We are joined in this operation by our staunch friend, Great Britain. Other close friends, including Canada, Australia, Germany and France, have pledged forces as the operation unfolds.
More than 40 countries in the Middle East, Africa, Europe and across Asia
have granted air transit or landing rights. Many more have shared intelligence.
We are supported by the collective will of the world.
More than two weeks ago, I gave Taliban leaders a series of clear and
specific demands: Close terrorist training camps. Hand over leaders of the al-Qaida network, and return all foreign nationals, including American citizens unjustly detained in your country.
None of these demands were met. And now, the Taliban will pay a price.
By destroying camps and disrupting communications, we will make it more
difficult for the terror network to train new recruits and coordinate their evil plans.
Initially, the terrorists may burrow deeper into caves and other entrenched
hiding places. Our military action is also designed to clear the way for sustained, comprehensive and relentless operations to drive them out and bring them to justice.
At the same time, the oppressed people of Afghanistan will know the generosity of America and our allies. As we strike military targets, we will also drop food, medicine and supplies to the starving and suffering men and women and children of Afghanistan.
The United States of America is a friend to the Afghan people, and we are the
friends of almost a billion worldwide who practice the Islamic faith.
The United States of America is an enemy of those who aid terrorists and of
the barbaric criminals who profane a great religion by committing murder in its name.
This military action is a part of our campaign against terrorism, another
front in a war that has already been joined through diplomacy, intelligence, the freezing of financial assets and the arrests of known terrorists by law enforcement agents in 38 countries.
Given the nature and reach of our enemies, we will win this conflict by the
patient accumulation of successes, by meeting a series of challenges with determination and will and purpose.
Today we focus on Afghanistan, but the battle is broader. Every nation has a
choice to make. In this conflict, there is no neutral ground. If any government sponsors the outlaws and killers of innocence, they have become outlaws and murderers themselves. And they will take that lonely path at their own peril.
I'm speaking to you today from the Treaty Room of the White House, a place
where American presidents have worked for peace.
We're a peaceful nation. Yet, as we have learned, so suddenly and so
tragically, there can be no peace in a world of sudden terror. In the face of today's new threat, the only way to pursue peace is to pursue those who threaten it.
We did not ask for this mission, but we will fulfill it.
