U.S. May Remain in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON (AP) - The United States wants to make sure Afghanistan (news - web sites)'s internal rivalries don't rekindle civil war and plunge that country again into killing and chaos.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has long argued against a peacekeeping role for U.S. troops in Afghanistan. In view of the current fluid situation, however, Rumsfeld refused on Thursday to rule out any American role in keeping order in Afghanistan - including the possibility of sending up to 30,000 U.S. soldiers to ``police the whole country.''