personnel
8. SOUNDBITE: (English) General Tommy Franks, Commander of US operation in Afghanistan "Once the Taliban is no longer in power in Afghanistan, what then? I believe that there are a great many nations discussing this at the diplomatic level as we speak. As you know there have been meetings in Pakistan, there have been meetings in Rome and the responsibility of any military - ours or any coalition member's military - at that time is yet to be decided."
9. Cutaway of media
10. Franks leaves briefing

STORYLINE:

General Tommy Franks, commander of the U-S operation in Afghanistan, says the United States is committed to keeping its anti-terrorism campaign going as long as it takes to destroy Osama bin Laden's terrorist network.

Speaking at a news conference in the Uzbekistan capital, Tashkent, on Tuesday, Franks also said the U-S operation against the ruling Taliban in Afghanistan hadn't reached a stalemate.

The goal of the operation in Afghanistan, he said, was "the destruction of the Taliban leadership", which is providing shelter for bin Laden's Al-Qaida network.

Franks strongly denied suggestions that the U-S campaign has stalled, with air raids not achieving their goal of softening the Taliban's defences and the opposition Northern Alliance failing to march on key cities.

Turning to the opposition, Franks said there had been discussions with the forces active both in northern Afghanistan and in the south, near Kabul.

But he wouldn't give specifics about U-S military support for Alliance forces.

Franks went on to say he had what he called a "full, free, frank discussion" with Uzbek President Islam Karimov and the Uzbek defence and foreign ministers.

Uzbekistan has gone further than any of the ex-Soviet republics in central Asia in helping the United States in its anti-terror campaign, putting the Khanabad base at Washington' disposal and opening its air space to U-S planes.

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