Taliban defiant after U.S. wrath unleashed

Taliban defiant after U.S. wrath unleashed

Agence France-Presse, Kabul

The Taliban emerged defiant on Monday from an overnight hail of cruise missiles and bombs after the United States launched its long-awaited reprisal for the horror of last month.

Taliban officials described U.S. and British strikes launched late on Sunday as "horrendous terrorist attacks" but denied that they had done any significant damage.

More than 20 people were killed in the Taliban-held capital Kabul, the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) agency reported.

But both the leader of the hardline Islamic regime, Mullah Mohammed Omar, and its honored "guest" Osama bin Laden were safe, said Maulvi Najeebullah, the Taliban consul in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar.

The Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef, said the militia would not bow to U.S. demands to hand over bin Laden, a Saudi-born militant who is the prime suspect behind the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

"Such brutal attacks will unify the whole Afghan nation. The Afghan people will rise against this new colonial attempt," Zaeef said.

The long wait for Washington's retaliation ended around 9:00 p.m. (11:30 p.m. in Jakarta) when loud explosions across Kabul and abrupt cuts in electricity heralded the first bombing raid.

U.S. President George W. Bush said the strikes' targets were terrorist training camps established by bin Laden and military installations of the Taliban regime.

Strikes aimed at crippling the Taliban's defenses by destroying anti-aircraft batteries, radar facilities and airfields were spread across the country and continued sporadically throughout the night.

Jets could be heard flying high over Kabul as the night sky lit up with explosions and strings of tracer bullets from Taliban anti-aircraft guns placed around the capital and the surrounding hills.

The attacks, believed to have targeted the airport, began just before the imposition of the regular nightly curfew in the capital, and residents said there was no sign of panic among civilians.

Bombing was also reported around the Taliban's southern stronghold of Kandahar, where bin Laden has a home.

Members of the anti-Taliban opposition said the eastern city of Jalalabad, Farah in the west, Kunduz near the border with Tajikistan, and the strategic northern town of Mazar-i-Sharif had also been targeted.

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced the strikes had been accompanied by air drops of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan's beleaguered population, millions of whom are vulnerable to starvation after years of war and drought.

Jubilant opposition forces, poised as close as 50 kilometers north of the capital, fired a barrage of rockets and artillery at Taliban positions and said they were poised to launch an infantry onslaught across the country.

"We are waiting for orders for General Fahim. The United Front is trying to cut off the Taliban from all sides," said a commander of the anti-Taliban via satellite phone from the frontlines near Samangan in northern Afghanistan.

Pakistan, the main backer of the Taliban before the devastation in New York and Washington, voiced concern for the long-suffering civilians of Afghanistan.

"One is hoping, and I have got definite assurances, that this operation will be short, ought to be targeted and also it should not be having collateral damage," Pakistani President said.

Gen. Musharraf confirmed that the U.S. and British strikes used Pakistani airspace but said no attack was launched from Pakistani soil.