Operation Enduring Freedom’s campaign in Afghanistan is not over, but the military pressure on the Taliban and al-Qaeda is increasing, the Pentagon said.
General Tommy Franks, commander-in-chief of U.S. Central Command, briefed reporters that gains by the opposition forces, aided by U.S. Special Forces and air strikes, have made significant impact on the Taliban.
The United States has been supplying advisors, weapons, food and air support to the Northern Alliance.
“It’s been said that we are tightening the noose, and in fact that is the case,” Gen. Franks said. “We’re tightening the noose. It’s a matter of time.”
While the noose is tightening, Franks cautioned that the Taliban has not been eliminated.
“The Taliban is not destroyed as an effective fighting force from the level of one individual man carrying a weapon until that individual man puts down his weapon,” Franks said. “And so there still is a capable – capable fighting force on the side of the Taliban. We’ll continue to do our best to eliminate that force of the Taliban.”
The threat, the general explained, is that the Taliban can drop their weapons and remain hidden.
“I would say one other thing about the Taliban and the extent to which they’re in disarray. If you think about the different ways they can behave: They can go across a border and wait and come back. They can drop their weapons and blend into the communities,” Franks explained. “They can go up in the mountains in the caves and tunnels. They can defect – join the other side – change their mind, go back. So it is not possible to answer the question as to the circumstance of the Taliban.”
However, the general said, the people of Afghanistan are glad to be rid of the fundamentalist Islamic faction.
“If one looks at the reaction of the people in villages and city after city across that country where the Taliban have faded away or been destroyed or killed or defeated in battle, those people are happy people, for the most part, and they’re pleased to be free of the Taliban,” Franks said.
Even with recent victories, the bombing campaign will not stop, Franks said. On the contrary, it will be come more “focused.”
“The bombing will become more and more and more focused as we continue through time. The targets that we have been after, as you know, have changed. Initially, we wanted to set conditions, so we bombed a lot of the tactical capability,” Franks said. “As we had completed that work, essentially, we began to target the formations of the Taliban that were essentially propping up Mullah Omar and that regime.”
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld commented on other developments in the campaign. Heavy fighting around the city of Konduz is continuing, he said. The enemy there is largely affiliated with Osama bin Laden.
“It’s heavily al-Qaeda, as – mixed in with probably a number of people from other countries, as well as some Taliban,” Rumsfeld said. “But the fighting has been fierce, and it – and the last I checked, this morning, it was still continuing.”
Gen. Franks confirmed this, adding that the terrorist and Taliban forces there number in the thousands and are very dedicated.
“I will tell you my appreciation right now is that that number may be 2,000 to 3,000, heavily infested, as the secretary said, with some of the more hard-core people,” Franks said. “And so yes, that fight does continue in Konduz.”
On the Net: The Pentagon: http://www.defenselink.mil
