Oct. 17, 2001, 9:49PM

Afghan regime receives chilling U.S. warnings

By MICHAEL HEDGES Copyright 2001 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- U.S. special forces troops are poised to make helicopter assaults into Afghanistan, fulfilling a threat of ground-level strikes being broadcast to the Taliban, officials said Wednesday.

If helicopter gunships and U.S. ground troops do begin attacking the Taliban and al-Qaida fighters of Osama bin Laden in coming days, officials said, the Afghan regime can't say it wasn't warned.

In chilling messages being broadcast to Afghans from specially configured U.S. aircraft, the Taliban are told in their own dialects, "You are condemned ... The instant the terrorists you support took over our planes, you sentenced yourselves to death ... "

That referred to the Sept. 11 hijackings of four aircraft that led to more than 5,000 deaths in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. The Bush administration said evidence links the terrorism to bin Laden, and that the war on Afghanistan is to force the Taliban to turn over his organization.

The broadcast message, sent on radio frequencies from EC-130E aircraft, warn, "Our helicopters will rain fire down upon your camps before you detect them on radar ... Our bombs are so accurate we can drop them right through your windows."

According to a Pentagon translation, the message also says, "Our infantry is trained for any climate and terrain on Earth. United States soldiers fire with superior marksmanship and are armed with superior weapons ... You have only one choice. Surrender now and ... we will let you live."

Finally, the messages told Taliban and al-Qaida fighters, "When you decide to surrender, approach United States forces with your hands in the air," indicating that American ground forces would be in the vicinity.

As the airstrikes against the Taliban entered a new phase in which pilots stalk "engagement zones" waiting to pounce on any target that moves, ground troops and helicopters have been positioned on the USS Kitty Hawk in the Indian Ocean.

The commando-type American troops could be used in a variety of roles, including as forward observers more accurately guiding pilots to Taliban targets, officials said.

Before the air campaign began, the United States acknowledged that limited numbers of special forces troops had entered Afghanistan. And officials have conceded the likelihood of ground forces being needed to defeat the Taliban.

Radio messages, along with leaflets being dropped on Taliban areas, are part of the psychological operations being used in an effort to break the morale of Afghan troops.

But one military official said, "If you think back to Desert Storm, we did the same thing, then delivered on what the messages said."

According to Afghan information sources, Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar has been matching that rhetoric with speeches of his own, urging death before surrender.

"We will succeed whether we live or die," Omar said in a broadcast speech, according to the Afghan Islamic Press.

"It is jihad against the infidel like the one we waged against the Soviets," Omar was quoted as saying.

"Death will definitely come one day," he said. "It does not matter whether we die today or tomorrow. The goal is martyrdom."

Adding to the pressure on Omar's regime, the opposition Northern Alliance appeared close to seizing an air base near the town of Mazar-i-Sharif, a critical crossroads in northern Afghanistan, U.S. officials said.

That would put the base within the grasp of U.S. military planners and deal a major psychological blow to the Taliban, officials said.

Since the beginning of the bombing of Afghanistan Oct. 7, the major goal of the air campaign has been to "create the conditions for sustained operations against terrorists," Rear Adm. John Stufflebeem said at the Pentagon on Wednesday.

Stufflebeem said by that measure, the air campaign was nearing the accomplishment of its mission. "We are systemically pulling away at those legs underneath the stool that the Taliban leadership counts on to be able to exert their influence and power," he said.

Beginning Tuesday, the air campaign shifted tactics, he said. Instead of leaving with a pre-set target in mind, pilots are heading over Afghanistan with orders to hit any military vehicle or equipment within "engagement zones" that can be verified by forward air controllers as enemy.

Pentagon officials have declined to discuss future missions, including any that could involve special operations troops on the Kitty Hawk.

That carrier left Japan in early October without its normal contingent of fighter-bombers, clearing its decks for use as a floating special operations base.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld used an interview Tuesday with a television station in Qatar to emphasize for an Islamic audience that the United States has no desire to occupy Afghanistan long term.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, a station widely watched in the Middle East and by Arabic speakers in the United States, he said, "The United States is dealing only with terrorism. And this effort on our part is a matter of self-defense," according to a Pentagon transcript released Wednesday.

He also addressed the issue of civilian casualties, claiming that they have been relatively few, not the hundreds alleged by Taliban officials.

The Taliban said Wednesday that a truck filled with civilians was hit near Kandahar, and that U.S. attacks had killed or injured at least 20 civilians.

Pentagon officials said they could not confirm that U.S. aircraft hit that vehicle. But spokeswoman Victoria Clarke did say the United States accidentally bombed a Red Cross food warehouse, destroying supplies and injuring one Afghan employee.

"One of our missions did hit a Red Cross warehouse that stored humanitarian goods," she said. "This building was within a set of targets we had identified as being used for military storage by the Taliban."

Defense officials would not respond to a request by some international aid groups in Afghanistan to suspend the bombing campaign for a couple days to allow food to reach Afghan refugees.

But Clarke said most of the hunger problem in Afghanistan began before the October bombing campaign as a result of brutal Taliban policies. She said the United States has been the largest foreign donor of food to the Afghan people, noting that President Bush recently promised to increase that aid to more than $300 million.

-- Anonymous, October 18, 2001