Kabul, Afghanistan — The top commander of the war in Afghanistan defended U.S. tactics Saturday, saying that deploying large numbers of American ground forces would not have increased chances of capturing terror mastermind Osama bin Laden or Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar.
Both men have gone to ground since Afghan opposition forces, supported by small numbers of U.S. troops and overwhelming air power, toppled the radical Islamic Taliban regime in November.
Gen. Tommy Franks, commander of the U.S.-led coalition forces, indicated during a news conference in Pakistan that the United States was wary of repeating the mistakes of the Soviet Union in the 1980s, when the presence of a large foreign occupying force triggered widespread Afghan resistance.
Since the Taliban were overthrown, U.S. special forces units have been operating with Afghan allies in the rugged countryside, chasing down leads on bin Laden and Omar but coming up empty-handed. Franks said he did not know the whereabouts of either man.
"The tactics in this operation were just the right tactics," Franks told a news conference in Islamabad, capital of neighboring Pakistan, a pivotal U.S. ally in the war against terrorism.
"One does not want to commit mistakes that have been committed by other people in the past," Franks said. "I believe one does want to cooperate with cooperative allies in pursuit of military objectives."
Finding bin Laden and his ally, Omar, is important, Franks said, but the highest priority of intelligence experts sifting through interrogations of hundreds of prisoners and materials seized in caves and safe houses is to prevent new acts of terrorism.
"The key for us is we continue to take that information we do receive, that we continue to broaden the net to receive more and more information, which we put together to form intelligence that may suggest areas of interest to us," Franks said.
In one of the few highly secret special forces operations to come to public attention, about 15 Taliban fighters were killed and 27 prisoners taken Wednesday in a night-time attack north of the southern city of Kandahar. One U.S. soldier was wounded in the ankle.
The attacked compounds were originally thought to be a hideout for al-Qaida, the terror network created by bin Laden blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States. But Pentagon officials have said since that they appeared to be storage sites for munitions and were occupied mainly by Taliban fighters.
Prime Minister Hamid Karzai was to leave Kabul on Saturday for the United States, a day after saying that many Afghans want international peacekeepers to deploy outside the capital and expand their mission to volatile provinces where warlords hold sway.
Karzai was to travel on a U.S. military plane, and the U.S. Embassy declined to give specifics of his flight, citing security concerns.
But any move to expand the mandate of the British-led peace-keeping force is likely to draw strong opposition, not only from regional warlords but members of Karzai's own administration.
Noting that Karzai faces an uphill task to impose stability, the United States has indicated that U.S. troops--which operate separately from the peacekeepers--will stay in Afghanistan at least until mid-year, when a grand council, or loya jirga, is to choose a new government.
In Washington, Karzai will meet President George W. Bush, seek to cement ties with the administration and Congress, and receive assurances that the United States will make a long-term commitment to his country.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Friday that the United States can be counted on "as long as it takes" to rebuild Afghanistan and did not eliminate "the curse" of al-Qaida and the Taliban only to abandon the country now.
Assessing Afghanistan's needs, the head of the U.S. Agency for International Development visited a village Saturday outside Kabul. Villagers told Andrew Natsios that their top priority was improving education.
Security is an over-riding concern for Afghans, struggling to survive in a country devastate by 23 years of war and harsh Taliban rule.
A peacekeeping force that will eventually total about 5,000 troops is confined to Kabul under the U.N.-brokered agreement last month that installed Karzai's government. Warlords in the provinces have voiced loyalty to Kabul, but old feuds simmer.
Some key government figures, especially ethnic Tajiks who fought the Taliban, want to limit peacekeepers to protecting public facilities in Kabul. Karzai is from the same ethnic Pashtun group as most of the Taliban leadership, though he opposed their rule.
U.N. Secretary Kofi Annan, during a visit Friday, avoided answering whether the United Nations would support a broader mandate, which would require approval of the U.N. Security Council.
Instead, Annan said that he and Karzai had discussed the "urgent formation" of an Afghan police force and army.
However, the United Nations' outgoing deputy special envoy to Afghanistan, Francesc Vendrell, has warned that without a more widely deployed peacekeeping force, Afghanistan could slide back into chaotic fighting. Vendrell said 30,000 troops could be needed.
In other developments:
- A wandering cat set off an explosive "flash-bang" warning device Friday night protecting the grounds of the U.S. Embassy. Spokesman John Kincannon said: "The cat lived, but it was a very frightened cat."
- U.S. congressmen visiting a high-security jail Friday for war detainees held at the U.N. Navy base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, said they should not be treated as prisoners of war, but as terrorists, and that some may be sent back to their homelands to face military tribunals. Britain has said it would prefer to have three of its citizens among the 158 detainees go before a British court.
- An unmanned U.S. Predator spy plane crashed, the second this week and at least the fourth in the campaign, the Pentagon said Friday. Hostile fire was not involved. The drone can take pictures and listen to communications. Some armed with missiles have been used in attacks.
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