Los Angeles Times and associated press
WASHINGTON — Top Bush administration officials warned Sunday that the military campaign in Afghanistan could continue well into the spring and beyond, raising the prospect of winter fighting for American troops.
"This is going to be a very, very long campaign," said Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in an interview on ABC’s "This Week." "It may take till next spring. It may take till next summer. It may take longer than that in Afghanistan."
As the airstrikes continued into a third week and included attacks on the Taliban regime’s troops, Myers also warned that while U.S. forces would take terrorism suspect Osama bin Laden alive if possible, "bullets will fly" if necessary.
"It depends on the circumstances," Myers said. "If it’s a defensive situation, then you know, bullets will fly. But if we can capture somebody, then we’ll do that."
Asked the same question, Secretary of State Colin Powell told CNN’s ‘Late Edition’: "Our mission is to bring him to justice or bring justice to him."
President Bush signed an order last month directing the CIA to destroy bin Laden and his communications, security apparatus and infrastructure in retaliation for the Sept. 11 World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, a senior administration official said Sunday.
Bush also added more than $1 billion to the spy agency’s war on terrorism, most of it for the new covert action.
U.S. warplanes bombarded Taliban positions Sunday near a front line north of the capital of Kabul, marking what could be the start of a more aggressive campaign on behalf of opposition forces fighting the Islamic regime.
Secret missions by special operations forces also were continuing, two defense officials said on condition of anonymity. They gave no details.
Navy F/A-18 Hornet fighters struck Taliban forces dug in close to the strategic Bagram air base for about an hour and were heard circling over the area again less than four hours later.
The opposition Northern Alliance has repeatedly said it plans to surround Taliban troops along the Bagram front by launching a ground offensive.
U.S. officials are not only facing the military challenge of continuing the conflict during winter, when snow and cloud cover could pose problems for ground troops, but also the delicate diplomatic issue of the upcoming Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Indonesia warned U.S. officials Sunday that there would be "explosive" consequences in the Islamic world if the military strikes stretched into the holy month, which starts Nov. 17. Indonesia has the world’s largest Muslim population.
In other developments Sunday, Myers denied claims by the Taliban that its forces had shot down a U.S. helicopter near the Afghan city of Kandahar and killed 25 American soldiers.
Myers also acknowledged the difficulty of locating bin Laden, despite a report that top U.S. intelligence officials had pinned down his location to a 20- by 20-mile area in Afghanistan. However, the Newsweek report acknowledged the area was so full of caves and tunnels that U.S. officials said it was "impossible to seal."
"We have not been able to pinpoint exactly where all these command-and-control facilities are. We continue to look," Myers said.
The Pentagon identified the two U.S. soldiers who died when their Black Hawk helicopter crashed in neighboring Pakistan after providing search and rescue support to the special operation forces involved early Saturday in a raid on Kandahar.
The two soldiers were Spc. John J. Edmunds, 20, of Cheyenne, Wyo., and Pfc. Kristofor T. Stonesifer, 28, of Missoula, Mont., both of whom were passengers in the helicopter. The men were assigned to B Company, 3rd Battalion of the 75th Ranger Regiment stationed at Fort Benning, Ga.
They were the first U.S. combat fatalities since the military operation began Oct. 7. Three soldiers were injured in the crash.
Defense officials said they were still investigating the cause of the helicopter crash, although they believe the heavy dust cloud created by the chopper’s rotating blades during landing probably contributed to the incident.
Meanwhile, in Pakistan, border guards opened fire Sunday to force back a crowd of hundreds of Afghans demanding to be allowed into the country. Doctors said a 13-year-old boy was wounded.
Pakistan relaxed border controls Friday to allow several thousand Afghans to enter the country without proper papers but clamped down again Sunday despite tens of thousands of people trying to escape U.S. bombing around Kandahar.
U.N. workers say 10,000 to 15,000 Afghan civilians have crowded into the border "no man’s land" between Afghanistan and Pakistan, seeking escape from the 2-week-old U.S.-led bombardment.
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