US warplanes struck Taliban front lines more fiercely than ever on Sunday, as Northern Alliance forces geared up for a new push in northern Afghanistan. Meanwhile, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told allies in Pakistan that the Taliban militia had ceased to function as a government, according to reports.
The US air strikes on Taliban positions near the village of Dashtiqala were coordinated by rebel commanders and resulted in casualties, according to the alliance's vice defense minister, cited by CNN.
He told the network that seven hours of bombing had prompted widespread Taliban calls for transportation to move out wounded militiamen, and that an Arab Taliban commander named Tabuk had been killed.
As the bombing continued, US Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the United States had significantly raised the number of special forces troops fighting inside Afghanistan in recent days, according to Reuters.
"Just last night, the night before, we put in a couple more teams," Myers told NBC's Meet the Press program. "And the more teams we get on the ground, the more effectively we will bring air power to bear on the Taliban's lines."
For his part, Rumsfeld told officials in Pakistan that after four weeks of US attacks, Afghanistan's ruling Taliban were no longer "functioning as a government," according to AP, and claimed a breakdown of order in the bomb-battered, drought-stricken country.
IN FOR THE LONG HAUL
Despite such statements on the war's progress, Myers acknowledged that the U.S. military was "settling in for the long haul," and he and other top US military figures have refused to rule out the use of large numbers of US ground troops.
The Northern Alliance has been struggling to take the strategic stronghold of Mazar-i-Sharif, but according to Reuters, Uzbek warlord Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum has made little apparent progress in the past six weeks.
As the Taliban regime has come under heavier US military pressure, Iran has taken a more vocal role in the political jockeying about the post-militia government.
According to CNN, Iran urged the United Nations on Sunday to play a key role in helping Afghans install a government if the Taliban regime falls.
Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi met Sunday with the UN's top Afghanistan envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi. Brahimi has been consulting with Afghanistan's neighbors about forming a post-Taliban government, said the network - Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
