The commander of the US military campaign in Afghanistan said Thursday he was keeping "all the options open," including deployment of larger numbers of ground troops, as the Pentagon expressed concerns about a looming humanitarian disaster as winter sets in.
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who accompanied Army General Tommy Franks at his first Pentagon news conference, warned that the Afghan people face severe hardships, including starvation, in the months ahead if the Taliban continues to block the flow of relief from the United States and other countries.
"Prolonging the war would only further oppress the Afghan people and strengthen the oppressors," Rumsfeld said in Washington.
Asked if the United States was prepared to commit ground troops in larger numbers, Franks said "we will not take off the table the possibility of the use of ground forces -- not ours -- and we won't take off the table the potential use of coalition offered forces."
Franks said the fall of Mazar-i-Sharif to opposition forces in the north was a key US interest because it would open a land bridge into the country for humanitarian relief as well as military supplies from neighboring Uzbekistan.
Backed by US air strikes, the opposition Northern Alliance has mounted a push for the town, straddling a key crossroads in the north near the Uzbek border. But the opposition's forces are outnumbered by the Taliban, fractured and poorly equipped, sometimes riding into battle on horseback.
Franks said there was "a big fight" near Mazar-i-Sharif but he added, "It's a bit early for us to characterize this as the success that will enable our establishment of the land bridge."
An operational commander "should never be entirely convinced" of the capability of the opposition forces to take Mazar-i-Sharif or other Afghan cities, Franks said.
"So as we stand where we are now we want to keep all the options open," he said, adding that planning was underway to give Rumsfeld and President George W. Bush "credible military options irrespective of what we hope or what we wish may happen."
Franks is currently reviewing offers of nearly 13,000 ground troops for the effort from Britain, Germany, France, and Italy.
The United States has dozens of the US special forces troops with opposition forces inside the country, directing air strikes and helping to supply them with ammunition, weapons, food and winter gear.
But so far its deployment of ground troops to the region has been limited to 1,000 troops from the 10th Mountain Division stationed at a base in Uzbekistan, and an unknown number of special forces troops. Another 2,000 Marines are on board an amphibious assault ship in the region.
The Taliban's tenacious hold on power after more than a month of air strikes, and the opposition's failure to make notable gains on the ground, have fueled criticism of the Franks' strategy.
Some conservative commentators have said the campaign has been too restrained, and have called for the use of US ground forces in sufficient numbers to topple the Taliban and root out al Qaeda, the terrorist network blamed for the September 11 suicide attacks on the United States.
But Rumsfeld, who introduced Franks as a highly decorated warrior and veteran of US wars in Vietnam and the Gulf, said the general had "my full trust and respect" and that of the president.
To the question of whether his strategy was too timid, Franks said "absolutely not."
"I'll simply say this, that the campaign plan which we have initiated -- I won't say executed -- but what we have initiated is precisely the plan that we intended to begin to initiate. And as I said, I'm well-satisfied with it," he said.
Rumsfeld argued that the lower number of strike sorties -- about 100 a day -- compared to other recent wars was dictated by the lack of access to bases close to Afghanistan, which has forced to warplanes to spend more time getting to the battle.
The general rebuffed criticism that he has failed to explain the war to the public in contrast with General Norman Schwarzkopf, the commander of the 1991 Gulf War.
"I suppose I'd begin at the end by acknowleging that Tommy Franks is no Norman Schwarzkopf," Franks said.
"Nor visa versa," Rumsfeld chimed in.
(China Daily November 9,2001)
