M A I N   N E W S

USA carpet-bombs northeast Afghanistan

Dasht-i-Qalah (Afghanistan), November 4
US warplanes dropped more than 100 bombs on Taliban positions in north-eastern Afghanistan today, the heaviest bombing in a week, an AFP correspondent near the frontlines said.

The stepped-up bombing near the border with Tajikistan came as US air strikes on the Taliban regime in Afghanistan entered a fifth week.

For the first time, US B-52s also targeted Taliban positions behind the frontlines, further to the south.

US bombers have hit the Taliban frontlines in the north-east for five days over the last week.

The Northern Alliance, the Afghan opposition coalition fighting the Taliban, has most of its forces concentrated in the region.

The alliance controls about 10 per cent of Afghanistan but has said it is preparing a major offensive against Taliban positions and eventually Kabul.

WASHINGTON: US warplanes have struck targets around Kabul as well as the USA continued to pursue its strategy of weakening frontline Taliban forces, defence officials said.

About 65 strike aircraft, including up to eight long-range bombers, dropped precision and “dumb” bombs on six target areas and an unspecified number of so-called “engagement zones” on Friday, Pentagon spokesman Major Mike Halbig said yesterday.

An engagement zone is a term used by the Pentagon to describe battlefield positions or suspected concentrations of enemy troops and hardware, which, if proven true, can be pursued later as targets of opportunity.

“These targets were near Kunduz, Kabul and Kandahar,” Major Halbig said. “They included Al-Qaida and Taliban facilities, tunnels and caves as well as Taliban military forces arrayed against opposition forces.”

However, the Pentagon refused to provide any assessment of the success of its strikes, arguing the current conflict was vastly different from the Gulf War or any other military engagement of the past.

“That’s not about numbers,” Major Halbig said. “It’s not about how many people are killed.”

He said the victory in this war will be measured by a sense of security and freedom from terror, which will come from the eradication of Al-Qaida, the militant group led by terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden.

Following its dual-track strategy of alternating bombings with deliveries of humanitarian aid to starving Afghans, two US C-17 transport planes airdropped approximately 34,000 humanitarian daily rations over northern Afghanistan.

KABUL: A US air strike in Kabul early Sunday hit a Taliban truck driving in the capital, injuring nine militia fighters, sources said. Mr Abdul Wakil Omari, deputy head of the Taliban’s Bakhter information agency, said nine persons in a pick-up truck were injured in what was believed to have been a rocket strike just after midnight.

But as there is a strict curfew every night only Taliban fighters would have been driving in the streets in a truck at this time, residents said.

Mr Omari said the rocket was fired from a US plane or helicopter that flew over the city. He said none of the injuries were serious.

Residents reported hearing occasional explosions during the night. Mr Omari said the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif was bombarded during the night but he had no details of any casualties.

Meanwhile, the Taliban retook part of a key northern Afghanistan district early Sunday after almost 12 hours of fierce fighting with the opposition Northern Alliance, an opposition spokesman said.

Mr Qari Qudratullah, a spokesman for Northern Alliance commander Atta Mohammad, told AFP that the Taliban had taken back the eastern part of Aq-Kupruk district, 70 km south of the northern capital of Mazar-i-Sharif. The Taliban ambassador to Pakistan was reported as saying late yesterday that the Islamic militia had completely retaken Aq-Kupruk. AFP

Rumsfeld rebuffs Musharraf

Islamabad, November 4
Rebuffing Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s appeal for halting US bombing in Afghanistan during the coming Ramzan month, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld today declared Washington could not halt the military strikes as it would enable Osama Bin Laden to carry our more terrorist acts.

Addressing a joint press conference with Pakistan Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar after his talks with Musharraf here, Mr Rumsfeld said “we know the feelings. Not only I have heard views of President Musharraf and a number of other countries. ...The reality is that additional terrorist acts are being expected and they could be terrible and could harm a lot of more people.” A day after Musharraf favoured a halt to American air strikes on Afghanistan during Ramzan, Rumsfeld said replying to a question, “our task certainly is to consider the views of the people. But the real objective before is to root out terrorism.” PTI

Rumsfeld arrives in India

New Delhi, November 4
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld arrived here from Islamabad late tonight as part of consultations with India on the latest ground situation in Afghanistan and boosting defence cooperation between New Delhi and Washington. PTI