The United States is continuing its bombardment of strongholds of the Taliban today and has repeated its promise to hunt down Osama bin Laden.
"We're hunting him down. He runs and he hides, but as we've seen repeatedly the noose is beginning to narrow, the net is getting tighter," President Mr George W. Bush said in Washington.
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Taliban fighters awaiting their fate after defecting to the Northern Alliance in Taloqan
Photo: Reuters |
Washington said it had sent in more special forces to hunt for bin Laden, who is believed to be hiding among the mountains of Afghanistan, even though Taliban officials say he is no longer in areas they control.
USA Todaynewspaper reported as many as 1,600 US marines were preparing to join US special forces already hunting for bin Laden.
As part of its bid to capture bin Laden, the US military was broadcasting a radio message into Afghanistan offering up to $25 million for information leading to the location of bin Laden, the New York Timesreported.
The Taliban came under attack around Kandahar in the south where the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press said US air strikes killed five people today.
But the Taliban claimed it remained in control of its southern heartland and denied talks were under way to surrender Kandahar.
The city has been under siege for days, with reports that talks between Taliban commanders and local tribal leaders for a peaceful handover of power are showing scant signs of progress.
In the north the Taliban is still under siege in Kunduz province along with its foreign comrades-in-arms and forces of al-Qaeda.
The Afghan opposition Northern Alliance offered amnesty to any Taliban who surrendered in Kunduz but would not promise the same to the Taliban's foreign comrades, including Arabs, Pakistanis and Chechens.
Afghan Taliban commanders have said they are willing to surrender to the United Nations but will not give up the city to the Northern Alliance for fear of a massacre.
Defense Secretary Mr Donald Rumsfeld cautioned against letting the Taliban or forces of bin Laden's al-Qaeda group negotiate flight from Afghanistan.
"My hope is that they will either be killed or taken prisoner," Mr Rumsfeld said when asked about several thousand hard-line al-Qaeda fighters trapped in Kunduz.
AFP/