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| US Hits 14 Target Areas in
Afghanistan
United Press International
October 23, 2001
WASHINGTON, Oct 22, 2001 (United Press International via
COMTEX) -- The ground shook in Afghanistan over the weekend as 175 U.S.
aircraft pummeled Taliban and al Qaida air defenses, command and control
facilities, garrisons and training camps in 14 target areas around the
country, the Defense Department said Monday.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen.
Richard Myers, also threw cold water on Taliban claims that their militia
shot down a U.S. Army helicopter and that U.S. planes bombed a hospital in
Herat, killing some 100 people.
"The Taliban have said they have
shot down at least two helicopters, which is false," Rumsfeld said. "They
have not.
"They have indicated that they have captured some
Americans, which is false. They have not.
"And we have absolutely
no evidence at all that would suggest that that allegation ... (the
hopital bombing) is correct."
Gen. Myers, speaking at a news
briefing, said 160 of the planes involved in weekend operations, which
marked the start of the third week of Operation Enduring Freedom, were
from U.S. aircraft carriers. The rest were bombers.
"The reason
for the air attacks on Taliban and al Qaida forces is to destroy Taliban
and al Qaida forces," Rumsfeld said, adding "our efforts are clearly to
assist those (anti-Taliban Northern Alliance) forces on the ground" north
of Kabul and around the northern city of Maser-e-Sharif.
Myers
said it was a mistake to think of military action in Afghanistan as a
sequential or linear conflict, one in which there are set phases.
"Don't think about it in terms of phasing -- in 'once we're done
with the bombing campaign, now it's the ground campaign' -- that is not
how this is going to go.
"Now we're starting to work on some
Taliban targets that are arrayed out in the field against folks (the
Northern Alliance) we'd like to help."
Myers said strikes against
Taliban frontline positions and other important targets have hampered the
Taliban's transport capability, slowing down, for instance, their ability
to get reinforcements to the front.
Also over the weekend, eight
U.S. C-17 cargo planes dropped humanitarian rations to Afghans who were
not in Taliban-controlled areas, bringing the total number of rations
dropped in two weeks to 700,000.
Leafleting and airborne radio
broadcasts to Afghans also continued, Myers said.
According to the
Taliban, U.S. planes bombed a hospital in Herat. Al Jazeera Television
reportedly showed images of people the Taliban said were injured in the
alleged bombing, which could not be independently confirmed.
Rumsfeld and Myers Monday said they had no evidence of it, but
were continuing to investigate.
"We have seen repeatedly things
that are not true put out by the Taliban," Rumsfeld said. "We have seen
them escort people to things they wanted seen, and we have seen the things
they wanted seen, and the lies they have been putting forward, carried
across the globe on television and in the press.
"Now, what can
one do about that? All one can do is answer directly when we know for a
fact it's true and say so; when we know for a fact it's not true, we'll
say so; and when we don't know, we'll say so.
"And that's just
what we did. We have no evidence that that's the case at the present
time."
In another development, Rumsfeld indicated U.S. military
action may not be suspended in recognition of the Muslim holy month of
Ramadan so as not to offend other Muslims.
"...There continue to
be terrorist threats in this world, and the sooner we deal with this
problem, the less likely it is that you're going to have additional
terrorist attacks.
"...History is replete with instances were
Muslim nations have fought with -- among themselves or with other
countries during various important holy days for their religion, and it
has not imhibited them historically," he said.
Copyright 2001 by United Press International.
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