Pentagon leaders say military campaign is closing in on bin Laden and his terrorist network

By ROBERT BURNS
AP Military Writer

WASHINGTON – American and allied forces are closing in on leaders of Osama bin Laden's terrorist network with more focused airstrikes, more timely intelligence and a more active hunt by U.S. special operations troops in southern Afghanistan, senior Pentagon officials said Thursday.

"We are tightening the noose," said Army Gen. Tommy Franks, commander of U.S. forces in the region.

Franks, encouraged by the sudden retreat of the Taliban militia from northern Afghanistan this week, met with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld at the Pentagon on Thursday to spell out his evolving plan for completing the destruction of bin Laden's al-Qaida network and its Taliban supporters.

Franks was to present the plan Friday to President Bush, Rumsfeld said.

At a news conference with Rumsfeld, Franks described in broad terms his approach to capitalizing on the collapse of the Taliban, which he cautioned was not yet complete. He emphasized that from the start of the U.S. bombing on Oct. 7, the goal has been to destroy al-Qaida.

"The bombing will become more and more and more focused" on al-Qaida and Taliban leaders, Franks said. Anti-Taliban forces in the north are consolidating their territorial gains and U.S. special operations forces in the south are working with other opposition forces in the hunt for the terrorists.

Due to the success of U.S. bombing aimed at destroying first the Taliban's air defenses and then Taliban itself, "we simply have more capability to focus on the alligators," he said, referring to the terrorists and their supporters.

Reports by two of those special forces soldiers give idea of the combat in Afghanistan: One described how northern alliance fighters charged into combat on horseback; the second referred to an incident where U.S. forces were nearly overrun by Taliban troops.

The second dispatch, dated Saturday from the northern Afghan town of Mazar-e-Sharif, said that on Nov. 6 a group of American soldiers called for airstrikes that prevented their rebel element from being defeated. It said two other American soldiers called in airstrikes while under fire on Nov. 9.

The first report, dated Oct. 25, said alliance fighters on horseback had attacked Taliban armored positions "every day we have been on the ground." The cavalry charges were under mortar, artillery and sniper fire for as much as a mile or more.

Excerpts from the reports were read Wednesday night by Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz at a foreign policy conference in Washington. The Pentagon released a transcript Thursday.

Franks said U.S. special forces in southern Afghanistan are advising opposition force commanders, helping them resupply, providing them with arms and calling in close-air support for opposition troops.

U.S. special forces have been operating in the south near Kandahar, the Taliban's political base, for the past few days, the four-star general said. They are blocking roads to try to trap al-Qaida and Taliban leaders.

Franks seemed to indicate that U.S. commandos would not undertake the difficult and risky task of hunting down al-Qaida leaders in Afghanistan's mountains, where they are known to use caves and tunnels. On the other hand, he did not rule out the possibility of a U.S. ground offensive.

Rumsfeld said that while it was possible that bin Laden and other al-Qaida leaders could escape Afghanistan – by land or air – he thought it unlikely.

"I think we'll find him either there or in some other country. But one has to be realistic," he said.

In its daily update on bombing, the Pentagon reported that six target areas were struck on Wednesday, mainly near Kabul and Kandahar. The targets included al-Qaida and Taliban forces and caves and tunnels, officials said. Three C-17 cargo planes dropped a total of 36,000 packets of humanitarian rations.

As the military strategy in Afghanistan evolves, so is the U.S. approach to providing humanitarian assistance to the millions of Afghans who have been displaced in recent weeks.

Franks said U.S. forces in northern areas will spend the next few days assessing the situation in areas where food aid is urgently needed, and then advise international relief organizations on the level of risk.

"It is premature to say that things are stable enough in northern Afghanistan so that we should feel very comfortable with all of our humanitarian resupply efforts," Franks said. He said the U.S. military, while expanding its own relief effort, will not instruct nongovernmental organizations on how to proceed.

The Pentagon has been dropping food rations into Afghanistan throughout the military campaign but it plans to reduce those as food convoys reach more areas by land, said Joseph J. Collins, a top humanitarian assistance planner at the Pentagon. He said the United Nations and other groups conducted land shipments of food and other supplies into Afghanistan even during the heaviest U.S. airstrikes.

That means future food convoys might not need troops to protect them, Collins said.

AP-WS-11-15-01 1846EST