Anti-Taliban Troops Ready for Offensive on Caves

Dec. 4 -- The assault against the Taliban intensified today as the U.S. military and opposition troops prepared to attack a cave complex in eastern Afghanistan where Osama bin Laden may be holed up.

The developments in Afghanistan came as delegates of four factions holding talks near the German city of Bonn agreed on a blueprint for a broad-based interim government.

In Afghanistan, a senior Northern Alliance commander told ABCNEWS he was preparing about 1,500 of his troops, along with U.S. special forces on the ground, to attack the Tora Bora cave complex near the eastern city of Jalalabad today.

Although the Pentagon has no confirmation of bin Laden's whereabouts, the Tora Bora complex is a key focus in U.S. attempts to capture the prime suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks and other leaders of his al Qaeda network.

"We're making progress. We're making it harder for him to find sanctuary. We are closing down caves, we are getting more and more of the territories under control of our friends and allies, and therefore, we have a better chance of spotting him in person," said President Bush in an exclusive interview with Barbara Walters scheduled to air on 20/20 Wednesday night.

"We're tightening the noose on Osama bin Laden," he said.

U.S. warplanes have been striking targets around Tora Bora for weeks, and there were reports today that Ayman al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian exile and bin Laden's second-in-command in the al Qaeda structure, had been injured or killed as a result of such attacks.

The reports could not be independently confirmed, and U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld told reporters today, "I don't have any information I can add to that subject."

Arab satellite television network Al Jazeera reported al-Zawahiri was alive and well, but that his wife Azza and several of their daughters had been killed in airstrikes near the southern city of Kandahar.

U.S. warplanes have also been conducting heavy airstrikes around Kandahar, the Taliban's spiritual capital, and there were reports of heavy fighting between Afghan opposition troops and Taliban forces near the Kandahar airport east of the city.

Inching Toward Kandahar

U.S. Marines have been based within striking distance of the city for days. Deep reconnaissance platoons, comprised of Marines from the forward base located to the southwest of Kandahar, have been increasing the radius of their patrols, looking for potential targets, according to Marine officers.

Taliban forces have been operating in less concentrated numbers, offering pockets of resistance, particularly in southern and eastern Afghanistan as well as in areas to the west and east of the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif. Today, Rumsfeld warned that the situation could get more dangerous.