ISLAMABAD, Oct 13 (Reuters): US warplanes were raiding the Talibans southern Afghan stronghold of Kandahar today morning, cnn reported.
It said the city was coming under attack at 1145 hrs IST, but had no further details.
The Afghan Islamic Press said Kandahar was buzzed by US planes earlier this morning, but no bombs had been dropped.
US air raids on Afghanistan today resumed after a brief pause out of what Washington said was deference to the Muslim holy day yesterday.
Special forces could hunt Laden: Analysts WASHINGTON, Oct 14 (Reuters) When President George W.Bush talks of "smoking" Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda network from their caves in Afghanistan, that mission might ultimately have to be carried out by US Special Forces, defense analysts have said.
Bin Laden, Americas prime suspect for the September 11 attacks that killed nearly 5,400 people, is being hunted by US forces in Afghanistan, along with his Al Qaeda organization.
US and British warplanes began a bombing campaign last Sunday to smash Al Qaeda and Pentagon officials have reported that "bunker buster" bombs have devastated many mountain cave complexes where bin Laden and his network are known to hide.
"You can drop bombs on mountainsides until youre old and gray, but you can never be sure youve gotten the job done," Chris Hellman, Senior Analyst for the Center for Defense Information, a Washington think-tank, said yesterday, adding, "You send men (special forces) in, you go and get them.
Thats ultimately what they are going to have to do." Bush said at a news conference late on Thursday, "slowly but surely were smoking Al Qaeda out of their caves so that we can bring them to justice." Retired army Lt.Gen.
Dan christman, the Armys Strategic Planner for the Desert Storm operation, said in military parlance, "smoking them out" meant seizing the initiative and using good intelligence to track down the enemy.
Bunker-busting bombs alone, would not work in smashing the Al Qaeda network, said Christman.
Intelligence is key "The key thing is to gather as much intelligence as possible, including dropping sensors on the ground to pick up movement, to use informants," he said.
America, he said, was using the most sophisticated electronic means possible, including unmanned spy planes which could see through fog and haze.
In addition, special operations forces from the US Navy, Army, Marines and Air Force could be used on the ground to do the job.
"You insert them surreptitiously, they lurk, they listen and when the time comes, they strike," said Christman.
The operational significance of the bombing campaign, said several military analysts, was to create enormous uncertainty in the minds of Al Qaeda and then strike.
"The more we force them to displace, the better we are going to be in picking up a trail.
Thats all thats at stake here in the bombing campaign," said Christman, who now runs a charitable organization in Washington.
"Pver time, all of us who have experience in this are confident we will get the kind of intelligence necessary to eliminate a substantial portion of the network," he added.
Human Shield former president Bill Clinton said in an interview aired on Friday one of the problems his administration had in trying to target bin Laden was that the saudi-born fugitive consistently surrounded himself with women and children.
By using a "human shield," Clinton said it was impossible for America to strike at bin Laden.
"He knew Americans well enough to know that we wouldnt kill 200 women and children.
And so we tried.
We trained the commandos, but the people in the Pentagon and the National Security team never thought that we had a good enough shot to go in," Clinton told ABCs "Good Morning America" program.
Lawrence Korb, a former Assistant Defense Secretary who is now with the council on Foreign Affairs, said following the huge number of deaths on Sept.
11, he believed there was probably a greater US tolerance for civilian casualties.
"Its just like in World War-II when we could bomb Dresden and Tokyo for the horrible things that Hitler had done," said Korb, adding he thought special forces would be used only as a last resort because of the risk of capture.
The CDIs Hellman agreed, "I dont know what the American public would feel about 200 civilian casualties in a bid to get bin Laden, but my personal feeling is they would be fairly tolerant if they saw bin Laden had been taken out." Anthony Cordesman, senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said no one tactic would work to get bin Laden and his operatives.
"Just because there is such a menu of options, complicates bin Ladens task and I think once you look beyond the bad adventure novel or movie you see a lot of tools you can bring to bear and not all of them are smoking." America, he said, could get help from informants tempted by the huge rewards offered for bin Ladens capture.
There is a substantial award for bin Laden which would make the person turning him in the second-richest man in Afghanistan overnight (after bin Laden), said Cordesman.