His visit comes one day after an audiotape purportedly recorded in the past few weeks by bin Laden offered European nations a truce if they pull troops out of Muslim countries and vowed violence against the United States and Israel.

The al-Qaida chief and his right-hand man, Egyptian surgeon Ayman al-Zawahri, are believed hiding in the craggy mountains between Pakistan and Afghanistan, but a 2 1/2 year dragnet has failed to catch them. The military recently pulled back from predictions that bin Laden would be caught sometime this year.

In the past month, Washington has sent 2,000 Marines to Afghanistan to beef up a U.S.-led force that had already numbered 13,000 soldiers. The military has vowed a sweeping spring offensive to crush Taliban and al-Qaida holdouts ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for September.

The United Nations and others have warned that the elections will fail if security cannot be improved.

Taliban insurgents attacked Afghan soldiers in eastern Khost province, along the border with Pakistan, killing two soldiers and injuring two others, Gen. Khial Bas, the local Afghan military commander, told The Associated Press on Friday. He said nine militants were killed in the exchange of rocket and machine-gun fire on Wednesday.

The lead role in the U.S.-led military coalition changed hands on Thursday, with the Hawaii-based 25th Infantry Division taking over at a ceremony at Bagram Air Base, the coalition headquarters north of the capital.

Speaking at the Bagram base, the top American commander in Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. David Barno, said the U.S. military's commitment to the country would not waver. He noted that 30 American and other coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan in the past year.

"There have been hard days over the last year, and sacrifices have been made," Barno said. "No one should underestimate the sacrifice of these brave men and women who answered duty's call to deploy to this remote part of the world to help a people in need."

On Thursday, Myers was in Iraq, where escalating attacks against the U.S.-led coalition have turned April into the bloodiest month since the war that ousted Saddam Hussein.

In Baghdad, he called for "more capabilities" in Iraq and warned that there was a limit to how long the Marines can put off a resumption of offensive operations in Fallujah, a center of anti-American action.

"At some point somebody has to make a decision on what we're going to do, and we certainly can't rule out the use of force there again," Myers said.

In all, some 109 U.S. soldiers have died - 39 of them in combat - during Operation Enduring Freedom that began in Afghanistan in late 2001. On March 18, two American soldiers were killed and two wounded when they were attacked by militia in a village near Tarin Kowt, some 250 miles southwest of the capital, Kabul.

Sound Off...What do you think? Join the discussion.


Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.