The American-led military campaign in Afghanistan will go on as long as it has to, the Pentagon said yesterday.

The campaign now enters its second month, and Defense officials say that the end is not in sight.

General Tommy Franks, the operational commander of Operation Enduring Freedom, told reporters yesterday that the war would continue to be unconventional.

“This will not, day by day, be all about the establishment or the movement of troops along a line of contact,” Gen. Franks said. “This effort is 24 hours a day; it has been, and it will continue to be 24 hours a day.”

There are more than a thousand troops in the area of operations, including soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division on standby status in Uzbekistan.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld explained that Taliban and terrorist numbers in Afghanistan are not known, and the general doesn’t believe that the enemy has been destroyed yet.

“[Franks] does not believe they’ve been eviscerated,” Rumsfeld commented. “Of that I can assure you.”

Franks confirmed the secretary’s joke.

“The direct answer I’m going to give you will not be a number, because I think, as has been the case since Sun Tzu said it about 2,500 years ago, precise knowledge of self and precise knowledge of the threat leads to victory,” Franks said. “What I can tell you, though, is however many Taliban troops were in this at the beginning, that same number are not in this today.”

Franks also commented on the Northern Alliance, which had announced earlier this week that it was close to seizing the city of Mazar-e Sharif. Mazar-e Sharif is a key location, with a paved airstrip that could be used for re-supply of both military and humanitarian aid. While the fight is going on, Franks cautions that it is early to call a winner.

“There is a gunfight that is going on in the vicinity of Mazar-e Sharif. I believe, as the secretary said – I think yesterday, perhaps the day before – it’s a bit early for us to characterize this as the success that will enable our establishment of the land bridge,” Franks said. “So I’m not prepared to do that right now. But yes, there is a big fight that’s going on in the vicinity of Mazar-e Sharif.

“We are interested in Mazar-e Sharif. We’re interested in it because it would provide a land bridge, as has been said, up to Uzbekistan, which provides us, among other things, a humanitarian pathway for us to move supplies out of Central Asia and down into Afghanistan,” Franks added.

Franks said he wouldn’t give in to the pressures from retired generals, who have been clamoring for a victory before winter.

“I think it has been said that the views of the retired generals and so forth, whom you mentioned, and others, are respected,” Franks said. “Now if – when it comes to a point that says, well, we need something quick, we need to do something before winter – I simply don’t take that as a form of guidance or pressure. Our commander in chief has said we have a plan. This is being done at our initiative.”

Besides, Rumsfeld said, the campaign won’t stop for winter.

“The implication there is that the fighting is going to stop during the winter, and I think that would not be correct,” Rumsfeld said. “It’s a big country. There’s all kinds of weather patterns.”

As for a quick end to the war, both Franks and Rumsfeld were cautious.

“We like the progress we have had up to this point. We have certainly said that the tactical targets have been taken down,” Franks said. “Along with that, it’s obvious that we have postured forces in the region that give us a greater capability. It is only those who believe that all of this should be done in two weeks’ time or in one month or perhaps two months who are disappointed by this.

“So when I say we’re on our time line, that’s what I mean. Our job has to do with terrorist organizations, networks with global reach, and it has to do with the command and control of the Taliban,” the general added. “And so when we say we’re on our time line, that’s what we’re talking about. When I indicate that I find our progress up to this point satisfactory, that’s what I’m making reference to.”

Rumsfeld explained that comparisons between previous combat and Operation Enduring Freedom were in error.

“I think people have in mind Desert Storm and Kosovo, and they’re beginning to compare different sortie rates and so forth. You have to look at the availability of ports, the availability of airfields and the distances one has to fly,” Rumsfeld said. “If you can fly an aircraft two or three times in a day, because of the distance being close and the access you have, you’re going to get a higher sortie rate. To the extent you can’t, you don’t. And I think trying to go back and in your mind compare numbers like that is a misunderstanding.”

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