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(07/25/02 8:23pm)
WASHINGTON -- U.S. troops will begin training Afghan army soldiers to bolster security and guard borders in that still-unstable nation, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Monday. \nThe training will begin in four to six weeks and be led by 125 to 150 members of the U.S. Army's special forces teams. \nIn a statement, the Pentagon said the training will start with 10-week courses emphasizing "basic soldier skills." More complex training involving a range of units -- from small groups to battalions comprising several hundred soldiers -- will follow. \n"Training the Afghan army will serve as a positive step to help ensure that there is a better chance for peace and security in Afghanistan, and that the country is not used as…a terrorist haven in the future," said Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who accompanied Rumsfeld at his Pentagon briefing. \nNo additional forces will be sent in. The training will be conducted by troops already in the country when they are not engaged in other tasks, Rumsfeld said. \nHe added that no decision has been made about how large the Afghan army might eventually be, saying that was a decision to be made by the Afghans. \nThe U.S. will ask other governments to contribute money to help pay for the training and to pay individual soldiers. The Bush administration also might consider asking Congress for money to help with the training, the defense secretary said. \nSo far, British and German members of the international security force in Afghanistan have begun providing basic training for about 600 Afghans in Kabul. \nBut thousands of other potential recruits have been waiting, idly and untrained, in tent camps or barracks blocks. So far, most are paid only with a daily plate of onion and potato, although some officers have had meager wages paid by local businessmen. All are so far without uniforms. \n"What we've decided to do is to try to get it started, and be helpful with one piece," Rumsfeld said. \nThe hope is that Afghan officers and noncommissioned officers who have taken part in the U.S. training would then train their own classes of recruits, perhaps as early as the year's end, Rumsfeld said. \nFighting among regional Afghan warlords has become a problem in some areas since the Taliban was removed from power, and Rumsfeld has said he believes the key to future stability in the country is the creation of an Afghan army. \nThe U.S. has declined to put any military troops into the international security force now in Afghanistan, whose leadership will soon be taken over by Turkey. \nAll efforts aimed at improving the situation for Afghans, whether it be building roads, setting up schools, or even feeding the country's refugees, depend upon improving the security situation inside Afghanistan, he argued. \nThe focus of most U.S. troops in the country will continue to be "to track down and try to find…the senior al Qaeda and Taliban in the country," Rumsfeld said. \nQueried about the discovery of what appeared to be an al Qaeda biological weapons lab under construction near the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, Myers said that suspicious items have been found at several sites. \nMyers said in five or six cases, test swabs were positive for anthrax and possibly the poison ricin, which is derived from castor beans. But the general said the traces were in "such minute amounts" that they did not amount to "conclusive proof" of chemical or biological weapons. \nThe general said equipment was found, such as driers that could be used to make the deadly anthrax spores airborne, but "not all the equipment you would need was present." \nRumsfeld, when asked whether a plan existed for U.S. forces to cross the Afghan-Pakistan border in search of fleeing al Qaeda and Taliban troops, said none existed. \nHe praised Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf for placing troops along the border, calling it a "very rugged, difficult" region. \n"He and his forces are working very hard to help us to stop them from coming across and to the extent they come across, stop them and arrest them. And he's done a good deal of that," Rumsfeld said.
