(1 Apr 2002)
1. Three US Senators walk to podium
2. Close shot US flag
3. Close shot US badge
3. US soldiers and flag
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Robert Torricelli, US senator:
"While the United States has met with incredible military success, in remarkably little time, the responsibility of rebuilding this country, ensuring that we win not only the war but win the peace, will be much more difficult. This country is devastated to an extraordinary degree. And (preventing) the return of terrorism to Afghanistan will only be ensured if some basic quality of life is restored, and that this nation finds security in its most remote parts, so that it can no longer be fertile ground for al-Qaida, the Taliban, or any other extremist elements."
5. Cutaway journalists
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Robert Torricelli, US senator:
"This is an extraordinary set of circumstances where the Afghan government is asking the United.. the international community to remain and assume responsibility for keeping the peace. After centuries of Afghans attempting to expel foreigners, we have the extraordinary circumstances of the Afghan government asking the international community to remain, recognising it is going to take even years to build the national Afghan army, that without some foreign presence, and particularly American involvement, the peace isn't going to be kept and everything we fought for could be lost. It would be a tragedy if we did not accept this invitation."
7. Cutaway journalists
8. Cutaway soldier
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Robert Torricelli, US senator:
"For the United States to leave Afghanistan after winning this war without securing the peace would break the heart of every person in this country. People in Afghanistan still feel vulnerable. They know the Taliban has lost the battle, but there is still fear of their return. And if the international community abandoned this country, the Taliban in some form will return."
10. US Flag reflected in window
11. Wide shot as senators depart
STORYLINE:
A US senator on Monday said talks with Afghan officials in Kabul had convinced him that the international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan should be expanded.
Senator Robert Torricelli said that it would be a tragedy if the international community did not accept the interim Afghan government's invitation to stay in the country and "keep the peace."
At the moment the US has troops in the country who are involved in the hunt for Al Qaida, others who help to train what will become the Afghan national army and "civil affairs officers" who liase with the local community, it does not currently contribute to the international peacekeeping force, ISAF.
Torricelli, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, also said he expected US military forces to remain in Afghanistan for several years because it would take a long time to build a national Afghan army.
Senator Torricelli and Senator Jon Corzine, both Democratic party representatives from New Jersey, made a one-day visit to Afghanistan to assess military and economic assistance needs in the wake of the US-led war last fall that toppled the Taliban government.
They met with interim leader Hamid Karzai and other Afghan officials in the capital Kabul.
The 4,500-member International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) authorized by the UN Security Council, currently only provides security in Kabul.
Find out more about AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
Twitter: [ Ссылка ]
Facebook: [ Ссылка ]
Instagram: [ Ссылка ]
You can license this story through AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
