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ANALYSIS
Political constraints involved in coalition building have played an important part in the nature of the military campaign launched by the US and Britain yesterday against Afghanistan. Determined to rally as many countries as possible to their war against terrorism, military planners have shaped their attacks accordingly.
Significantly, the raids have had to be launched from either US or British soil - the Pacific island of Diego Garci, some 2,400 miles from Afghanistan - or from warships in the Arabian Sea. Such an approach was made necessary by the sensitivities of the Pakistanis and Saudis to the use of their bases although both have agreed to overflights.
B-2 Stealth bombers flew round trips from their base at Whitman Air Force Base in Missouri, returning via Diego Garcia, while other bombers, B1s and B52s operated from the island.
Humanitarian missions, initially from Ramstein in Germany, may yet be been sent from Uzbekistan which has limited operations from its soil to food drops or search and rescue missions.
The drops are also believed to include radios to allow Afghanis to receive broadcasts from sys-ops stations established by the US.
The food drops are intended to reinforce the political imperative of portraying the alliance as friends of the oppressed Afghanis and of Islam, a message repeated by Mr Rumsfeld as well as both President Bush and the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair. The consequent need not to cause civilian casualties, has led to careful targeting of the first waves of raids primarily against military targets.
Briefing at the Defence Department, the Secretary of Defence, Mr Donald Rumsfeld, said that the initial purpose had been to eliminate the air defences of the Taliban who are believed to have significant numbers of ground-to-surface missiles.
Mr Rumsfeld said that both "smart" and "dumb" munitions had been used by the bombers, a combination of precision-guided missiles targeted on specific buildings and unguided bombs dropped in the traditional way.
But he stressed that that the ``dumb'' weapons had been used primarily on Al Qaeda training bases, most of which are not in built-up areas.
"While our raids today focus on the Taliban and foreign terrorists in Afghanistan, our aim remains much broader. Our objective is to defeat those who use terrorism and those who house or support (terrorists). The world stands united in this effort," Mr Rumsfeld said.
He said the US wanted initially to remove threats to US military forces from the Taliban air force and from its air defences as well as to alter the military balance in Afghanistan. He said the US aim was to strengthen opposition forces in Afghanistan, which have been fighting against the "foreign" Al-Qaeda and the Taliban which he said supported them.
He said the US had not, as yet, taken casualties, denying claims by the Taliban that they had shot down a plane.
As the strikes continued the diplomatic offensive was continuing from the State Department. The Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, lobbied regional leaders, warning them of the imminence of action and to major powers and allies from Europe to Japan. He also spoke to the Secretary General of the UN, Mr Kofi Annan.