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Bush Signals Start of Ground Campaign in Afghanistan, More Civilians Killed
ISLAMABAD, Oct 18 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - U.S. President George W. Bush signaled a ground war against the Taliban could be imminent as U.S. attacks on Kabul Thursday left at least six people dead in the worst Western confirmed case of civilian casualties since air strikes against Afghanistan's Taliban militia began 12 days ago.
But the number and intensity of attacks was less than in previous days after Bush signaled the focus of the campaign would soon switch to the ground.
After three days of ferocious attacks, particularly on the Taliban's main base Kandahar, the volume of Thursday's daytime raids were relatively light.
A series of direct hits on residential areas in Kabul highlighted growing concerns over the ability of U.S. forces to hit what is left of the Taliban's military infrastructure without the risk of killing innocent civilians.
One man told Agence France-Presse (AFP) he had lost five members of his family when bombs destroyed six houses in the southeastern Kalae Zaman Khan area, while residents said an eight-year-old girl died in the eastern suburb of Macroyan.
"I have lost my mother, my brother, my brother's wife, my grandmother and my sister. I have lost all hope, they were my hope," said Abdullah, 27, as he searched the rubble of his house in Kalae Zaman Khan, three miles (five kilometers) east of the center of Kabul.
It was the worst toll of civilian casualties to be confirmed by neutral witnesses since the U.S. bombing began on October 7th.
Taliban officials have said the civilian death toll has reached 400, a figure disputed by the United States, but impossible to verify by Western sources.
Last week, the Pentagon admitted that one if its precision guided weapons destroyed a village, killing at least four civilians.
The Taliban claimed at least 40 people had been killed in overnight raids, 30 of them in Kandahar.
Militia officials also reported an entire family had been wiped out in the bombing of a truck in which they were moving their possessions out of the eastern city of Jalalabad. It was the second incident of its kind reported by the Taliban in 24 hours.
At least eight bombs were dropped on Kabul in a series of pre-dawn raids on the city, one of which triggered a huge blaze near the airport, residents said.
As well as the airport, the attacks appeared to be aimed at Taliban air defense batteries to the southeast of the city and a military base in the city's eastern district of Macroryana, they said.
Three of the explosions were within the city limits. One bomb landed close to the Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood, shattering windows in what was once the city's fashionable diplomatic enclave.
Bush, speaking at a California air base on his way to Shanghai to attend the APEC summit, signaled the focus of the U.S. campaign against the Taliban and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network was about to shift to a group campaign.
"The enemy's air force and air defenses are being demolished," Bush said. "We're paving the way for friendly troops on the ground to slowly but surely tighten the net to bring them to justice."
Bush did not elaborate on whether he was referring to deployment of ground troops by the U.S.-led coalition, which British Prime Minister Tony Blair hinted at Wednesday, or to a long-awaited offensive by anti-Taliban forces in northern Afghanistan.
U.S. planes bombed Taliban positions on the frontlines of Afghanistan's civil war for the first time on Wednesday, but the opposition Northern Alliance said the attacks had been little more than a symbolic gesture.
Since U.S. bombing began on October 7th, Taliban forces have lost control of the central province of Ghor and have been put under pressure around the key northern town of Mazar-i-Sharif, where they launched a counter-offensive on Wednesday.
But the militia remains solidly dug into the hills north of Kabul and there has been no sign of an opposition push to take the capital.
A U.S. defense official told AFP on Wednesday that the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk, believed to be in the Arabian Sea, has been loaded with heli-born special operations forces which were awaiting an order to enter Afghanistan.
The deployment of commandos inside Afghanistan is seen as inevitable if the U.S.-led coalition is to achieve the principal objectives set at the start of the campaign: the capture or elimination of bin Laden and the dismantling of his al-Qaeda network, which allegedly plotted and carried out the September 11th attacks on the United States which killed more than 5,000 people.
Continuing air strikes, and the risk of further civilian casualties, also carries a risk of weakening international support for the campaign.
Key allies, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, have remained on board so far but have voiced concern over civilian deaths while international aid agencies have warned hundreds of thousands of Afghans will starve unless the bombing stops soon to allow sufficient aid to get into the country before winter sets in.
U.S. Secretary of State Powell held talks in Islamabad and New Delhi on Tuesday and Wednesday in a bid to bolster support for the U.S.-led campaign against terrorism and ease tensions between the two countries over disputed Kashmir.
But within hours of Powell's departure from New Delhi, India and Pakistan were exchanging accusations over Kashmir, where India accuses Pakistan of fueling an insurgency.
Pakistan's cooperation with the anti-terrorism campaign is crucial given its border with Afghanistan and its links with the Taliban, and the United States has moved quickly to reward President Pervez Musharraf for his cooperation, lifting sanctions and pledging millions of dollars in new economic aid.
Powell appeared to have met with more success in Shanghai, where APEC members agreed to intensify common efforts to fight terrorism after talks attended by the U.S. secretary of state.
"They have reached a common understanding on terrorism," a Japanese official said after a breakfast meeting of foreign ministers from 21 APEC nations.
The ministers finalized an historic anti-terrorism declaration to be issued at a weekend APEC summit, due to be attended by Bush and other world leaders, the official said.
"They reached a consensus that APEC leaders must convey a strong message against terrorism to the international community," the official said.
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