KABUL (Reuters) - After a day of fanfare and hugs, new Afghan leader Hamid Karzai began on Sunday the job of rebuilding his shattered land with a cabinet meeting dominated by security issues, and by saying foreign forces were needed.
Security is a prerequisite for a government that must urgently grow food in a land ravaged by three years of drought, where women have no jobs, children barely receive an education, 16 out of every 100 babies die at birth and life expectancy is just 43. One of Karzai's first jobs will involve the war still being waged in Afghanistan with a possible erroneous attack by U.S. forces on guests bound for his inauguration ceremony marring his first day in office.
And while Kabul, patrolled by mujahideen fighters of the Northern Alliance and a swelling foreign security force, may be under Karzai's control, there remain pockets of resistance, hideouts of Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda, and the Taliban.
Asked by CNN if bin Laden was still alive in his country, Karzai said he did not know.
He said he had received information two days earlier on the possible whereabouts of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, and said he would be brought to justice if captured.