United Arab Emirates Cuts Ties With Taliban
Sept. 22 -- The American Flag atop the Capitol building returned to full staff Saturday as U.S. military forces moved toward the Persian Gulf and Afghanistan.
On Saturday, President Bush lifted U.S. sanctions against Pakistan and India, imposed on both countries in 1998 because of their practice on nuclear testing. Bush said the sanctions were no longer "in the national security interests of the United States." The move was seen as a reward for pledges to help the United States in its efforts against the Taliban, the Islamic militia that claims to be the ruling regime of Afghanistan.
The United Arab Emirates cut ties with the Taliban. Now, only two nations, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, recognize the Taliban as the legitimate Afghan government.
The move gave a significant boost to U.S. diplomatic efforts to put pressure on the Taliban to hand over Osama bin Laden, whom President Bush has named the prime suspect in the deadly Sept. 11 attacks on America. Bush has authorized a military mobilization that could be used against Afghanistan.
"The United Arab Emirates does not believe that it is possibleto continue to maintain diplomatic relations with a government thatrefuses to respond to the clear will of the internationalcommunity," an unnamed foreign ministry official told the UAE official news agency.
In Afghanistan, where opposition forces launched heavy fighting, a Taliban official said the regime shot down an unmanned spy plane in a northern province and were trying to determine what nation it belonged to. The Afghan Islamic Press, an Afghan news agency based inIslamabad, Pakistan, first reported that it was a U.S. spy plane, then saidit wasn't sure which country it was from.
Pentagon officials declined to comment on the reports, saying their policy was not to respond to "each and every claim made by the Taliban." A senior defense official told ABCNEWS to be "highly skeptical" of the Taliban's report.
Bush Meets With Top Advisers
President Bush held a national security meeting by videoconference from the presidential retreat at Camp David, Md. Joining Bush at Camp David were national security adviser Condoleeza Rice, CIA Director George Tenet and White House chief of staff Andrew Card.
