Taliban Carpet-Bombed as Osama Hunt Narrows

Nov. 2, 2001 -- As B-52s carpet-bombed Taliban positions in Afghanistan today, officials again warned the war there would be long and difficult, in spite of intelligence sources who said the hunt for Osama bin Laden has narrowed to a few complexes of caves and tunnels.

Opposition forces also fighting the Taliban said the intense U.S. air assault on the front lines north of Kabul, the Afghan capital, appeared to be coordinated by American troops on the ground. The bombers hit targets, witnesses said, including the old road from Kabul to the strategic Bagram air base and Taliban field headquarters, tanks, artillery and rocket launchers.

Near the key northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, amid heavy rain, the U.S. bombing was described as relentless.

"We know we're putting severe stress on them," Rear Adm. John Stufflebeem, deputy director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff , said at the Pentagon today. "We know we're having success, but it's also very difficult to get good reports out to measure."

Intense U.S. air attacks around Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif are apparently designed to assist rebel Northern Alliance troops preparing for expected ground offensives against Taliban strongholds. The Northern Alliance has not changed its positions since the American bombing began nearly one month ago, but has been moving troops and artillery to the front lines.

Despite speculation that the rebels would attempt to take Kabul, Northern Alliance officials tell ABCNEWS that the rebel troops do not plan to enter Kabul and instead will stop their offensive after taking Bagram air base 40 miles to the north.

The opposition expects the U.S. military to use the Soviet-built air base to continue its operations against the hard-line Taliban regime, suspected terror mastermind bin Laden and his al Qaeda terror network.

The rebel leaders also plan to take Mazar-e-Sharif and another key city, Herat, in western Afghanistan, they said.

Fewer than 100 U.S. special forces on the ground have been helping direct bombing and communicate with opposition forces. Today, the Pentagon said freezing rain was hampering efforts to get more elite troops into Afghanistan.

One of two U.S. military helicopters on a mission in Taliban territory crash-landed amid bad weather in northern Afghanistan, defense officials said. All four crewmembers were injured but recovered and taken on the second helicopter to points outside Afghanistan.

One of the U.S. troops has serious but not life-threatening injuries, officials said. The injured are currently getting medical treatment.

Search for bin Laden Narrows

As the air assault continues, the United States has apparently narrowed its search for bin Laden. The United States has bin Laden's suspected mountain hideouts under 24-hour surveillance from the air and ground, sources told ABCNEWS. Now, the debate is whether to go after bin Laden and other leaders of his al Qaeda terror network by using 5,000-pound "bunker buster" bombs, or to take the greater risk of sending in commandos.

Defense sources say that plans for raids against bin Laden's strongholds are constantly being revised and rehearsed. Military planners are waiting for the right information and conditions, and a decision by President Bush to make their move, they say.

"He's an elusive character," Stufflebeem said. "It's very difficult to get accurate information timely from off the ground in enemy territory. We're working very hard to refine what we do know. I think that's the best way to leave it. It's going to be a difficult problem. But we're determined to be able to do it."

And again, he returned to the theme of the need for patience.

"Do we know how close we are?" he asked. "That's a very difficult question to ask, because I'm sure that there are times when we feel very close, and other times it's a shadow."

He said that deployment orders have been given for two high-tech surveillance planes that will be used to improve surveillance — the J-STARS and Global Hawk.

J-STARS, which stands for Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System, will allow the Pentagon to track ground troops or vehicles over hundreds of miles. The Global Hawk is an unmanned spy plane that can fly for up to 40 hours at altitudes of up to 66,000 feet and is capable of operating in severe weather conditions.

The United States has named bin Laden the prime suspect in the Sept. 11 terror attacks that killed more than 4,600 people. The hard-line Taliban regime has sheltered bin Laden in Afghanistan and refused to give him up. On Oct. 7, the United States launched its military campaign against Taliban and al Qaeda targets in Afghanistan.

In Washington today, President Bush said the U.S. bombing in Afghanistan would continue during Ramadan, the Muslim holy month that begins in mid-November. "The enemy won't rest during Ramadan and neither will we,"Bush said. "We're going to pursue this war until we achieve ourobjectives."

Washington Rejects Taliban Claims

The Taliban claimed today that it has killed 70 to 100 Americans since the U.S. military campaign began, a claim denied by the Bush administration.

"Once again, the Taliban is just lying," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said when asked about the claim made by the Taliban consul in Karachi, Pakistan, Moulvi Rahamatullah Kakazada, in a conversation aired on al Jazeera television.

A Pentagon spokesman said only three Americans have died, all from accidental causes and all far from the combat zone.

Washington also denied Taliban claims of victories issued on Thursday — including that it shot down a U.S. plane near Mazar-e-Sharif and, separately, that it had taken several Americans into custody.

In southern Afghanistan, the Taliban led foreign journalists on a tour of the village Kili Chokar, where the regime claims 92 people died in a U.S. air raid 10 days ago. At the cemetery, reporters counted only about 15 graves, but a resident brought forward by the Taliban told reporters that several bodies had been buried in one grave. The report could not be confirmed independently.

Washington has repeatedly rejected claims by the Taliban that at least 1,500 civilians have been killed since the United States began airstrikes nearly a month ago. Rumsfeld asserted Thursday that the Taliban have been drawing U.S. fire to residential areas by putting anti-aircraft installations on the roofs of civilian buildings and storing military equipment near mosques and hospitals, and then blaming the United States when those targets are hit.

"I can tell you that the Afghan civilians don't like it," he said.

Taliban Says Mullah, Bin Laden Safe from ‘American Harm’

In other developments:

The Taliban consul in Karachi, Moulvi Rahamatullah Kakazada, told al Jazeera television that Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar and bin Laden were safe. "Thank God all brothers inside are protected from any harm, especially the prince of believers [Mullah Omar] and Sheikh Osama bin Laden," he said. "Thank God that they are protected from all evils and any American harm."

The White House reportedly told members of Congress it wants to cut tariffs on Pakistani products for up to three years as a reward for Islamabad's help in the U.S.-led war on terrorism.

Pashtun tribal leader Hamid Karzai, a supporter of ex-Afghan King Zahir Shah, told the BBC that he escaped Taliban troops trying to capture him in the mountains of central Uruzgan province. Karzai said his forces were surrounded by Taliban troops, but managed to fight them off. Another supporter of the king, Commander Abdul Haq, was executed by the Taliban on Oct. 26.

A Taliban minister said U.S. helicopters helped Karzai escape, but the Pashtun leader's brother said he spoke with Karzai and knew nothing of an American assistance. He said the Taliban made the claim to portray Karzai as "an American puppet."

President Bush plans to rally support next week for the U.S. war on terrorism, with addresses to the American people and meetings with the leaders of Britain, France, India, Brazil and Ireland, the White House said.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld left Washington today for a trip to Moscow to meet with his Russian counterpart, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov. The defense secretary also expects to visit Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and India before he returns on Monday.

The latest numbers of victims from the attacks on the World Trade Center, according to New York City officials are: 3,923 missing and 495 identified.