U.S. sends in more troops

Herald news services

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, backed away Sunday from calls to halt the bombing of Afghanistan during Ramadan, but cautioned visiting Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that continued airstrikes during the holy month could cause negative political fallout throughout the Muslim world, senior U.S. and Pakistani officials said.

Rumsfeld’s visit came as military officials in Washington attempted to prepare the public for a drawn-out campaign that could last through the winter and involve a greater number of U.S. troops.

Toward that end, top U.S. military officials confirmed that more special forces teams were moved into Afghanistan over the weekend, sharply increasing the number of U.S. combat personnel in position to help fight the Taliban. Among other tasks, the troops serve as target spotters for pilots.

The officials said the American team inspected a new airstrip and will be used to carry out covert activities. They declined to elaborate.

Rumsfeld and Pakistani Foreign Minister Abdus Sattar told reporters that while they were sensitive to Islamic concerns, military objectives took precedence in the war on terrorism.

"I’m certainly aware of the views of the president of Pakistan and interested in the views of any number of countries in the Muslim world," Rumsfeld said. But he said Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban movement and Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida terrorist network still pose a threat to Americans, and "it is important that the terrorists be stopped."

Sattar said that "the military campaign should be reduced to a time as short as possible, consistent with the realization of objectives."

In the United States, top military leaders said the Afghan campaign was on schedule and making "great progress" toward its goal of destroying al-Qaida and the Taliban.

But Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Army Gen. Tommy Franks, who heads the U.S. Central Command, warned in separate television interviews that the United States and its allies still face a long and difficult task.

Neither suggested that the United States was close to locating bin Laden, the Saudi exile suspected of being behind the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon.

As the U.S. bombing entered its fifth week, Rumsfeld said in Islamabad that Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban militia was no longer functioning as a government and was not providing for the basic necessities of the country’s population.

"There really is not a government to speak of in Afghanistan today," he said. "As a military force, they (the Taliban) have concentrations of power, they exist. They have capabilities that remain, tanks and anti-aircraft and some Stinger" missiles.

But Taliban forces "are not making major military moves," he said. "They are pretty much in a static position. They are using mosques for ammunition storage."

However, Afghans arriving in territory held by the opposition Northern Alliance reported that thousands of armed Pakistanis and other foreigners were pouring into Kabul, the capital, and fanning out toward the front lines to help the Taliban fight any U.S. ground offensive or advance by the Northern Alliance.

Their accounts appeared to confirm claims by Northern Alliance commanders that the Taliban was reinforcing its front lines with thousands of foreign "volunteers," mostly from Pakistan but also from Arab countries.

Rumsfeld said the Taliban were trying to prevent U.S. strikes on their military targets by using mosques as military command centers and for storing ammunition and placing tanks near hospitals and schools. The Taliban are "actively lying about civilian casualties," he added.

In Afghanistan, an opposition attack on a key northern city was reported faltering only hours after it was launched, raising doubts whether the factious, poorly armed Northern Alliance could exploit U.S. airstrikes and topple the Taliban without the assistance of American ground troops.

Meanwhile, U.S. jets struck the front line about 30 miles north of Kabul, according to the alliance’s deputy defense minister. In the Afghan capital itself, American bombs hit near the Intercontinental Hotel, set on a hill in the southwest part of the city.

They also struck the northeast town of Taloqan, which the opposition lost to the Taliban last year.

Opposition spokesman Nadeem Ashraf said alliance forces launched a three-pronged offensive south of Mazar-e-Sharif in strategic Kishanday district in Balkh province, which borders Uzbekistan. The spokesman said the attack began after U.S. jets softened up Taliban positions by heavy bombing.

Hours later, however, Ashraf said one of the three opposition columns, led by Uzbek warlord Rashid Dostum, was making no progress and the offensive was faltering. He said Dostum’s forces numbered only about 700 to 1,000 fighters and had "no high morale."

His assessment could not be independently confirmed. However, it points to ethnic rivalries within the Northern Alliance that have long hampered the opposition’s ability to mount an effective challenge to the Taliban.

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