Taliban stays put despite bombardment

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

NEW YORK, OCT. 24. American jets are continuing to pound the frontlines of the Taliban, even as there are indications that the fundamentalist militia appears to be holding its positions in the face of heavy bombardment.

The strikes are taking place in and around Kabul, Kandahar and Mazar-i-Sharief, with the U.S. seeking to provide some comfort zone to the Northern Alliance as it prepares its offensives against the Taliban. There have been reports here that the Taliban, in a bid to confuse the U.S. jets, is moving its positions closer to that of the Northern Alliance.

The Pentagon has also begun an investigation into who fired on American forces engaged in recovering the wreckage of a helicopter in Pakistan a couple of days ago. ``We don't know who was firing on our forces,'' said Rear Admiral John Stufflebeem. The U.S. forces returned the fire but abandoned the crash site and left the wreckage behind. (A DPA report today said U.S. forces recovered the wreckage of the downed Blackhawk helicopter on Monday.)

Alliance reinforcements

An AP report from Korak Dana in Afghanistan, quoting the Northern Alliance, said it was reinforcing its troop strength in the area, bringing in thousands of additional fighters and weapons to the strategic Panjshir Valley north of Kabul.

The opposition's Commander Haji Bari said the Northern Alliance was bringing in thousands of new troops and weapons to Panjshir in anticipation of a green light from Alliance leaders to march on Kabul.

``We're waiting for the order,'' said Commander Bari, deputy brigade commander in the Rabat district.

U.S. war jets pounded Taliban positions north of Kabul on Wednesday in what witnesses called the heaviest U.S. attacks in four days of frontline assaults apparently aimed at helping the opposition advance on the capital.

At a frontline north of Kabul on Wednesday, Taliban soldiers fired missiles at U.S. jets roaring overhead. They also fired artillery and mortar at opposition forces a few hundred meters (yards) away.

'Ramadan not deadline'

An AFP report from Washington, quoted the U.S. Secretary of State, Gen. Colin Powell, as saying today the U.S. did not see the Muslim holy month of Ramadan as a deadline for halting or curtailing military operations in Afghanistan.

"We're sensitive to Ramadan, but we can't let that be the sole determinant of whether we continue our military action," Gen. Powell told reporters at a news conference with the visiting British Foreign Secretary, Mr. Jack Straw.

He noted that Ramadan coincided with the start of the harsh Afghan winter that would begin in mid-November and would make military operations targeting Osama bin Laden and Afghanistan's ruling Taliban more difficult.

"But the important point to remember is we have military objectives to accomplish and I would like to see all of those objectives accomplished in the next few days," Gen. Powell said.

"(But) as we approach this period of Ramadan and winter, we'll just have to make an assessment at that time as to where we are and if it's necessary to continue military action, then that's the judgment that I'm sure the President will support," he said.

The State Department spokesman, Mr. Richard Boucher, yesterday said it was too soon to consider halting military action during Ramadan and maintained that the Taliban could end the campaign before then by turning over Osama bin Laden.

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