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The Hunt for Bin Laden Heating Up Taliban on run; U.S. forces tracking terror chief

By RICHARD SISK Daily News Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON he U.S. will pour troops and money into Afghanistan to exploit the stunning rebel victories and buy off locals to find Osama Bin Laden, Pentagon leaders said yesterday.

Following the fall of Kabul and the northern half of the country, the Taliban kept running from U.S. bombers and opposition forces.

American warplanes pounded retreating Taliban troops as they headed south from Kabul.

At the same time, there was said to be major fighting in the southern Taliban stronghold of Kandahar, with reports of the Taliban fleeing there as well.

With the series of rapid-fire victories, U.S. Special Forces working with Northern Alliance fighters have "done a good deal to kill Taliban and Al Qaeda troops," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said.

But he cautioned that the war was "far from over."

"We're clearly in this for the long haul," Rumsfeld said.

U.S. commandos were in Kabul to help the alliance consolidate gains and prevent atrocities, Rumsfeld said, and other Special Forces teams were operating in southern Afghanistan to harass the Taliban leadership.

The U.S. military teams and CIA agents operating in the south came equipped with blank checks to reward locals for information on the hideouts of Bin Laden and his top cohorts, Rumsfeld said.

He said "it could very well be that money will talk at some point."

Rumsfeld and Air Force Gen. Dick Myers said a major influx of U.S. and allied troops would be needed quickly to repair and guard airfields and roads to flood the region with relief aid.

They said the allies were interested in airfields at Mazar-i-Sharif and at Bagram, north of Kabul, that could also be used as staging areas for commando raids against Bin Laden's network.

Rumsfeld wouldn't put a number on the allied troops that would move into Afghanistan, but said the repairs would require combat engineers and "it will certainly take people to provide force protection."

Retreating Troops Hit

On the 38th day of the air campaign, Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, said the warplanes were picking off targets among fleeing Taliban convoys and also were hitting caves used as hideouts and storage dumps.

"We're looking for Taliban on the move," Myers said, describing the retreat from Kabul as "more disorganized than organized."

Alliance and Pentagon officials said they also were receiving intelligence that Taliban defectors teaming up with local tribal leaders around Kandahar had taken control of the airport and were ready to move into the city's center.

There were reports of similar uprisings around Jalalabad, but the reports could not be independently confirmed.

Northern Alliance Foreign Minister Abdullah said the Taliban leadership appeared to have abandoned Kandahar, and left the city open to opposition advances.

He also described a "chaotic situation" in Jalalabad.

Rumsfeld said the Taliban and Al Qaeda now face a series of grim choices.

"If they reorganize in the south, we're going to go get them," he said.

"If they go to ground, we will ... root them out," Rumsfeld said, "and if they decide to flee [Afghanistan], I doubt that they'll find peace wherever they select."

In Kabul, music blared from tapes for the first time in several years and people lined up at barber shops to have the beards mandated by the Taliban shaved.

The Northern Alliance had not intended to enter Kabul, Abdullah said, but "there was no option but for us to send our security forces" into the city after the Taliban fled.

A Rout in the South

Western reporters gave numerous accounts of atrocities by the Northern Alliance during their advance, but Abdullah said, "There is no risk of such a thing."

Pashtun leader Hamid Karzai, on the move in southern Afghanistan to rally opposition, said he was in touch with Taliban leaders there to "try to arrange defections."

Karzai told CNN by satellite phone that "the forces of the Taliban are clearly in visible disarray" throughout the south.

Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar urged his scattered fighters to fight on, but there were no signs of a counterattack.

In Pakistan, Omar's supporters said the Taliban and Al Qaeda would take to the hills and snipe at the U.S. forces.

Rumsfeld said he was concerned about a "last-gasp terrorist attack," but predicted the Taliban and Al Qaeda would be defeated.

U.S. troops "will go find them and kill them, or bring them to justice," Rumsfeld said.

-- Anonymous, November 14, 2001