Afghan Taliban defiant at deployment of U.S. ground forces, saying 'send 100,000'

By KATHY GANNON
and AMIR SHAH
Associated Press Writers

KABUL, Afghanistan – Shrugging off the deployment of U.S. special forces in their territory, Afghanistan's Taliban regime challenged Washington on Friday to send a full force of troops. "Then it can be a fight between our soldiers and theirs," a Taliban official declared.

After a pre-dawn pounding, U.S. jets eased their round-the-clock bombardment of Kabul on Friday, Islam's holy day. Frightened families seized the opportunity to flee homes near likely targets.

Thousands of Afghans were streaming to the Pakistan border from another battered city, Kandahar, the U.N. refugee agency said.

A U.S. government official confirmed that a small number of U.S. special forces troops were now operating in Taliban territory in southern Afghanistan, aiding covert efforts to undermine the hard-line Islamic regime. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, indicated U.S.-led military action could intensify in coming days.

The special forces were dropped into Taliban territory Thursday, said a military official in Pakistan, which neighbors Afghanistan and has been giving logistical support to the U.S.-led anti-terror campaign

Washington has told Pakistan that U.S. special forces will be conducting "hit-and-run" operations to flush out terror suspect Osama bin Laden, members of his al-Qaida terror network and Taliban leaders, the Pakistani official said also on condition of anonymity.

Pakistan was also told U.S. forces have been in opposition northern alliance territory for more than one week. The official said they were helping opposition fighters on the front lines with the Taliban north of Kabul, though he did not say what kind of help they were giving.

Taliban embassy officials in Pakistan said Afghanistan's Islamic leaders had no information that American ground troops had arrived – but challenged the United States to a full-fledged ground war.

"Fifteen or 20 troops will be able to do nothing. If they want to send in soldiers, they should send in 100,000," embassy spokesman Sohail Shaheen said in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital. "Then it can be a fight between our soldiers and theirs."

"Now it is just a war against civilians," Shaheen said. "If they enter, then it would be an actual war."

U.S. officials have said they do not expect any Gulf War-style, full-scale deployment of ground troops as the campaign moves beyond the daily bombardment that was launched Oct. 7 against the Taliban and bin Laden, chief suspect in last month's terror attacks in the United States.

U.S. pilots took the campaign into its 13th day Friday, with strikes before dawn on Kabul. But aside from two bombs that hit at midday, daylight brought a respite from the bombing. Many families living near Taliban military sites grabbed belongings and children and abandoned their homes, seeking safety elsewhere.

It was the second straight Friday – Islam's weekly day of worship, when faithful go to mosques to pray – that strikes were eased.

After heavy pounding overnight, attacks slackened in the Taliban's headquarters city of Kandahar as well. Thousands fled the city by foot and car, fearing more attacks.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said 3,500 refugees had crossed to the Pakistan border town of Chaman by early Friday and more were coming, many without stopping to gather up belongings or even food, U.N. refugee agency spokesman Ron Redmon said.

The U.S.-led assaults are targeting Taliban tank units, garrisons and other military installations scattered across the valley city of Kabul. Shaheen said the strikes have destroyed the country's main airports in Kandahar, Kabul and Jalalabad and damaged electrical installations.

The Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef, said there had been no casualties among the Taliban or al-Qaida leadership, though there had been some deaths in lower-level military positions. He insisted the Taliban military capabilities were intact.

"We are safeguarding our ammunition and our military capability," he said.

In recent days Taliban troops in the beleaguered capital of Kabul have not been replying to allied jet activity with anti-aircraft fire. This compares to the first days of the air campaign when each high-flying jet was met with anti-aircraft fire.

Zaeef returned to Pakistan on Thursday after meeting Mullah Omar in Afghanistan. He said he did not meet bin Laden during the trip.

Taliban sources on Friday confirmed a first fatality among bin Laden's close associates in Afghanistan, according to the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press.

Abu Baseer al-Masri was fatally wounded Oct. 11 when a grenade accidentally exploded in his hands, according to the report. He died in a Jalalabad hospital two days later.

The Taliban denied reports a U.S. bomb had killed al-Masri. Although a veteran member of al-Qaida, al-Masri was not believed to be in the top ranks.

Despite Friday's slackening in the air campaign, Afghan opposition forces were reported to be pressing their ground offensive to take the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif.

Afghanistan's northern-based opposition is a loose coalition of forces, made up mainly of minority ethnic Uzbeks and Tajiks. Control of Mazar-e-Sharif would let them consolidate their supply lines from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, assuring the flow of arms from those two countries.

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EDITOR'S NOTE – Kathy Gannon contributed to this report from Islamabad, Pakistan.

AP-WS-10-19-01 1058EDT