European Union leaders have reaffirmed their support for the military campaign against Afghanistan but drew back from calling for the overthrow of the Taliban regime. And the leaders watered down proposals for a European arrest warrant by agreeing that it should only be used for terrorist and other serious offences.
Last night's summit in the Belgian city of Ghent was overshadowed by a row over the decision by the French, German and British leaders to meet privately beforehand. The British prime minister, Mr Tony Blair, President Jacques Chirac of France and the German Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schr÷der, insisted that the meeting concerned military aspects of the campaign in Afghanistan that did not affect other member-states.
But other leaders were clearly annoyed by what they saw as a mini-summit of the three biggest member-states and Portugal's Mr Antonio Guterres condemned the meeting roundly.
"Europe should be discussed as a group of 15. I don't want to make groups within the EU. The 15 should work together to find a consensus in the fight against terrorism," he said.
In Afghanistan, meanwhile, US special forces were acknowledged, for the first time, to be operating within the country. Allied bombers marked the 13th day of the US-led campaign with a sustained assault on Kandahar, the Taliban stronghold in the southern part of the country near the border with Pakistan.
The attacks came as some 3,500 refugees, many of them women, crossed into the Pakistan town of Chaman.
As the summit was starting in Ghent, Belgium's Prime Minister, Mr Guy Verhofstadt, referred to the row as he opened it but he said it would be best if none of the leaders elaborated. But efforts to play down the meeting of the big powers were undermined when it emerged that the defence ministers from France, Germany and Britain met privately last week.
Mr Blair declined to give details of the talks and insisted that the most important message from yesterday's summit was that Europe remained on Washington's side. "Europe reaffirms in stronger terms than ever before its support for the military campaign. That's more important than who meets whom when," he said.
An early draft of the leaders' joint declaration referred to the overthrow of the Taliban as an aim of the military campaign but the reference was removed at the request of some non-NATO member-states, not including Ireland.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, persuaded the leaders to place a greater emphasis on the importance of complementing military action with a humanitarian aid effort. "Side by side with any military campaign, the humanitarian issues must be dealt with. Through the next few weeks, both within Afghanistan and around it, the aid programme has to be substantial," he said.
But Mr Ahern declined to back calls by many aid agencies for a temporary halt in the bombing campaign to allow food to enter Afghanistan.
Mr Ahern said there was broad agreement that the European arrest warrant should only apply to terrorist and other serious offences, a common definition of which could be agreed among member-states. This represents a setback for the European Commission, which hoped to use the crisis provoked by last month's attacks to make extradition within the EU automatic for all offences punishable by more than a year in prison.
"I don't need any lectures from Europe or anywhere else on tackling terrorism," he said.