Rumsfeld defends amount of Northern Alliance aid
October 29, 2001 - CNN
 
U.S. jets struck Afghanistan's southern city of Kandahar and Taliban positions facing the opposition Northern Alliance on Monday as officials on both sides of the Atlantic urged patience with the U.S.-led antiterrorist campaign. U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the United States has supplied food and "thousands of pieces of ordnance" to Northern Alliance forces and is coordinating attacks with the Afghan opposition.

Allied bombers resumed military strikes in the southern Taliban stronghold of Kandahar on Sunday after a lull of nearly two days. CNN Correspondent Kamal Hyder reported hearing several loud explosions to the west of the city, shaking the walls and rattling the windows. Farther north, in a village controlled by the opposition Northern Alliance, a stray U.S. bomb left one woman dead and one of her children injured, the woman's cousin told CNN on Sunday.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair called on his people Sunday to show their "moral fiber" by holding firm in the fight against terrorism. The war in Afghanistan would not be quick, easy or painless, government officials in London stressed as they prepared the nation for British ground forces in the U.S.-led campaign.

As the bombing campaign in Afghanistan approaches the three-week mark, the Bush administration is facing more questions about how soon it will show results. "The American people are going to have to be patient, just like we are. They're going to have to be determined, just like our military is," President Bush told business leaders Friday.

Latest developments:
* U.S. forces may soon establish a forward military base in Afghanistan that would support 200 to 300 commandos, USA Today reported Monday.

* U.S. officials say that Pakistan's intelligence service -- a key U.S. ally in the war against terrorism -- has had a longstanding relationship with Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, The New York Times reported Monday.

* U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers will urge Pakistani government officials to open Pakistan's borders to Afghan refugees and refrain from deporting those who already have arrived, the United Nations said Monday.

* Mufti Mohammed Masoom Afghani, the head Islamic cleric of the Ulema Council for all Afghanistan, called on all Muslims throughout the world to defend Afghanistan, saying it has been invaded by an infidel country. In the interview with CNN's Kamal Hyder, Afghani, quoting the Koran, said it is mandatory for all Muslims to assist their brethren when attacked.

* Gen. Tommy R. Franks, commander-in-chief of U.S. Central Command, arrived in Islamabad, Pakistan, Monday for talks with Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf, who is under increasing domestic pressure for his support of a U.S.-led military campaign in neighboring Afghanistan, U.S. embassy officials told CNN.