Tuesday, October 23, 2001

U.S. warplanes shift focus to Taliban troops
By Robert Burns
Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Shifting the focus of U.S. airstrikes in Afghanistan from fixed military targets to Taliban troops is a logical progression toward the goal of destroying the Taliban and the al-Qaeda terrorist network they harbor, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Monday.

Speaking at a Pentagon news conference as U.S. warplanes struck for the 16th day, Rumsfeld said that on Sunday U.S. warplanes began bombing Taliban troops arrayed against opposition forces north of the capital, Kabul, and near the northern crossroads city of Mazar-e-Sharif, a Taliban stronghold.

“The reason for the air attacks on Taliban and al-Qaeda forces is to destroy Taliban and al-Qaeda forces,” Rumsfeld said, denying suggestions that the Bush administration had held back on bombing those front-line Taliban positions out of concern that the opposition Northern Alliance would capture Kabul.

“We’re not holding back at all,” he said.

Rumsfeld also did not hold back his anger at leaks of information to the American news media last Friday indicating that U.S. special operations forces were planning to enter Afghanistan.

“It just floors me” that people with such information would leak it, he said. Rumsfeld said it was vital that some information about U.S. military operations in Afghanistan remain secret.

“We cannot and will not provide information that could jeopardize the success of our efforts to root out and liquidate the terrorist networks that threaten our people,” he said.

Rumsfeld also denied Taliban claims that two U.S. helicopters were shot down during Friday’s raid. Video footage from the Al-Jazeera television network showed people gathered around several large wheels that the Taliban said were a downed helicopter’s landing gear.

“The Taliban have said they have shot down at least two helicopters, which is false. They have not,” Rumsfeld said.

On another Taliban claim, that U.S. and British planes bombed a hospital in western Afghanistan and killed 100 people, Rumsfeld said “we have absolutely no evidence at all” that the report is correct.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, agreed that there is no evidence but said: “We’re not quite as certain about that yet, so we’re going to continue to look. The last thing we want is to cause any civilian casualties.”

British officials said none of their planes participated in any raid against Herat, where the bombing was alleged to have occurred.

The top commander of U.S. forces involved in the military campaign, Army Gen. Tommy Franks, flew to the region on Sunday to consult with government officials and visit some of the troops.

Pentagon spokesman Marine Corps Lt. Col. David Lapan said Franks’ itinerary was secret, at least for now. It is known, however, to include a stop in Saudi Arabia, a key U.S. ally in the region. Franks is commander in chief of U.S. Central Command, and his headquarters is in Tampa, Fla.

Up to now, the focus of U.S. bombing had been Taliban air defenses, airfields, aircraft, military support structures like barracks, command-and-control facilities, communications, ammunition warehouses, vehicle and weapon repair facilities, and training camps used by the al-Qaeda terrorists.

Myers told Monday’s news conference that those earlier attacks were designed to undercut the Taliban’s ability to replace troops it loses on the front lines. He noted, for example, that the attacks destroyed many Taliban transport aircraft used either to fly reinforcements to the front lines or to extract wounded troops.

In explaining the timing of the move against Taliban front-line fighters, Myers emphasized the payoff for the northern alliance, which is a loose confederation of factions that has been fighting for years to oust the Taliban.

“We’re starting to work on some Taliban targets that are arrayed out in the field against folks that we would like to help, and that’s what we’re about,” he said.

Military analysts said this was a sensible step.

“The center of gravity for the Taliban is their military, and minimizing or eliminating their military is necessary” to achieve the goal of toppling that regime, said George Joulwan, a retired four-star Army general.

He and others predicted that the attacks on front-line Taliban troops would go on for weeks.

A U.S.-based envoy for the northern alliance said the U.S. strikes at the Taliban front lines near Kabul are promising but aren’t sufficient to allow the alliance to begin an offensive.

“It is better than other days, but a lot more of it is needed for us to make ground moves,” said Haron Amin.

Pentagon officials have said up to 15,000 Taliban troops appear to be entrenched in a labrynth-like complex of caves, trenches and bunkers north of Kabul.

Myers said translators are working on the Taliban documents seized during the raids. U.S. officials hope the documents provide clues to the whereabouts of al-Qaeda leaders.

Also, the Pentagon announced that 950 more members of the Naval Reserve and 307 members of the Army Reserve and Army National Guard were being called to active duty in support of the war on terrorism. That brings to 32,325 the total number of National Guard and Reserve members activated since President Bush authorized a partial mobilization shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Rumsfeld said there was no deadline for completing U.S. military action in Afghanistan. He was asked whether it would continue into the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which begins in mid-November.

“History is replete with instances where Muslim nations have fought among themselves or with other countries during various important holy days for their religion and it has not inhibited them historically,” he replied, while also stressing the urgency of stopping the terrorists before they strike again.