By David Denny
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- Senior U.S. defense officials say that substantial damage has been done to communications centers, air defense capabilities and terrorist training camps in Afghanistan after six days of concentrated U.S.-led air strikes.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said October 12, during a Pentagon briefing, that the success of these air strikes has weakened the Taliban and the al-Qa'ida terrorist network.

Tying the military effort against the Taliban into the overall campaign against global terrorist organizations, Rumsfeld said, they too have been weakened. He said the aggressive law enforcement effort by various countries, along with freezing some financial assets and some diplomatic progress have contributed to a further weakening of terrorists and their networks.

Turning to the details of military actions of October 11, Joint Chiefs Chairman General Richard Myers said U.S. forces hit six target areas, including a training camp, troop compounds and vehicle and weapons facilities. About 15 carrier-based strike aircraft and about 10 land-based bombers were used in the missions, he said.

Military operations continued October 12, Myers said, but there were no planned air strikes because it is the Muslim Sabbath. Nevertheless, Myers said forces were available to strike at targets of opportunity.

Myers said there were no humanitarian airdrops of food packages October 11 because of over-flight clearance problems, but the airdrops were scheduled for October 12.

Still in his prepared remarks, Myers said, "many of the conventional efforts that you see today are stage-setters for follow-on operations. Some of these efforts may be visible, but many will not... [Y]ou cannot fight this asymmetric threat with conventional forces alone..."

Responding to questions about whether anti-Taliban forces have taken territory during the six days of air strikes, Rumsfeld said the United States would not have wanted those forces to move into areas where strikes were being conducted. "And at that point where we are not attacking military targets in close proximity to those troops, then it's for those troops to make judgments as to whether or not they intend to take advantage of the work that's been done for them," he said.

Myers said that "a limited number" of the bunker-busting 5,000-pound bombs have been used against caves.

As to whether U.S. forces have been attacking Taliban troops and their leaders, Rumsfeld said "inanimate objects are not terrorists or terrorist networks, nor do inanimate objects harbor terrorists. It is people that do that, and it is people that train terrorists. ... And it clearly is absolutely necessary to find them and root them out, as we've said repeatedly." Striking at the decision-making elements of the Taliban military apparatus is being worked on, he added.

Later in the briefing, Rumsfeld said "The United States is seeking out concentrations of people who are involved in these terrorist activities and in the terrorist training camps and in the terrorist network, and when we find them we do try to deal with them. I'm not going into [targeting of Mullah Omar, a top Taliban official], but I think people should be on notice that it is not trees or rocks that cause terrorism. It's people."

Denying the notion that the United States is influencing the future makeup of Afghanistan by withholding military assistance from the Northern Alliance forces, Rumsfeld said "no one has been withholding any assistance from anybody. ... We are not withholding. We are interested in assisting those on the ground who are anxious to throw out the terrorists and the Taliban and the al-Qa'ida... We would encourage that."