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Closing in
Compiled from Times wires WASHINGTON -- After five days of swift battlefield success that put about half of Afghanistan in the hands of the opposition, the United States is zeroing in on the leadership of Afghanistan's retreating Taliban militia and its allies in Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Tuesday. Rumsfeld disclosed that small numbers of U.S. Special Operations troops are now active around the southern Taliban stronghold of Kandahar and elsewhere in south-central Afghanistan. He said the troops weren't acting as liaisons with anti-Taliban rebels -- as U.S. Special Forces have done with considerable success in the north -- but were acting independently as part of a stepped up effort to hunt down Taliban leaders and their militant allies. A Defense Department official told the Washington Post that the Special Operations forces primarily were observing and tracking fleeing Taliban and al-Qaida members to prepare the way for attacks against them. The "first priority is unquestionably tracking down the leadership in al-Qaida and Taliban," Rumsfeld said. "The second priority is destroying the Taliban and al-Qaida's military capability, which is what props up that leadership, and tracking it down, finding it, and destroying it." There were these other major developments: A small number of U.S. troops entered Kabul with the Northern Alliance after Taliban forces deserted the capital Tuesday. Hundreds of alliance troops hunted down lingering Taliban troops and foreigners who came to Afghanistan to join al-Qaida. At least 11 Arabs and Pakistanis were slain and their bodies mutilated. Knight Ridder reported the fall of Jalalabad, 146 miles southeast of Kabul, to the alliance. If confirmed, it would mark the first Taliban loss of a city dominated by Pashtuns, who make up the majority of Taliban ranks. A U.S. official, speaking to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said an armed force of ethnic Pashtuns was moving against the Taliban near Kandahar. Heavy gunfire was heard at the airport southeast of the city. The Northern Alliance foreign minister, Abdullah, called the situation there chaotic: "Taliban authorities are not seen. There is no responsible authority to respond to the needs of the people." Rumsfeld's renewed emphasis on the search for Taliban and al-Qaida leaders signaled that the anti-terrorism war was entering a new phase, following the string of rapid successes by Northern Alliance rebels that sent Taliban leaders fleeing from Kabul and other northern cities. The defense secretary warned that other countries shouldn't provide safe harbor to terrorists fleeing Afghanistan. He said some al-Qaida members might flee to neighboring Iran and Pakistan or to countries where they have operated before, specifically Somalia and Sudan. He also listed Iraq, Syria, Libya, Cuba and North Korea as "states that in the past have housed terrorists." Rumsfeld's comments were intended to lay down a marker for those countries and show them that the United States is watching their behavior, the Post reported, quoting a defense official. With the north now in rebel hands, a senior defense official said U.S. military engineers and logistics specialists may be dispatched to help establish a land route from Uzbekistan for military and relief supplies and to reconstruct airfields. The Pentagon's hope, however, is that much of the task of securing these facilities can be done by other foreign forces. The disarray of the Taliban as it retreated from the north to Kandahar and the country's mountains is making it far easier for U.S. forces to find and attack them, Rumsfeld said. "Right now they are in many instances visible," he said. Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the Pentagon had "some indication of some (al-Qaida) leadership" being killed. But he added, "We're not done yet." U.S. intelligence reports over the weekend said that some of the mountain caves hit by American airstrikes last week are now believed to have contained al-Qaida members, including some leaders. "As they retreat, we are looking for Taliban on the move, either east or west out of Mazar-e-Sharif, or south out of Kabul," Myers said. "The trick is trying to differentiate between Taliban and other forces and other peoples that may be leaving those locations, and that's very, very difficult." Mullah Mohammed Omar, the Taliban leader whose whereabouts are unknown, urged his scattered troops to fight on. "Any person who goes hither and thither is like a slaughtered chicken that falls and dies," Omar said in a radio address. "You should regroup yourselves, resist and fight." He did not refer to his guest, terrorist Osama bin Laden, whose whereabouts are unclear. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said he believed that bin Laden is probably in southern Afghanistan, around Kandahar. Also Tuesday . . .A Kabul office of the Arab channel Al-Jazeera was hit in an air raid. The United States said it was targeting the al-Qaida terrorist network and didn't know the television channel was located there. Equipment was destroyed, but no one was was in the two-story building when it was hit before dawn. Gen. Tommy Franks, the U.S. commander for the war, has prepared 50 to 70 additional aircraft to be stationed in Tajikistan, a senior defense official told the Washington Post. The proposed contingent includes not only more Air Force fighter jets but A-10 Warthog attack planes, which fly low and are effective in blowing up tanks and "loitering" over an area to wait for targets to emerge.
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From the Times wire desk
From the AP |
