Rumsfeld predicts Taliban stronghold will fall without Marines joining the fight

By ROBERT BURNS
AP Military Writer

WASHINGTON – Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld expressed confidence Tuesday that Afghan opposition forces would defeat the Taliban at their last stand in Kandahar, and he all but ruled out sending in the Marines to finish the job.

"We don't have any plans at the present time to be using U.S. forces in that way," Rumsfeld said.

For weeks U.S. warplanes have been bombing Kandahar, the Taliban militia's southern stronghold, in support of anti-Taliban attackers. The supreme Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, has instructed his people to hold out.

"Hiding in the city, the Taliban are in effect using the civilian population of Kandahar as shields," Rumsfeld said.

At a Pentagon news conference, Rumsfeld said two main groups of anti-Taliban forces are pressing toward Kandahar as a contingent of about 1,300 Marines operates farther south but within striking distance. Other officials said the Marine contingent may grow to about 1,500 in the days ahead.

"The situation in Kandahar is complicated. It's not easy, but one thing is clear: The Taliban and al-Qaida will be driven from Kandahar," Rumsfeld said. "The choice really is theirs as to how it happens."

The Marines' presence, with their vehicle-mounted machine guns, shoulder-fired missiles and attack helicopters, makes it close to impossible for the Taliban to reinforce or resupply Kandahar, he added.

Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at the news conference with Rumsfeld that the Marines have begun "interdicting lines of communication" south of Kandahar, military jargon for blocking or otherwise cutting off roadways leading out of the city. He would not discuss how the Marines are doing this, saying he did not want the Taliban to know.

Another official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Marine patrols were aimed not only at stopping the reinforcement of Kandahar but also watching for the attempted escape of Taliban leaders. The official said allied troops, apparently Australian or British, are patrolling with the Marines.

Myers would not say whether the Marines had engaged in combat on these patrols.

The focus of U.S. bombing is the Kandahar area in eastern Afghanistan and the mountainous area near the Khyber Pass south of Jalalabad, where it is believed Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants are hiding in a complex of caves and tunnels.

U.S. planes also are dropping leaflets in the Jalalabad area to solicit help in tracking down bin Laden.

Anti-Taliban officials said the United States asked them to repair the runway at the Jalalabad airport so that fixed-wing aircraft could begin landing by Thursday. Pentagon officials said they knew of no plans to use the airport for offensive operations, although a small number of U.S. Special Operations Forces are in that area working with opposition forces in the search for bin Laden.

Rumsfeld said the Bush administration has yet to decide what to do with an American believed to have been fighting alongside the Taliban and who is now receiving medical treatment from U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

The secretary refused to say whether he considers the man, who has identified himself as John Walker, a traitor.

"We found a person who says he's an American with an AK-47 in a prison with a bunch of al-Qaida and Taliban prisoners," Rumsfeld said. "You can be certain he will have all the rights he is due."

He made clear that resolving Walker's case is not a high priority for the Pentagon.

"We'll get to that in good time," he said.

Rumsfeld said he has been told there are two other Taliban fighters in Afghanistan who claim to be Americans. "People are looking for them," he said, adding that he knew nothing else about them.

Asked about news reports that U.S. intelligence agencies believe al-Qaida may have made more progress than previously thought toward obtaining materials for a weapon to spread poisonous radiation, Rumsfeld said it is well known that the al-Qaida leader, bin Laden, "has an interest in weapons of mass destruction – chemical, biological, radiation, as well as nuclear."

"I do not know of certain knowledge precisely what kinds of capabilities he may have actually developed and weaponized and have available to him," he said.

On the humanitarian front, U.S. forces are preparing airfields in Bagram, near the Afghan capital, and near Mazar-e-Sharif to the northwest to accommodate the air delivery of food and other relief supplies. Myers said he hopes the government of Uzbekistan in the next few days would open a key bridge to enable a greater overland flow of humanitarian relief into northern Afghanistan.

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AP-WS-12-04-01 1655EST