Bin Laden targeted as Afghan war grinds on
( 2001-12-11 09:35 ) (7 )

Backed by the power of one of America's most lethal bombs, Afghan troops advanced against Osama bin Laden's fighters in the Tora Bora mountains on Monday as US officials said the war on terrorism would continue even if the militant Islamic leader is captured or killed.

For ordinary Afghans, hopes rose after decades of fighting and hunger. Aid flowed, warlords patched up differences -- for now, at least -- and Britain accepted the task of organizing and leading a multinational force to keep peace in the war-ravaged country.

The fundamentalist Taliban, targeted by the United States for sheltering bin Laden following the Sept. 11 hijack attacks on New York and Washington that killed nearly 3,900 people, surrendered the last province under its control on Sunday and vanished from the scene.

But fighting raged on in the cave-riddled Tora Bora mountains of eastern Afghanistan, where mainly Arab fighters aligned with bin Laden's al Qaeda network of Islamic militants put up fierce resistance against Afghan forces closing in for a final assault.

The US military said on Monday it had unleashed a giant ''daisy cutter'' bomb against one of the Tora Bora caves where al Qaeda leaders -- and possibly bin Laden himself -- were believed to be hiding.

The mammoth 15,000-pound bomb, which can devastate everything within a 600-yard radius, has been used only two or three times since the US-led air campaign began on Oct. 7.

US officials warned that despite the Taliban's ouster and the progress against al Qaeda, the war was far from over.

``The war in Afghanistan is not won,'' said Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. ``It is a classic military mistake to leave a partially defeated enemy on the battlefield.''

BIN LADEN WHEREABOUTS UNCLEAR

Afghan forces have launched a three-pronged strike against the Tora Bora cave complexes, where they believe bin Laden is personally leading about 1,000 al Qaeda guerrillas in what could be their last stand.

Hazrat Ali, commanding local forces pursuing al Qaeda in the rugged terrain, said bin Laden's men, under intense US bombing, had been forced back to new defensive positions on ''mountain tops between Tora Bora and Waziri Gorge.''

``Osama may be there too. He was seen five days ago and an Afghan prisoner whom we have confirmed it too,'' Ali told reporters.

``Osama has set up new caves and an underground protection system on top of these mountains. His people are putting (up) extremely tough resistance,'' he added.

US officials were less sure of bin Laden's whereabouts, and said it remained to be seen how quickly his fighters would be beaten, two months and 12,000 bombs and missiles after the campaign began to punish the Taliban for protecting him.

``We certainly don't have any information that would allow us to assess the situation as close to the end,'' said Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke. ``It's tough ... pretty intense fighting.''

BRITAIN TO LEAD SECURITY FORCE

Britain accepted the task of leading and organizing a multinational force for Afghanistan, which the U.N. Security Council is expected to approve by Friday, US diplomats said on Monday.

But U.N. officials worry the NATO nations, who are to form the core of the force, may not deploy troops by Dec. 22 when the new Afghan interim government is to take office in Kabul.

Formation of the new force -- part of the international effort to ensure a stable future for Afghanistan -- had been slowed because no country had quickly offered to take the lead. It was also slowed down by the reluctance of the US military to have a parallel operation in the country during its war against terrorism.

Meanwhile, calm was returning to much of Afghanistan on Monday, with no reports of fighting between the factions that have agreed to share power in the interim government led by Hamid Karzai.

In a boost for the new regime, powerful northern warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum dropped his hostility and said he would cooperate with Karzai's government.

Karzai, seeking to restore order to a country riven by ethnic and factional rivalries, plans to quickly disarm rival militias in Kandahar once he assumes power on Dec. 22, a source close to his family said.

In another step that could promote peace in Afghanistan, aides said former King Zahir Shah, seen as a unifying figurehead, would probably return home in March to join in reconstruction, ending almost 30 years of exile in Italy.

Further encouraging news came with the opening of aid routes as Uzbekistan reopened a border crossing closed for four years, letting an aid convoy drive over the Soviet-built Friendship Bridge into northern Afghanistan on Sunday.

In Kabul, the distribution of food aid to some 1.3 million Afghans, three quarters of the city's population, was to resume after a suspension called on Sunday due to huge crowds.

Marines moved into the US Embassy for the first time since 1989 as Kabul revived a diplomatic quarter that, under Taliban rule, housed only one embassy -- that of Pakistan.

WAR WILL GO ON, US VOWS

The other main target of the US-led campaign in Afghanistan, Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, remained at large on Monday, days after his supporters surrendered their last stronghold of Kandahar to opposition fighters.

Wolfowitz, the US deputy defense secretary, said the United States believed Mullah Omar was still in the Kandahar area.

In Kandahar, where fighting broke out between rival warlords following the Taliban's departure, an uneasy peace returned and the International Committee of the Red Cross began collecting bodies from the streets.

US Marine ``hunter-killer teams'' and equipment moved north from their desert base to cut al Qaeda escape routes near Kandahar, but said they would not enter the city.

US officials, while pressing the hunt for both bin Laden and Mullah Omar, have vowed that the war on terror will not end with the conclusion of military action in Afghanistan.

US Vice President Dick Cheney said on Sunday if bin Laden were caught alive, he should face a US military court. The campaign against al Qaeda, which Washington suspects operates in as many as 60 countries around the globe, will continue, he said.

President Bush was leaning toward releasing a new videotape of bin Laden that officials say proves his responsibility for the Sept. 11 attacks.

The 40-minute homemade tape, found at a private home in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, reportedly shows bin Laden exulting over the destruction wrought by the attacks and expressing amusement that some of the 19 hijackers did not realize they were about to die.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Bush wanted to release the tape -- which could buttress the US case against the Saudi-born militant -- but was working with security officials to make sure that the tapes would not compromise intelligence operations.

Talking to reporters after a menorah-lighting ceremony for Hanukkah, Bush said on Monday the tape showed him that bin Laden ``has no conscience, and no soul.''

The United States planned to mark the three month anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on Tuesday with solemn remembrances planned from New York's ground zero to the orbiting International Space Station, where US and Russian astronauts will play their respective national anthems.

``Basically it's one of these times where, as you know, people say, 'I remember exactly what I was doing the moment I heard,''' said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.