U.S. Advisers Join Abu Sayyaf Hunt

June 19 -- Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has approved a plan to send U.S. special operations advisers out on the hunt for terrorists in the Philippines, officials said.

Until now, they had been training Filipino soldiers only in camps and were forbidden from going out on missions in the dense jungles of the southern Philippines, where the Muslim rebel group Abu Sayyaf has had its stronghold.

The operation remains slated to end later this summer, as planned.

While one official said "there is still much to be done," military intelligence shows hundreds of Abu Sayyaf guerrillas have been killed, detained or forced to flee the country since the United States began training troops there in February.

The same reports show the guerrilla forces are demoralized and their supply lines are cut.

There are about 1,300 U.S. troops in the Philippines, just over 1,000 of whom are involved in counterterror operations in the south.

President Bush has been briefed on the plan.

Gifts to Basilan

The U.S. troops will start "training" 20 to 25 companies. They will not necessarily be "advising" — going into the field — with all of these companies. When commanders feel a particular company is proficient and ready to go, then U.S. troops will start to "advise," defense officials said.

The closing ceremony for the operation will be held on July 31. U.S. troops involved will remain on the job, still apparently training and advising but ramping down for the next few months.

U.S. forces will continue, as they did even before Sept. 11, providing counterterror assistance to the Philippines through more traditional means.

Pentagon officials say "order has been restored" to Basilan Island.

U.S. troops will leave behind new infrastructure, including paved roads, wells, a runway, a dock and new tools for the military — among them rifles, helicopters, a C-130 cargo plane, and a patrol boat.

Said one official: "We've showed other countries around the world that the U.S. will keep its word. We'll meet our commitment and leave when asked."