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Bombing, search for al-Qaida intensify
Compiled from Times wires TORA BORA, Afghanistan -- American bombers pounded the hills and caves of Tora Bora on Sunday, trying to soften al-Qaida defenses for a ground assault by Afghan tribesmen. Pakistani forces moved to seal off escape routes on their side of the border. In the south, rival tribal leaders worked out their differences over the administration of Kandahar, the Taliban's former stronghold, with the former governor returning to his old office. The agreement reduces fears of factional fighting now that the Taliban is gone. The bombing around this village beneath the spectacular, snow-covered White Mountains in eastern Afghanistan is aimed at rooting out Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida fighters believed holed up around cave hideouts near the Pakistan border. A commander of the anti-Taliban forces in Tora Bora said he was certain bin Laden himself was among them, and Vice President Dick Cheney said Sunday that intelligence reports indicate bin Laden is in the area. Others speculate the elusive terror suspect may be hiding north of Kandahar. "They were eager to send young men on suicide missions, but they appear to be holding up in caves," Cheney said on NBC's Meet the Press. B-52 bombers made repeated passes over the Tora Bora area throughout the day, and huge plumes of smoke rose from the barren hills and ridges. Hundreds of anti-Taliban fighters watched from several miles away as dust filled mountain valleys. Their commander, Mohammed Zaman, said bombs alone will not dislodge the al-Qaida fighters. He said the ground assault will be difficult, as the Arabs have had years to build up their defenses and restock their caves with weapons and food. He said bin Laden "has not escaped, and we will do everything possible to make sure he doesn't." From the other side of the front line, a 27-year-old Tunisian, Abu Abdullah, claimed weeks of U.S. bombing have had little effect, killing only two and slightly injuring eight. Contacted by radio from Pakistan, Abdullah said 84 Arab fighters -- mostly from Iraq, Tunisia, Algeria and Egypt -- were hiding in the mountains. A few had wives and children there, he said. He claimed the fighters had no links to bin Laden and scoffed at the idea that the world's most wanted man was among them. "I swear by Allah that Osama is not present here," he told the Associated Press. "But now we have no alternative except to embrace death instead of dishonor." Now that Taliban rule over Afghanistan effectively has come to an end with the surrender of Kandahar late last week, U.S. forces and their Afghan allies are focused on finding bin Laden, his senior al-Qaida lieutenants and Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar. Their death or capture would bring the beginning of the end of the U.S. campaign in Afghanistan, Cheney said. "Certainly the military operation would be pretty well wrapped up at that point," Cheney said. However, he added, U.S. efforts would continue in Afghanistan to gather evidence about bin Laden's attempts to develop weapons of mass destruction, and also to restore stability to the battered country in cooperation with other nations. Meanwhile, the forces arrayed against al-Qaida grow larger. A Pakistani Pashtun tribe on the Afghan border said it has approved a request by the Pakistani military to send thousands of ground troops into its homeland near the Tora Bora Afghan mountain range to cut off possible escape routes for bin Laden. Kuki Khel tribal chief Inyat Khan said it was the first time the fiercely independent tribe had allowed an outside military force into its semi-autonomous tribal homeland. Inside Kandahar, the Taliban's birthplace and last bastion, competition for control of the city is turning out to be the first major test for Hamid Karzai, an ethnic Pashtun tribal leader who was named last week to lead Afghanistan's interim government. Karzai negotiated a surrender agreement with the Taliban on Thursday, but the deal appeared to fall apart when the Taliban fled the city Friday morning and local leaders raced to grab parts of the city. Karzai has been criticized for the chaos around Kandahar, but on Sunday he successfully brokered a deal ending a dispute between two commanders vying for control of the city, former Kandahar governor Gul Agha and Mullah Naqibullah, a former local military commander whom Karzai had named governor. Naqibullah relinquished his post to Agha, who has complained that Naqibullah was too close to the Taliban. Under the agreement, Agha will serve as governor and Naqibullah will serve as his assistant until a new government is formed. "God willing, I will run the administration of Kandahar with the advice of the local people, tribal elders and mujahedeen commanders," Agha told the Associated Press. An aide to Karzai said he would travel very soon to Kabul. If the agreement holds in Kandahar, it should boost Karzai's standing. In other developments: John Walker, an American who fought with the Taliban, was recovering from dehydration and a gunshot wound in the leg at a Marine base in southern Afghanistan but is in good condition, officials said. Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Walker has been providing useful information and no final decision has been made on what to do with him. A U.N. official said the world body was sending experts to Afghanistan to help the new interim administration set up a government, write a constitution and prepare for elections. In the northern province of Takhar, a Northern Alliance helicopter crashed, killing all 18 people aboard, including two ethnic Pashtun commanders, AIP reported. There was no word on the cause of the crash. Elsewhere, a train loaded with 1,000 tons of grain and flour crossed the "Friendship Bridge," the only road connecting Uzbekistan with Afghanistan, after workers reopened the span. The reopening of the bridge was expected to speed aid to Afghan refugees battling cold, hunger and disease. Also, U.S. military officials said that, to better coordinate the burgeoning U.S. force inside Afghanistan that now includes Marines, Army soldiers and Navy and Air Force engineers, Washington has transferred command of those troops from the United States to Kuwait, said Quigley, the Central Command spokesman in Tampa. "You want to be where your forces are, or as close as you can be." -- Information from the Associated Press, Washington Post, New York Times and Knight Ridder was used in this report.
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From the Times wire desk
From the AP |
