MARC LAVINE, Washington | Monday
US FORCES are prepared to kill terror suspect Osama bin Laden if he resists capture, a top official said on Sunday, as Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban ordered defences to be boosted to thwart fresh US commando raids.
US warplanes meanwhile launched stinging new airstrikes on Taliban targets as US Secretary of State Colin Powell warned that the campaign could go on through the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, despite growing opposition to the action from Muslim nations.
And as the war in Afghanistan entered its third week, officials in Washington announced a first case of anthrax infection in the US capital, bringing to nine the number of people ill from the deadly disease striking terror in America.
”If it’s a defensive situation, then, you know, bullets will fly. But if we can capture somebody, then we’ll do that,” said General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff when asked if the military had orders to kill or capture bin Laden.
Saudi-born bin Laden, who is being shielded by the Taliban, is blamed by Washington for masterminding last month’s airborne terror attacks on US targets, and is one of the two main targets of the US war against terrorism in Afghanistan.
While Myers said he did not know whether bin Laden would survive the war, officials quoted by the Washington Post were more explicit, saying President George W. Bush had ordered the CIA to kill bin Laden and eliminate his al-Qaeda network.
”The gloves are off,” a senior official told the daily. ”Lethal operations that were unthinkable pre-September 11 are now underway,” the paper said.
The Taliban ordered extra troops, weapons and ammunition to be sent across the country to fight US commandos following the first US ground assault by American special forces early Saturday.
At an ”emergency” meeting, the Taliban cabinet ordered the distribution of ”rocket launchers, heavy machine guns, and anti-aircraft machine guns” to take on US commandos, Education Minister Mullah Amir Khan Muttaqi said.
The commandos struck a house of Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar near the militia’s southern stronghold of Kandahar, but did not find Omar or bin Laden, who it said on Sunday were still alive.
US jets meanwhile pounded Taliban-held cities and frontline positions, as helicopters were deployed for the first time over Kabul, where the Taliban claimed that raids had killed at least 18 civilians. Ten civilian deaths were confirmed by residents in northern Kabul.
US fighter jets roared across Kabul at low altitude shortly after dawn Sunday and for the first time in the campaign Taliban anti-aircraft guns were silent after two weeks of intense US bomb and missile strikes on Taliban defences.
A senior Afghan opposition official revealed for the first time on Sunday that teams of US military advisors were present in opposition areas and were working with anti-Taliban forces in three strategic frontline areas.
”US delegations have been coming and going for the last two to three weeks,” said Younus Qanooni, the interior minister for the Northern Alliance.
But the opposition said it would not move to capture Kabul until a plan had been put in place for a viable post-Taliban government in Afghanistan.
In the United States, a Washington postal worker was confirmed to have contracted respiratory anthrax, the most dangerous manifestation of the lethal bacteria.
The man, who is in a serious condition in hospital, works at a postal sorting centre that forwards mail to the US Congress, where 28 people were exposed to anthrax last week after a letter laced with anthrax spores was sent to a leading senator.
Police at the US Capitol said the building would be open for business on Monday, but nearby Congressional office will remain closed as more tests are conducted.
Concerns are mounting here over bioterrorism as the US campaign in Afghanistan appeared set to drag on.
General Myers said Washington felt no time pressure to ease up on its operations despite the imminent onset of winter and Ramadan, which begins on November 17.
”It may take till next spring, it may take till next summer. It may take longer than that in Afghanistan,” he told ABC television.
Powell echoed the sentiment: ”We have to be respectful of that very significant religious period but at the same time we also have to make sure we pursue our campaign.”
But opposition to a drawn out US campaign was growing in Muslim nations.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda warned at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shanghai of an ”explosive” reaction in the Islamic world if US strikes against Afghanistan continue into Ramadan.
”Ramadan is important for Muslims to reflect and express solidarity, so those who suffer emotionally, it will be, I think, explosive if … the military actions are still being done in Afghanistan,” he said.
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad also reaffirmed his opposition to the campaign, but said the use of ”more specific” ground forces was preferable to air raids that could cause more civilian casualties.
APEC leaders have the US-led anti-terror campaign cautious collective support on Sunday, but offered little in the way of new concrete help.
The summit, the first major international gathering since September 11 terror strikes on the United States that killed more than 5 000, closed on Sunday with a joint declaration condemning those ”murderous deeds.”
But the statement, APEC’s first on a political matter, omitted US military strikes on Afghanistan — opposed by Muslim-majority APEC members Indonesia and Malaysia — or any mention of chief suspect Osama bin Laden.
In other signs of international disquiet, Moscow and Beijing urged a quick end to US attacks and a broader United Nations role in the campaign — something opposed by Washington.
Between 10 000 and 15 000 Afghan refugees meanwhile waited to cross into Pakistan as the air strikes intensified.
Officially the border, like the frontier with Iran in the west, is closed, but thousands of refugees have managed to sneak through with some UN officials saying that as many as 1,5-million could flee the war-ravaged country.-Sapa-AFP