US special forces are on the ground in Afghanistan with the mission of dividing the ruling Taliban, according to the Washington Post. Meanwhile, aerial attacks on the country have continued non-stop, with the first assault on the Taliban front line reported.
The soldiers, operating in small numbers in Afghanistan's south, aim to expand a CIA effort to encourage leaders of Afghanistan's Pashtun, the nation's ethnic majority, to break away from the ruling Taliban militia, the Post said, citing unidentified US defense officials.
The Pentagon confirmed Friday that hundreds of elite soldiers were on mission but declined to comment further on the nature of the operation.
Reports said that 8-12-strong units were operating in support of the opposition North Alliance forces.
However, the Taliban remained defiant. The regime's envoy to Pakistan denied reports of a split and restated its refusal to surrender Osama bin Laden, blamed for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.
"There are no divisions in our ranks," Abdul Salam Zaeef told a news conference in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. "On the issue of Osama we won't change our position."
Zaeef said bin Laden was safe and that the regime was ready for a long war with the US.
Zaeef also denied any involvement in the cases of anthrax that the US said might be linked to bin Laden and his Al Qaeda network. "We don't even know what (anthrax) is," Zaeef said.
Meanwhile, AFP reported that US warplanes on Saturday attacked Taliban frontline positions in the northern province of Samangan, an opposition spokesman said.
It was believed to be the first time the US had directly attacked Taliban front lines in the area and only the second confirmed raid on frontline positions anywhere in the country.
"Since 6:00am this morning, US planes have been bombing the Taliban positions," opposition spokesman Mohammad Ashraf Nadeem told AFP by satellite telephone from the Dara-e-Souf valley in Samangan.
It was the first reported attack on Taliban front lines since Wednesday, when US warplanes struck positions north of Kabul. Those raids were dismissed by the opposition as purely symbolic.
The United States has said it will target its airstrikes to help the Northern Alliance opposition in its campaign against the Taliban - Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
