Gunships Step Up Onslaught

A KEY Taleban stronghold was on the brink of collapse last night as America used one of its most fearsome attack aircraft to threaten the imminent launch of special forces ground operations.

The Pentagon said the strategic town of Mazar-i Sharif was within a day or two of being captured by Northern Alliance forces after one of the heaviest nights of bombing in the 11-day campaign over Afghanistan.

More than 100 US and British aircraft took to the skies on Monday, the Pentagon said, with only slightly fewer in action last night. The Taleban's combat power had been "eviscerated", according to the Pentagon, and coalition aircraft were continuing to target Taleban forces "in a robust way", a tactical switch that marked a new phase in the war.

The change of gear was highlighted by the use of two low-flying AC130 gunships over southern Afghanistan, the first time they had been used in the campaign. The converted Hercules transport aircraft raked with cannon and machinegun fire a Taleban stronghold in Kandahar linked to the fanatical 55 Brigade, the elite force of Arab and other foreign volunteer fighters dedicated to Osama bin Laden. The 3,000-strong brigade is seen by the Americans as a key target in the new phase of the operation, which is aimed at hitting troop s around Kabul and Kandahar.

The Americans hope that attacks on 55 Brigade's positions could uncover the whereabouts of the terrorist leader wanted for the attacks in New York and Washington. The Pentagon said last night that the psychological impact of the AC130, which circles slowly around its target while raining down bombs and bullets, was considerable.

Defence sources said that its involvement indicated that American special forces ground operations might soon be launched against key Taleban targets. The gunship's "search-and-destroy missions" are often combined with helicopter-borne units.

The flight of the first turbo-prop gunship over Afghanistan underlined America's increasing confidence that it had the freedom of the skies after the attacks on the country's air defence systems. It also provided an indication that US bombers are working with improved intelligence. Lieutenant - General Gregory Newbold, a Pentagon spokesman, said that Nort h ern Alliance forces had advance d to within 6 miles of Mazar-i Sharif. He said Taleban forces in the city were in danger of being cut off over the next day or two.

The Afghan opposition claimed that the first phase of the war was now over, and said it would increase co-operation with the United States in identifying targets and co-ordinating attacks. Abdullah Abdullah, the Northern Alliance foreign minister, said: "The aim would be to co-ordinate efforts on all fronts to move against the Taleban where they are weakest."

During one attack on Monday night 35 per cent of the contents of a warehouse run by the International Committee of the Red Cross in Kabul was also destroyed. The Pentagon said it was investigating whether it was hit by an American bomb or by Taleban anti-aircraft fire.(One man was injured.)

A doctor from Kandahar General Hospital who fled to Quetta after fleeing from the bombing, said that the bodies of 12 dead Taleban fighters had been brought to the hospital after an attack on military quarters in the city. "They said that another 50 had been killed but their bodies had been blown to pieces," the doctor said. He said it was impossible to tell how many Taleban fighters had been killed since the campaign began as their bodies were usually taken straight to their families for burial. The doctor said the intensified bombing had caused a new wave of panic in the half-empty city .

More than half of the hospital's 200 staff have left Kandahar after the city's Taleban governor ordered fighters to move weapons into the hospital compound for safekeeping when the bombing began.

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 17 2001

War Briefing: October 17

BY BRONWEN MADDOX, FOREIGN EDITOR

Playing for time as Kandahar crumbles

“TARGET Kandahar” was the mission yesterday. This is the sign of a military campaign sliding into the political mud.

It is not that Kandahar, the Taleban’s headquarters, is a ludicrous target. At least, it wasn’t 10 days ago when more of the town’s low, dusty buildings were still standing. The main targets for the gunships sent in yesterday are now troops, not facilities.

In military terms, Kandahar is probably no longer the richest target, but it is by far the diplomatically safest. The American coalition will not be strained — not much, anyway — by more strikes at the heart of its acknowledged enemy.

But while strikes near Jalalabad are continuing — some of the main training camps are thought to be there — they are more sensitive, threatening to deepen the stream of refugees heading for Pakistan.

And don’t mention the northern front line, which US bombers have scarcely touched. The Northern Alliance is now openly furious that the US will not clear away the Taleban forces, allowing it to charge into Kabul. Talks about making the capital a United Nations “open city” — to stop the Northern Alliance doing just that — are said to be moving “fast”. That means three months, if we’re lucky. But the urgency at least got Washington yesterday to stump up most of its UN arrears.

Yet deliberate US stalling in the north does bring one immediate payoff. While infuriating the Northern Alliance, it is forcing it to spend time exploring whether Taleban forces might defect. Defection is an indispensable part of the plan to find Osama bin Laden and bring down the Taleban.

Today’s reports from the front make an important point. One group of Northern Alliance fighters tells of creeping over to Taleban lines to share kebabs and get promises of imminent defections. Others have told of the ambivalence of Northern Alliance commanders when they see US bombs falling on their “enemies”, who include many friends.

If you are an optimist, you would say this points to a good chance of rapid defections as soon as the Taleban are clearly on the skids. But you do not need to be a pessimist to say the Northern Alliance is one of the messiest coalitions on which the US has ever rested its hopes.

Meanwhile, down south, so far there is absolutely no sign of the Taleban splitting. This may even be because the bombing has united them more passionately against the common enemy. But any hopes that the US could attack for a few days and see them scuttle for white flags have been dashed. As the US knows from recent experience, predicting the behaviour of an enemy under fire is hard. Washington got Saddam Hussein’s reactions about right, but read Slobodan Milosevic entirely wrongly: it expected him to back down more quickly, and then was taken by surprise when he caved in at the first moves to use ground troops.

But attacking Kandahar is simply playing for time, a holding pattern while the US frets over a plan for the north. It needs one fast, as the Northern Alliance isn’t going to hang about for the UN

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