(01/09/02 4:09am)
WASHINGTON -- U.S. troops captured two senior al Qaeda fighters and confiscated their computers and cell phones near a huge underground cave complex used by Osama bin Laden\'s terrorist network, the nation\'s top general said Tuesday.\nThe discoveries came as U.S. forces were wrapping up operations in Tora Bora and focusing on Zawar Kili, the complex used as a training camp and assembly point for possible movement from Afghanistan into Pakistan.\nThe two men, found late Monday in a group of 14 suspected members of al Qaeda, were deemed sufficiently important to be removed immediately to the U.S.-run detention center in Kandahar, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Richard Myers said at a Pentagon briefing.\nBesides the computers and phones, "some small arms and training documents were also found," Myers said. "We\'re exploiting those as we speak."\nAmerican warplanes have struck repeatedly at the cave complex and at other areas around Khost in eastern Afghanistan\'s Paktia province. U.S. special forces teams are on the ground in that area, where a Green Beret soldier was killed in an ambush Friday.\nAs U.S. forces sweep through the area, they have found a large network of buildings, bunkers and a warren of underground caves, Myers said.\n"We have found this complex to be very, very extensive. It covers a large area. When we ask people how large, they often describe it as huge," the four-star Air Force general said.\nU.S. bombers struck a cache of tanks and weaponry in the area Sunday. They launched two new strikes on additional buildings and bunkers found nearby late Monday, Myers said.\nAn F-14 fighter jet dropped two precision-guided bombs on one building, and an F-18 jet dropped two more guided bombs on a bunker, he said.\nThe two al Qaeda, captured near the cave complex, were among a group of 14 fighters apprehended without resistance by U.S. forces on the ground, Myers said. They were transferred to a detention center where U.S. officials have been interrogating suspected al Qaeda and Taliban. The other 12 remain in the custody of Afghan officials, the general said.\n"They were the ones of interest that we thought were senior enough where they might have the kind of information that we\'re looking for in terms of … future operations and so forth," Myers added.\nIn an interview with The Associated Press Monday, Gen. Tommy Franks predicted that the U.S. military in the next day or two would gain custody of one or two Taliban or al Qaeda figures of great interest to the United States, but the general in charge of the war in Afghanistan would not elaborate.\nMyers said he did not know whether the two al Qaeda taken to Kandahar were the ones mentioned by Franks.\nThe general noted that "other types of surveillance or reconnaissance" had not in the past indicated the huge extent of the complexes located in the Zawar Kili area.
(10/01/01 5:15am)
WASHINGTON --The Taliban government confirmed Sunday that Osama bin Laden still is in Afghanistan but the White House flatly rejected an overture to negotiate his fate. Meantime, Attorney General John Ashcroft warned of a "very serious threat" of new terrorism against Americans that may increase if the United States retaliates for the Sept. 11 attacks. \n"We believe that there is the likelihood of additional terrorist activity. And it is our job to do whatever we can to interrupt it, to disrupt it," Ashcroft said on CBS's "Face The Nation."\n"We believe there are others who may be in the country who would have plans,'' Ashcroft said when asked about the ongoing hunt for those behind the strikes against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. \nAlso on Sunday, Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar told his people in a radio address not to worry about a U.S. attack because "Americans don't have the courage to come here.'' \nEarlier, a Taliban envoy acknowledged for the first time that bin Laden is in Afghanistan and under the control of the Taliban. He said negotiations might be possible if the United States offered evidence linking bin Laden to the attacks. \n"He's in a place which cannot be located by anyone,'' Taliban ambassador to Pakistan Abdul Salam Zaeef told journalists in Islamabad. \nZaeef said the Taliban, who have rejected a series of appeals to hand over bin Laden and avert a military confrontation, were willing to talk. "We are thinking of negotiation,'' he said, adding that if direct evidence against bin Laden were produced, "it might change things.'' \nWhite House Chief of Staff Andrew Card responded: "The president has said we're not negotiating.'' \nCard said the Taliban government has been told what to do. "They've got to turn not only Osama bin Laden over but all the operatives of the al-Qaida organization. They've got to stop being a haven where terrorists can train,'' he said on "Fox News Sunday.'' \nBin Laden must "be purged from Afghanistan and the Taliban knows that,'' Card said. "The United States is very patient, but we want to see justice done and we want to see it done quickly.'' \nDefense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was skeptical of the Taliban claim. \n"It was just a few days ago that they said they didn't know where he was, so I have no reason to believe anything a Taliban representative has said,'' Rumsfeld said on NBC's "Meet the Press.'' \nThe continuing threat against Americans was cited by Ashcroft as he argued for legislation he said would help confront those plotting terrorism. He called on Congress to meet President Bush's deadline of Friday for approval of the administration's plan. \n"We think that there is a very serious threat of additional problems now. And frankly, as the United States responds, that threat may escalate,'' Ashcroft said. \n"Very frankly, we need to do everything we can here at home,'' the attorney general said, repeating his claim that his department needs increased powers for surveillance, the ability to use information gathered by foreign governments and the ability to detain terrorist suspects for longer periods of time. \n"Talk