Taliban Fighters Regrouping: U.S.

September 8, 2003

KABUL, Afghanistan -- America's top commander in Afghanistan has confirmed that al Qaeda-trained Taliban fighters are pouring into the country from Pakistan.

Lt. Gen. John Vines said Sunday the hardline Taliban have been trying to regain control of Afghanistan after being removed from power in late 2001 by a U.S.-led coalition.

"They have been attempting to (regroup) for nine months," Vines said.

"Every time, we've disrupted them, we've interdicted them, we've denied them sanctuary, and we've killed them."

His comments to reporters traveling with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld were the first confirmation from a top U.S. military official the Taliban are emerging out of Pakistan and moving into Afghanistan.

In the most intense fighting in over a year, U.S., Afghan and coalition forces have been battling as many as 1,000 Taliban fighters in the troubled province of Zabol, south of the capital Kabul.

As many as 200 Taliban have been killed this week alone, Vines said.

Meanwhile Afghan officials say they foiled a Taliban attack near the border with Pakistan, just hours before Rumsfeld arrived in Kabul on Sunday.

As violence shows little sign of abating, U.S. President George W. Bush told Americans in a televised address Sunday night he will seek an additional $87 billion from Congress to continue the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The al Qaeda resurgence, along with rumors that leader Osama bin Laden is still on the run, has put Washington under increasing pressure to act.

But Rumsfeld, who spoke with President Hamid Karzai Sunday, has said the burden of stopping the Taliban falls on far more than just Washington and Kabul.

Some Afghan and American officials have said that Pakistan offers the Taliban sanctuary, but Karzai says he is confident Islamabad will help stop the militia from regrouping.

Hundreds of Afghan troops are now preparing for a new offensive against Taliban guerrillas in the south and east of their country.

About 8,500 Americans are among the 11,500 international troops in Afghanistan. Separately, 5,000 troops under NATO command act as peacekeepers in Kabul.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/central/09/08/afghanistan.taliban/index.html