Taliban: Fighters drove off US raid

The United Nations, meanwhile, said thousands of civilians are trapped in southern Afghanistan after Pakistan reimposed border controls on refugees. U.N. officials also warned of a breakdown in law and order that is threatening what's left of international humanitarian missions in Afghanistan.

Kabul residents heard what they thought was the whirr of helicopters late Saturday but could not tell whether another attack was under way. Barrages of anti-aircraft fire erupted afterward.

The Taliban's official Bakhtar news agency said four helicopters landed in Kohi Baba, 20 miles northwest of the southern city of Kandahar, but found the camp deserted.

"The American air operation in Afghanistan has made no gain, and the helicopter operation has failed,'' Bakhtar said.

In a clear appeal to the global Islamic community, a senior Taliban leader, Mullah Amir Khan Muttaqi, told al-Jazeera TV of Qatar that Taliban fighters drove off the Americans and "this commando attack has failed.''

"God willing,'' he added, "all their aggressive planes will fail.''

Other Taliban figures also sought to project an image of strength.

In an interview with the Pakistani newspaper The News, Mullah Jalaluddin Haqqani, a major Taliban commander in the south, said the Americans could not withstand the rigors of a ground war in Afghanistan because "they are creatures of comfort.''

"We are eagerly awaiting the American troops to land on our soil, where we will deal with them in our own way,'' Haqqani said. "The Americans will not be able to sustain the harsh conditions that await them.''

An aide to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, Talat Masoud, told Germany's Die Welt newspaper that the attacks on Afghanistan will probably last until at least March or April.

President Bush launched the air campaign Oct. 7 after the Taliban repeatedly refused to hand over Osama bin Laden, the main suspect in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.

Despite defiant statements from Taliban leaders, tens of thousands of Afghans were trying to escape the bombings, in some cases selling all their possessions to pay for transport and for smugglers to slip them into Pakistan and other neighboring countries.

An estimated 5,000 Afghans entered Pakistan on Saturday at one border crossing alone — Chaman — and the U.N. refugee agency said up to 10,000 more were believed stranded without proper travel documents near the Afghan side of the border.

U.N. officials said nearly the entire population of Kandahar — an estimated 500,000 — had fled the Taliban home city, which has been bombarded for nearly two weeks.

"A lot of people are injured in Kandahar,'' said a bandaged man crossing at Chaman, who identified himself only as Abdullah. "The Taliban are off someplace safe — it is the ordinary people who are suffering.''

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