will not prevent terrorism. We need to have action by the Congress. We need the tools to prevent terrorism,'' Ashcroft said. \nCongress has appeared cool toward the Bush administration's anti-terrorism package. Some lawmakers have questioned whether some of the provisions infringe on civil liberties. \nSenate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said headway is being made, but offered no timetable for passage. \n"I think everybody knows that we're going to have to make sure that we have some kind of a check-and-balance in there,'' he said on "Face the Nation.'' "We don't want to be like countries that we criticize all the time when if an American goes there, they can hold them without even telling them what they are holding them for.'' \nOver the weekend, Bush and his top security and intelligence advisers were at Camp David working on their strategy while White House aides worked on a plan to boost the nation's economy and provide more help to people left jobless by the attacks. Asked about the military's role in the war on terrorism, the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff warned that the effort will not be the conventional warfare seen in recent years in the Persian Gulf or the Balkans. \n"This will require a sustained campaign. This will not be a conventional war. It will not be a war in which you can show large formations of tanks or artillery or whatever,'' said Gen. Henry H. Shelton, whose retirement took effect at midnight Sunday. \nSince the terrorist attacks, the United States has dispatched thousands of additional troops and two aircraft carriers into the region in preparation for any potential military option, bringing the total of U.S. forces on land and sea close to about 30,000 men and women, military sources said on Sunday, speaking on condition of anonymity. The carriers are the USS Carl Vinson and the USS Enterprise. \nIt'll not be not only America, and America's political, diplomatic, economic, military power that'll be applied,'' Shelton said. "It'll be an international effort that will also bring in the great capabilities of our partners, our allies, and our friends around the world.''
(09/12/01 7:55am)
WASHINGTON -- Air Force F-16s patrolled the skies over Washington, Navy warships were sent to Manhattan, and military commanders ordered forces on highest alert after Tuesday's terrorist attacks.\nPresident George W. Bush, in an Oval Office address, vowed to find those responsible. "We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them," he said.\nAt a Pentagon briefing earlier, Joint Chiefs Chairman Henry H. Shelton said, "I have no intention of discussing what comes next. But make no mistake about it, your armed forces are ready."\nSome 10 hours before that briefing, a Boeing 757 plowed into the Pentagon, after two hijacked airliners had struck the towers of New York's World Trade Center.\nBut what would happen next -- including potential retaliatory strikes -- wasn't exactly clear.\nPresident Bush put U.S. forces around the globe on the highest possible alert, "Threatcon Delta."\nDefense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld denied that U.S. forces were responsible for the explosions heard Tuesday night near Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. "In no way is the U.S. government connected," he said at the Pentagon briefing.\nA senior defense official said the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, which was due to come home from the Persian Gulf, was ordered to remain in the area indefinitely. A second carrier, the USS Carl Vinson, remains in the area as well, the official said.\nOfficials at military sites across the country reported that only essential military personnel would be permitted on their bases. All unnecessary military flights were canceled, and the North American Aerospace Defense Command took steps to protect the military's computer systems from hackers, a spokesman said.\nAround the country, fighters, airborne radar and refueling planes were scrambled, according to an Air National Guard spokesman at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla.\nNORAD was also on its highest alert.\n"We have all of our air sovereignty aircraft -- fighters, surveillance and other support aircraft -- ready to respond," NORAD said in a statement.\nAir Force fighter jets scrambled over Washington shortly after the attack.\n"We did have F-16s up," Pentagon spokesman Adm. Craig Quigley told reporters who had gathered across a highway in full view of the still-smoking Pentagon.\nThe Navy dispatched the carriers USS John F. Kennedy and USS George Washington to New York to assist with defense and medical needs.\n"We have been attacked like we haven't since Pearl Harbor," said Adm. Robert J. Natter, the commander of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet at Norfolk Naval Station.\nThe carriers, bristling with dozens of fighter aircraft, also contain full medical units and operating rooms. The USNS Comfort, a hospital ship in Baltimore harbor, also was being sent into action, Navy officials said.\nNatter put all installations under his command on the highest security condition. He is in charge of 188 ships, 1,223 aircraft, 37 shore stations and more than 125,000 sailors, Marines and civilian employees. The Atlantic Fleet provides combat-ready forces to support American and NATO commanders in regions of conflict throughout the world.\nMissouri Rep. Ike Skelton, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said he had been told by military officials there were about 100 casualties at the Pentagon. He said he had no details on whether they were deaths or injuries.\nRumsfeld, who was in his offices on the second floor when the aircraft tore into the opposite side of the building, pledged that the Pentagon -- the workplace for some 24,000 men and women -- would function Wednesday.\nBush visited a number of military sites Tuesday, heading first to Barksdale Air Force Base, La., and then to Orfutt Air Force Base, Neb., where he visited the deep underground bunkers of the U.S. Strategic Command.
