U.S. to send more troops

Rumsfeld defends war's pace: 'We're still in the very, very early stages'

11/02/2001

By RICHARD WHITTLE / The Dallas Morning News

WASHINGTON – The Pentagon plans to insert more special forces teams into Afghanistan to pinpoint targets for U.S. bombers and assist anti-Taliban rebels, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld revealed Thursday.

And he strongly rejected criticism that the war in Afghanistan is going too slowly.

"Today is November 1, and if you think about it, the smoke at this very moment is still rising out of the World Trade Center, or the ruins of the World Trade center," Mr. Rumsfeld said. "It seems to me that Americans understand well that ... we're still in the very, very early stages of this conflict."

Mr. Rumsfeld said the extra troops are crucial to U.S. efforts to improve the bombing campaign. He said poor weather and, on one recent occasion, "ground fire" have prevented more special forces teams from being deployed.

"We have a number of teams cocked and ready to go," Mr. Rumsfeld said. "It's just a matter of having the right kind of equipment to get them there and the landing zones in places where it's possible to get in and get out."

"I've expected it to happen every day, and I'm sure it will in the days immediately ahead," he added.

Mr. Rumsfeld's sudden willingness to discuss operational plans – a topic he previously declared taboo – coincided with a broad push by the Bush administration to rally public and coalition support behind the war effort. Mr. Rumsfeld said he will visit countries around Afghanistan this weekend after meeting with his Russian counterpart in Moscow on Saturday.

The White House announced separately that President Bush will meet next week with the leaders of Britain, France, India, and Pakistan. They will discuss the war on Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror network and the Taliban Islamic fundamentalists who have protected them in Afghanistan.

Mr. Bush also will address the nation, offering an update on the war on terror, and give a speech by satellite to a gathering of Central European leaders, said National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.

"The president thinks it's vitally important to make certain that the American people are kept informed about the nature of the threat that we face and the progress of our response," Ms. Rice explained.

News of Mr. Bush's speaking plans and Mr. Rumsfeld's remarks followed an announcement Wednesday that the United States and Britain were establishing a Coalition Information Center.

The center, with an office at the White House and branches in London and Islamabad, Pakistan, is part of a broad effort to counter a week of news and opinion articles suggesting that international and public support might be flagging.

The administration got new and significant support abroad Thursday. Turkey, the only Muslim member of NATO, announced it would send to Afghanistan 90 special forces troops skilled at fighting in mountain terrain to help U.S. troops and anti-Taliban forces.

"Turkey has been involved in a variety of ways from the outset and has had a relationship with the Northern Alliance previously," Mr. Rumsfeld noted.

Part of the Bush administration's new strategy is to remind Americans and the world as often as possible that the military campaign in Afghanistan is a reaction to the terrorist attacks that killed thousands in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Officials have sought to steel the public for a prolonged struggle against terrorism. In addition, the United States is facing growing international pressure, especially from predominantly Muslim countries, to end or at least curtail the bombing.

Mr. Rumsfeld reminded reporters that the terrorist attacks took place Sept. 11. Airstrikes started Oct. 7. By Nov. 1, coalition forces had flown more than 2,000 sorties and dropped more than 1 million ration packs, he said.

"The terrorists were painstaking and deliberate, and it appears that they may have spent one or even two years planning their activities," Mr. Rumsfeld said. "There's no doubt in my mind but that the American people know that it's going to take more than 24 days to deal with this very problem."

Mr. Rumsfeld at times used stark language to describe the war in Afghanistan, such as when asked why the United States has used "cluster bombs."

Human rights groups have criticized the use of the anti-personnel munitions, which drop multitudes of small bomblets.

"They are being used on frontline al-Qaeda and Taliban troops to try to kill them, is why we're using them, to be perfectly blunt," Mr. Rumsfeld said.

The military has been "working very diligently" for "many, many weeks" to get additional special forces into Afghanistan, the defense secretary said.

Mr. Rumsfeld confirmed Tuesday that a "modest number" of special forces already were in the country, assisting rebels of the Northern Alliance and designating targets for U.S. aircraft.

He declined to specify numbers but indicated earlier this week that fewer than 100 U.S. personnel were in northern Afghanistan and none were in the majority Pashtun south.

Representatives of the Northern Alliance also have said they are pleased that U.S. airstrikes are beginning to hit Taliban front lines around Mazar-e Sharif and the capital of Kabul.

Mr. Rumsfeld called "absolutely false" reports that few airstrikes had been aimed at Taliban front lines protecting Kabul for fear the Northern Alliance would take the capital before a broad post-Taliban governing coalition can be set up.

The Northern Alliance is a loose coalition of ethnic Uzbek, Tajik and Hazara rebels. Experts agree that any new government must include representatives of the Pashtun, Afghanistan's largest ethnic group.

"The best work is being done where we do have those special forces on the ground," Mr. Rumsfeld said. The United States also is providing Northern Alliance forces with food, ammunition, and supplies "as fast as we can," he added.

Though the defense secretary used the term "special forces," he left unclear if the troops in Afghanistan were members of the Army's Special Forces. But the mission he described matches their specialty of working with insurgent troops.

"We're going to be adding people to have a reasonable cluster of American special forces who are able to be in there, serve as liaison, assist with the communication, assist with the targeting, assist with the resupply," Mr. Rumsfeld said.

"I'd like to see as soon as humanly possible the number of teams go up by three or four times."