US on high alert, confirms troops in Afghanistan

31 Oct, 2001 08:08 PM7 mins to read

11.45 am

WASHINGTON/JABAL-US-SARAJ, Afghanistan - The United States is on high alert for new terror attacks, Vice President Dick Cheney has gone to a secret location and limited US forces are confirmed on the ground in Afghanistan, as public unease grows over the war on terrorism.

Fueling the uncertainty, officials announced that "hot spots" of the germ warfare agent anthrax were found at postal facilities in Washington and nearby Dulles, Virginia. A New York hospital worker, clinging to life, was confirmed as the city's first case of inhalation anthrax, the deadliest form.

US warplanes pounded Afghanistan's ruling Taleban, protectors of Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network, prime suspects in the Sept. 11 attacks that killed an estimated thousands in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, a key US ally in the campaign against his northern neighbour, said he detected splits among the Taleban's Afghan supporters and he would not press for a bombing halt during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which starts in about two weeks.

For the first time, the Pentagon confirmed it had a limited contingent of its forces on the ground in Afghanistan, advising the opposition Northern Alliance.

"We do have a very modest number of ground troops in the country and they are there for liaison purposes," said Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

He said the US troops were working closely with Alliance forces and spotting Taleban targets for US warplanes. "Because they are there now, the (bombing) effort has improved in its effectiveness," Rumsfeld said.

Anti-Taleban spokesman Mohammad Ashraf Nadeem told Reuters by satellite telephone from northern Afghanistan, "They (the Americans) have their own base there and are equipped with guns and other means of defence and wear uniforms."

Commanders from the area held a meeting on Monday with the US soldiers and requested that they intensify their attacks on the Taleban frontline positions.

"Right now it seems that they have done so because for the past several hours planes have been bombing Sholgara and Kishindi districts to the south and southwest of Mazar-i-Sharif," Nadeem said.

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

Nearly 100 US planes bombed Taleban forces and al Qaeda hide-outs for a 24th straight day, targetting the capital Kabul, Mazar-i-Sharif, Kunduz, Bamian and the northern Shomali Plain, near the Taleban front line.

On the home front, domestic security chief Tom Ridge called on law enforcement and private companies, particularly the energy sector, to be on high alert for possible attacks this week. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta declared "zero tolerance" for security lapses at the nation's airports.

"Continue to live your lives, continue to be America, but be aware, be alert, be on guard," Ridge said.

With his vice president in a secure location after the new warnings, President Bush prepared to take in the national pastime, heading to New York's Yankee Stadium for the third game of baseball's World Series. In keeping with tradition, he planned to throw the ceremonial first pitch.

While the gesture underscored Bush's call for Americans to carry on their business as usual, new anthrax case continued to jangle the nation's nerves over germ warfare.

Health authorities confirmed an earlier diagnosis of inhalation anthrax for a critically ill hospital employee in New York. It was the first case in New York of inhalation anthrax -- the deadliest form.

In Washington, authorities said anthrax bacteria were found at two more sites, apparently due to contamination of the mail system. Anthrax-laced letters began surfacing in US mail after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Postmaster General John Potter said the mail system needed several billion dollars for clean-up and security.

A new poll by the New York Times and CBS News showed the public may be losing confidence in the stated aims of President Bush's war on terrorism. However, support for Bush's job performance remained near its high, at 87 per cent.

The poll, taken before the new warnings, showed growing public doubts the United States would capture or kill bin Laden or protect citizens from further attacks, like the anthrax that has already killed three people.

Fifty-three per cent of those polled were "very concerned" about future attacks, up from 36 per cent almost one month earlier. Half said the government had failed to tell the public everything it needed to know about the anthrax attacks.

The poll interviewed 1,024 people and carried a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

A separate poll for the Guardian newspaper of Britain, America's closest partner in the campaign, showed 62 per cent of Britons surveyed supported the military action, down from 74 per cent earlier this month.

US military planners, meanwhile, remained confident despite mounting criticism around the world at so-called collateral bomb damage killing or maiming Afghan civilians. There was no sign of any planned bombing halt for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins in mid-November.

"We will take nothing off of the table," General Tommy Franks said after talks with President Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan, Afghanistan's northern neighbour. "We will undertake our action on the timeline which is satisfying to us."

Afghanistan's ruling Taleban, who have portrayed the US-led campaign as a crusade against Islam, say that more than 1,000 people, many of them civilians, have been killed in the air and missiles strikes now in their fourth week.

Asked about civilian casualties, Franks said: "Any loss of civilian life in a war is sad. But that is also war."

Pakistan's Musharraf in an interview with Reuters Television expressed concern about popular opposition to a prolonged campaign, but said domestic opposition to his decision to back Washington was less than expected.

Musharraf, who is to meet Bush in New York next month, said, "I only hope that this (military objective) is achieved before Ramadan. There is a possibility. But if that does not happen, I would discuss the matter with him (Bush) but I wouldn't be pressing him as such."

He said he saw the growing possibility of a revolt against the Taleban paving the way for a political solution that would end the need for the daily bombing.

"No, it's not wishful thinking," he said when pressed about the prospect of desertions in the dominant Pashtun tribe that has supported the Taleban so far.

Planning for a post-Taleban world continued unabated. UN special envoy for Afghanistan Lakhdar Brahimi discussed the conflict with Musharraf, and Brahimi's spokesman said the two agreed any post-Taleban government would have to be devised by Afghans and reflect all groups in the diverse land.

They also agreed Afghanistan should not be allowed to become a playground for militants such as bin Laden.

Global pressure on the US-led anti-terror coalition to reduce civilian casualties mounted, with friends and critics alike warning global public support was fragile.

Venezuela President Hugo Chavez, during a live TV broadcast, displayed photographs of Afghan children reported to be bombing victims and pleaded for an end to "the killing of innocents."

Saudi Arabia said on Monday it hoped for a quick end to the strikes because they were hurting civilians, while Canada said it was extremely worried about how the 7 million Afghans who need humanitarian aid would cope with the coming winter.

The US task of getting at bin Laden and the Taleban has been complicated by a honeycomb of caves that permeate mountainous Afghanistan and have provided shelter against foreign invaders for hundreds of years. US bombs have been unable to blast the forces from their underground strongholds.

- REUTERS

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