17 October 2001
Pentagon Says U.S. Warplanes Attacking Afghan Targets Unopposed
(No reports of planes being fired upon, official says)(550)
By David Denny
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- Once again, close to 100 U.S. warplanes attacked targets
in Afghanistan on October 16, according to a Defense Department
spokesman.
Rear Admiral John D. Stufflebeem told journalists at the Pentagon that
12 targets inside Afghanistan were attacked on October 16, including
airfields, air defense sites (which included radar and armor located
at the sites), ammunition in vehicle storage depots, and military
training facilities, including vehicles and buildings. Carrying out
the attacks were 90 to 95 strike aircraft, of which 80 to 85 were
carrier-based, plus about five land-based bombers and fewer than five
AC-130 gunships.
Stufflebeem said he had not seen any reports that U.S. aircraft are
being fired upon during the strikes, though that was no guarantee that
ground fire was not occurring. "Our sense is that, as we are
...(taking out) these Taliban military targets, their ability to
respond is falling away," he said.
Stufflebeem confirmed that one strike mission did hit a Red Cross
warehouse where humanitarian goods had been stored. The warehouse was
inside an area that had been identified as being a military storage
area for the Taliban, he said.
Also on October 16, four C-17 transport aircraft delivered 53,000
daily ration meals by air to Afghan refugees, Stufflebeem said. That
brought the total to date to 400,000 daily rations delivered by air.
Responding to repeated questions about what the air offensive is doing
to assist the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance in its ground campaign,
Stufflebeem emphasized that the U.S. plan, rather than focusing
directly on aiding the Northern Alliance, is instead aimed at
attacking "those elements of the Taliban military that... support al
Qaeda," the terrorist organization resident in Afghanistan.
On the matter of a proposed bombing pause in order to allow
humanitarian organizations time to operate, Stufflebeem said that
nothing that he has seen shows him that humanitarian organizations are
prevented by the bombing campaign from doing what they need to do. On
the contrary, "I have seen anecdotal reports and some reporting
suggesting that the Taliban are preventing [non-governmental
organizations] from doing what they should be doing," he said.
The air campaign has progressed to the point where Taliban air defense
capability has been so reduced that strike missions are "now forcing
the targets out, to be able to attack, that we might not have had as
much access to before," Stufflebeem said. All fixed air defense sites
that have been found to date have been attacked, he said.
To reporters asking about Northern Alliance forces moving into the
airport at Mazar-e-Sharif, Stufflebeem replied that reports he had
seen said their forces were at the airport, but not that they had
taken control of it. As to the significance of the airport itself,
Stufflebeem said, "It's extremely significant." He noted that it is a
large airport and would enable "a number of allies or coalition
forces, if control of that area was available to the U.S. or others,
to be able to move closer into the country. Whether or not it would be
used or will be used -- don't know."
(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
http://usinfo.state.gov)
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
