US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has told reporters that the US-led war in Afghanistan will not take years to finish. Meanwhile, US military officials are pushing for more access to bases around the Muslim state in order to expand the bombing and support rebel operations, according to reports.
"Do I think the [war] in Afghanistan will take years? No, I don't," Runsfeld said at a press conference Monday, cited by AP. "I think it is something that is being very aggressively addressed. We will take the least possible time."
"I don't think there has ever been a bombing campaign as effective and precise," Rumsfeld said at the event with India's Defense Minister George Fernandes, who according to the agency has been quoted as calling the US bombing a "waste of explosives."
Rumsfeld also claimed that the increased US troop presence in the mountainous country had improved the accuracy of US bombing raids, said AP.
In the meantime, the US military is said to be seeking access to more bases on Afghanistan's borders to speed up its bombing campaign, expand humanitarian aid missions and increase the delivery of supplies to opposition forces.
The latest US moves came as Taliban forces were abandoning their southern stronghold of Kandahar on Monday as US-led airstrikes intensified, according to CNN.
After a quiet day Sunday - allied planes dropped a single bomb southeast of the city - CNN reported heavy bombardment of rural districts around Kandahar as well as to the northeast, southeast and west.
There were also accounts of more attacks overnight on the Kajaki Dam area, where a hydroelectric plant is located that provides power to Kandahar, added the network's online report.
Rumsfeld, meanwhile, headed back to Washington on Monday after a tour of four nations, including Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Pakistan, which are partners in the campaign to eliminate Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda network from Afghanistan, said AP. The United States accuses bin Laden of organizing the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the United States.
The Central Asian states recently enlisted by the US have dealt with several rebellions by Muslim fundamentalist groups from both at home and abroad. Governments in the region have long accused Afghanistan of harboring such militant groups, and as such are more inclined to let the US base troops and warplanes on their soil.
Their willingness to cooperate may speed up a US victory, but further American troops may be needed on the ground.
It likely will take several more weeks to determine whether the Northern Alliance is capable of winning, one senior US official told AP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
If it is not, he added, the United States may have to consider eventually committing great numbers of its own ground forces to defeat the Taliban.
The alliance is ready to launch a "multipronged" attack on the Taliban soon, according to CNN.
The fundamentalist militia has remained defiant in the face of both intense US-led bombing and rebel attacks, saying that God is on their side in this war - Albawaba.com
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