US: now for the ground war

18 Oct, 2001 12:10 PM5 mins to read

By GEOFF CUMMING, ANGELA GREGORY and AGENCIES

United States ground troops are poised to enter Afghanistan, opening a new and more perilous phase in the war against the Taleban and Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.

Special Operations troops trained to fight in harsh conditions are waiting with helicopters on the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk off the Pakistan coast.

A Pentagon official cautioned against assuming a helicopter assault was imminent, but President George W. Bush said air attacks, growing more intensive by the day, were "paving the way for friendly troops on the ground to slowly but surely tighten the net" on the Taleban and al Qaeda.

In a day of heightened activity, US planes attacked frontline Taleban troops for the first time and bombarded military targets as germ warfare fears in Washington brought the US Congress to a standstill, sent markets plunging and caused panic around the world.

Last night, four members of a family in Kenya became the first anthrax victims outside the US. Kenyan Health Minister Sam Ongeri said they were exposed to the spores from a letter posted in the US.

In Washington, the Congress was closed after 31 people tested positive for "weapons-grade" anthrax, a strain capable of killing thousands if spread through the air.

The House of Representatives sent members home until Tuesday after spores were found in ventilation shafts in the building.

In New Zealand, a fine white powder found in four bulging envelopes in Nelson and addressed to prominent New Zealanders and organisations was found to be a hoax.

New Zealand Post warned of delivery delays following the closure of mail centres in Hamilton, Rotorua, Linton in the Manawatu, Wellington, Nelson and Christchurch and after substance scares.

Thousands of handwritten overseas mail items were held over at the International Mail Centre in Auckland but the backlog should be cleared by tomorrow.

A scare at Eltham on Tuesday turned out to involve a harmless substance which came from the internal lining of a mail bag.

New Zealand Post has threatened heavy fines for hoaxers and says it will respond to future scares by isolating the immediate area, after risk assessments, rather than closing down whole facilities.

President Bush hinted at the breadth and duration of the war on terrorism, saying it could be waged for more than two years and in multiple theatres.

"People are going to get tired of the war on terrorism," he said.

"And, by the way, it may take more than two years ... I envision something longer than that."

But doubts about the US-led coalition's ability to control its campaign rose with the killing of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi.

The assassination heightened concern in Washington and Europe that a shaky ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians could explode and destroy Arab and Islamic support for the campaign.

Yesterday, US planes turned their fire on troop garrisons and barracks across Afghanistan and attacked Taleban forces massed north of Kabul who are fighting a civil war against the Northern Alliance.

The rebels and the Taleban were just 100m apart in a tense standoff outside Bagram, 50km north of Kabul, after the bombing, the Associated Press reported.

The air strikes previously avoided the frontline, as it was feared the ethnic-minority rebels would take control of the capital. But the alliance has now pledged to wait until a broad-based coalition government is put together.

The Pentagon said 100 aircraft, 90 US Navy F14 Tomcats and F18 Hornets, plus 10 heavy bombers, took part in the raids, the highest number since the bombing began.

Navy pilots flying daylight missions were allocated "killing boxes" - areas in which they could attack anything they saw with approval from aerial spotters.

Storage and supply facilities and a fuel dump near Kabul were struck, and several Taleban vehicles and barracks were destroyed.

In Kandahar, men, women and children died in strikes which hit populated areas, sources said.

Taleban sources said 18 civilians were killed when a bus was hit near Arghandab, outside Kandahar. They also said a bomb hit a truck packed with Chunai residents fleeing the attacks.

But Rear-Admiral John Stufflebeem, deputy director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, countered Taleban charges that the raids were targeting civilians. He said pilots could go after "targets of opportunity" with case-by-case approval.

He added to expectations that the strikes have cleared the way for ground forces to operate, despite the risks posed by rugged terrain, the onset of winter and an opponent skilled in guerrilla warfare.

"Their ability to respond is falling away," he said. "We are systematically pulling away at those legs underneath the stool that the Taleban leadership counts on to be able to exert their influence and power."

Mullah Mohammad Omar, the Taleban leader, issued a defiant public response. "We will succeed whether we live or die. We are not afraid of dying and we should die as Muslims. People are in pain but God will grant them success."

In other developments:

* The Taleban seized over half of the UN's food stock, threatening efforts to feed millions.

* British officials are investigating a report that an "American or British" man was arrested in northern Afghanistan.

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