British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, last night vowed that Afghanistan's Taliban regime would be overthrown as he reaffirmed his commitment to President George Bush's coalition against international terrorism.
At talks in Washington Mr Blair and Mr Bush declared their conviction that they would prevail in their campaign to root out Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network.
Mr Blair said: "Sometimes people say to me: clarify the military objectives. There is no difficulty about doing that at all."
"It is al-Qaeda and the terrorist network shut down. It is the Taliban regime out and it is a new regime in that is broad-based.
"And it is a decent future for the people of Afghanistan based on some stability and progress, not based on a regime that oppresses its people, treats its people appallingly, is a threat to regional stability and basically thrives on drugs. "
Mr Bush emphasised that they faced a long struggle. "I feel we are making good progress. This is a struggle that's going to take a while and it's not one of those 'Kodak moments'. It is a long struggle in a different kind of war," he said.