Donald Rumsfeld

WASHINGTON: The U.S.-led anti-terror coalition wants to update existing alliances and form new partnerships with nations such as India and Pakistan. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made this observation at a press conference at the National Press Club here on Sept. 11, but did not elaborate the point.

He said that the global war on terrorism “recognizes the importance of fighting the battle against terrorists where they are located and that is why there is a coalition of some 85 to 90 nations united to stem the resources that fuel extremism.”

Rumsfeld said the large coalition poised against extremism had the advantage that “the great sweep of human history is for freedom. And that (powerful force) is on our side.”

“Although the global coalition has done much to make the world safer from terrorists,” the defense secretary also acknowledged that “it is impossible to make all people safe simultaneously from every conceivable terrorist technique or tactic.”

Rumsfeld said the war on terrorism would not end like other wars: with a signing ceremony. Instead, he said, “there are some things that you just have to keep working on, continuously” because attacks are continuing, with extremists killing hundreds of innocent people in Spain, Turkey, Kenya, Indonesia, and most recently in what he described as the “ghastly terrorist attack” by Chechen rebels on civilians in Beslan in the Russian Federation.”