US hints at Afghan ground invasion

31 Oct, 2001 11:12 AM5 mins to read

WASHINGTON - The United States held out the prospect yesterday of a Gulf War-style invasion to crush the Taleban and their al Qaeda allies in Afghanistan.

Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said "a very modest number" of US troops were already on the ground in Afghanistan, based in the region controlled by the Northern Alliance of local groups which are fighting the ruling Taleban.

Nearly 100 US warplanes, conducting an air war now in its fourth week, pounded Taleban and al Qaeda targets.

Two waves of US jets raided Kandahar.

The US hit a dispensary of the Red Crescent society in Kandahar, killing 11 people, said a doctor who said he was injured in the bombing attack.

Rumsfeld, in the Pentagon's first acknowledgment that US troops are based in rugged Afghanistan, said the units were liaising with the Afghan opposition and spotting targets for warplanes.

He said the US presence was limited, but added: "It is true we do not have anything like the ground forces we had in [the Second World War], or in Korea, or in the Gulf War, but nor have we ruled that out."

The only previous ground mission in the campaign publicly disclosed by the Pentagon was a hit-and-run raid by more than 100 paratroopers led by elite Army Rangers 11 days ago.

In Afghanistan, opposition spokesman Mohammad Ashraf Nadeem said that up to 20 US soldiers were in alliance areas.

"Following the launch of the allied operation [on October 7], between 15 to 20 Americans came ... to coordinate attacks against the Taleban," Nadeem said. "They have their own base there and are equipped with guns and other means of defence and wear uniforms."

The front is near the northwest city of Mazar-i-Sharif, a prize that stands astride supply routes to Kabul and has an airfield.

Ahmad Ziah Masood, a brother of assassinated opposition leader Ahmad Shah Masood and a member of its senior council said he expected the Northern Alliance to launch an assault on Taleban front lines in the next few days.

In other news yesterday:

* The French daily Le Figaro and Radio France International reported that terrorist Osama bin Laden underwent treatment in July at the American Hospital in Dubai where he met a CIA official.

Quoting "a witness, a professional partner of the administrative management of the hospital", the newspaper said the man suspected by the US of being behind the September 11 attacks arrived in Dubai from Quetta, Pakistan, on July 4 for kidney treatment. He left on July 14. The hospital denied the reports.

* The Afghan Islamic Press reported that the US had hijacked Taleban radio frequencies in Kandahar and started broadcasting messages and music.

US propaganda broadcasts had warned people in the region to keep away from the Taleban and told Taleban soldiers to leave the militia because "they would risk death".

* Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said he accepted that the military campaign had to continue in Afghanistan and he would not press President George W. Bush at their scheduled meeting next month to halt bombing during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan that begins about November 17.

* Bush attended Game Three of baseball's World Series between the New York Yankees and Arizona Diamondbacks at Yankee Stadium.

Wearing a New York City Fire Department jacket, Bush received a standing ovation and threw the game's ceremonial first pitch.

* Faced with growing unease in Europe over the bombing of Afghanistan, Prime Minister Tony Blair has reminded Britons of the destruction terrorists inflicted on the US and urged that his nation sustain its resolve in the war against terrorism.

"Our determination is no less resolute than it was on the day military action began. We have a job to do, and it is being done and will be seen through to the end. We will not fail."

* Britain said it was considering how it might prevent British Muslims opposed to the air strikes on Afghanistan from going to fight alongside the Taleban if their numbers swelled beyond the current trickle.

Officials say they are aware that some young Britons are flying to Pakistan to cross into Afghanistan to aid the anti-US battle, but there are no reliable figures.

Writing in the Daily Mail, Muslim columnist Manzoor Moghal said British Muslims who were unable to show allegiance to the country where they lived should be branded as traitors.

"Treason is exactly the right charge for those who join the enemies of Britain. There should be no conflict between patriotism and faith."

Blair's office confirmed that invoking centuries-old treason laws was a possibility - although there were many issues that needed to be considered, such as the difficulty of gathering evidence from places like Afghanistan.

* An Egyptian living in London appeared in court yesterday charged with conspiring to murder the leader of the main opposition to the Taleban regime.

Yasser al-Siri was accused of aiding the killers of Ahmad Shah Masood, who was blown up by suicide bombers two days before the September 11 attacks.

The 38-year-old also faces four other charges in which he is accused of raising money for terrorism, trying to obtain support for a banned Islamic extremist group, and inciting racial hatred.

He is alleged to have provided letters of accreditation for the two assassins who posed as television journalists in order to meet and kill Masood in Afghanistan.

The publisher, who was arrested at his flat in west London a week ago, also allegedly published 3000 copies of a book which called for Jews to be killed.

- AGENCIES

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