Rumsfeld says airstrikes have taken toll on Taliban defenses

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Three days of airstrikes by U.S. and British warplanes have taken a toll on the al-Qaida terrorist network and the Taliban militia in Afghanistan that supports it, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday.

He said "it's pretty clear" the bombing campaign has increased pressure on the Taliban military and the terrorists. "It is growing and it is adding pressure every day," Rumsfeld said at a Pentagon briefing. He said he is confident of ultimate success.

As a result of night and day operations by the U.S.-allied planes, "We believe we now are able to carry out strikes more or less around the clock as we wish," Rumsfeld said.

Appearing with Rumsfeld, Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the airstrikes Sunday and Monday damaged or destroyed more than 80 percent of targets throughout Afghanistan.

"Our forces continue operations against the al-Qaida network and those who support them," Myers said.

Rumsfeld declined to say what the next step in the military campaign would be.

He said he could not confirm that the U.S. and British strikes were responsible for the deaths of four workers for a U.N.-affiliated mine-clearing agency in an office located about 300 yards from anti-aircraft batteries in Kabul, the Afghan capital.

"We have no information from the ground to verify this," he said.

U.S. aircraft are conducting continuous operations over Afghanistan, including low-altitude flights during the daytime, said Marine Lt. Col. Dave Lapan, a Defense Department spokesman at U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Fla..

"Air operations are continuing, and there won't be obvious starts and stops," he said.

Lapan acknowledged that daytime flights mean U.S. aircraft are believed to be reasonably safe from anti-aircraft fire. Many early strikes targeted the Taliban's meager air defenses.

In London, British officials said three days of attacks had caused significant damage to terrorist camps and Taliban defenses but added that it was too early to say that the coalition now controls Afghan airspace.

U.S. warplanes struck targets around Kabul and in northern Afghanistan for a second night Monday, and daylight strikes Tuesday targeted the southern city of Kandahar.

As daylight broke over Afghanistan on Tuesday, the nation's ruling Taliban reported that jets bombed their stronghold of Kandahar in southern Afghanistan. Taliban soldiers replied with heavy anti-aircraft fire.

Rumsfeld said Monday that the first barrage on Sunday had damaged or destroyed some of the Taliban's air defenses, air fields and training camps. He and other military officials said it was too early to tell just how much damage the two nights of airstrikes had done -- especially to leaders of both bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network and the Taliban. Bin Laden is the chief suspect in the Sept. 11 terror attacks on New York and Washington.

Monday's sorties included five long-range bombers -- a pair of B-2 stealth bombers flying from Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., and three B-1Bs from the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia. They joined 10 strike planes launched from aircraft carriers in the Arabian Sea to deliver bombs and missiles against air defense and other military targets across Afghanistan.

The destroyers USS John Paul Jones and USS McFaul and one submarine launched a total of 15 Tomahawk cruise missiles.

Pilots and their commanders on the USS Enterprise said they scored several direct hits, including a surface-to-air missile storage facility and a training camp.

Sunday's opening assault used 15 bombers and 25 carrier-based strike aircraft. A British submarine was among the vessels that fired 50 cruise missiles in Sunday's attacks, but no British forces were involved Monday, U.S. officials said. All the aircraft returned safely from Monday's action.

Along with Monday's bombing, C-17 cargo planes air dropped about 37,000 packages of food rations for displaced civilians in Afghanistan, Rumsfeld said. The military dropped about the same amount of food on Sunday, and officials said they expected to continue delivering food for at least several more days.

Myers said the number of weapons fired and the number of targets hit were not the best measure of success for President Bush's campaign against terrorism. Instead, success depends on weakening the Taliban, helping opposition groups, feeding starving Afghans and demonstrating that those who harbor terrorists will be punished, Myers said.

Rumsfeld made a similar point.

"The cruise missiles and bombers are not going to solve this problem. We know that," the defense secretary said. "What they can do is to contribute by adding pressure, making life more difficult, raising the cost for the terrorists and those that are supporting the terrorists, draining their finances and creating an environment that is inhospitable to the people that are threatening the world."

Rumsfeld declined to discuss the possibility of sending U.S. ground forces into Afghanistan. After a Pentagon briefing Monday, the Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, Sen. Carl Levin, said Americans should not expect large numbers of U.S. troops to enter the South Asian country.

"In terms of massive ground assaults, they may never occur," said Levin, D-Mich.