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Mountain Manhunt

U.S. Search for Bin Laden Narrows; U.S. to Boost Ground Force Presence

Nov. 2 — The hunt for Osama bin Laden has narrowed to a few complexes of caves and tunnels, intelligence officials tell ABCNEWS, as U.S. bombs continue to pound Taliban troop positions in Afghanistan.

The United States has the suspected mountain hideouts of the alleged terror mastermind under 24-hour surveillance from the air and ground, sources say. Now, the debate is whether to go after bin Laden and other leaders of his al Qaeda terror network by using 5,000-pound "bunker buster" bombs, or to take the greater risk of sending in commandos.

The benefit of sending in special operations forces after bin Laden is the certainty of knowing his fate, experts say.

"I think there's a huge upside for the American and allied effort to actually capturing or very definitively confirming the killing of some of the al Qaeda leaders to include bin Laden," said John Hillen, who was in the U.S. special forces for six years.

Defense sources say that plans for raids against bin Laden's strongholds are constantly being revised and rehearsed. Military planners are waiting for the right information and conditions, and a decision by President Bush to make their move, they say.

The United States has named bin Laden the prime suspect in the Sept. 11 terror attacks that killed more than 4,600 people. The hard-line Taliban regime has sheltered bin Laden in Afghanistan and refused to give him up. On Oct. 7, the United States launched its military campaign against Taliban and al Qaeda targets in Afghanistan.

The Pentagon has been ratcheting up the military campaign to topple the hard-line Islamic regime in recent days, intensifying airstrikes and using special forces to help target bombing of Taliban troops and make way for ground offensives by the opposition Northern Alliance.

From his hideaway, bin Laden is calling on Muslims in neighboring Pakistan to join what he called "the crusader war against Islam." In a letter sent to Qatar's Al Jazeera television, bin Laden said, "Muslims in Afghanistan are being subjected to killing and the Pakistani government is standing beneath the Christian banner."

Concern about the airstrikes has been growing in the Muslim world. Some countries, including U.S. allies Egypt and Saudi Arabia, have warned that if the fighting continues during Ramadan, support for the U.S.-led effort could be eroded. But National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said Thursday that military action would continue during the Muslim holy month, which begins around Nov. 17.

"We think that the best thing we can do for the world, for all of the allies in the coalition, whether they are Muslim or not, is to make certain that this war on terrorism succeeds, and that means we have to finish the mission," she said, ending weeks of speculation about how the Pentagon would handle Ramadan.

Special Ops Help Find Taliban Targets

Bad weather and fighting on the ground are posing obstacles, but Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Thursday that the Pentagon is trying to get more U.S. personnel on the ground in northern Afghanistan. Rumsfeld mentioned no specific number but said he hoped for a three- to fourfold increase from the current number of about 100.

The U.S. elite forces have been helping direct heavy air attacks over the last four days on Taliban troops fighting opposition Northern Alliance forces planning offensives on the Afghan capital, Kabul, and the strategic northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif.

American warplanes bombed Kabul today, hitting targets on the northern edge of the capital believed to include air defense and weapons storage sites. Taliban gunners responded with bursts of anti-aircraft fire.

The Taliban claimed today that it has killed 70 to 100 Americans since the U.S. military campaign began, a claim denied by the Bush administration.

"Once again, the Taliban is just lying," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said when asked about the claim made by the Taliban consul in Karachi, Pakistan, Moulvi Rahamatullah Kakazada, in a conversation aired on Al Jazeera television.

A Pentagon spokesman said only three Americans have died, all from accidental causes and all far from the combat zone.

Washington also denied Taliban claims of victories issued on Thursday — including that it shot down a U.S. plane near Mazar-e-Sharif and, separately, that it had taken several Americans into custody.

In southern Afghanistan, the Taliban led foreign journalists on a tour of the village Kili Chokar, where the regime claims 92 people died in a U.S. air raid 10 days ago. At the cemetery, reporters counted only about 15 graves, but a resident brought forward by the Taliban told reporters that several bodies had been buried in one grave. The report could not be confirmed independently.

Washington has repeatedly rejected claims by the Taliban that at least 1,500 civilians have been killed since the United States began airstrikes nearly a month ago. Rumsfeld asserted Thursday that the Taliban has been drawing U.S. fire to residential areas by putting anti-aircraft installations on the roofs of civilian buildings and storing military equipment near mosques and hospitals, and then blaming the United States when those targets are hit.

"I can tell you that the Afghan civilians don't like it," he said.

Taliban Says Mullah, Bin Laden Safe from ‘American Harm’

In other developments:

The Taliban consul in Karachi, Moulvi Rahamatullah Kakazada, told Al Jazeera television that Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar and bin Laden were safe. "Thank God all brothers inside are protected from any harm, especially the prince of believers (Mullah Omar) and Sheikh Osama bin Laden," he said. "Thank God that they are protected from all evils and any American harm."

The White House reportedly told members of Congress it wants to cut tariffs on Pakistani products for up to three years as a reward for Islamabad's help in the U.S.-led war on terrorism.

Pashtun tribal leader Hamid Karzai, a supporter of ex-Afghan King Zahir Shah, told the BBC that he escaped Taliban troops trying to capture him in the mountains of central Uruzgan province. Karzai said his forces were surrounded by Taliban troops, but managed to fight them off. Another supporter of the king, Commander Abdul Haq, was executed by the Taliban on Oct. 26.

A Taliban minister said U.S. helicopters helped Karzai escape, but the Pashtun leader's brother said he spoke with Karzai and knew nothing of an American assistance. He said the Taliban made the claim to portray Karzai as "an American puppet."

President Bush plans to rally support next week for the U.S. war on terrorism, with addresses to the American people and meetings with the leaders of Britain, France, India, Brazil and Ireland, the White House said.

Rumsfeld is scheduled to leave Washington today for a trip to Moscow to meet with his Russian counterpart, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov. The defense secretary also expects to visit Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and India before he returns on Monday.

The latest numbers of victims from the attacks on the World Trade Center, according to New York City officials are: 3,923 missing and 495 identified.

-- Anonymous, November 02, 2001