“We recognise and we are addressing the immediate issues but equally we recognise the only way of tackling the humanitarian issue in the medium and long term is to stabilise the situation, and that means clearing the obstacles that the Taliban put in the way. The sooner we make progress militarily, the sooner we can stabilise.”Mr Blair told the Arab journalists: “I believe the next few weeks will be the most testing time but we are on track to achieve the goals we set.” His spokesman said: “The coalition remains strong, the military campaign is making substantial progress. It’s hitting military targets as well as command and control centres, radar installations and the like.”Clare Short, the International Development Secretary, said during a visit to Pakistan that aid agencies and UN workers on the ground did not believe military operations were blocking their work. She added: “It isn’t true to say if the bombing stopped there wouldn’t be any problem in moving humanitarian supplies.

To say we can’t do anything until the bombing stops is not true.”But Nick Roseveare, Oxfam deputy’s humanitarian director, said lorry drivers were being frightened off because of the bombing and threats from the Taliban. “Our concern is that the food isn’t reaching the people it needs to,” he said.. The US President flew into China’s commercial capital last night for a regional economic summit overshadowed by the ongoing war against terrorism. The US President flew into China’s commercial capital last night for a regional economic summit overshadowed by the ongoing war against terrorism.
Foreign ministers from the 21 members of the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation forum (Apec), including the US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, continued yesterday to debate a joint declaration against terrorism, the first significant political statement in Apec’s 12-year history.The final draft, to be agreed by the heads of state this weekend, should be an unremarkable document, given all the supportive statements and actions of the past month. What is far more remarkable is what they are not saying.Day after day, US airmen use 21st-century firepower to pound an almost medieval nation on Communist China’s north-west frontier.

US troops are massing in the region, using central Asian bases built by Moscow. And it is unlikely to be a short-term stay in the underbelly of the former Soviet empire, and Beijing’s backyard.Yet both the Russian and Chinese presidents still assure President Bush of their support. In years past, the slightest American foray into such a sensitive sphere of influence as Afghanistan would have won swift condemnation from Moscow and Beijing. Even with the end of the Cold War, US “imperialism” and “hegemony” remain common concerns shared by Russia and China.Beijing has long stressed an “independent and peaceful foreign policy” that opposes “interference in the internal affairs of other countries”, even when they harbour murderers in the mould of Slobodan Milosevic.The Chinese Communist Party secretly fears the West might one day intervene in trouble spots like Tibet or Xinjiang, bordering Afghanistan. The events of 11 September, however, seem to have queered the pitch of the latest diplomatic “Great Game” in Central Asia.Sensing a chance to win an easier ride for their respective crackdowns against ethnic and religious dissent, the Chinese and Russian governments are shelving ideological differences in favour of backing Washington, for the time being at least.The Chinese Foreign Minister, Tang Jiaxuan, said yesterday: “Anti-terrorism is the struggle between evil versus good, the civilised and barbaric. It is not the struggle between different nations, civilisations and religions.”The Muslim members of Apec, notably Indonesia, the world’s most populous Islamic nation, have also been muted in their criticism of the US military response. They have more practical matters to worry about.Here in Shanghai, their representatives voice Asian concerns that the global economic slowdown, exacerbated by the fallout from 11 September, will shatter local economies that have yet to recover from the 1997 Asian financial crisis.They can at least take some heart from a promise George Bush made before flying to Shanghai.