American gunship helicopters attack Taliban military positions

American gunship helicopters attacked Taliban military positions near Kabul, according to a report, while artillery and heavy machine gun fire reverberated from Taliban posts in the hills surrounding the Afghan capital.

Also, US jets dropped bombs in several locations – around Kabul and the frontline to the north, in the Taliban's southern stronghold of Kandahar, and near the contested city of Mazar–e–Sharif in the north, the Afghan Islamic Press reported.

The agency, which is aligned with the Taliban, reported helicopter assaults on Taliban installations and residential areas north of Kabul. Two loud explosions were heard on the outskirts of the city around 5 a.m.

The Taliban–controlled Bakhtar News Agency claimed bombs killed 10 people and injured 15 others in a village south of Mazar–e–Sharif. Five people died and seven were wounded in a raid near Kandahar, it said.

The reports could not be independently confirmed. The Pentagon has repeatedly dismissed the Taliban's claims of widespread civilian casualties as lies.

On Sunday, an attack by anti–Taliban forces outside Mazar–e–Sharif was reported faltering only hours after it was launched, raising questions about the ability of the opposition to exploit U.S. airstrikes without the assistance of American ground troops.

U.S. military planners are concerned that opposition forces, who have promised a major offensive, will get bogged down with the onset of winter in the weeks ahead. Bad weather will soon make roads impassable, obstructing the resupply of frontline troops.

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, on a tour of frontline states in the war against terrorism, sought to dispel fears that the air campaign, now in its fifth week, was failing to crack the Taliban's grip on Afghanistan.

On a stopover in Pakistan Sunday, he said the Taliban are no longer "functioning as a government" and were "not making major military moves."

Rumsfeld met Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, a key ally in the anti–terrorism campaign, and was in India Monday for talks with Defense Minister George Fernandes.

U.S. officials, however, have said the U.S. campaign against terrorism is global and could last years, well after the eventual end of fighting in Afghanistan.

A key element of the U.S. strategy has been to attack Taliban positions facing the northern alliance – especially on the front north of Kabul and on positions defending Taliban–held Mazar–e–Sharif.

On Sunday, opposition spokesman Nadeem Ashraf said alliance forces launched a three–pronged offensive south of Mazar–e–Sharif, near the border with Uzbekistan. The spokesman said the attack began after U.S. jets softened up Taliban positions by heavy bombing.

Hours later, Ashraf said one of the three opposition columns, led by Uzbek warlord Rashid Dostum, was making no progress and the offensive was faltering. He said Dostum's forces numbered only about 700 to 1,000 fighters and had "no high morale."

His assessment could not be independently verified. However, it points to ethnic rivalries within the northern alliance that have long hampered the opposition's ability to mount an effective challenge to the Taliban.

The other troops in the Mazar–e–Sharif front are commanded by a close ally of the northern alliance's titular leader, former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani, and by Shiite Muslim commander Mohammed Mohaqik.

Opposition commanders around the other major front, north of Kabul, have said they are preparing for a major offensive toward the capital after days of heavy U.S. airstrikes. However, there have been few signs that a major push toward Kabul is in the offing.

Taliban and opposition gunners traded artillery fire in the area Monday morning.

President George W. Bush ordered the airstrikes Oct. 7 after the Taliban repeatedly refused to surrender Osama bin Laden, chief suspect in the September terrorist attacks that killed about 4,500 people in the United States.

Bush has said the United States does not plan to suspend the bombing during the Islamic holy month Ramadan, which begins around Nov. 17. Musharraf and other Muslim allies had appealed for a suspension.

In Pakistan, Rumsfeld said the United States will be sensitive to the views in the region, but he declined to outline US military plans.