Afghan battle evolved with more enemy fighters

Associated Press WriterWASHINGTON (AP) -- The bloody U.S.-led assault on al-Qaida fighters holed up in eastern Afghanistan is turning into a tougher and longer battle than the Pentagon had hoped. But Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld said Wednesday he has no doubt it will succeed.

"I believe that the outcome is reasonably assured, that people ... will either surrender or be killed in the days ahead," he told a Pentagon press conference.

The war commander, Gen. Tommy Franks, said he was pleased with progress in the operation -- an assault by a multinational force of more than 2,000 troops in its fifth day south of the town of Gardez.

"I think the days ahead are going to continue to be dangerous days for our forces," he said. "But the alternative to taking such a risk is not acceptable."

Franks said he has increased the number of Americans in the operation by 200 to 300, to a total of roughly 1,100.

Franks said it is believed that "there as been no major effort" on the part of dug-in al-Qaida and Taliban fighters to flee the fight.

And he said he had no confirmation but did not doubt reports from field commanders that additional enemy fighters have moved into the battle area in recent days, making the fight bigger than expected.

The operation got off to a tough start with the death of an American on Saturday and seven on Monday.

The assault also had been delayed by two days because of bad weather, officials said on condition of anonymity.

And forces on the ground said they met stiffer-than-expected resistance on the opening of the operation Friday.

The U.S. military also is committing more aircraft to the battle, sending in five Marine Corps attack helicopters after enemy fire damaged Army copters.

Franks, commander of the five-month war in Afghanistan, has said it was hard to estimate but that it appeared several hundred mostly al-Qaida fighters were holed up in the roughly 60-square-mile area mapped out for Operation Anaconda, named for a snake that kills its prey by constricting.

The commander of the U.S.-led assault, Maj. Gen. Frank L. Hagenbeck, told a press conference Wednesday at Bagram air base north of Kabul, the capital, that as many as 600 to 700 al-Qaida and some Taliban troops were in the area.

Hagenbeck portrayed the increase as being due to infiltration by more al-Qaida fighters over the last few days.

U.S. troops have detained five people, releasing one, Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said Tuesday.

The four remaining are not believed to be Taliban or al-Qaida and will be released as well, a defense official said Wednesday on condition of anonymity.

Opposing forces are mostly non-Afghan al-Qaida and Taliban members, possibly including Arabs, Chechens, Uzbeks and Pakistanis, officials have said. An identification card from Saudi Arabia and a hotel receipt from Iran were found in an area abandoned by the fighters.

Air Force Brig. Gen. John Rosa, deputy director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at the Tuesday press conference that the U.S. offensive was making progress.

"I would say we are softening up in certain portions, but there's still a lot of work to be done," he said Tuesday. "We're far from over."

On the helicopters, military officials said all of the Army AH-64 Apache assault helicopters operating in the battle zone had been hit by weapons fire. Some of the choppers were damaged enough to require repairs but none was shot down during the operations south of Gardez this week, officials said.

The five Marine AH-1W Cobra attack helicopters went into battle Tuesday, officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. They moved to a base in Afghanistan from the USS Bonhomme Richard in the North Arabian Sea, along with two CH-53 Super Stallion transport helicopters.