Hunt for bin Laden gathers pace

WASHINGTON -- The defeat of the Taliban and sudden success against Osama bin Laden's forces means the U.S. campaign in Afghanistan is narrowing its focus to two final targets: bin Laden and his top deputies, and Mullah Mohammed Omar, the terrorists' Taliban sponsor.

In the coming days, U.S. Marines and other troops hope to detain large numbers of Taliban officials and members of bin Laden's al-Qaida network, mainly to pump them for data about the primary prey.

The United States has some indications bin Laden was near where an American plane dropped a 15,000-pound bomb Sunday, a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity Tuesday. The military dropped the "daisy cutter" bomb on a cave where al-Qaida leaders were reportedly hiding.

U.S. spotters saw "dead al-Qaida" at the scene afterward, but officials have not determined who they were, said Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld sought to lower expectations that the effort will be finished quickly.

"There's no question but that some of the terrorists are on the run, and there also are pockets of terrorists and Taliban that are being attacked as we speak," he said Tuesday. "But we all know that a wounded animal can be dangerous, and so, too, the Taliban and al-Qaida can hide in the mountains."

To capitalize on the Afghans' assault on al-Qaida in the Tora Bora area, the Pentagon dispatched several Air Force AC-130 gunships and Predator unmanned surveillance aircraft, officials said Tuesday. Real-time video from the Predators provides ground targets for the gunships, which can unleash devastating cannon, howitzer and Gatling gun attacks.

As U.S. and Afghan forces move into areas once occupied by the Taliban or al-Qaida, they are collecting valuable information. Some of it may point to where Omar and bin Laden may be hiding.

"There's documentation being found and discovered and analyzed and translated, so that each day we learn more and know more," Rumsfeld said. "As more address books are found and phone books are found and computer hard drives are found as people have left areas, clearly our knowledge base is going up."

Still, Rumsfeld thinks bin Laden could cross the Pakistan border and vanish.

"It's a long border," he said. "It's a very complicated area to try to seal. And there's just simply no way you can put a perfect cork in the bottle."

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