Washington | Tuesday
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld accused the Taliban and al-Qaeda of using Afghan civilians as human shields and blamed the US foes for ”every single casualty” of the war in Afghanistan.
Rumsfeld’s counterattack this week came amid growing uneasiness among leaders in Muslim countries over the toll in civilian lives from US air strikes, and a string of reported bombing errors that has put the Pentagon on the defensive.
The Pentagon acknowledged on Friday that US fighters and bombers mistakenly struck Red Cross warehouses in Kabul for a second time in 10 days.
”Responsibility for every single casualty in this war, be they innocent Afghans or innocent Americans, rests at the feet of Taliban and al-Qaeda,” Rumsfeld said at a Pentagon news conference.
”Their leaderships are the ones that are hiding in mosques and using Afghan civilians as human shields by placing their armour and artillery in close to proximity to civilian schools, hospitals and the like.”
He said no country in history has done more to avoid civilian casualties than the United States has in Afghanistan.
But the United States was committed to ”the comprehensive defeat of the Taliban and the al-Qaeda and the terrorist networks operating throughout the world that threaten our people and our way of life,” he said.
”We did not start the war, the terrorists started it when they attacked the United States, murdering more than 5,000 innocent Americans.
”The Taliban, an illegitimate, unelected group of terrorists, started it when they invited the al-Qaeda into Afghanistan and turned their country into a base from which those terrorists could strike out and kill our citizens.”
Al-Qaeda, which means ”the base” in Arabic, has been blamed for September 11 suicide attacks on New York and Washington.
Rumsfeld and General Richard Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, insisted that the air campaign — now in its 23rd day — has created conditions for a sustained war against the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
”We’re pretty much on our plan. And we are in the driver’s seat,” Myers said.
”We are proceeding at our pace. We are not proceeding at the Taliban’s pace or al-Qaeda’s pace.”
A senior defence official said military planners were considering a range of options for helping the opposition ground forces fighting the Taliban, including a base for commandos inside Afghanistan.
US forces may establish such a base soon to support 200 to 300 commandos, USA Today said on Monday.
About 600 soldiers would provide security and logistical support at the base, which could be used to launch helicopter assaults or to call in air strikes by Navy fighter jets or AC-130 Gun ships, the report said.
Asked about the report, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld it was ”our job to consider lots of different things and we do. And as we decide to do them, we do them. But we certainly don’t announce them beforehand.”
The pace of the bombings slowed Sunday with only 65 strike aircraft taking part in raids.
Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf and Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak, worried about public reaction in their countries, have urged the United States to make the air campaign as short as possible.
Asked whether the air strikes will be suspended during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins in mid-November, Rumsfeld did not answer directly but said the United States had an obligation to defend the American people and intended to work diligently to do that.
”The history of warfare is that it has proceeded right through Ramadan year after year after year after year,” he said.
US military leaders have repeatedly warned the conflict would be a long one.
Air strikes on Monday were directed at caves and tunnels used to hide Taliban and al-Qaeda forces, Pentagon representative Victoria Clarke said.
Rumsfeld said al-Qaeda fighters, including mid-level leaders, have been killed in US air strikes, but to the Pentagon’s knowledge, the organization’s six to 10 top leaders have not been among them.
Opposition forces on the ground in Afghanistan have made little headway against the Taliban in either the strategic northern town of Mazar-i-Sharif or against the frontlines north of Kabul despite air strikes.
With no access to airfields, the US military is air dropping ammunition to the opposition forces, Rumsfeld said.
”They’re moving them frequently not with vehicles, but with horses and donkeys and mules, and it takes time to get them unpacked and moved out to where the people are,” he said. – Sapa-AFP