News

from Guardian Unlimited

US steps up ground offensive

After biggest wave of clashes so far, US uses thermobaric bombs to pound suspected Taliban cave hideouts 

David Teather in New York
Monday March 4, 2002
The Guardian 

New cracks emerged in the US political unity behind the war on terrorism last night, after allied troops 
engaged in the largest ground offensive since attacks in Afghanistan began. 

US bombers yesterday continued to pound a mountain range in eastern Afghanistan for the third day 
running, using recently developed thermobaric bombs which are designed to create suffocating blasts 
in cave complexes. 

Video footage released by the US military showed large plumes of thick black smoke billowing from caves. 
Officials said fighting in Paktia province was likely to continue for the next couple of days. 

The US-led ground force of around 1,000 troops withdrew to the nearby town of Gardez late on Saturday 
afternoon, after meeting unexpectedly strong resistance from heavily armed Taliban and al-Qaida fighters. 

The fighters have been regrouping in the region, with some estimates suggesting there may be as many 
as 5,000 of them holed up. 

An Afghan doctor yesterday said that six US soldiers had been wounded in the attacks, which claimed 
the lives of one US serviceman and three Afghan soldiers on Saturday. The US soldier, who was said 
to have been killed in a mortar attack, was the second to die under hostile fire. 

The US casualties have begun to crystallise concerns among some Democrats about the direction of 
the war. Building on comments that he made last week when he called on President Bush to clarify 
the next stage of the campaign, the senate majority leader Tom Daschle yesterday expressed concerns 
about pushing into other countries. 

"We don't know the extent to which our presence is required; it will take time and we will risk loss of 
additional life," he said. "What is disconcerting is the American people and Congress don't have the 
information to make these difficult decisions. 

"We support our troops, but we also have to ask the right questions. Congress shouldn't be here to 
rubber-stamp any president." 

Mr Daschle also said he was bemused at reports last week that the Bush administration had set up 
a "shadow government" to ensure that the US could operate in the event of a disaster. 

"In matters of this importance, there should be consultation. The purpose is laudable, but surely 
someone in Congress should have known. I was surprised, frankly, to read about it in the 
Washington Post." 

The US has begun to expand its war on terrorism, sending troops to Yemen, the Philippines and 
Georgia to help train forces - developments which the Democrats said they were not informed of. 

The Senate minority leader, the Republican Trent Lott, was critical of Mr Daschle's comments. 
"Any sign that we are losing unity will be used against us," he said. 

There are new reports that the Bush administration has dispatched hundreds of nuclear weapon-
detecting devices across the US amid fears of an attack on home soil. Senator Richard Shelby, 
a member of the intelligence committee, said there was a "real threat from the proliferation of 
[nuclear] materials." 

US officials said there was no indication that either Bin Laden or the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, 
were in the region of Afghanistan which is currently under fire. 

The attacks in the snowy mountains of Shah-e-kot began under the cover of darkness on Friday 
night. Troops attacked on Saturday morning but were repelled by artillery, mortar and heavy 
machinegun fire. The mountains are as high as 3,500 metres above sea-level. 

"Firefights have been intense at times in heavy combat actions," the US central command said. 
"The exact size of the enemy forces occupying a series of cave complexes is not known." 

US soldiers from the 101st Airborne division led the attack, which some said signalled heavier 
involvement on the ground for western troops. Australian and Canadian troops were also part of 
the offensive. Afghan leaders said the attack had been planned for two months. 

More than 80 thermobaric bombs had already been dropped by Sunday, with the explosions 
heard as far as 20 miles away. 

The bombs' blasts leave structures intact, allowing US troops to search the bunkers which were 
built by Afghan mojahedin forces when they were fighting the former Soviet Union. Russia has 
attracted international criticism for using similar weapons in Chechnya. 

The deadly pull of Big Blue Two 

The BLU-118B thermobaric bomb, known as the "Big Blue Two", dropped for the first time in 
Afghanistan by US navy planes, is designed to kill people in caves and bunkers without 
collapsing the structures, writes Richard Norton Taylor. 

This enables search teams to enter the area to identify bodies. 

The 2,000lb laser-guided bombs penetrate complexes and disperse clouds of explosive 
particles which are detonated by a delayed-action fuse. The blast sucks up oxygen, creating 
a blast which collapses lungs, breaks eardrums, and pulls out eyes. 

The disarmament spokesman at Greenpeace, William Peden, said yesterday that thermobaric 
bombs should be classified as similar to weapons of mass destruction. "They are inhumane 
and should not be used in a conventional war context," he said.