U.S. senator criticizes tactics used at Tora Bora

WASHINGTON -- Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., said Sunday the war in Afghanistan was only partly a military success because of the "enormous mistake" of sending Afghan forces into the mountains after entrenched al-Qaida fighters rather than using tested U.S. troops.

Last year's operation ousted Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia and routed the al-Qaida organization's forces the Taliban were shielding. Kerry, considered a potential presidential candidate in 2004, was asked whether he judged it a military success.

"Only partly," said Kerry, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

But, he said, "the Taliban are not the target. They were a collateral target. The target is and always has been al-Qaida, and al-Qaida, 1,000 strong, was gathered in one single mountain area, Tora Bora.

"We turned to Afghans, who a week earlier had been fighting for the other side, and said, 'Hey, you guys, go up there in the mountains and go after the world's number one terrorist and criminal who just killed 3,000-plus Americans."

"I think that was an enormous mistake."