U.S. Drops Bombs, Leaflets in Afghanistan

Oct. 15 -- The United States carried out its heaviest daytime bombing raids on Kabul today, even as it started a propaganda campaign aimed at winning over the Afghan people.

The U.S.' aerial campaign — intended to root out the country's Taliban regime and terrorist leader Osama bin Laden — intensified with fighter jets pounding targets around the Afghan capital and a suspected terrorist training camp in eastern Afghanistan, according to The Associated Press.

The United States has also begun dropping leaflets in Afghanistan in addition to food, and is beginning radio broadcasts to explain its campaign to the Afghan people.

One B-52 bomber dropped 400,000 leaflets in Afghanistan today. Printed in a variety of languages, their message reads, "The partnership of nations is here to help," and shows a picture of a Western-looking soldier shaking hands with an Afghan.

With bin Laden and other members of his al Qaeda network dominating the airwaves in the Arab and Muslim world, the Bush administration launched a public relations counter-offensive on television, with national security adviser Condoleezza Rice giving an interview today to the influential Qatar station al Jazeera.

And ABCNEWS has learned the Department of Education is exploring ways to link schoolchildren in the United States to Muslim-world counterparts.

Rumsfeld: Taliban Quick to Claim Casualties

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld today dismissed Taliban claims that at least 200 civilians have been killed since the bombing began on Oct. 5. He said the United States had no way of confirming the claims.

"I think that we know of certain knowledge that the Taliban leadership and al Qaeda are accomplished liars, that they go on television and they say things that we know are absolutely not true," Rumsfeld said during a briefing at the Pentagon.

In the last 24 hours, the Taliban took a group of reporters to sites in Afghanistan it said were civilian areas that were hit by U.S. bombs or missiles, but Rumsfeld pointed out that the journalists were shepherded by the regime's guides, and were not allowed to see other areas they requested access to.

He also warned that some civilian casualties were unavoidable, but said the importance of the mission demanded that the campaign be carried out.