Rumsfeld - Allied troops capture al-Qaida fighters daily

SHANNON, Ireland -- American and allied forces in Afghanistan are capturing al-Qaida and Taliban fighters "almost every day, in small numbers," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Thursday.

The comment indicated that U.S. soldiers are having more regular contact with enemy forces than American officials had suggested in recent weeks. Rumsfeld was not specific about the location of the encounters and did not say whether any senior al-Qaida figures had been killed or captured recently.

Finding pockets

He said U.S. and allied troops are finding "pockets" rather than concentrations of al-Qaida fighters.

Speaking with reporters aboard his plane on the way to Central Asia, Rumsfeld declined to comment on news reports that U.S. commanders have expanded the war into neighboring Pakistan by sending small groups of U.S. combat troops on clandestine reconnaissance and attack missions.

"We do not characterize what other countries are doing or what we are doing in other countries," he said. "Pakistan has, from the outset, been enormously helpful and cooperative in the global war on terror."

He did acknowledge that "agencies of the United States government" other than the Defense Department were involved in the apprehension last month in Pakistan of Abu Zubaydah, the senior lieutenant to Osama bin Laden who is being interrogated at an undisclosed location.

Rumsfeld's plane stopped in Shannon to refuel.

In the interview, Rumsfeld said he had met in Houston on Wednesday evening with Vice President Dick Cheney and Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.

He said he heard nothing to suggest the Saudi government was growing uncomfortable with the U.S. military presence in Saudi Arabia. That presence is one of the main focuses of bin Laden's campaign of terror against America.

Security issues

"I had no such indications," he said.

Rumsfeld said he looked forward to greeting U.S. and allied troops in Afghanistan this weekend as well as meeting with coalition commanders and Afghan officials. He said the main focus of his trip would be security issues in Afghanistan. The last time he was in the country, last December, the Taliban militia had just been defeated and the interim government headed by Hamid Karzai had not been installed.

There are nearly 7,000 American troops in Afghanistan.

Rumsfeld described the current task of U.S. and allied forces as conducting "sweeps" to find small groupings of Taliban and al-Qaida fighters.

Rumsfeld was headed Thursday to Kyrgyzstan to begin a Central Asia tour intended to show gratitude to the thousands of American and allied troops in the region and to consult with government officials.

In an indication of the security concerns among Rumsfeld's party, reporters accompanying him were forbidden from disclosing in advance which countries he planned to visit other than Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan.

In three previous visits to Central Asia since the United States launched a global war on terrorism in response to the Sept. 11 attacks, Rumsfeld did not visit Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan or Kazakhstan.

Among the several former Soviet republics on the periphery of Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan has been the most open in welcoming American forces.

There are about 2,000 U.S. and allied troops based near Kyrgyzstan's Manas airport, which is situated about 20 miles west of the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek, at the foothills of the Alatau Mountains near the border with Kazakhstan.

U.S. C-130 cargo planes and KC-135 refueling planes fly in and out of Manas under a deal that Kyrgyz officials welcomed because it provides an opportunity to improve airport facilities and boost security.

The United States also has thousands of troops based in Uzbekistan and Pakistan and aboard ships in the North Arabian Sea.