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US Army Rangers carry out raids in Afghanistan

After a fortnight of air attacks, the United States on Saturday launched its first major ground operations in Afghanistan with at least 100 Army Rangers targeting an airbase on the outskirts of the Taleban stronghold, Kandahar.

"The American ground war in Afghanistan is now underway," NBC said, quoting Pentagon officials.

"Army special forces and helicopter gunships are attacking Taleban military targets in Afghanistan."

Officials said the operation began overnight and was over by daybreak when the commandos returned safely to the aircraft carrier USS Kittyhawk, stationed in the Arabian Sea. They were dropped and picked up by helicopters.

The Pentagon did not give details of the operation. It had earlier stated that special forces were operating in Afghanistan, but it was not seen as the beginning of ground operations.

On Friday, officials had confirmed the presence of special forces in northern and southern Afghanistan.

Reports suggested that other covert missions were carried out along with the raids on Kandahar, but the targets were not disclosed.

A Pakistani military officer said American officials had informed them that the special forces would be conducting 'hit-and-run' operations in Taleban-ruled areas.

Pakistan was told that the US forces had been in northern Afghanistan for more than one week, the official said.

The special forces in southern Afghanistan were supporting the Central Intelligence Agency's effort to encourage the ethnic Pashtoon leaders to break away from the Taleban, a US official said on Friday.

Simultaneously, US warplanes attacked the Taleban frontlines in Samangan province, where some American forces were believed to have established a link with Uzbek opposition commander Abdul Rashid Dostum.

It was believed to be the first time that the US had directly attacked Taleban frontlines in the area and only the second confirmed raid on frontline positions anywhere in the country.

"Since 6am this morning, US planes have been bombing the Taleban positions," Northern Alliance spokesman Mohammad Ashraf Nadeem told Agence France-Presse by satellite telephone from the Dara-e-Souf valley in Samangan.

The first reported attack on Taleban frontlines took place on Wednesday, when US planes struck positions north of Kabul. The Northern Alliance dismissed those raids as purely symbolic.

A Taleban spokesman from Afghanistan, however, claimed that the strikes had failed to inflict any major damage.

"The US has a misconception that the Afghan government would have a computerised system, based on modern technology," NNI quoted Amir Khan Muttaqi as saying.

"They targeted some radars, our telephone system and airports. These installations were not much functional even before. We had already shifted our personnel and equipment to safer places. They cannot harm them," he said.

He said the US was targeting buildings, installations and some Soviet-era battle tanks, which had already been scrapped. "They think we are still using them," he remarked. "Our actual force, which our mujahideen are using and controlling, is still intact."

Asked to comment on reports of US troops landing in Afghanistan, he retorted, "There is not even a single American solider in the areas under the control of the Taleban. They do not have the courage to come here. Maybe they have landed in areas under the control of the opposition."

Another spokesman, however, said the Taleban forces had confronted American soldiers near Kandahar and forced them to flee.

Abdul Hanan Hemat, head of the Taleban's information agency, told AFP that the commandos had been dropped by helicopter on Baba Sahib, a mountain near Kandahar, at about 11pm local time on Friday. But Taleban forces rushed to the area and drove them out.

Muttaqi said the Afghans could never be subdued by force. "They (the US) should review their strategy and try to solve problems through negotiations," he said. "The attack and aggression was made by them. We are defending ourselves. Both sides should present their views and arguments," he said.

PTI

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