(09/12/01 4:57am)
WASHINGTON -- Air Force F-16s patrolled the skies over Washington, Navy warships were sent to Manhattan, and military commanders ordered forces on highest alert after Tuesday's terrorist attacks.\nPresident Bush, in an Oval Office address, vowed to find those responsible. "We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them," he said.\nAt a Pentagon briefing earlier, Joint Chiefs Chairman Henry H. Shelton said, "I have no intention of discussing what comes next. But make no mistake about it, your armed forces are ready."\nSome 10 hours before that briefing, a Boeing 757 plowed into the Pentagon, after two hijacked airliners had struck the towers of New York's World Trade Center.\nBut what would happen next -- including potential retaliatory strikes -- wasn't exactly clear.\nPresident Bush put U.S. forces around the globe on the highest possible alert, "Threatcon Delta."\nDefense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld denied that U.S. forces were responsible for the explosions heard Tuesday night near Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. "In no way is the U.S. government connected," he said at the Pentagon briefing.\nA senior defense official said the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, which was due to come home from the Persian Gulf, was ordered to remain in the area indefinitely. A second carrier, the USS Carl Vinson, remains in the area as well, the official said.\nOfficials at military sites across the country reported that only essential military personnel would be permitted on their bases. All unnecessary military flights were canceled, and the North American Aerospace Defense Command took steps to protect the military's computer systems from hackers, a spokesman said.\nAround the country, fighters, airborne radar and refueling planes were scrambled, according to an Air National Guard spokesman at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla.\nNORAD was also on its highest alert.\n"We have all of our air sovereignty aircraft -- fighters, surveillance and other support aircraft -- ready to respond," NORAD said in a statement.\nAir Force fighter jets scrambled over Washington shortly after the attack.\n"We did have F-16s up," Pentagon spokesman Adm. Craig Quigley told reporters who had gathered across a highway in full view of the still-smoking Pentagon.\nThe Navy dispatched the carriers USS John F. Kennedy and USS George Washington to New York to assist with defense and medical needs.\n"We have been attacked like we haven't since Pearl Harbor," said Adm. Robert J. Natter, the commander of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet at Norfolk Naval Station.\nThe carriers, bristling with dozens of fighter aircraft, also contain full medical units and operating rooms. The USNS Comfort, a hospital ship in Baltimore harbor, also was being sent into action, Navy officials said.\nNatter put all installations under his command on the highest security condition. He is in charge of 188 ships, 1,223 aircraft, 37 shore stations and more than 125,000 sailors, Marines and civilian employees. The Atlantic Fleet provides combat-ready forces to support American and NATO commanders in regions of conflict throughout the world.\nMissouri Rep. Ike Skelton, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said he had been told by military officials there were about 100 casualties at the Pentagon. He said he had no details on whether they were deaths or injuries.\nRumsfeld, who was in his offices on the second floor when the aircraft tore into the opposite side of the building, pledged that the Pentagon -- the workplace for some 24,000 men and women -- would function Wednesday.\nBush visited a number of military sites Tuesday, heading first to Barksdale Air Force Base, La., and then to Orfutt Air Force Base, Neb., where he visited the deep underground bunkers of the U.S. Strategic Command.