US Bombs Knock out Dam, Bin Laden Seeks Combat against US "Crusade"

US forces on Thursday crippled Afghanistan's biggest hydroelectric complex after two days of their heaviest air raids as Osama bin Laden, in a rare public statement, called on Pakistanis to resist what he called a US-led "crusade."

Condoleeza Rice, George W. Bush's national security advisor, said in Washington that the US president would next week discuss the US-led war on terrorism with the leaders of Britain, France, India, Brazil, Algeria, and Ireland -- but gave no other details.

About 1,000 armed Pakistani tribesmen, part of a large group massed for the past week on the Afghan frontier, crossed the border to join the Taliban in their war against the United States.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan joined a chorus of world leaders seeking a swift end to the US-led military action, but appeals for a pause in hostilities during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan brought mixed responses: including a strong rejection by Afghan opposition forces fighting the Taliban.

A flurry of diplomatic activity accompanied the US military campaign begun on October 7 to flush out bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network of Muslim extremists blamed for the September 11 terrorist massacre of 5,000 people in the United States and topple the Taliban regime sheltering them.

The non-stop pounding of Taliban front lines, the day after B-52 bombers were first seen in action, brought a smile for the first time to opposition commanders long critical of the scope of US air raids.

"Today is a better day," a delighted opposition commander Alu Zaqi commented on the relentless US battering of Taliban front lines. "If this keeps going, the Taliban will be weakened and the front lines will collapse."

But another commander, General Hussein Anwari, head of a small Shiite faction and a member of the fractious Northern Alliance's leadership council, said opposition forces were still not ready to attack Kabul.

The Taliban claimed they shot down a US plane, but this was immediately denied by the Pentagon in Washington.

Taliban Education Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said seven US raids Wednesday and Thursday severely damaged the Kajaki hydroelectric complex in southern Helmand province, knocking out the power supplies of Kandahar and Lashkarga.

"So far water has not started gushing out of the dam but any further bombing will destroy (it)", Muttaqi said. "It may cause widespread flooding, putting at risk the lives of thousands of people."

Kajaki, 90 kilometers (56 miles) northwest of Kandahar, contains 2.7 billion cubic metres of water and irrigates land farmed by 75,000 families in a desert area where water is a precious commodity.

Qatar's Al-Jazeera TV, the only foreign news organization present in Afghanistan, said it obtained a copy of a statement bearing a signature of bin Laden identical to one that "appeared in a previous statement" whose authenticity they had confirmed.

In his latest missive, bin Laden accused the Pakistani government of "standing under the banner of the Cross while Muslims are being slaughtered in Afghanistan," Al-Jazeera said.

Bin Laden "called on Muslims in Pakistan to confront what he termed a crusade against Islam," said the Doha-based station, bin Laden's chosen platform to address Muslims.

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat was the first to react, calling the statement "very dangerous talk."

Witnesses said a group of 1,000 armed Pakistani Pashtun tribesmen, led by radical Muslim leader Maulana Mohammad Ismail, crossed the border Laden in the North West Frontier Province, joining Taliban forces waiting on the other side.

In Geneva, Annan said he hoped for a swift end to the military action, but urged that the world pursue the anti-terror coalition, of which, he said, military action is only a "very small part."

The 2001 recipient of the Nobel peace prize was joined by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who said he hoped the US raids would end before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan -- although he acknowledged this would depend on the situation on the ground.

"I hope this campaign will finish before... Ramadan," Mubarak said in Madrid, but added: "When you are dealing with fighting and military operations, you cannot guarantee what the military situation will be and whether operations can be stopped without benefiting the other side."

In Ashkabad leading a European Union delegation, Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel warned against pursuing the bombing raids during Ramadan, which begins November 17.

"Any acts that can irritate the Muslim world ... have to be excluded from my point of view," Michel said, adding that it would be "positive" if the US ceased its strikes on Afghanistan during the holy month.

In Berlin, German Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping said he was against any halt in the strikes, although an easing of operation during certain "key days" of the month of fasting could be "taken into consideration."

But the opposition Northern Alliance practically ended the debate, a spokesman in Moscow saying it will not observe a Ramadan truce.

"In previous years, the Taliban continued fighting (during Ramadan) and we have responded, and I don't suppose there will be any difference this year," the spokesman said.

In Washington, Rice said the United States simply "can't afford" to halt its strikes.

Turkey, meanwhile, the only Muslim populated member of NATO and a country with historic ties to Afghanistan, said it would send 90 of its elite troops to the country in response to a US request.

A government statement said the unit would engage in "surveillance, the struggle against terrorists, guiding the Northern Alliance, supporting humanitarian missions, protecting innocent people and helping the evacuation of civilians when necessary."

The Taliban immediately condemned the decision, their envoy in Islamabad, Abdul Salam Zaeef, saying: "Any soldier, whether they are from a Muslim or non-Muslim country -- if they are joining the Americans, they are our enemy. If they attack Afghanistan we will defend ourselves."

On Thursday, wave after wave of US bombers, including giant B-52s, carpet bombed frontlines in northern Afghanistan, dropping their thunderous payloads on Taliban positions close to the Tajik border.

The ground shook and windows shattered as far away as Khwaja Bahauddin, an opposition-held town 25 kilometers (15 miles) from Taliban forward positions, reporters in the region said.

The British media, meanwhile, was unanimous Thursday in panning the first visit to Damascus Wednesday by Prime Minister Tony Blair, an enthusiastic advocate of the military action in Afghanistan.

The Damascus trip was the first leg of Blair's Middle East tour, and a hoped for agreement on the anti-terror campaign with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad failed to materialize.

"Syria's Assad humiliates PM," said the left-leaning Guardian, saying Blair suffered a "public dressing-down," while The Times said Blair was "confronted with the full ferocity of Muslim opposition to the war in Afghanistan."

The Independent called Blair's visit a "diplomatic embarrassment".

Overall, Blair got an earful from the Arab countries on his tour, which warned him against continuing the air strikes during Ramadan and pressured him for a settlement to the Palestinian problem.

"There is a growing hostility in the Arab and Muslim world towards the US strikes on Afghanistan, and this will become worse if the attacks continue during Ramadan," one official quoted Arab leaders as telling Blair.








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