<

Taliban Militia is Likely Target
Saturday, September 22, 2001

AFGHANISTAN: Resistance group could be U.S. ally.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Associated Press
Whether it would begin with cruise missiles from Navy ships, bombs from Air Force jets or quick strikes by Army special forces, an American attack on Afghanistan's Taliban probably would aim to knock out airfields, communications links and other targets that sustain the religious militia.

War on the Taliban would be like little the U.S. military has undertaken before. But at least it would offer more of what Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld calls "high-value" targets than would the shadowy terrorist network of Osama bin Laden that President Bush has promised to root out.

Bush told the nation the Taliban are "committing murder" by aiding the terrorists who attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Bush demanded they turn over bin Laden and other leaders of his al-Qaida organization or face swift punishment.

Taliban leaders, who have given refuge to bin Laden since 1996, say there is no proof he was behind the terror attacks, and on Friday they rejected Bush's demand that they hand him over.

In addition to U.S. forces, Rumsfeld spoke Friday of the potential for enlisting the help of the Northern Alliance, the main Afghan resistance group opposing the Taliban.

"These folks, they know the lay of the land, they know, in some cases, some targets that are useful, they have ideas about how to deal with the Taliban," he said in an interview on Fox News.
(More: BellinghamHerald.com News Source)

Dan