U.S. commandos conduct lightning raids in Afghanistan

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, OCT. 20. The Bush administration has formally opened a new front in Afghanistan with U.S. elite commandos and Army Rangers staging a lightning raid deep inside southern Afghanistan to attack a specific Taliban target.

Separately, but related to the war efforts, two American service personnel were killed in Pakistan in a helicopter crash. This is the first combat-related casualty for the U.S. and its allies. Meanwhile, an AFP report said anthrax spores had been found at the U.S. House of Representatives.

Defence officials here are not saying much about the raid: As many as 100 commandos were involved in the raid early on Saturday, the first of its kind in a formal sense in Operation Enduring Freedom.

The helidropped-commandos were drawn from the Army Rangers, the Delta Force and Green Berets. The target was the political and military stronghold of the Taliban in Kandahar - it was aimed at rooting out members of the Al-Qaeda terrorist network as well.

Pentagon officials say the commando raid is only the first of the kind; and for operational reasons they are not willing to go into the details. The ground phase of the war will not be ``conventional'' in the traditional sense; rather, it will be an operation by small teams of special forces backed by tremendous air power, including attack helicopters.

The start of the special forces operations does not mean that there will be any let-up from the skies. In fact, the air strikes will be heavier to back the commando operations on the ground. Further, the U.S. is keen on softening the ground more for the Northern Alliance to make further inroads into the Taliban stronghold.

The Pentagon is not directly responding to the Taliban claims of having "forced" the U.S. troops to withdraw. Rather, the military planners are saying that this is what commando actions are all about - going after a specific target and getting out.

Likewise, the Defence Department is not willing to subscribe to the Taliban claim that its ground fire brought down a helicopter resulting in two deaths. Officials here insist that the crash was an accident in Pakistan and involved members belonging to an ``on call assistance force''.

The lightning raid by the elite commandos is only one dimension of what is taking place on the ground. American service personnel are in Northern Afghanistan liaising with the opposition warlord, Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum. The activities are taking place around the vital town of Mazar-i-Sharief. The Taliban is trying to entice the Northern Alliance to join in a front against the U.S., but the entreaties have been rejected.

Alliance forces move on

An AP report from Jabal Saraj in Afghanistan quoted the Northern Alliance as saying it was closing in on Mazar-i-Sharief despite Taliban claims that it would be able to defend it. However, an Alliance spokesman in Uzbekistan said on Saturday that opposition forces had suffered a setback and were pushed back about 2 km.

Mr. Nasir Ahmad Khan, a Northern Alliance colonel, told about 400 kalashnikov-toting fighters that it was just a matter of time before the Taliban fell. He spoke a few hundred metres away from 14 Northern Alliance tanks, the rugged mountains of the opposition-controlled Panjshir Valley in the background.

``The enemy is trembling before you!'' the anti-Taliban commander told the fighters gathered. outside this opposition-held town on Saturday. ``We're going to capture all of Afghanistan! God is great!'' the fighters cried.

Dostum speaks to Turkish TV

An AFP report from Istanbul said Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, the key military leader of Afghanistan's anti-Taliban opposition, spoke by telephone to Turkish television today to disprove a report that he had been killed.

Qatar's Al-Jazeera television channel had reported earlier that Gen. Dostum died some days ago, quoting Taliban military sources. Gen. Dostam, an Uzbek commander, spoke by satellite telephone to the CNN-Turk channel in an interview recorded today morning, denying the rumours he said had been spread by Taliban propaganda. The general also denied he had had any contacts with U.S. officers.

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