Russia to Open Airspace to the U.S.

Getting ready to attack Afghanistan to fight against terrorism, the U.S. has entered the final stage of preparing for the attacks in the field of military, diplomacy, and economy.

An official of the U.S. Ministry of National Defense implicated yesterday that the U.S. has completed the preparation for the attacks, saying that ``the U.S. deployed long-range fighter jets B52 and B1, which can launch the cruise missiles. These fighter jets are deployed on the location for the aerial strike.``

Britain`s The Sun Times reported that ``the U.S. will mobilize 630 aircrafts for the war against terrorism. This is the biggest scale since the World War Two, and the three time bigger than the Gulf War.``

The U.S.` diplomatic efforts to isolate the Taliban are bearing results as well. For instance, Saudi Arabia said yesterday that it had severed relations with the Taliban. As Saudi Arabia cut ties to the Taliban, following the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan remains as the only country who has relationship with the Taliban.

President Vladimir Putin also announced on Monday that he would open Russian airspace under the humanitarian purpose and support the search-and-rescue operation if it is necessary. Central Asian countries, such as Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, also announced that they would open their airspace to the U.S.

Foreign press, quoting a Pakistan official, reported yesterday that Pakistan allowed the U.S. military to use four airports including one in the Northwest and 3 in the Southwest. However, it was reported that Pakistan would not allow the stationing of the U.S. ground troops in Pakistan.

Osama bin Laden in his statement sent through the satellite transmission of Qatar on Monday urged the Islam people in Pakistan to ``engage in holy war (jihad) to prevent the U.S. crusaders from attacking Pakistan and Afghanistan.`` The Taliban leader Mohammed Omar claimed in his statement that ``if the U.S. wants to eliminate terrorism, it should withdraw its military from the Persian Gulf, and should cast away prejudice against the Palestinians.``

Hong Kwon-Heui konihong@donga.com