Taliban government crumbling, Rumsfeld says

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- After four weeks of U.S. attacks, Afghanistan's ruling Taliban are no longer "functioning as a government," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Sunday. But an opposition attack on a key northern city was reported faltering only hours after it was launched. \nThat raised doubts whether the factious, poorly armed northern alliance opposition could exploit U.S. airstrikes and topple the Taliban without the assistance of American ground troops. \nMeanwhile, U.S. jets struck the front line about 30 miles north of Kabul, according to Atiqullah Baryalai, deputy defense minister of the northern alliance. In the Afghan capital itself, American bombs hit near the Intercontinental Hotel, set on a hill in the southwest part of the city. \nThey also struck the northeast town of Taloqan, which the opposition lost to the Taliban last year. \nRumsfeld, on a tour of front line states in the war against terrorism, sought to dispel fears that the air campaign, now in its fifth week, was failing to crack the Taliban's grip on Afghanistan. \n"The Taliban (are) not really functioning as a government," Rumsfeld declared after meeting Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, a key Muslim ally in the anti-terrorism campaign. \nRumsfeld, who later Sunday went on to India, said the Taliban were "using their power in enclaves throughout the country" and were "not making major military moves." \n"They are pretty much in static positions," he said. Rumsfeld said the Islamic militia was using mosques as command centers and as ammunition storage sites to spare them from American attack and "actively lying about civilian casualties." \nEarlier Sunday, in Uzbekistan, Rumsfeld gave an assessment of the military campaign's success to date. "The effort to deal with the problem of terrorist networks is proceeding," Rumsfeld said. "It is, we believe, proceeding at a pace that is showing measurable progress." \nA key element of the U.S. strategy has been to attack Taliban positions facing the northern alliance, especially on the front north of Kabul and on positions defending the Taliban-held city of Mazar-e-Sharif. \nOn Sunday, opposition spokesman Nadeem Ashraf said alliance forces launched a three-pronged offensive south of Mazar-e-Sharif in strategic Kishanday district in Balkh province, which borders Uzbekistan. The spokesman said the attack began after U.S. jets softened up Taliban positions by heavy bombing. \nHours later, however, Ashraf said one of the three opposition columns, led by Uzbek warlord Rashid Dostum, was making no progress and the offensive was faltering. He said Dostum's forces numbered only about 700 to 1,000 fighters and had "no high morale." \nHis assessment could not be independently confirmed. However, it points to ethnic rivalries within the northern alliance that have long hampered the opposition's ability to mount an effective challenge to the Taliban. \nThe other troops in the Mazar-e-Sharif front are commanded by a close ally of the northern alliance's titular leader, former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani, and by Shiite Muslim warlord Mohammed Mohaqik. \nOpposition commanders around the other major front, north of Kabul, have said they are preparing for a major offensive toward the capital after days of heavy U.S. airstrikes. However, there have been few signs that a major push toward Kabul is in the offing. \nPresident Bush ordered the airstrikes Oct. 7 after the Taliban repeatedly refused to surrender Osama bin Laden, chief suspect in the September terrorist attacks that killed about 4,500 people in the United States. \nDuring the past week, U.S. attacks have shifted from cities to Taliban positions facing the northern alliance. But opposition forces are poorly armed and outgunned, and the approach of winter is making resupply of its front-line positions more difficult. \nIn Washington, Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, acknowledged that the U.S. military is "settling in for the long haul." \nThe Taliban "have a substantial force left, but at this point that's exactly what we expected," Myers said on NBC's "Meet the Press." \nHe said a couple more teams of special forces were placed in Afghanistan in the last day or so to work with opposition leaders and better coordinate airstrikes. \nMyers and Army Gen. Tommy Franks, commander of U.S. forces in the war, declined to say whether it would take a major deployment of U.S. ground troops to topple the Taliban. \nAppearing on ABC's "This Week," Franks was asked whether he would rule out the use of a large number of ground forces. "Absolutely not," he replied. \nIn Pakistan, Rumsfeld addressed the issue of a pause in the bombing campaign during the Islamic holy month Ramadan, which begins around Nov. 17. Bush has ruled out any pause, despite appeals from Musharraf and other Muslim allies. \n"The reality is that the threat of additional terrorist acts is there," Rumsfeld told reporters. The United States will be sensitive to the views in the region, he added, but he declined to outline the U.S. military plans. \nIn other developments: \n• The U.N. special envoy for Afghanistan brought his search for a broad-based government for Afghanistan to Iran on Sunday, where he met with Afghan exiles. \n• In London, British Prime Minister Tony Blair scheduled a meeting with key European leaders Sunday to discuss the war on terrorism, his office said. Blair was also expected to brief allies on his efforts to shore up Muslim support for the campaign.