U.S. Strikes Back
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U.S. warplanes renew strikes in eastern Afghanistan
01/07/2002By SUSANNE M. SCHAFER
Associated Press Writer
 Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke, right, and Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Stufflebeem AP/Doug Mills |
WASHINGTON — American warplanes are striking a ``hotbed'' of terrorist support in eastern Afghanistan to wipe out regrouping Taliban and al-Qaida forces and hidden weaponry, military officials said Monday.
``We're not done there,'' Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Stufflebeem said of a compound and cave complex. ``We're finding stuff, and we're attacking that stuff.''
U.S. warplanes have conducted three strikes in recent days at the al-Qaida base at Zawar Kili near Khost, where terrorist leader Osama bin Laden's followers have been emerging. A major weapons cache that included tanks also was bombed there, Stufflebeem said.
``Those who have dispersed, it would appear, are trying to get back together and regroup so that they can ascertain, do they have leadership, do they have mission, can they do operations?'' Stufflebeem told reporters at a Pentagon briefing.
Paktia province in eastern Afghanistan has long been known as a region where al-Qaida terrorists have built a large training and supply complex, the spokesman said.
``It is a hotbed of support,'' Stufflebeem said.
 Airman hauls chains AP/J. PAT CARTER |
Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said American aircraft flew 118 sorties and conducted four airstrikes in the Zawar and Khost area on Sunday.
The strikes were conducted by long-range B-52 and B-1 bombers, as well as carrier-based strike planes from warships in the Indian Ocean.
Khost is known as the headquarters of a former minister in the ousted Taliban regime, Jalaluddin Haqqani, who is high on the U.S. most-wanted list.
``This is what you would call a relatively active area,'' he said. ``It previously had been a support haven of al-Qaida.'' He refused to speculate whether bin Laden might be nearby.
Khost also was used as a training base by al-Qaida and was targeted by U.S. cruise missiles following the bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998. A number of al-Qaida fighters are believed to have slipped into the area after fleeing Tora Bora, the mountain cave complex seized by U.S.-backed anti-Taliban forces last month.
Stufflebeem, asked to elaborate on the circumstances of the death of Sgt. 1st Class Nathan Ross Chapman on Friday, said an investigation was underway to determine who was responsible.
``We are tying to determine what happened, so we can prevent something like this from happening again,'' the spokesman said. ``It most definitely was an ambush.''
Clarke said construction crews have begun beefing up former refugee camp sites at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to deal with prisoners taken in the Afghan fighting.
``It will be significantly different construction,'' Clarke said.
There were 346 suspected Taliban or al-Qaida members in U.S. custody this weekend, she said.
The Pentagon plans tight security for hundreds of al-Qaida and Taliban captives expected at the base and is sending 1,500 military police and other troops to build a prison there.
Already, 1,000 U.S. troops have orders to depart for Cuba, some by way of southwest Asia, where they will help transport the prisoners to the base, officials said. Five hundred more soldiers will be ordered to the base in the coming weeks.