Interview: John Kerry - Part Two
John Kerry, the chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a former US presidential candidate, has hailed the importance of a major new US-led military assault on Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan.<br /><br />Kerry told Al Jazeera on Saturday that the offensive, launched earlier that day, is important because it includes "a very significant Afghan component" of troops fighting alongside Nato forces.<br /><br />But unlike other offensives, Kerry said this time the strategy is different, with the aim of paving the way for more independent Afghan leadership.<br /><br />His comments came in a wide-ranging interview with Al Jazeera's James Bays, in which Kerry also discussed issues of US relations with Pakistan and Iran's nuclear ambitions.